Corrupt Systems

[Pelosi], too, is frustrated with the ongoing war in Iraq but believes that impeachment would be divisive and distract Congress from improving the lives of working families.

— spokesperson for Nancy Pelosi: Drew Hammill

The above quote from House Speaker, and my opponent, Nancy Pelosi’s spokesperson would be hilarious if it were not so damn tragic. The quote was in an article about my recent visit and speech to students, faculty and the community members at CSU San Marcos. I wonder how long Drew stayed awake to think up this quote, and I wonder if Drew and Speaker Pelosi think that we, the American people, are too stupid to realize that our lives have been “improved.”

After five years of warfare on the people of Iraq; almost eight years of warfare on the American public and about 15 months of the reign of the Democrats in Congress, working class families of America have paid the heaviest price.

The human cannon fodder that BushCo believes is so expendable and that Pelosi funds, come mostly from the working class. Over 4000 American soldiers are dead and not one of them has been named Pelosi, Bush, Cheney, or Hoyer. Not one has been plucked out of the boardrooms of mortgage bankers or war profiteers. When I was on the campus in San Marcos, I met many Iraq vets (the campus is close to Camp Pendleton) and young women whose husbands are currently in Iraq. One young woman, Ashley, told me that her husband had a torn ACL and the military would not let him come home from Iraq. He is 22 and the continued stress will probably leave him permanently disabled and he is doing a job he was not trained for. I wonder how Ashley feels now that Pelosi is considering giving BushCo more money to continue the occupation than he has even asked for to “support the troops.” When in reality, many members of Congress are invested in, or receive tens of thousands of dollars for their re-election campaigns from companies that do quite well during times of war.

Gas is over 4.00 a gallon and the price of food and other essentials are sky rocketing, accordingly. A frightening number of homes are heading into foreclosure and jobs (that doesn’t involve asking “Would you like that super-sized?”) are being lost or sent overseas. I am sure that many Americans can really use their $300-$600 or $1200 dollar “gifts” from Uncle Sam to fill up their tanks or buy groceries while George and Nancy’s friends in the investment banking industry will be able to recoup their losses via our federal tax dollars. Do you feel like your life has improved, yet?

Drew Hammill saying that impeaching the war criminals would be a “distraction” is like George’s spokesperson, Dana Perino saying that George was going to tell the Pope that we have “responsibilities to care for our brothers and sisters in need at home and across the world.” I guess the people of Iraq and Afghanistan are excluded from the “generosity and compassion” of the Bush regime.

At the end of my talk at the University, I was handed a 3 by 5 index card with this question: “We have a two-party system here in American… you may not like it, but that’s the way it is. You should just get used to it.” Firstly, with “opposition” parties like the Democrats led by Bush-buddy, Nancy Pelosi, is it a fact that we do have a “two” party system? Do we, as people of conscious and true compassion need to “get over” things that are inherently and profoundly harmful and wrong?

I would hate to see how badly off we would be if everyone thought as that questioner does? What dangerous and stinkin’ thinkin’! We must allow our political system to degrade even further because it is the system we have?

We had the system of slavery.
We had the system of all white-male/property owning suffrage.
We had the system of child labor.
We had the system of “separate but equal.”

Thank God for people like Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Henry David Thoreau, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr, who all courageously rejected the corrupt systems that they existed under and refused to get “used to” violence and oppression.

We need to boldly face up to Nancy Pelosi and her ilk who don’t want to be “distracted” from impeachment because the legislators are too busy trying to figure out how they can rape their constituents more fully to fatten the already bloated, fat-cats.

I urge you to reject the Republican-Democratic stranglehold the distinct criminal class of Congress has on our democracy and our very lives!

Cindy Sheehan is the mother of Spc. Casey Sheehan who was killed in Bush's war of terror on 04/04/04. Sheehan is a congressional candidate running against Nancy Pelosi in San Francisco. You can visit her campaign website at CindyforCongress.org. She is the co-founder and president of Gold Star Families for Peace and The Camp Casey Peace Institute. Read other articles by Cindy, or visit Cindy's website.

20 comments on this article so far ...

Comments RSS feed

  1. Rich Griffin said on April 20th, 2008 at 6:10am #

    Bravo, Cindy Sheehan!! WE need leaders like you!! Thank you for running for office. When I hear their nonsense as to why a treasonous president ought not be held accountable for his & his administrations’ actions as being “too divisive” it makes me unable to support any Democrats. It sets a precedent for continued abuse of the american people, not to mention the people of Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Korea, and wherever else the war parties decide to drop bombs and ruin lives.

    “Viability” is used again and again to stop us from doing what is right. We who want real change in our government have to ignore them and keep on working towards the changes – by supporting other parties (maybe we should stop referring to ourselves as “third” parties; we are other parties, outside of the box thinkers). If I lived in your district, I would definitely vote for you – more and more progressives need to run for office wherever there is a lack of a progressive voice, regardless of “viability”: the message is what is important right now, not winning (although that would certainly be nice!)

  2. Meredith S. Hopson said on April 20th, 2008 at 7:50am #

    Ms. Sheehan has been a voice of the people for a very long time. And she does it only for the Love of this country. But it strikes me odd, that a female speaker, Nancy Pelosi, takes the low road instead of the high one which I would expect a female to take, given the repression of the status quo, white males, on their given gender. Quite troubling. It is a conditioned response akin to the Stockholm Syndrome.

    Females and minorities, I being a Black Male, time and time again throughout our history in these You-Nited States, get into positions of power, then get scared to rock the boat because they are in it. But isn’t that why they decided to get into the boat to begin with?

  3. hp said on April 20th, 2008 at 8:40am #

    I wouldn’t trade our two party system for all the oil wells in Israel.

  4. Bob Redmond said on April 20th, 2008 at 2:50pm #

    “One young woman, Ashley, told me that her husband had a torn ACL and the military would not let him come home from Iraq. He is 22 and the continued stress will probably leave him permanently disabled and
    he is doing a job he was not trained for. ”

    I assert that the previous statement is a fabrication by Ms. Sheehan, or a fabricated story told to her. I’m astounded more the readers haven’t realized it. Does she believe we are all stupid, or is she that naive? I don’t know maybe some of us are.

    First a torn ACL isn’t a permanently debilitating injury. Don’t believe me, ask any Orthopedic surgeon. Many former pro football players played large portions of their careers without them(the days before surgical repairs).

    Second the knee surgery can be delayed for years, I personally know a man, whose recreation is power lifting. He functioned for more than a decade without an ACL and MCL (he finally had his knee repaired after wrenching it playing volleyball).

    Third, a Marine(assumption) doing a job he wasn’t trained for. What job? Supply clerk or brain surgeon? Since all Marines are combat trained(including the women) I am left to assume he is doing a job far less physically demanding, and more administratively centered. Or otherwise know as boring!

    It’s easy to write as Ms. Sheehan writes. Facts aren’t important. If the facts don’t support her narrative, she fabricates them. I am surprised and disappointed at the enthusiasm her story is greeted with, in fact it saddens me.

    I could go on, but enough said.

  5. John Hatch said on April 20th, 2008 at 4:40pm #

    If Bush & Cheney are not to be held accountable for insults to the Constitution, for kidnapping and torture and the illegal invasion of Iraq and the killing of approximately a million people, shouldn’t the many thousands of victimless ‘criminals’ held in US jails be set free?

    If what Bus & Cheney have done does not merit accountability, then surely nothing does.

    Letting them off is a cowardly act and a dereliction of duty.

  6. John Hatch said on April 20th, 2008 at 4:42pm #

    I think Cindy Sheehan is one of the few genuine American heroes. She should be honored and celebrated by all.

  7. Hue Longer said on April 20th, 2008 at 5:44pm #

    Yeah Bob, that know nothing wife of that crybaby with a torn ACL needs to listen to and believe your stories and stop treating us like we’re stupid. Or is Cindy stupid? Who’s stupid again?

  8. Frank Bubo said on April 20th, 2008 at 6:54pm #

    Impeachment of Bush and Cheney et al. is not an option, it is a duty for all of the Congress. Impeachment is not the removal of the accused, it is the accusation leading to a trial. Impeachment, if properly done, would allow the public to finally have access to many truths that have been swept under the rug by the government and the compliant media.
    Impeachment would stall the “progress” of the warmongering, corrupt administration and help save lives — American lives, Iraqi lives, and lives in countries the administration still longs to attack.

    Impeachment should be the number one priority of the entire government and it is a travesty that it is off the table. The election of Cindy Sheehan cannot solve this immediate problem, but it can help reverse the course of history by replacing a professional politician with a person of conscience in the U.S. Congress.

  9. Kim Petersen said on April 20th, 2008 at 6:55pm #

    Bob,
    Since you are not, I assume, a doctor or an orthopedic surgeon, upon what do you base your assertion?
    Are you suggesting that a torn ACL is no big deal? That 22-year-old men should put their health at risk — and for what: an illegal and immoral war!? What is your reasoning here?
    And case studies do not necessarily generalize to others.
    As someone who has had a torn ACL (on more than one occasion), I know that what is required is to stay off one’s feet and engage in physiotherapy.

  10. dan e said on April 20th, 2008 at 7:00pm #

    Well, “Bob Redmond”, you rethuglicans* can “assert” all you want but let’s see if you can provide any facts to back it up;)

    *what, you thought you were the only Troll on here possessing the ability to read minds at a distance? LOL:)))

  11. anthony innes said on April 20th, 2008 at 8:36pm #

    Frank Bubo says it all. The Constitution demands no less.
    Nader is calling for an IMPEACHMENT agenda .
    Any candidate not calling for the IMPEACHMENT process is working for the banksta crims who are destroying the USA.
    The world will reject the USA dollar as long it is not backed by Justice and this is only indicated by IMPEACHING the administration that has abetted this treason.
    The USA is completely at the mercy of the market forces it helped unleash.The dollar game is over and it will take a stiff dose of the truth to wake the world’s consumer class up. The producers are going to reject worthless paper that cannot be exchanged for food and real tools for a better life. Illusions die hard but citizens of the USA are in for it like the rest of us. Gated communities will be the first choice of hungry hordes. Society is only about distribution .

  12. Rich Griffin said on April 21st, 2008 at 2:30am #

    We need impeachment to proceed. We shouldn’t vote for anyone who takes impeachment off the table. While there is much to admire about Nancy Pelosi, I’d vote for Cindy Sheehan if I lived there. Let’s demand impeachment!!

  13. Hue Longer said on April 21st, 2008 at 2:57am #

    “Wendy” or “Bob” is easy…So I’ll address Rich,

    What exactly is admirable about Pelosi?

  14. Hue Longer said on April 21st, 2008 at 4:56pm #

    OK Bob

    You’re intentionally missing the point of the article by attempting to discredit one small part of it which as you can see from the responses here, does not make Cindi Sheehan naive for believing or a liar thinking that we are stupid and will.

    So you just dropped in to discuss that?

    But my “best shot” would have to be noticing your similar choice of a name, syntax, arrogance and faux well wishes of that of another Cindi Sheehan troll, Wendy

    Your arguments for ACL tears being no big deal are insane, but you addressed Kim…

  15. D.R. Munro said on April 21st, 2008 at 5:49pm #

    Woah, woah . . . Bob, you are suggesting politicians fabricate stories? Or *gasp* even out-right lie!?

    Holy shit, this is news to me. When did this start happening?

    I sure hope it doesn’t become a trend. Who knows, we may even have a President some day that might be lying or fabricating stories! This IS as big a deal as you are making it! We should IGNORE all facets of a piece and just focus on one minute area of insignificant detail. This is the most productive thing to do, anyway.

    Don’t you agree, Bob?

  16. bobredmond said on April 22nd, 2008 at 6:40am #

    Good morning Hue.
    Calling me Wendy is your best shot? Amazing! As for my politeness, I guess we can disagree while still keeping it civil.

    The “one small part” of the story we have been referring to is a fabrication. What Ms. Sheehan asserts is not credible( I believe I have illustrated that sufficiently). If in fact she is willing to fabricate a portion of her story to enhance the credibility of the story, it calls into question her honesty. Secondly if she was duped into printing a non credible story it calls into question her judgment. Ms. Sheehan discredited herself. Anyone who then reads and then defends it as factual, calls into question their own sophistication.

    Listen this has been fun, but I’m going to move on now. I hope the weather where you are is better than here, its been raining the last few days. I hope it stops soon, I need to plant my Sun Flower seeds. I feed the birds all winter with them. You take care.

    Bob

    PS. D.R. sarcasm and profanity just don’t cut in the big leagues. Grow up and start thinking as an adult. Just some friendly advise.

  17. D.R. Munro said on April 22nd, 2008 at 6:44pm #

    Really, sarcasm doesn’t cut it in the big leagues (which you wrongly assume you are playing in)?

    Johnathan Swift must have played in the minors with Schopenhauer, Goethe, Camus, Sartre . . . etc. etc.

    Clearly, though – you are far surperior to the above.

    You keep making it sound like this is a revelation. Show me a politician who never fabricated a single thing. You fabricate things. I fabricate things. It is quite (quite) immaterial.

    People will tell you what they think you will most respond to, and what will lead to your contributing the most to them. This is not a secret, or a revelation. If you think it is, than you need to ” grow up and start thinking as an adult.”

    “Just some friendly advise.”

  18. bobredmond said on April 22nd, 2008 at 9:05pm #

    Hi D.R.:

    I’d respond but your not worth the effort, and I’m not here to convince you. I’ll only make one observation. I don’t and won’t question your education, only your sophistication.
    I wish you well, Bob.

  19. Wendy said on April 23rd, 2008 at 8:20pm #

    Hue Longer don’t read shit…he’s a semi paid fuckwit who posts his garbage because that’s his job

  20. D.R. Munro said on April 23rd, 2008 at 8:20pm #

    That marks twice that you have dodged accusations and confrontations by attacking my personal character.

    Care to make yourself a fool for a third time?