Love Life, Liberty? Impeach Bush/Cheney Rally/March in Palo Alto

George Johnson, from Veteran's for Peace and Annie and the Vets came and gave a great short little speech and sang "Connecticut Yankee." Tian Harter and Drew (jamboi) both spoke on behalf of the Santa Clara Green Party and the Silicon Valley Impeachment Coalition. Galen also spoke on 9/11, and, with his booming voice, led most of the chants during our march (He also was in Snowshoe Films NYC Ground Zero 9/11/06 film, and will be featured on Kevin Barrett's show, soon). Julia Bernd represented the Peninsula Peace and Justice Center and spoke very briefly, encouraging everyone to come to the rally at the Civic Center on Saturday whose theme is Get Out of Iraq - Stay Out of Iran. Unfortunately, the Raging Grannies, Code Pink, and others were busy with other actions and couldn't make it to ours, too. There is just so much being done all over the Bay Area all this week and next week!

I forgot to bring a camera and so did Tian, but a photographer did show up. Miraculously, he was from the Palo Alto Daily News which has ignored me consistently for over six years, and ignored over a hundred demonstrations, rallies, marches, and events that I have organized. The photographer stayed around for quite a while and took a few photos as we marched, spoke and chanted down the sidewalks on University Avenue encouraging people to support impeachment, and passing out our flyers about the upcoming rallies and the national campaign to boycott corporate America from Tax Day to Earth Day to send the "Impeach for Peace and Justice" message to the powers that be.

We ran out of flyers, people were receptive to our message. We also went to Eshoo's office, I presented my latest letter ; we all signed in, then returned to Lytton Plaza to break bread and pow-wow a bit on further actions. Drew noted 4/11 also was "411" meaning info and we thought that would help with our publicity efforts to make next month's rally larger and more powerful. It just takes a lot of effort and more people, than just me, to pull off something "big."

Here is the full text of the Letter to Eshoo:

Dear Congresswoman Eshoo,

Since the Democrats are now in the majority in the House of Representatives, it is hard for “We the people” to endure Congress’s lack of scrutiny—and even encouragement—of Administration policies that have led us into immoral, illegal wars, gutted our Constitution and Bill of Rights, created the monstrous “Homeland Security/Police State Apparatus” that threatens the civil rights of peace activists and dissenters more than it threatens “high-level Al Qaeda operatives”—who have been assisted, employed, and protected by the FBI, the CIA and the military, blatantly, under your watchful eyes. There has been no move by the Congress to rescind the offensive Patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act, nor has there been an outcry against the institutionalization of torture, the new legislation that allows the Executive Branch to easily declare “martial law,” and the abolition of posse comitatus or habeas corpus. Bush and Cheney continue to lie, to attempt to link 9/11 to Iraq, to bully and threaten other nations, and to terrorize the American people and Congress.

Bush and Cheney’s flagrant high crimes and contempt for truth, justice, the Constitution, International Law, and human life have outraged the entire planet, uniting people everywhere against the United States government. The best hope for the country and the world is for Congress to commence impeachment proceedings and to immediately begin to roll back the Administration’s aggressive, imperialistic policies.

While I appreciate the token gesture that you made to oppose the escalation of the Iraq conflict, that is hardly a substitute for denouncing an illegal war and cutting funding for continued aggressions and occupations against other nations. I ask you to think deeply about the situation and side with the American people and the world and do what you can to impeach the criminals who have hijacked our nation and reverse their policy decisions. In Palo Alto and throughout the country, and in Washington DC, and even in South America, people are rallying to voice their opposition to the United States government, to reject its terrible policies, its unending, immoral, illegal wars, that threaten all of us.

We want courageous representation in Washington, not a rubber stamp Congress that will continue to fund oppression and take us back to the Dark Ages when rulers could declare who was a “heretic/terrorist” and have them tortured and condemned to death.

There are ample reasons to impeach Bush and Cheney. These are just some of the most obvious that the Santa Clara County Green Party have agreed upon:

1. WARRANTLESS SEARCHES: ordering the National Security Agency to conduct secret warrantless searches and seizures of the private personal communications of American citizens, without oversight by the legislative or judicial branches of the government, in violation of the 4th Amendment of the Constitution and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of the Congress (FISA 1978);

2. TORTURE: authorizing and permitting torture against human beings, in violation of the Geneva Conventions (1864-1949) and the United Nations Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1985);

3. INDEFINITE DETENTION: depriving American citizens of their constitutionally guaranteed rights regarding unjust imprisonment and speedy and public trial, in violation of their rights to guaranteed liberty and due process of law in the 5th and 6th Amendments;

4. WAR OF AGGRESSION: launching an illegal, unjust and undeclared war against the sovereign state of Iraq, in violation of Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution and Chapters 1, 6, and 7 of the Charter of the United Nations (1945);

5. USE OF ILLEGAL WEAPONS: authorizing the use of illegal chemical and radioactive weapons in military campaigns, notably white phosphorous and depleted uranium in Iraq, in violation of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR 1948);

6. DELIBERATE DECEPTIONS: repeatedly, consciously, and with forethought, lying to the American people and the U.S. Congress by providing false and deceptive rationales for an unjustified and illegal war in Iraq, obstructing justice by destroying evidence, and covering up the truth about the 9-11 attacks;

7. ATTACKING CIVILIANS: authorizing, ordering, and condoning direct military attacks on civilians and civilian homes and communities, thereby causing widespread death, maiming and destruction in Iraq, in violation of Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; and
8. VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL TREATIES: violating and unilaterally abrogating lawful signatory treaties, such as the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (1972) between the United States and Russia, the Treaty of Rome (1950) establishing the International Criminal Court and the Geneva Conventions providing for humane treatment of combatants and civilians, in violation of Article VI of the Constitution acknowledging these treaties to be "the Supreme Law of the Land."

We plan to hold monthly “Impeachment Rallies” in Palo Alto, until Congress finds the courage to move forward with impeachment. I am also committed to my weekly vigils to expose the truth about 9/11 and expose the bogus “War on Terrorism” for what it truly is- a “War of Terrorism” against the American people and the world.

Sincerely,

Carol Brouillet