An Open Letter to George W. Bush and the People of the United States

It was Tom Paine who began Common Sense with a simple proclamation that “These are the times which try mens souls.” Such could not be more true now than when Mr. Paine of blessed memory wrote them over 200 years previous. Our souls are sorely tried, sir, by the current stream of thought and action coming from your White House (the author is loathe to call the building at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC, our White House).

Sir, your administration is an utter failure. You sought revanche against a small band of religious fanatics and have instead of delivering them to the hands of justice, wrought havok upon the nation which harbored them and upon another independent republic which you and your administration used as a pretext to destroy. You and you alone played guitar and ate birthday cake while your own ministers worried about how far to roll up their sleeves or else ignored pleas while a city drowned. Any man with a sense of honor should have offered his resignation to the Congress over a year ago. You have not. Instead of the proverbial roses and candies being tossed to our troops in Baghdad, we find them cannon fodder for a warped neo-conservative worldview.

You place untold men and youths into a foreign detention center out of communication with their families, legal representation or even a mechanism for trying them for their alleged crimes. Your Department of Justice kidnapped a citizen of a close ally of the United States while en route to his home from a family vacation to a third country where he was tortured and offer no explaination for this act. In former times, this ally might consider it an act bordering upon an undeclared act of war.

Your administration is attempting to weasel its way through the Constitution, basic human rights under the UN Universal Declaration, and the common sense of decency as understood by most people in the world by finding an apology for torture — agressive interrogation — non-fatal physical discomfort — or whatever you may call it. The world thought that the last public outrage over legal torture had ended before Voltaire drew his last breath, but such is not the case.

Your Secretary of Defense, one Donald Rumsfeld, is obviously incompotent in directing a war of any magnitude. The BBC reported the following this very evening, the 24th of September, 2006 regarding the “leak” of a classified document that surmised that the invasion and occupation of Iraq was in fact, abetting the “terrorism” which you so loudly decry:

Last Updated: Sunday, 24 September 2006, 17:19 GMT 18:19 UK

The BBC’s defence correspondent Rob Watson says this is not the first time the US intelligence community has said that the war in Iraq has made the problem of Islamist extremism worse.

Indeed it had warned that might happen even before the US-led invasion in 2003.

Pakistan man waving Osama Bin Laden poster
Many have been inspired by al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden
But, our correspondent says, this latest finding, known as a National Intelligence Estimate, is the most comprehensive report yet, based on the considered analysis of all 16 of the US intelligence agencies.

According to the New York Times, which has spoken to officials who have either read it, or been involved in drafting it, the report says the invasion and occupation of Iraq has spawned a new generation of Islamic radicalism that has spread across the globe.

[snip]

It reportedly concludes that, while al-Qaeda may have been weakened since the 11 September 2001 attacks, the radical Islamic movement worldwide has strengthened with the formation of new groups and cells who are inspired by Osama Bin Laden, but not under his direct control….

This is the same SecDef who has been quoted in the press as saying that the next person who brought up the “reconstruction” of Iraq to him during the hot war there “will be fired.” He is your minister, Mr. Bush. He is hand in glove with your and your collective obviously erroneous assessment of “staying the course.” The morgues in Baghdad continue to be the most popular place for impromptu get togethers in the city as the last two months saw over 2000 persons murdered in the area, many with signs of torture and still bound…

Your Vice President, Richard Cheney, is not fit to preside over a school board meeting, much less the Senate of the United States of America. His corporate ties are not hidden to anyone; one wonders where his allegiance lies: to the country or his oil corporation cronies?

Your Attorney General, is a talking perversion of our ancient Anglo-Saxon tradition within the Common Law as well as our current statutes. His inverted sense of justice is an outrage. His refusal to hold timely trials or to even establish a system of holding them in accordance of anything resembling a legitimate court of justice — of advocating the basic near-universal rights of a defendent to have access to all evidence both potentially exculpatory and incriminating under the veil of “state secret” is dispicable. He does not deserve to be a member of any bar, much less the AG of the USA.

Mr. Bush, you have ignored pleas for peace and an open administration, driven us into national penury and yet found time for vacation upon vacation. One wonders who actually governs? This writer has little faith in our present Congress, and none at all in your administration. None. For the sake of the country and what dignity we have left, please resign and take Messrs. Cheney, Rumsfeld and Gonzales with you.

In closing sir, your administration currently jangles sabres at the state of the Islamic Republic of Iran. What Iran is doing is what multiple states, even those in this hemisphere is doing, and that is enrich Uranium for the use of power reactors. The very program in which Iran is currently engaged is one begun by President Eisenhower! It lay in stasis for many years, but began again after the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution which ousted the tryant Reza Pahlavi, the soi-disant “Shah.” Those close to your administration claim that Iran is developing enrichment technology in order to produce a nuclear bomb. Reputable researchers from around the world disclaim their ability to assemble any such weapon at their current rate of development for perhaps ten years. The consequences of a war with Iran would be utter disaster for the United States, the neighbors of Iran and the country of Iran. Every analysist knows this. You know this. Why let the sabre-rattling continue? To make us live in fear? To make us into two camps, one that is “terrorist-enabling” (the current opposition party) and one of “patriots and terrorist slayers” (the other major political party)?

No, Mr. Bush, we aren’t afraid. We know your game and it disgusts us. It is time for you to return to Texas. I call upon you to resign or else for the House of Representatives to impeach and the Senate to try you for high crimes and misdomenors. I call for the same actions towards your VP and the cabinet officers identified above.

Mr. Bush and fellow citizens, the government is ours, not Mr. Bush’s and Mr. Cheney’s. The House and Senate represent us and have the power of the purse and oversight and to declare war, not the President. Allow us to close with a reflection on the words of James Madison:

“Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes…known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. . . No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.”

The Public Expression of Religion Act, or How the Right wishes to bankrupt the ACLU

 

 

1st Session H. R. 2679

To amend the Revised Statutes of the United States to eliminate the chilling effect on the constitutionally protected expression of religion by State and local officials that results from the threat that potential litigants may seek damages and attorney’s fees.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

May 26, 2005

Mr. HOSTETTLER (for himself, Mr. WAMP, Mr. NORWOOD, Mr. JENKINS, Mr. PAUL, Mr. DOOLITTLE, Mr. SODREL, Mr. WELDON of Florida, Mr. ALEXANDER, Mr. BACHUS, Mr. PITTS, Mr. INGLIS of South Carolina, Mr. OTTER, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. JONES of North Carolina, Mr. KINGSTON, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland, Mr. POE, and Mr. BARRETT of South Carolina) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

---

A BILLTo amend the Revised Statutes of the United States to eliminate the chilling effect on the constitutionally protected expression of religion by State and local officials that results from the threat that potential litigants may seek damages and attorney’s fees.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Public Expression of Religion Act of 2005′.

SEC. 2. LIMITATIONS ON CERTAIN LAWSUITS AGAINST STATE AND LOCAL OFFICIALS.

(a) Civil Action for Deprivation of Rights- Section 1979 of the Revised Statutes of the United States (42 U.S.C. 1983) is amended–

• (1) by inserting `(a)’ before the first sentence; and

• (2) by adding at the end the following:

`(b) The remedies with respect to a claim under this section where the deprivation consists of a violation of a prohibition in the Constitution against the establishment of religion shall be limited to injunctive relief.’.

(b) Attorneys Fees- Section 722(b) of the Revised Statutes of the United States (42 U.S.C. 1988(b)) is amended by adding at the end the following: `However, no fees shall be awarded under this subsection with respect to a claim described in subsection (b) of section nineteen hundred and seventy nine.’.

————————————————————————————————

That is the text of the noxious bill which was just approved by the House Judiciary Committee. Under the aegis of “religous freedom,” the Republican Unenlightened House seeks to undermine all acts of relief from abuses resulting from ignoring the Establishment Clause of the US Constitution.

The purpose of this proposed legislation is simple: to bankrupt the ACLU by making an enjoiner of the award of attorneys fees from any damages awarded by a court in an Establishment case. Injunction alone would be the award of any damages. In other words, one may sue over publicly funded prayer, Ten Commandment monuments, etc. as an individual or a group, but any fees from work on the case would not be awarded as part of the adujication. Once again, let us slip out of legalese:

What this basicly means is that a school in Deepest Darkest Wherever can have prayer in a public school, put an icon of Jesus Christ on the wall, and hire a religious teacher for “Biblical Literacy classes” — all out of the public coffers — and a parent or group of parents seeking relief must hire their own lawyers or handle the case themselves, or else hope and pray (no pun intended) that a civil liberties organization will take their case absolutely pro bono or at a diminished fee. “Winning” such a case would be simply a ruling from the presiding officer of “Now cut that out! Bad! Bad! Bad school! Bad! Bad!”

The number of such cases taken on by the ACLU would be absolutely cut into a fraction of the present number. To compound matters, school boards have been largely supportive of actions that breach Mr. Jefferson’s “wall.” Right wing organizations, such as the VFW, the AFA, and others relish the thought that the ACLU might be ultimately silenced effectively by this legislation.

This will make relief a privledge of the wealthy or the well-connected alone. This must be condemned by the House and never allowed to reach the Senate. But will it? One has to wonder if the last desperate gasps of the Talibangelists is not now being heard. Will it become absolutely pitch dark before the dawn breaks in the United States? This HJC vote is getting but small press, the small nonprofit NewStandard, excepted. Michelle Chen of NewStandard reports on 12 September 2006:

Groups like the ACLU, which represents plaintiffs in many church-state cases, say the attorney-fee awards in successful cases are necessary so that lawyers can offer their services to individuals without charge. Jeremy Leaming, with American United for Separation of Church and State, acknowledged that the bill could affect the group financially, since it has received court-ordered compensation in past cases it has litigated. Nonetheless, he pointed out that the bill does not propose comparable restrictions on attorney’s fees for individuals or groups that sue to defend religious exercise in government or public settings. The main problem, he argued to TNS, is that the bill’s supporters “don’t particularly like the way a lot of federal courts have ruled on church-state issues… and their intention is to see church-state lawsuits stop.”

We see it in a similar light. We urge all who love the freedom of religion in this country to join with us to decry the HJC vote and to preserve our heritage of Messrs. Jefferson and Madison. Two tiered justice is no justice at all. It is Unamerican, repugnant to the spirit of the Constitution, if not the Constitution and precedent themselves, and an agenda attempted to be foisted upon the People by a small group to silence dissent.