President Sheehan on the Remarks by Columbia University's President on the President of Iran

"Petty and Cruel Dictator”
Cindy Sheehan

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the president of Iran spoke at Columbia University today. I heard that he was invited there because the President of Columbia wanted to foster a “free exchange of ideas.” Even though I am not an Ahmadinejad supporter, I know he was elected in Iran in a knee-jerk and understandable response to the USA’s bloodily unnecessary invasion of Iraq, as many reactionery governments have been elected in that region and all over the world in response to the spreading US corporate and military empire.

Citing such human rights’ violations in the form of imprisonment and executions, the President of Columbia University, very boorishly said that Ahmadinejad appeared to be a “petty and cruel dictator.” First of all, how does one invite someone to your place for a “free exchange of ideas,” and be such a rude American? Did he only invite Ahmadinejad so he could publicly scold him or to become the darling of Fox News?

Secondly, what about our President who appears to be a “petty and cruel dictator?” George Bush presided over a stunning amount of executions when he was Governor of Texas and the US is operating torture prison camps, openly and secretly, all over the world. BushCo has fought the Supreme Court and Congress for the right to hold thousands of humans without their human rights of due process and they have also been strenuously committed to the strategy of torture---or “enhanced interrogation methods” as the Ministry of Truth likes to call it. A Reverend gets beaten down in the halls of Congress; nooses are being hung in the south; students are being tased on campuses and Congress is censuring Freedom of Speech…how much evidence do we need before we decide that something is profoundly wrong in present-day America?

In 2006, China, the leading practitioner of state sanctioned murder in the form of execution, killed 8000 people in this manner. However, the Premier of China is welcomed to the US by George Bush who is probably envious of President Hu Jintao's record. We borrow vast sums from China to wage our wars and China is our major trading partner. Wal-Mart’s cheap and dangerous crap is manufactured by near slaves there, but somehow that is okay? Somehow it is okay to welcome Communist China with open arms, but demonize and disparage a Socialist like Hugo Chavez of Venezuela? America has a very lucrative prison business and is the only country in the Americas that practices execution. A barbarian is a barbarian no matter what color, religion or nationality they are.

George Bush has added signing statements to almost 1000 bills that he has signed into law saying that he doesn’t have to obey those very same laws. We have the Nazi-ist sounding Department of Homeland Security which seems to be obsessed with keeping my un-zip-locked baggied lip-gloss off of flights. The un-Patriot Act and breaking of FISA laws and our 4th Amendment right to be secure against unreasonable search and seizure have turned the “Land of the Free” into the “Home of the Slaves.”

To put the cherry on the sundae of the crimes that BushCo have committed, they have sent hundreds of thousands of our own sons and daughters to occupy a country that was no threat to America or its neighbors. Thousands of Americans are dead, wounded or mentally screwed up and millions of Iraqis are dead, wounded, mentally screwed up or displaced from their homes.

Another boorish American, Scott Pelley (of 60 Minutes) hammered Ahmadinejad about sending weapons into Iraq without even once acknowledging the immoral tons of weapons that we rained on the citizens of Iraq during “shocking and awful;” the cluster bombs that look like toys that litter the killing fields of that country and have killed and maimed so many children; the mercenary killers that outnumber our troops and use the people of Iraq for target practice; the thousands of tons of weapons that the US let out of such weapons dumps as al-Qaqaa that were left unguarded while the oil ministry was heavily fortified. Not to mention that America supported Iraq in its eight year long war with Iran that killed an unbelievable amount of people on both sides of the border. The hypocrisy of our system is spectacular and deadly in both ignorance and arrogance.

We here in America are living in a fascist state that regularly puts corporate profits and an insatiable and evil thirst for power above people and their needs. Our supercilious leaders and media are so busy calling the kettle black, they don’t notice or care how dark our pot is. We are supporting Israel in their human rights violations against Palestine, illegally occupying two countries on our own and we have the nerve to claim any kind of moral superiority over anybody?

The fascist, near dictatorship of the Bush regime (a la Nazi Germany) has even intimidated universities to align with their hypocritical murderous rhetoric. Universities should feel free to invite anyone to speak to open much needed dialogue in our country and in the world. And if a person is invited, they should be treated by the person who invited them with a slight modicum of courtesy and then let the rocking and rolling begin with the “Q & A”…which would truly be a free exchange of ideas. I am surprised President Bollinger didn’t have President Ahmadinejad tased.

Peace is going to take all the nations working in cooperation to limit naked aggression and human rights’ violations, not just the ones which the US declare as evil. How many nukes do we have? How many does Pakistan have? How many does India, Israel, North Korea, and the former Soviet Union have? Should the rhetoric be about destroying all weapons of mass destruction and not just prohibiting Iran from obtaining one?

Many countries are committing human rights' violations and sending arms and troops into many parts of the world. America's biggest export is violence and we would do well to call for an end to all occupations and violence by beginning to end our own.

Let’s clean our own filthy house before we criticize someone else for theirs.

Editor's Note: Cindy Sheehan is President (by acclamation) of the Whitmanian Republic.

International Day of Peace

Is 1 day a year too much to ask?

The Whitmanian Republic

When the Whitmanian Republic secedes from Jesusland and confederates with our neighbors to the North, we will need to adopt a new flag. I suggest something along these lines. Leaves of Grass forever...

A Voter in the Booth is like a Rat in a Maze

In an article posted on today's WSWS, Bill Van Auken writes:

"Both major parties and all the existing political institutions function to disenfranchise the antiwar majority. They represent not the interests of working people—the vast majority of the population—but those of a narrow financial elite whose wealth and power are bound up with militarism."

When will the people of this country decide that enough truly is enough and take back the government that styles itself "of, by, and for" the people? Elections under the current system, the present out-dated Constitution, don't cut it. Only the exceptional Republicrat or Democan comes close to representing the interests of the people of this country; unfortunately, the exceptional do not make a difference under the present regime.

A non-violent people's revolution resulting in: (1) a Constitutional convention and (2) a multi-party, parliamentary democracy are the necessary first steps towards the Whitmanian Republic this country could be but never will be until the narrow financial elite whose wealth and power are bound up with militarism are sent packing.

Sadly, in the United States today, elections have become one of the most powerful of the opiates used to control the masses. We are like rats in a maze trained to push levers that once gave us food; we continue pushing, only now the levers are connected to...nothing.

VINTAGE JOHN KERRY

In response to the Andrew Meyer incident, John Kerry posted the following statement on his web site:

09/18/2007

WASHINGTON D.C. – Sen. John Kerry issued the following statement today, in response to the arrest of a student at the University of Florida.

“In 37 years of public appearances, through wars, protests and highly emotional events, I have never had a dialogue end this way. I believe I could have handled the situation without interruption, but I do not know what warnings or other exchanges transpired between the young man and the police prior to his barging to the front of the line and their intervention. I asked the police to allow me to answer the question and was in the process of responding when he was taken into custody. I was not aware that a taser was used until after I left the building. I hope that neither the student nor any of the police were injured. I regret enormously that a good healthy discussion was interrupted."

That's right Senator: you coulda, shoulda, woulda...but the fact remains that you DIDN'T. You coulda-shoulda-woulda been President, but you're not.

What ever happened to the John Kerry whose lightning reflexes saved his comrades in the jungles of Viet Nam? Election, co-opting by the plutocracy, and mediocrity.

He should spare us his second thoughts; all they ever do is get him into trouble.

Why Is John Kerry Not Standing Up for Andrew Meyer?

Is it because he is compromised, like 99% of the Democan Party? The questions Meyer posed to Kerry were reasonable, fair, and questions that I personally would like to hear his answer to.

Meyer's website is here.

Dear John:

Though I voted for you in 2004, I would have voted for Richard Nixon in 2004 if I thought it would have rid us of the imbecile son of privilege who presently occupies the Oval Office. If you are unwilling to answer Meyer's questions, perhaps you would be willing to answer mine: How is it that you, so courageous long ago, have become a coward and a snake?

The revolution will not be televised.

Dennis Kucinich on Remembering 9/11

Let us on this day mourn for those who tragically lost their
lives on 9/11. And let us commit that their lives not be lost in
vain, but become the basis for a new America of peace and
justice. America must regain the moral high ground in our
efforts to recover from 9/11.

Let us not forget the world was with America in our sorrow on
September 11, 2001. The world was prepared to unite with America
in a cooperative effort to challenge terrorists who attempt to
disrupt civil society. Instead, the Administration used 9/11 as
an excuse to attack a nation that did not attack us. Iraq had
nothing to do with 9/11, or with Al Qaeda's role in 9/11. Iraq
did not have the intention or the capability of attacking the
United States. Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction.
Yet the Administration deliberately and falsely conflated 9/11
with Iraq, with the cooperation of an unquestioning media.

As a result, nearly 4,000 of our brave soldiers have lost their
lives, and tens of thousands have been permanently injured in
combat in Iraq. The subsequent occupation has fueled the
insurgency and will continue to result in more troop losses
until the United States leaves. Also, nearly one million
innocent Iraqis have lost their lives as a result of this war.
This violence against an innocent people is a tragedy of immense
proportions. It is also a violation of international law, and
those who authored this war must be held accountable for their
actions.

Americans will spend close to $2 trillion in Iraq by the time
the costs of this war are totaled, but the longer term costs
have included the undermining America's moral authority in the
world, the separation of America from the nations and the
peoples of the world, and the destruction of a domestic agenda
which is being deferred while we borrow money from China to
fight the war in Baghdad.

We need to call those who used 9/11 to take us into war against
Iraq to an accounting under the U.S. Constitution, U.S. law, and
international law. We must soon begin a period of truth and
reconciliation in our own nation. We must have forums of open
dialogue throughout the country where we can come together to
remember who we were before 9/11, to share our personal
narratives of the times when we felt most secure, most in love
with our nation, most trustful of our democratic institutions.
We must recover our capacity for civic action. We must reclaim
our nation. The only way we can do that is to tell the truth.

Dennis Kucinich

Lying Liars and the Lies They Tell, Part 2,473

General Betrayus. Sound analysis by Barry Grey.

Cindy Sheehan for President

Cindy Sheehan is more intelligent than the current occupant of the Oval Office; she has more compassion than the current occupant of the Oval Office; she is more articulate than the current occupant of the Oval Office; she is more honest than the current occupant of the Oval Office; she has moral authority that the current occupant of the Oval Office does not even begin to approach (not that genuine moral authority has ever been on his radar); she is not a hypocrite like the current occupant of the Oval Office; she is not a tool of the Plutocrats of the Military-Industrial-Complex nor is she complicit with their Christo-Fascist agenda.

So why is Cindy Sheehan running for Congress?

With all due respect for Dennis, Barack and Ron, Cindy Sheehan outclasses every current candidate for President of the United States.

Since I presume the plutocratic political theater we are being treated to during this premature election season is just that--plutocratic political theater--the Democratic Party Ticket will be Clinton-Obama. The Republicans plan to run, let's see, probably Lucifer and Beelzebub--one of whom is sure to have a "wide-stance." In any event, since HRC is Nixon in a skirt, I will be writing-in Cindy Sheehan in the general election. Before I do that, I'd like to see her in some of the debates.

Let's just cut to the chase: CINDY SHEEHAN FOR PRESIDENT. A candidate with a genuine CONSCIENCE FOR A CHANGE.