George W. Pelosi vs. The World
Allow me to make something clear: I don't care what Democrats think about impeachment. I don't care what Republicans think about impeachment. I don't care what Greens think about impeachment.
What I care about is whether American citizens still believe in self-governance and can come together as citizens - not political loyalists - to prevent another war.
It's this simple:
1. I believe IMPEACHMENT is the only way to prevent another offensive war - this time against the people of Iran.
2. I believe American citizens have sponsored enough DEATH and MISERY and DISPLACEMENT and DESTABILIZATION and TERROR by looking the other way while Republicans AND Democrats have used WAR to further their own narrow political interests.
3. I believe citizens have the RIGHT and the DUTY to COMPEL politicians to act on behalf of the public good, whether they want to or not.
4. I believe IMPEACHMENT - at this point - starts with changing the calcified, cynical mind of Nancy Pelosi; and that doing so requires PROTESTING IN HER DISTRICT.
5. I believe I am not alone.
Love,
Arvin Hill
Friday, July 27th, 1:45pm CST
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The following post was originally published on July 21st, but I'm bumping up the date just to keep the post from disappearing for the next week or two.
Or three.
Or longer.
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Nancy Pelosi is the linchpin. It is SHE who is greenlighting every ongoing and future crime of the Bush-Cheney Administration. It is SHE who refuses to hold the outlaws in The White House accountable.
And it is the people of San Francisco who are failing to compel the woman THEY sent to Washington, D.C., to represent THEM. So, I ask you, San Francisco, is Nancy Pelosi the conscience of her district? Or have you all simply ceded your own authority - and abandoned your conscience - by acquiescing to her cynicism?
Each day she is not held to account, it is Pelosi who is ushering the nation and the planet down to the next level of Hell - with all the blood and death and financial ruination and sheer misery that entails - so she can deliver a "historic" speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver next year. NEXT YEAR!!!
How DARE her.
How DARE the Democratic Party refuse to do what is right.
What a horrible, indelible stain on the city of San Francisco, whose people are better than this.
All those progressives, visionaries and anarchists willing to tolerate such naked corruption in their own backyard while the bodies pile up at home and abroad. Is everyone there so drunk on this year's cool new drink that they no longer give a damn? So high on E that "it's all good." So fucking stoned they just can't muster enough outrage to take to the streets?
I ABSOLUTELY REFUSE TO BELIEVE THAT.
If the World Bank attempted to hold a convention in San Francisco in the next seventy-two hours, does anyone doubt thousands of people - from all over the West Coast - would converge there to make their displeasure known? "Organizers" would be pouring out of the woodwork. Where are they now?
Yet their own Congressional Representative - "Madam Speaker" - gets a pass for her egregious neglect. For her indifference. For her political calculations which are costing lives day after day. Week after week. Month after month.
Year after year.
How hard would it be, really, for CITIZENS - the ones in HER DISTRICT - to say NO MORE. The nation would stand behind them. Those who care about, not only our fate, but the fate of people all over the world who have been victimized, and continue to be victimized, by monsters of our own making. We would stand with you, San Francisco, to say ENOUGH.
Enough fear.
Enough terror.
Enough thievery.
Enough destruction.
Enough contempt for those with whom we share this planet.
If politicians only understand Big Money - which everyone knows is exactly what they understand, and to the exclusion of everything else -should there not be a Citizen's TAX on the blood-soaked tyranny Madam Speaker is so ably and cynically promoting by her inaction?
Are Americans even capable of understanding the concepts behind the tortured words freedom and democracy? Can we remember what they meant before we surrendered them to greed and avarice and indifference? Did we ever know?
Does America have a soul?
7/21/07 - 10:27am
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Update: Read Ray McGovern's account of the meeting he and others had on July 23rd with John Conyers regarding the subject of impeachment:
"Throwing salt in our wounds, he had us, and some 50 others in his anteroom arrested and taken out of action as the Capitol Police “processed” us for the next six hours."San Francisco's hometown gal, Nancy Pelosi, says impeachment is "off the table." No matter how many crimes George W. Bush and Dick Cheney have committed. No matter how many crimes they are committing today. No matter how many crimes they commit between now and the time of the Democratic National Convention next year.
July 24th, 2007 - 11:00PM CST
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posted by Arvin Hill at 7/24/2007 11:59:00 PM
21 Comments:
being the autodidact you are,I imagine you are already familiar with the concept of ",learned helplessness", which represents a nexus between your interests in politics(especially contemporary democratic politics) and depression.
I didn't looked for a description of the classic 1967 Seligman experiment, in which dogs were first taught to press a lever to turn off a shock, then shocked repeatedly with the lever still available, only the lever no longer worked. Eventually the dogs stopped trying to press the lever and just took the shock, even after the lever started working again.
sorry-- an earlier revision had me saying "I didn't find" but I didn't change it completely. Me grammer normally pretty good.
n mah spellin's uzhoo-ally tray magnifeek!
since Ah done led you to believe yo got 3 comments, the least ah could do iz include the wiki entry on LH, here. Note the link at the bottom to battered person syndrome.
Human behavior is a wild and woolly phenomenon.
There are times when shame can penetrate the conscience when reason cannot.
Not often.
But sometimes.
Jonathan's point is taken. But, Arvin, you're not asking only, "Where are the individuals?" You're asking, "Where are the organizers?"
P.S. Specifically, in San Francisco.
Anyway, my point being that it is with charismatic (or, at least, energetic) organizers that a sense of hope in community effort may be had, when individuals feel fractured and powerless.
EXACTLY, idyllopus.
There is no way the World Bank could show up in San Francisco without an outpouring of organized resistance. Were such an announcement to be made tomorrow, the planning would be begin immediately.
Yet San Francisco's hometown girl announces "Impeachment is off the table," and it is met with a collective yawn. Irony becomes absurdity.
Why aren't those same organizers enlightening Madam Speaker in her hometown?
I don't presume to know what would happen. No one can possibly know.
What I DO know is that Pelosi's political calculation in giving Bush free reign as the Criminal In Chief makes her complicit. The American people have THE RIGHT and THE DUTY to hold her accountable since she refuses to hold the Bush Administration accountable.
Among other things, a significant convergence of demonstrators in San Francisco could make Democrats think twice about oiling the gears of the Bush-Cheney War Machine as it plods toward Iran.
It could force the amoral, fence-sitting, obfuscating Democrats in Congress - not to mention the ones running for president - to actually take a position instead of getting away with the duplicity which defines their every utterance on the Occupation of Iraq.
Such a visible spectacle could spark a REAL anti-war movement - as opposed to the anti-war movement which currently exists solely in the heads of deluded liberals and disingenuous pro-war "conservatives."
It could trigger demonstrations in other major cities throughout The United States.
It could FORCE a national dialogue regarding our bleak post-Constitutional landscape.
It could show the world that Americans are capable of taking responsibility for the monsters we have unleashed on the world.
It could also fail. SO WHAT.
If we are roused from our slumber, then it will have been worth it.
If we continue in our collective pathology of delusion, then at least we will have tried to regain our senses.
As things now stand - to our lasting shame - we have done NOTHING. We cannot continue on this path indefinitely.
This bizarre notion that Americans can just sit around waiting another year and a half - slogging through death and destruction day after day so the Democrats can have their triumphant celebration in Denver - is something anyone with a sense of decency should find abhorrent. It is morally indefensible.
The Bush-Cheney War Machine is THE AMERICAN WAR MACHINE. Both parties are fueling it; and the American people, by pretending we are unable to resist it in any meaningful way, are directly responsible for the hell it is creating for millions of people. This has to stop.
Passivity can no longer be an option when our nation is being bankrupted in every sense of the word. It's time for all of us to wake up and do what we KNOW is right. And that is to say ENOUGH in a way that guarantees we are heard.
An anti-war movement has to start somewhere. What better place than San Francisco.
Passivity can no longer be an option when our nation is being bankrupted in every sense of the word. It's time for all of us to wake up and do what we KNOW is right. And that is to say ENOUGH in a way that guarantees we are heard.
Well, dammit; you dragged me back in.
Look, You're off the rails here. You are a patriot (of sorts), jingoistically waving the flag in your own way.
Why? Because you care about the nation being bankrupted in all senses possible. And what is that? A static collection of cultural remnants (most of which BTW aren't good for anyone, although, like a Dove bar, they're deliciously indulgent but with consequences that become evident down the line).
To save the nation is to be static -- to be nostalgic for heroic stories heard on the knee of others. Good lord, let it die a dignified death that it's asking for. Don't be the boomer that wants to live forever through artificial means. It's just pathetic, not heroic. What kind of quality of life does one have breathing through life-support?
Once it's dead and rotting, new life will spring forth from its carcass. I don't know what that'll be -- it's up to the gardeners to figure out, but hopefully it won't be something that needs tending by force.
The fake problem here is that you have Pelosi and Clin-ton, and the Democrats and what fool thinks that they're the solution to anything? They have their own personal ran-dez-vooz with destiny. So they have a vested interest in history. Like unethical doctors, that care about the money they'll make treating you, not if you can still "get it up". Clin-ton will take reigns just in time to extend the Iraq fiasco, and just in time to turn up pressure on Iran covertly (Did Clenis do anything positive from '92 to '00 WRT Iraq or did he keep the sanctions and keep bombing shepherd boys? Fuck No.)
So anytime you talk about preserving the national values, cultures, etc -- you make the argument that this particular order is worth saving or that it has values that should be imposed on others -- not cooperatively by inclusion -- by removing nationalistic borders and extending, but through force of exclusion.
But that's OK -- I turn to my friend time. It gets no respect because it's multi-generational. It is the force that likes everything in equilibrium. No matter how much we artificially prop up a specific wave in the ocean, eventually our arms get tired, and we see the futility of fighting against time and it's formidable old-man patience.
Like the Beatles said, "Let It Rot". Or maybe it was the Ruttles. It was probably the Ruttles because I hate the Beatles.
See, I know you're right.
I believe you. I truly do.
The little problem I have is that while I'm content with domestic rot, the international rot is not going down well. I don't expect to see anything good from Old Glory if I live the be a hundred & fifty. But the thought of, say, nukes dropping on Tehran is problematic for me. It's not about the Star Spangled Banner. It's about answering the question: Is there anything - anything at all - that can possibly done by The Public (as distasteful as that word seems to many, including myself) which might avert such a catastrophic, cataclysmic horror?
I DON'T EVEN WANT TO ASK IT. For all the reasons you cited. But I can't help myself. I'm weak.
I'm having a hard time with the seeming inevitability of the U.S. government blowing up people on the other side of the world.
I wouldn't be the first person it drove nuts, and this is probably a sign of that. But I'm not convinced that being considered sane in our insane society is either desirable or, for me, doable.
I can't organize my desk. I'm not a leader. I'm not a follower. I'm damn sure not looking for anything resembling heroism. Or celebrity. Or anything else. I don't even vote anymore. Democrats? Hopeless. Truth? Hopeless. Reality? Don't get me started.
My spasm of civic consciousness is analogous to the last twitches of a dying man. But it isn't about The Republic. It isn't about some golden future or a glorious past.
I'm just tired of death. Exhausted from the prospect that millions more have to die before we finally consume ourselves and give everybody else a break.
America's brain tumor is terminal. Uncle Sam is dead man walking. I just don't like him roaming the neighborhood in his underwear wielding nuclear warheads. And all I want to know is if there is any way America's global killing rampage can be mitigated.
As I said, I'm weak.
I don't mind looking like a nostalgic moron, all idealistic and shit, for asking the question.
Okay, well, I mind a little bit. But at least I'm not haunted by that prospect.
I'm just tired of death. Exhausted from the prospect that millions more have to die before we finally consume ourselves and give everybody else a break.
Goddamn it but that's the type of creepiness that I was talking about. If you are an autodidact like Versen mentions, then you know that possibly the only advantage it bestows is to be cohortless and to have the freedom to not care. No baggage of classmates. No need to fit in with tattoos, mascara and posing. No uber-ideologous professors to fill your head with bullshit.
Then you turn around and find the internets is full of cohorts. It's damn depressing, is all, when any advantage seems to disappear. Damn those internets.
I deal with the death by tuning up the tunes to unreasonable levels. Like right now, it's Anna (El Negro Zumbon). But your obsession and self flagellations is obsessive -- you seek it out when others are doing their best to shield you.
I was watching CNN the other day and Michael Ware was going on about the progress in Al Anbar. It was all about how the Iraqis were doing housecleaning on their own given the proper mindset. The good guys had some guy trussed up on a pickup bed, dragged him off, kicked him in the head a few times, stood him up against the berm, and unloaded about a hundred rounds into him.
But with utmost sensitivity, CNN faded to black just before the 100 bullet barrage started. I was impressed with their compassion for the viewing public.
Back in the 80s the death squads had to move furtively in the dark, and our hand had to be invisible. But thanks to the internets, we evolve. Now we're proud enough of them that there's no need to deny them like bastard children. We show them off proudly to the neighbors -- "Look Arvin, my boys done good. They're graduating. I'm as proud as only a proud parent can be. It makes me weepy to know that the best of values has passed to the next generation."
Having proudly showed you the wallet accordion photos of progeny, let me return to my main point in the previous post.
Although we (I) look like we (I) don't care, that's not so. You people trying earnestly to fix a dilapidated structure is interfering with progress. You can deride our inaction (and what appears as uncaring), but that misses the point -- sometimes action is counterproductive. I'll never keep mom on life-support because I want her around, uncaring of the pain she's in. No matter the medical progress; the fucks will never restore her as I remember her in my mind when she cared about me like a mother could. They can bring specialists in all day for I care. There's no going back to something that exists in my kid-head.
I know my mom. She'd want to go when her time came, not be used as a bitch for those wanting to exploit her in treating her death.
It's most gratifying to know you understand the core point: ...that millions more have to die before we finally consume ourselves and give everybody else a break.
You mean the sooner we consume ourselves, the better for the millions? :-)
My stomach is full of spicy basil duck after an early-to-mid afternoon of frolic in consumer paradise. And It Was Good.
A nice Zinfadel and Syrah were procured.
And now it's time for a simple pleasure: a long nap. Otherwise, I elaborate on my incorrect position to a spectacularly useless degree. Since I'm sparing us both from that - at least for the time being - I can only say that I actually appreciate your stubborn conviction, if only because I understand it all too well. When I read your commentary to Mrs. Hill, she said "That sounds like you," to which I replied Doesn't it though? So, I'll readily cop to a level of schizophrenia to my personhood.
And what of yours? Your resignation, wise though it may be, can't be complete, or else the last thing you would be doing is perusing political blogs. I'm not saying this as a gotcha, but am honestly curious about why you would busy yourself with such a pastime. Is it just apocalyptic rubber-necking? That's not a value judgement. But why do you feel so compelled? How can that be pleasurable?
Now, the nap. If I don't come back, I probably just didn't wake up. But I'm thinking I will wake up, and, dare I say, kind of hoping I do. Even though I know I am not immortal and am grateful for that fact.
And what of yours? Your resignation, wise though it may be, can't be complete, or else the last thing you would be doing is perusing political blogs. I'm not saying this as a gotcha, but am honestly curious about why you would busy yourself with such a pastime. Is it just apocalyptic rubber-necking? That's not a value judgement. But why do you feel so compelled? How can that be pleasurable?
It's just an attempt to stave of Alzheimers. I may be an half-assed existentialist, but that doesn't mean I don't know the value of LULZ.
Besides, I gots to keep an eye on you earnest types else your small successes may offset my desired rate of decay.
Whaddya know. I woke up. Good thing I bought groceries earlier. I'll need my energy later today for the suits at The Comedy Channel when I pitch That's My Stasis!
* * * * *
"Goddamn it but that's the type of creepiness that I was talking about."
Death was my fourth sibling. Being down to two in my soft middle age, I can't just turn my back on family.
"If you are an autodidact like Versen mentions, then you know that possibly the only advantage it bestows is to be cohortless and to have the freedom to not care. No baggage of classmates. No need to fit in with tattoos, mascara and posing. No uber-ideologous professors to fill your head with bullshit."
There's a measure of truth to that, except caring is an intrinsic part of my nature; one accentuated by exposures to certain environmental factors at an early age. Comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable are natural proclivities for me. (The combination does not look good on a resume, but one without the other can yield an impressive income). As fate and fortune would have it, I happen to be fairly comfortable, which creates a tension I call life.
Life is something I enjoy a great deal. Except when I don't.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I do have a tattoo. As you can probably hazard a guess by now, it is not your average yin-yang, eagle, tiger or Sigma Phi; but, rather, a 14th Century woodcut. Opinion is deeply divided, with some calling it creepy and others calling it wicked. Both creepy AND wicked were all the rage in the 14th Century, so everybody's a winner. It's remarkable how well the original aesthetic has held up.
"Then you turn around and find the internets is full of cohorts."
BZZZT goes the klaxon.
I'm up to about a half-dozen "cohorts" after two and a half years of blogging, and that's a generous estimate. If being adored was a motivation, I would have at least redecorated the place in a way that lets in some light, not to mention the indisputable badge of serious commentary, Google Ads. But I've never been keen on artificial light.
"It's damn depressing, is all, when any advantage seems to disappear. Damn those internets."
Appearances, like advantages, are deceiving.
Among other things, my autodidactilitiness affords me the luxury of dwelling in the nether-regions between LULZ and eye-rolling sincerity. This particular vehicle is often propelled by the latter; and, when necessary as dictated by the limitations of language, the appearance of the latter, which a skilled lawyer could successfully argue constitutes LULZ. I'm no-billed either way. This is a contributing factor in my low cohort count, as people tend to be uncomfortable encountering The Disembodied.
Something I gleaned from Society Of The Spectacle - go ahead and sigh, I'll wait.
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Is that The Spectacle can't be defeated, but it can be fucked with. How different from that is Phil Ochs saying struggle is its own reward? It ain't.
And before you do your best Dennis Miller impersonation, or Dennis Leary, or Dennis The Menace or That Other Dennis... "struggle" doesn't have to be a 24/7 drag. Maybe your friends who throw around the word altruism like it actually means something are a drag, but I'm a barrel of laughs.
"It's just an attempt to stave of Alzheimers. I may be an half-assed existentialist, but that doesn't mean I don't know the value of LULZ...Besides, I gots to keep an eye on you earnest types else your small successes may offset my desired rate of decay."
Well, aren't you the hooker with a heart of gold.
You know what they say: There's no success like small success. It's the only success I'm familiar with - but there are always holes in the autodidact's understanding of The Way The World Works.
I do like the phrase, desired rate of decay. Rather coincidental, too. A couple of weeks ago, my exploratory committee was searching desperately for an inspiring tagline. We settled on Necrosis! Death! Decay! The final stretch - the last 45 days or so depending on the radioactive fallout - standard operating procedure dictates a softer approach emphasizing unity. At that time, the campaign will transition to a kinder, gentler Together, We Rot! Qualifying for matching funds might be a problem, but The Committee says a PayPal button and a bimbo video jingle are probably enough to clear the hurdle.
Which brings me right back to where I started: In good old San Francisco.
See you there!
I'm just about ready to ask for your snail mail so I can send you a couple of Brunner's books. You should read them, really.
Since you mentioned The Sheep Look Up, I've thought again and again about what a perfect title it is.
Drop me a line. It's in the sidebar.
If I don't respond promptly, it's because one of the dogs is an early riser and I have another fabulous nap on my schedule.
Super. You'll hear from me once I've rounded up my copies, in a day or so :-).
An off topic pointer.
For you (Arvin) who are versed in the language and arts of the ad world, I was at a bowling party this weekend and found this cultural mash-up interesting.
http://www.idyllopuspress.com/meanwhile/?p=1487
Different key elements were noticed when I was taking the photos. I only began wondering about the meaning in the altogether when I started doing post-production on the photos.
I have a question: Why does Chris Floyd post the IP of his commenters?
I like his material, but superficially -- at least to me -- that seems like like a dickish thing to do.
A public conversation between a group of people doesn't need to be an exercise in tattooing the internet.
I ask you this because you direct us to him.
Ask him yourself, Your LOLZness. I'm neither his minder nor yours.
many SF eggs are in nancy's basket. this was where street-level energy disappeared after the unsuccessful (ok -- doomed -- but, people can hope) effort to block the iraq invasion. there's a strong feeling in favor of impeachment but it isn't going to shake the ground as it did in '03. this is my feeling.
i would like to add that with the recent round of bad news about climate stuff many very effective people i know are curled up in balls, crying. that doesn't cover everybody but shock has its impact, like misplaced faith.
Faith in others, when it exceeds the faith we place in ourselves, is always misplaced.
There is a time for grief. That time has come and gone. This is a new day.
Have we already reached a point of permanent resignation, content to lick each other's wounds and rationalize our unwillingness to engage in principled opposition to forces which are neither invulnerable nor invincible? How many people do we have to kill with our tax dollars before we realize we are most assuredly not at that point? Before we realize that we are, in fact, responsible for the unimaginable scale of horror being committed in our name?
As the old broad who hatched me used to say: "Snap out of it." Sometimes I did and sometimes I didn't, but it was always sound advice.
Quaking against The Bush Administration and its satellite robots in Congress during the lead-up to the Iraq Invasion & Occupation was one thing. A focused and sustained action against Madam Speaker is a different creature entirely. It would not be symbolic.
However impractical such an effort may appear, I would urge people not to submit to the illusion of futility - a self-perpetuating illusion which, not coincidentally, is the very thing allowing Madam Speaker to so cavalierly disregard her duty without consequence. The odds against success may be great, but they pale in comparison to those faced by anti-war demonstrators opposing the pre-ordained invasion of Iraq. Nonetheless, citizens turned out en masse. They can - and should - do so again.
I received a snarky email shortly after my original post pointing out the absurdity of a [liberal] Texan complaining about a [liberal] California politician. My response was that Texans never claimed to be the guardians of progressive politics and activism. If Pelosi's constituents refuse to challenge her failure to pursue impeachment, that particular boast is one the conscientious citizens of San Francisco should be prepared quietly abandon.
I am seriously dreading the prospect of making a long, expensive trip to San Francisco to stand with a sign for thirty days - tired, hungry and alone - facing indifference, derision, a good deal of discomfort and the possibility of a stinging defeat.
Yet, when I consider the alternative is doing the same thing as Pelosi's constituents - absolutely nothing - it becomes increasingly difficult, despite being a reclusive homebody, to justify my avoidance of that scenario, bleak though it may be.
Were I an activist in San Francisco, I would be mortified less by the possibility of issuing a challenge and failing than by the disturbing knowledge that a Texan was the sole protestor against my political representative - SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE of the United States Congress - for her role in aiding and abetting George W. Bush as he prepares yet another spectacle of carnage in The Middle East while simultaneously trashing, without any meaningful resistance, the U.S. Constitution.
Sitting around crying about past failures, immobilized, for the next year and a half is not an option for anyone with a conscience. We are human beings with the freedom and obligation to act, and our failure to do so now will haunt us for the rest of our lives... just as it is haunting us now. And I KNOW I am not alone in that. I can't be.
Damn, I hate having to play the role of self-righteous scold in this situation. Absolutely hate it. This is not how I want to be spending my time. As a person who is neither a leader nor a follower nor an organizer, I get queasy at the thought of doing time as a one-man protest against Nancy Pelosi on the streets of San Francisco, especially without the benefit of a support network. But if nobody else feels compelled to do it - and all indications at this point is that no one does - I have little choice but to do exactly that.
Due to to magnitude of the injustice, it is better to challenge those responsible for the situation and go home defeated than offer no resistance whatsoever even if it yields the same result.
Thank you, hapa, for stopping by and taking the time to leave a comment. If you see any weeping, paralyzed activists in your area, please tell 'em to snap out of it. The message will sound much nicer coming from you than me - especially if I have to go into debt on a thirty-day campaign to shame them into action. It won't be pretty, but it won't be any uglier than the complacency, resignation and dispiriting submission among people who are fully capable of ACTION.
Nelson Mandela said "The time comes in the life of any nation when there remains only two choices: submit or fight."
What's it gonna be, San Francisco? So far, you have chosen to submit. Do you have any fight left in you?
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