Sunday, October 29, 2006

Impeach or Secede??

With eight whole days left before the 2006 elections, I feel my depression of the last month or so lifting. A lot of us have been depressed. Perhaps because we feel so little in control of our fates, waiting on some small percentage of the population to cast the votes that will have some minimal effect on our lives.
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If the Republicans somehow keep one house -- or through massive voter fraud both houses! -- we will have massive disgruntlement and some grassroots organizing versus any alleged fraud. But Bush will start his war on Iran and silence dissent, including of elected Democrats. If the Democrats take the House, the grass roots will rise, organize and demand impeachment. The Democrats may or may not go along. Either way, Bush will start his war on Iran and silence dissent, including of elected Democrats.

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Nevertheless perhaps we should try to be optimistic that Bush and company won't have the chutzpah or ability to steal the elections -- or go to war on Iran -- either before or after the grassroots rise and demand impeachment. Of course, it is doubtful that the Democrats, fearful of starting a tradition of impeachment, will do so. They'd rather have a powerless corrupt president than have to impeach one bad apple, get another, Cheney -- and then have to impeach him. And end up with whatever horror Cheney might choose to replace him -- John Negroponte? Richard Perle? Or maybe John McCain, knowing that might assure the Republicans win in 2008. (But let's not give them any ideas!)

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Under our very imperfect constitution, impeachment is one of the few punishments citizens can impose on their leaders. Politicians' refusing to do so is just one more in the long chain of abuses that presses us on to a new declaration of independence from our current form of government. So the slogan IMPEACH OR SECEDE is one of many that we may find ourselves being able to promote -- or consider adopting -- in the coming year or so.
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Below is a photo of our October 28 UNITED WE SUCK Halloween protest at the White House. Mocking Bush and warning him of what is to come. See the silly video.

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Secession Convention in Vermont Nov 4-5

The Middlebury Institute (Vermont) for the study of separatism, secession, and self-determination came out of a November 2004 "radical consultation" of individuals in Middlebury, Vermont. The group put out the impressive Middlebury Declaration.
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One of the group's leading members, Kirkpatrick Sale, author of the book HUMAN SCALE, is Director of the Institute and is organizing a second meeting of a few dozen secession-oriented individuals the first weekend in November, 2006. (Needless to say, these aren't election-geared activists!)
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According to the Institute's page, in the last six months a dozen organized groups, another dozen potential groups, and a number of individual scholars, researchers, and journalists have shown interest in attending the conference. I haven't decided if I can make it to the convention.
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However, the popularity of my RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO ALTER OR ABOLISH GOVERNMENT t-shirt I sell at
CafePress.Com the last couple months convinces me millions of people are ripe for an alternative to our obviously failed constitutional system.
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Of course, my main fear is that any secessionist movement will rapidly degenerate to just another movement of men with guns fighting other men with guns. So a nonviolent movement friendly to women's needs and views is very important to me. See my article
Woman vs. the Nation State.
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Below is the leaflet I've been passing around at a lot of events to start building a local DC group -- especially one that can host a regional secession meeting in the spring in D.C.

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It is STILL the “right of the people to alter or abolish” government...
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The 1776 Declaration of Independence declared the above. The 1789 U.S. Constitution was written as an EXPERIMENT in REPRESENTATIVE and MAJORITY RULE democracy. After 217 years we can clearly see the EXPERIMENT has FAILED. Representative, majority rule democracy has become rule BY the SPECIAL INTERESTS and FOR the SPECIAL INTERESTS.

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Corporate and military-industrial lobbyists, professional lobbyists, government bureaucrat lobbyists, and even foreign governments and their supporters have a stranglehold on our political process, suppressing our rights and choices, stealing elections, looting taxpayers, destroying the economy, promoting terrorism and bringing us to the edge of nuclear Armageddon.
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Yes, it is time to greatly ALTER or even ABOLISH our governmental structure. While you are thinking about ALTERNATIVES...
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Check out
SECESSION.NET - hoping soon to help create a worldwide Secession Network based on principles of: Right to Secede - Community-Based Secession - Libertarian/ Decentralist Political Processes - Nonviolent Secession and Institutions. Radical political decentralization–with secession as its bottom line strategy--is a movement whose time has come. Tens of millions of activists worldwide are committed to national, ethnic, religious and regional secessionist movements described variously as: self-determination, independence, autonomy, sub-national, micro-national, separatist, sovereignty, indigenous, homeland, Fourth World.
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Ideological movements promoting individual, community or regional rights to secession include: anarchist, libertarian, decentralist, devolutionist, cantonal, green, bioregional, "small is beautiful," communal, survivalist, pacifist and futurist.
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Secession.Net presents an alternative of self-determining, self-governing communities networking and confederating as necessary at the regional, continental and worldwide levels. And it promotes direct, consensus-oriented democracy - as well as libertarian contractual and trans-territorial - governance (or non-governance) alternatives.
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Read the
Middlebury Declaration and you'll see similar sentiments.

Fear, Loathing and October Surprises

For two years I have been working against a U.S. or Israel attack on Iran. See my page StopTheWarNow.Net. Like a lot of people, I've been particularly alert to all the warnings of an "October Surprise" -- including those by Ray McGovern and Howard Zinn at the end of my Camp Democracy video.
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After years of fighting, I've been having bouts of depression over the possibility of this evil war - not to mention how much time and treasure I've wated fighting it. Congress passing and Bush signing the
Military Commission Act of 2006 compounded my disgust. But we protesters just keep on protesting. At a DC Antiwar Network pot luck dinner this week we discussed doing a nuclear war die-in and blocking K Street traffic so people will start paying attention to the possibility of nuclear war. See my somewhat outdated but photo-filled nuclear war web page.

At least I had some fun putting together a video of my friend Jose Rodriguez' Nuclear Death protest, photos of which are picked up by some wire service at almost every protest. Here are the two of us on the most recent 9-11 during a 9-11 protest.

At this point, I doubt that Bush will be dumb enough to order an attack on Iran - or a pretext for an attack - before the election. That is because he knows that even if he loses the House and Senate, once he decides to attack Iran he'll easily rope Congress into supporting him -- especially if his boys undertake a successful "False Flag" operation.
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As so many have been saying, soon enough "Remember the Maine" and "Remember the Lusitania" and "Remember the Gulf of Tonkin" may become "Remember the Eisenhower" if Bush and friends try to sink the aircraft carrier recently sent to the Gulf as a pretext to war. But then Israel tried like hell to sink the U.S.S. Liberty to bring the U.S. into war against Egypt in 1967 and that didn't work. Instead of dead heroes, Israel ended up with angry sailors who are still trying to get the truth out that the attack was deliberate -- and even possibily supported by the U.S. government.

If the Democrats do take the House and Senate, expect me to be reporting on lots of IMPEACH BUSH - NO MORE EXCUSES rallies in D.C. Then instead of having to prove he isn't coming up with an "October Surprise," he'll have to prove he isn't coming up with a "Wag the Dog" war. Will the deja vu all over again of our imperial leaders never end??

Latest Photos and Video

As usual I've been busy organizing or attending protests in D.C. Camp Democracy ended September 21. We gave Bush a little bit of hell, anyway. See Lots of photos of the camp, speakers, participating groups, activities, etc. here. See funny video of the Bush Chain Gang playing with Diet Coke and Mentos. Also see my 9 minute Camp Democracy video
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September 7th I had fun protesting the Iran war in the midst of a bunch of Iranians protesting former Iranian president Khatami's speech at the national cathedral. I made a video.
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The September 26 National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance did a great protest and civil disobedience at Congress with over 50 arrests, including inside a Senate office building. On the 27th Declaration of Peace did another with another 20 odd arrests. See photos and video of both events. (You'll see a photo of me at the World Can't Wait protest on the photos page too.)
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See photos of the October 17 Washington Region Religious Campaign Against Torture civil disobedience which took place at the White House right after Bush signed the Military Commissions Act of 2006 which legalizes torture and removes basic "habeas corpus" rights even from citizens.