Mikael of ImpeachforPeace Empowering citizens to hold our elected (or otherwise in power) servants accountable

Keynote speaker Army Lieutenant Ehren Watada had just stepped up to the podium at the 2006 Veterans for Peace annual convention last August 12th, when about two dozen of his fellow Iraq War veterans silently filed up to occupy the stage behind him in a spontaneous act of solidarity for his stand against the war, in effect saying: “We’ve got your back, Lieutenant”.

©2006 Mikael Rudolph ~ Lt. Ehren Watada speaks at 2006 Veterans for Peace Convention

Lt. Watada’s refusal to redeploy to Iraq – the first commissioned officer to do so – has resulted in a highly publicized, as of yet unresolved court martial and led to family members becoming full-time D.C. lobbyists on his behalf.

Watada stoically paused for a full minute before resuming his speech (YouTube video) as the crowd of nearly a thousand military veterans from many wars stood to thunderously applaud again, just as they had when he was first introduced after dinner moments earlier on the final night of the conference, which was held in Seattle on the campus of the University of Washington.

This past Monday, March 19th in conjunction with other protest events in Washington D.C., around the U.S. and the rest of the world on the fourth anniversary of the Iraq invasion, many of the same members of Iraq Veterans Against the War ‘occupied’ our nation’s capital in an effort to illuminate what innocent civilians in Iraq experience daily during the occupation of their sovereign homeland by the military forces of the United States of America.

©2007 by Jeff Paterson, Courage to Resist ~ Volunteer ‘insurgent’ taken into custody by IVAW

IVAW board chair Garett Reppenhagen, one of the organizers of the street theater project, was quoted on their website as saying: “We are calling Monday’s action Operation First Casualty because we believe that truth was the first casualty of this war. Our aim is to show the American public the truth of the US occupation in Iraq.”

©2007 by Jeff Paterson, Courage to Resist ~ IVAW ‘on patrol’ by Capitol Building

Reppenhagen further clarified the mission of IVAW by stating: “It is time for the American people to know the truth so they will act to bring the troops home now.”

©2007 by Jeff Paterson, Courage to Resist ~ IVAW ‘patrol perimeter’ of White House

Multiple actions were staged over the course of the day around D.C. with local activists volunteering to serve as civilians in authentic portrayals of what actually transpires between U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians.

©2007 by Jeff Paterson, Courage to Resist ~ More ‘insurgents’ rousted by IVAW

The tables were momentarily turned, however, when some IVAW members were briefly detained by Secret Service and Park Police according to Indymedia. The activists, shown below with Reppenhagen in the foreground, stood “at ease” while the security agencies decided how to deal with these unarmed, uniformed veterans who had been expressing themselves in accordance with the First Amendment Constitutional Rights that they had sworn an oath to “Support and Defend” upon their induction into military service.

When asked for permission to utilize these photos in conjunction with an article about their activities, Reppenhagen responded: “You can pimp the action all you like. That would be awesome.”

©2007 by Jeff Paterson, Courage to Resist ~ Awaiting D. C. Secret Service clearance to resume

Permission to use these copywrited photographs was granted by Jeff Paterson of Courage to Resist, an organization dedicated along with Lt. Watada, IVAW, VFP and ImpeachforPeace.org to supporting the troops who refuse to fight in a war they all denounce as illegal and immoral as stated on the IVAW website:

“Iraq Veterans Against the War was founded in 2004 to give those who have served in the military since September 11, 2001 a way to come together and speak out against an unjust, illegal and unwinnable war. Today, IVAW is made up of close to 400 members in 42 states, Washington, D.C., Canada and serving in bases overseas.

©2007 by Jeff Paterson, Courage to Resist ~ Iraq Veterans Against the War in D.C.

IVAW gives its members the opportunity not only to connect with other veterans and active duty soldiers but also to speak with one voice. As members of IVAW, they go to colleges, middle schools, high schools, churches, libraries, and to the media – and give first-hand accounts of what is really happening in Iraq. As eyewitnesses and participants in the war on terror, they are viewed as credible sources that are able to explain why the war must end now.”

Keith Ellison, who I just listened to speak at the Peace Rally in Loring Park last Sunday, voted with the mainstream Democrats in favor of the supplemental bill to continue funding the Iraq War, which passed the House 218-212. He, the most loyal peace politician we all know, voted to continue funding the war.

Ouch.

Our House Representative – MY Representative Keith Ellison did, however, participate with the national Democrats to narrowly pass a bill to call an end to this endless war at some point – a bill that the ‘resident has already pledged to veto anyway.

Am I disappointed with Keith Ellison, who I also supported above and beyond all other Democratic candidates long before he received the DFL endorsement?

No… but yes.

I called and asked his aides to tell him to vote against it, then I called and explained after the fact how I understood the choice Keith had made to vote for it.

Neither vote would have ended the war. Neither vote would have changed anything except in forcing the public dialogue – in framing the debate.

This ‘resident will not obey Congress so the passage of this bill means nothing to him. His veto is a guaranteed death to it. This ‘resident will not obey the Supreme Court, instead he simply has Congress pass a bill to legalize his lawbreaking after the fact (Military Commissions Act). This ‘resident will not be held accountable to the oversight of any purported “checks and balances” willingly.

This ‘resident considers himself a Unitary Executive. Do you understand what that means? Unitary = only. Executive = the person… in whom the supreme executive power of a government is vested.

HE CONSIDERS HIMSELF THE ONLY PERSON IN WHOM THE SUPREME EXECUTIVE POWER OF OUR GOVERNMENT IS VESTED.

This ‘resident has no-one above him. In his own mind he is a caesar. He does not consider himself to be a public servant. He considers himself the only authority – the only decider – after Cheney and Rove tell him what to think and what to say.

At least his reaction to the passage of this bill might reveal him to be what he is to a few of those for whom the visage is still a bit hazy.

He is the figurehead of an evil that simple protests or votes in Congress will never allay or thwart.

The only possible path to peace is through justice. He must have his power taken away from him.

Without impeachment, there will be no justice.

Without impeachment, there will be no peace.

Without impeachment, there may be the last war in human history in our lifetimes.

If you are trying to achieve peace without accountability your efforts are in vain. Keep burning the candle wax. Keep marching. Keep carrying the signs…

… but by all means don’t commit to holding him accountable. That might actually carry some weight and have some results.

… see you at next year’s peace rally?

Film/Slideshow to an amazing song by Sara Thomsen. Warning: Graphic images of the Iraq War.

This about says it all, doesn’t it?

(Representing the district in Washington State I grew up in)

Representative Inslee,

It has been with great pride that I have read of my original home state’s leadership in the growing movement across the nation to hold the Bush Administration accountable for their plethora of crimes and misdemeanors through the process of impeachment.

As one of three states – Vermont and New Mexico being the others – that have impeachment resolutions broiling in their capitals, Washington State‘s citizens are doing their patriotic duty to insist that their public officials honor their oaths of office to defend our nation against the domestic enemies to the Constitution of the United States of America currently residing in the White House.

As a native Bainbridge Islander, where you now reside, I am appalled by your stance against the impeachment resolution proffered by State Sen. Eric Oemig (D-WA) as being “a waste of time”.

Your political partner in this obstruction of justice mission at the behest of the national Democratic Party leadership, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) revealed her shallow knowledge of the impeachment bill, Senate Joint Memorial 8016 itself when she offered two words in opposition to it: “Dick Cheney”. Oemig’s bill calls for impeachment investigations to commence against both President Bush AND the Vice President.

Vice President Cheney, who has indicated he may ignore subpoenas, will be triple indicted for every ‘W’ crime revealed and could easily be convicted through ‘open source’ evidence discovered by a googling Bainbridge High School ‘C’ student.

As sympathetic as I am to Democrats wishing to move forward with their positive agenda, choosing to ignore the past six years would be as naive as a victim of domestic assault not wanting to press charges. The result will eventually be more of the same. You are just going to get beaten again, and probably much more viciously. It is not a matter of “if”, but “when” – maybe next time to death.

We were bitten by a snake. The wound must be lanced and the venom removed, or it will leech into our collective bloodstream and inevitably target our national heart. Allowing this wound to “heal over” not only won’t lead to a healthy future, it will assure the exact opposite.

Crimes have been committed. Not a few. Very, very many. Not just the break-in of a campaign office or a President getting lipstick on his cigar in the Oral Office. People have died because of these crimes – the lives of hundreds of thousands of families irretrievably destroyed. Some of these crimes are gross violations of the Geneva Accords and Nuremberg Principles – identical to those for which Nazis were convicted and put to death.
Our national treasury has been looted to the benefit of crony corporations – the largest surplus in U.S. history ‘mismanaged’ into the largest deficit, and we are still counting as news of billions of taxpayer dollars in cash having been shipped on crates into the Iraq War zone surface.
Our international reputation is in shambles with the “Coalition of the Willing” (to commit to the most heinous of International Crimes, that of a War of Aggression) having dwindled down to ourselves, the ancient Romans and the infamous National Socialists.
Our global Intelligence capabilities have been severely, treasonously compromised at the orders of our highest leaders as evidence and testimony brought forward in the I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby trial has clearly revealed.
Anyone who has taken the time to read the Military Commission act as I have knows that the U.S. Constitution has had its throat cut and is lying in the gutter with no promise of a single Democratic Senator or Representative bending a knee to save its life.

The investigative work into prewar lies and related matters by Head of the House Judiciary Committee, Representative John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), has already been comprehensively executed, it just needs to be spoken into the Congressional Record during impeachment hearings as published in George W. Bush versus the U.S. Constitution. More crimes are likely to be unearthed in the process as the antiseptic of truth throws light on this dark era.

The Center for Constitutional Rights, The Bush Crimes Commission, WorldCantWait.org, AfterDowningStreet.org, Democrats,com, Progressive Democrats of America and ImpeachforPeace.org, among others, have also laid out remarkably comprehensive reports on the crimes of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and their Administration.

We are a nation of laws. No American is above the law. The appropriate remedy for the temporary resident public servants in these federal offices who violate the law is impeachment. We aren’t shopping for shoes here, Condi. This isn’t an optional step. This is prosecution of law deeply seated in the Constitution of the United States as it used to exist – indeed our very, inalienable moral fiber. To not enforce these laws is to set ourselves up for history to repeat itself in short order, as we are experiencing now at the hands of those not prosecuted for their Iran-Contra crimes.
To not undo the new preposterously overgrown Executive authority is to invite some future President – ANY future President – to snap his or her fingers and become a virtual dictator in a heartbeat. To “do nothing” would be a slap in the face of every patriot who bled for our freedoms. Give me liberty.

A waste of time? Consider this:

Senate Republicans, when handed a recommendation to impeach by the House will be faced with a very tough choice as the world watches them confront a most stubborn, arrogant and unrepentant Connecticut Cowboy President and his mephistophelian inner circle:
a). Fight impeachment and continue to be revealed as rubber-stamping, lick spittle enablers of Treasonous War Criminals who were intent on a heavy-handed crackdown and takeover of all things American. Vote “No” and get washed out in the second Blue Wave of 2008.
b). Play the “I had no idea all of this was going on” card to desperately distance themselves from Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Ashcroft, Abramoff, Ney, DeLay, et al, vote “Yes” and possibly hang onto their cushy position of power through the next election cycle.
Would you go down with this ‘soaring’ Hindenburg?

Impeachment isn’t a good or bad idea. Impeachment is a moral imperative. It is the proper remedy prescribed by our founding fathers for circumstances precisely such as these. Impeachment is essential for the hope of future health of our nation.

We the People must impeach those who regard America, its military, its electorate and sovereign foreign nations simply resources to exploit in order to fatten their bank accounts and expand their personal power.

Representative Inslee, leaders all over the United States of America are calling out for Justice. Lead, follow, or please have the decency to step down from your office. If you do not have the integrity to honor your oath to defend the Constitution against these vile enemies to it, then perhaps your constituents should see to it that you are Recalled and someone ready to honor their oath to defend the Constitution of the United States of America take your place.

With all due respect for your office and your public service,

Mikael Rudolph
Minneapolis, MN 55407-3612 (MN-5th – Keith Ellison’s district)

Please see: Evidence for Impeachment

~ Mikael Rudolph was born in the Winslow Clinic on Bainbridge Island on Father’s Day in 1958, graduated from Bainbridge High School in 1976 and Whitman College in 1984. He moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1986 where he is an actor, mime artist, ballroom dance instructor and activist.

from: USAToday

This was sent to me from a good friend I have yet to meet. Thus is the strange new world of internet relationships we now find ourselves in. Thomas T. Panto is, as you will see, a veteran of the Vietnam War who is deeply committed to seeing peace come to our world and to hold the enemies to that peace accountable for their crimes – thus his support of our work on this website. ~ Mikael

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The War Protesters of the 60’s SAVED LIVES … Everyone’s Lives… Everywhere on Earth.

I am a Viet-Nam veteran, and so, I thank the PROTESTERS and OBJECTORS who Stood up for Me while I was trapped in Viet-Nam and far too busy living to protest the insanity.

Bush can not lie to me. I, am an EYE WITNESS of that DEMONETIZATION that leads Humanity to SLAUGHTER.

I and Americans had, and still have ONLY the ”history books” written by the ”invading victors”… now I now have my own observations gathered by my own eyes to refute their words.

You may know that the penalty for disobeying an order inside a combat zone is DEATH. You must kill or be ”Hanged”.

Did you know that we, in Viet-Nam, as now in Iraq, were TOLD that we were killing “The Enemy”.

But it was WE who armed those citizens and rebels, the innocent people of Viet-Nam and Iraq, and we LIED to them about why they should murder their own brothers and sisters…

We TOLD those innocent rice farmers of Viet-Nam that ”capitolism” is ”good” and ”communism” is ”bad” and TOLD them to pick up OUR GUNS and KILL EACH OTHER, or else be SHOT for TREASON !!!!

Our Bullets DEMANDED that our victim take up arms and return fire.

… and so, the communists also LIED to the people of the North, telling them that Americans were no different than the French army that we were sent to replace…and they were right.

We, first the French, and then the Americans, (the slaves of capitalismcapitalism), and those Viet-Namese in the north, (the slaves of communism), USED those poor people as CANNON FODDER in OUR personal conflict over MERE POLITICS.

In 1971 John Kerry saved more Lives in ONE DAY than our Battalion of American Tanks could murder in one year.

In 1971 Kerry told congress that the SOLDIERS, (like him and like me) were told LIES and then ORDERED to harm innocent people over POLITICS. Those ORDERS were “The Crime”.

Hear it for yourself

Right now, our soldiers in Iraq, ( and Lebanon, and Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan ) , THINK they are fighting only the ‘enemy’.

But since 1948, we have been the ”Terrorists” and the ”Insurgents” in the middle east. Those are OUR TANKS that the children are throwing their rocks at on every inch of the Middle East.

Washington has been the INVADING Army. USING US. Washington is doing the killing of INNOCENT PEOPLE who were falsely accused in order for Bush to control, the ‘OUR OIL’ in THEIR REGION.

The New LIES, “Terrorists”, replacing the old LIES, “Viet-Cong” , but the ‘Evil’ is the SAME one.

The ATTACKERS of Life CREATED the DEFENDERS of Life.

We were the Liars and the Attackers in Viet-Nam, as we are now in Iraq.

– SP4 Thomas T. Panto – HHC 1st BDE 9 DIV Dong-Tam VN (1968)

God Bless the Protesters

By LARRY O’DELL, Associated Press Writer Sat Feb 24, 6:11 PM ET

RICHMOND, Va. – Meeting on the grounds of the former Confederate Capitol, the Virginia General Assembly voted unanimously Saturday to express “profound regret” for the state’s role in slavery.

Sponsors of the resolution say they know of no other state that has apologized for slavery, although Missouri lawmakers are considering such a measure. The resolution does not carry the weight of law but sends an important symbolic message, supporters said.

“This session will be remembered for a lot of things, but 20 years hence I suspect one of those things will be the fact that we came together and passed this resolution,” said Delegate A. Donald McEachin, a Democrat who sponsored it in the House of Delegates.

The resolution passed the House 96-0 and cleared the 40-member Senate on a unanimous voice vote. It does not require Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s approval.

The measure also expressed regret for “the exploitation of Native Americans.”

(More)