The constitution is just “A God damned piece of paper"

[Doreen Peri]

Has anybody else read that Bush said this?

The constitution is just “A God damned piece of paper"?

I'm absolutely stunned!

[Doreen Peri]

Do a google search for “A God damned piece of paper"

[abcrystcats]

Oh REALLY.

Nothing he says or does surprises me anymore. Wish he'd say that about the Pledge of Allegiance -- at least it would be far more true, considering its recent origin and the many alterations it's been through.

Sure. It's a god-damned piece of paper. With some of the most immortal assertions about human rights that were ever penned.

If you want to reverse the rights it confers, then CHANGE it. He's trying. After all, it's just a piece of paper.

He's right. As long as AMERICANS don't stand up to defend themselves, ANYTHING can be changed. Let's not expect a piece of paper to defend us!

Ya know, Bush isn't the one responsible for all this crap. WE are responsible. We, the American people, aren't stopping him. We re-elected this monster, so what he does is at the sanction of the majority, so far.

Hitler was also elected and re-elected by majority votes.

I'm beginning to think we get exactly what we deserve.

[Doreen Peri]

Well, I can't include myself in that WE and I don't think you can either, Laurie. I didn't vote for him. Either time.

I'm just sitting here appalled and stunned that he actually said that. Clay is talking to me about it and questioning the sources.... He's also stating that this is nothing new.

To me, it's certainly something new! I mean, we KNOW he's done many unconstitutional things and disregarded the document but to come out and SAY that the constitution is just a goddamn piece of paper is admitting that he thinks he is above the law.

When a person is sworn into the office of president, they swear to uphold the constitution of the United States. It IS the United States!

I'm shaking my head.

Who do we blame that this man is in office? Yeah, we can certainly blame some Americans for believing all the lies and voting for him but I believe both elections were rigged so I don't blame even those people.

Why isn't this man getting impeached?

Clinton can lie to the people about his sex life and get impeached. Why isn't Bush getting impeached for all his lies?

Maybe because it's just a goddamn piece of paper?

geezzzz

[Doreen Peri]

Anyway, to me it's a big deal if he actually said this. I've done a google search and have found many links but I really haven't found any reliable sources. If anybody knows any more about this and can quote reliable sources that he actually said this, I'd be interested in reading about it. Thanks.

[abcrystcats]

That's right, Doreen. It's a god damned piece of paper. It takes people to make it work.

Bush pledged something. Promises are meaningless.


It takes WILL to make it happen. We, the American people, aren't holding him to his promise, so for him, it's just a god damned piece of paper. He's a stinker, but we're not pulling out a can of air freshener, now, are we?

The "we" includes us all. Those who voted for and those who voted against. I definitely include myself. I don't say there should be a bloody revolution, but we should all CARE and ACT a lot more than we're doing if our liberties are that important to us.

I am sort of coming to the conclusion that the HONEST Americans are just admitting that liberty isn't as important as security and STUFF, and the rest of us ... well .... we're saying liberty is the MOST important thing, but we're not fighting for it all that hard. I include myself in that.

The big question is, what will happen when our liberty is gone?

Will we miss it?

Scary question ....

[Doreen Peri]

You're right. Of course.

But HOW to act? What do we DO?

My son gets angry with me because I don't go to the demonstrations in DC. Why don't I? Well, I used to be out on the streets demonstrating during the Vietnam war and I thought that was action. Did it do any good? I don't know. Possibly the demonstrations did some good then by increasing awareness. I really don't know if they did or not.

Are they doing any good now? I don't think so. But that's not my reason for not going. Before, I didn't give a damn if I got arrested. Getting arrested for standing up for a cause would have been fine. Today? If I get arrested and end up in jail for a few days, there's my daughter to consider. And my job. I can't afford to lose my job.

Is all of that selfish? Yeah, maybe.

Other than demonstrating what type of action do you suggest? The only thing I can think of is to speak out on the internet to hopefully also increase awareness. But will increasing awareness do any good?

Don't we need MORE action than that? What can we do?

I'd really love to hear viable answers for DOING something about it!

[Zlatko Waterman]

Dear Doreen:


I've done several things through these people, but I already have an FBI file, for some of my 60's activism.

Their angle seems a good one-- too bad they need a "PAC" to fight back, but this isn't exactly watercolor painting:


Take a look here and work around on their site.

http://www.moveonpac.org/tellthetruth/

"StoptheWar.org", a British site, has some good ideas:

http://www.stopwar.org.uk/


And of course, there's Jim's " Vietnam Veterans Against the War"



http://www.vvaw.org/


( I could have mis-named his organization, but I think the above is the right one.)



--Z

[firsty]

anyone who voted for bush the second time around, i personally blame each and every one of those fucking morons. kerry was no gem, but you'd still have to have been a seriously retarded person to vote for bush in 04, much less in 00.

now, i blame anyone who doesnt care, who isnt paying attention. this won't last another 3 years, tho, i just cant believe that it can.

[abcrystcats]

"Before, I didn't give a damn if I got arrested. Getting arrested for standing up for a cause would have been fine. Today? If I get arrested and end up in jail for a few days, there's my daughter to consider. And my job. I can't afford to lose my job. "



You know, Doreen, I don't know.

During some periods in history, it didn't matter about family obligations, personal concerns. Those were secondary to fighting certain injustices.

What did the Abolitionists do? They were courageous groups of American citizens -- with families and obligations and social connections going all over the place -- who were brave enough to go against the law to hide runaway slaves. They also came out in public and openly proclaimed their objections to slavery and the laws that protected slaveowners and dehumanized blacks.

What made them act? What made them risk their lives, their livelihoods, friendships and families, for a belief? If I knew why they did that, I could try to answer your question.

The closest I can come is to say that these things -- as important as many of us pretend that they are -- aren't really that pressing. We can talk, but we can't act. It's just not that disturbing. If it was truly disturbing, we'd act.

Perhaps it's because we are insulated. We can read about the sacrifice of American liberty in the paper. We read the examples and the quotes and the anecdotal evidence, but when was the last time your rights were assaulted? When was the last time you stood in the street and witnessed someone else being deprived of their rights? Somehow, in this multimedia world, lots of these issues have become very abstract.

I suppose if I lived in Hitler's Germany, and saw my Jewish neighbor being beaten in the street, I might muster up the courage to defend him. Or I might be inspired to act to protect Jews in other ways. But if I see it on TV, or read about it in a book or a newspaper, it doesn't get the same response. It's far far away.

We we LOSE, truly LOSE, our rights, and we start to see it in TANGIBLE ways, we WILL act. When it goes past an undignified frisking at the local airport, and goes into midnight abductions and interrogations by government officials who've been listening to your phone conversations and reading your emails, we'll truly freak out, and want to change it. By then it might be too late, but we'll have to wait and see.

My only halfway decent answer, Doreen, is that as much bellyaching as we do on this website ("we" means me too) we're just not mad enough yet. We're not aroused enough or outraged enough to march on Washington.

It isn't a four-alarm fire yet -- it's a wisp of smoke steadily rising from the hayloft. Not enough for the hoses and buckets.

[Doreen Peri]

Zlatko-

Thanks for the links.. I've been to those sites and I have sent my letters to my congressman... I have signed petition after petition.. and groups get together to talk about it and they go out and demonstrate and they go on the net and send letters to the edtor and ya know what? it just doesn't do any good but I do appreciate it .. I'm at a loss.. I don't know what to do...

Laurie -

Yeah, I'd get my dander up even more than it is now by going to demonstrations and speaking my mind in public like that in a physical spot with all the others and I'd rant and rave about it and I have and I do in my own way right here with the bellyaching I do but the deal is you're right... the four-alarm fire obviously isn't here yet for some who live in a dream world and think all of this shit is ok! It's NOT ok and websites and petitions and marching in the street and carrying signs isn't going to make it OK. That's very clear. Why? Because the world.. the entire world.. has seen more people protesting about the invasion in Iraq than in any other time in history. What good has it done? None, in my opinion.

What's the point? Do we wait for a 4-alarm fire to get *everybody* outa bed and wake 'em up? What could create more of a 4-alarm fire than what's been happening for the past 5 years ..... (and it's been happening wayyyyyyy longer than that, really). Hell, the US has been an imperialist monster since the beginning. The land they occupy isn't even theirs. (And yeah, I say "they" because I don't think of myself as a part of it any more, not if I'm living in a fascist state... not if the president of the US thinks the constitution itself is only a goddam piece of paper).

My sister said to me, "What we need to do is to pretend we are living in another country, a country that wasn't built on the principles our country was built on. Then, we can make it through a day." Smart gal? Maybe. (She was being sarcastic? Maybe)

I don't have any answers. I wish I did. But I know I don't support violence. I don't see anything changing without all out revolution and I don't even know what that would entail, really. Major change. Dramatic change. Bu how do you do that non-violently? I don't have a clue. As you know I'm a pacifist. I can't even fathom it.

Maybe I'll move to the mountains. Create a new place. Pretend it isn't happening.

[Doreen Peri]

firsty -
You're right, too. I blame each and every one of everybody who isn't paying attention! I mean.. c'mon!!! Hello??? Are they deaf and blind?

[Zlatko Waterman]

Dear Doreen:

I went to a candlelight vigil on the occasion of the 2,000th US soldier's death in Iraq.

Those things make you feel better, the hell with the rest of it.

But it's also heartening to hear a few hundred cars go by and honk their horns, not to mention seeing the driver make the peace sign out the window.

Yes, it is naive, and not "intellectual" to stand there with a sign in one hand, a candle in the other.

A local M.D. stood on one side of me, the organizer of the demonstration outside the County Government Center, a college algebra teacher, my wife, on the other side.

The ambitions of evil don't dissipate. I did the same during Vietnam and it ceased--converted into McDonald's in Saigon.

But one has to keep trying. Particularly where the corruption of language is concerned. That, to me, is a question of art and freedom.



--Z

[abcrystcats]

Doreen, I like your sister

[jimboloco]

I understand Dori's dilemma

Last demonstration I went to was on a dark Monday eve at a busy traffic stop, the local "Camo Casey" demo I made a sign especially for this, "BUSHWHACKED" and lo and behold went to the meeting afterwards and there was this snoop there. I saw the guy a couple of monthes ago yelling obscenities from his van at the street folks, that one was St Pete for Peace. I saw him taking photos at the first Vets for Peace demo veterans day 2003.

Anyhow we have two ladies in our local chapter, both former combat vets in Vietnam. Wait! There were no female combat vets in the Nam, except for the Viet Cong.

That was kool.
They would blend in just perfectly with the red hat society ladies!


. I sent a email letter to local Congressstooge this AM urging him to honor the Murtha Bill calling for withdrawal in six months.

Listen folks, I would go insane if I went to every street demo. My friends are either retired, unemployed, or on disability and have nothing else to do/

Anyhow, I have to maintain myself first and mean to do more of this in '06.....what a drag it is getting old!

Now back to that Kuwait koswski link, duh gotta keep me sanity and little pearlies like Ms Kuwaitkowski surely help.
and there's the

code pinkster sisters
and a pink clownie


and the strange women in black,


In the resolution of conflict one can turn to equanimity and song.

oh my done it agin!