One of the beautiful aspects to living on the other side of the world is the international date line; it\’s already been July 4th for a little over twelve hours here. As such, it means I woke up to my Independence Day with such happy news — that of the Oh, Happy Day sort. Karl Rove has been outed as the leaky source of CIA agent Valerie Plame. Newsweek has the breaking story available in full here. Could this be the beginning of the end for The Architect and all his plans? One can only hope.
U.S. attorney and former Congress member Elizabeth Holtzman wrote in The Nation (June 28, 2005) that the current administration can and should be held accountable for the injustices and lies that have been revealed relating to the torture at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay. Even current US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has \”expressed deep concern about possible prosecutions under the War Crimes Act of 1996 for American mistreatment of Afghanistan war detainees.\” The Bush administration has wholly violated the Geneva Conventions. Everyone related to this (Rove, Bush, Cheney, Rice, Powell, Gonzales, Ashcroft, Sanchez, Rumsfeld, etc.) is a war criminal.
Justice Sandra Day O\’Connor said \”A state of war is not a blank check for the President.\” Bush and his administration should not be allowed to get away with the numerous crimes against humanity, the global community, the American public, and the so-called American legacy of justice. A Congressional hearing or independent investigation such as the 9/11 Commission must be held.
And of course, Justice O\’Connor announced a few days ago that she is stepping down. When Bush gets back from the G8 Summit next week, he will be announcing his nominee for the Supreme Court.
Now don\’t tell me none of this concerns you or that there\’s nothing you can do about it.
I call bullshit.
Every person in the world should be concerned that the most powerful administration in the world is literally getting away with murder. Every woman in America should be concerned that so-called moderate O\’Connor will likely be replaced with a conservative, anti-abortion Justice. The Supreme Court has an abortion case on its schedule for the next session, which resumes in a few months. This case will federally decide the legality of females under the age of 18 receiving abortions without knowledge and consent from their legal guardians. Your rights are in danger of infringement. Act now.
Supreme Court: What You Can Do RIGHT NOW (Courtesy of DailyKos)
Whatever happens with the Supreme Court nomination battle that is about to ensue, it\’s going to happen fast. Here are some things you can do right now:
- If you have a cell phone, sign up for People at the American Way\’s Mass Immediate Response site. This way, you\’ll be able to receive text message action items instantly as events break. (If you signed up during the nuclear option fight, you\’ll need to re-sign up.)
- Also sign up with the Save the Court, another PFAW website devoted specifically to this issue.
- Recruit friends and family members to the cause.
- Write to the President, telling him he should choose a consensus candidate to replace O\’Connor.
- Contact your Senators to tell them the same thing.
- Sign MoveOn\’s \”Protect Our Rights\” petition.
- Contact members of the media and tell them you think Bush should nominate a consensus candidate. PLEASE be polite, be brief (200 words or less), and don\’t do copy-and-paste jobs – put things in your own words.
- Stop by Hunter\’s thread and make suggestions for potential nominees.
If you have a blog, please post these action items on your site. If you don\’t, e-mail them to your like-minded buddies and relatives.
I don\’t want to hear \”there\’s too much politics\” or \”leave me alone\” or \”I don\’t have enough time\” or \”I already do my part\” or \”it doesn\’t concern me\” or \”I can\’t do anything that matters.\” So entirely not true! It\’s called citizen\’s responsibility. Global citizens. World citizens, living locally. Glocal citizens with civic responsibility.
Passive neglect destroys freedom
- As Glocal citizens with civic responsibility, we are responsible for maintaining our freedom.
- Unless we plan on completely dropping out of the world and living as hermits, we have a duty to remain informed of the current and ongoing issues of the day, particularly when those issues effect our rights or the rights of others.
See also: Social Responsibility
Today\’s Homework Assignment
Today, whether you live in the USA or not, ponder those too-often bandied about words: freedom, independence, and responsibility. What do they mean to you? In terms of your history, your country\’s history, your family\’s history? In terms of your current life, or the life you wish to have, or the lives of the people you only read about? In terms of the future? What do you want out of these lofty concepts, and how can those desires best be achieved? I wager that any realistic thoughts have nothing to do with sitting at home, quietly keeping to yourself, while a democratic entity of which you could participate in steamrolls over your rights because so few people bother to try to stop it.
TECHNORATI: karlrove, rove, warcrimes, sandraoconnor, supremecourt, bush, dailykos, glocal, civicresponsibility, socialresponsibility
