FWIW – I Remember Tianemmen Square

In 1989, the picture was stark. One solitary man stood in front of a column of tanks. Frozen in time, it seemed, until we saw motion, revealing ‘real time’. He was just…standing there, defiantly. He put his own frail body in front of a line of tanks as if to say, “Roll over me, if you dare”.
The parallel that occurs to me was Patrick Henry, “Give me liberty or give me death”! Both men chose to take a stand as if to say, “No more! Come no further in your quest to beat men down”!
It would be the height of presumptiousness for me to equate myself with either of these noble persons, so I won’t. But, events unfolding in a court in this country so infuriate me, so offend my belief in the Constitution of The United States that I feel compelled to make my stand.
Background: In the state of New York, the ACLU has asked a federal judge to quash a grand jury subpoena that demands the ACLU surrender
to the FBI “any and all copies” of a December 2005 document in its possession. Service of this subpoena on or about November 20th is nothing more than an attempt to suppress informed criticism and reporting.
"The government's attempt to suppress information using the grand jury process is truly chilling and is unprecedented in law and in the ACLU's history," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. "This subpoena serves no legitimate investigative purpose and tramples on fundamental First Amendment rights. We recognize this maneuver for what it is: a patent attempt to intimidate and impede the work of human rights advocates like the ACLU who seek to expose government wrongdoing."
For those of you who remember the Pentagon Papers flap of the late 1960’s, this is a blatant attempt to impose prior restraint on the press and the media to prevent revelation of government misconduct which can only be seen as outright censorship. Just like revealing the Pentagon Papers showed how the American people were duped into supporting the Viet Nam war through implementation of the Gulf Of Tonkin resolution, this document will likewise show how the current administration in Washington has duped us into supporting the present sad state of affairs in Iraq.
The three-and-a-half page document, issued in December 2005, is marked "Secret" and apparently is classified. The ACLU received the document, unsolicited, on October 23, 2006.
In legal papers, the ACLU said that while release of the document might be "mildly embarrassing" to the government, the ACLU's possession of it is legal and its release could in no way threaten national security. To the contrary, the ACLU said, the designation of the generally unremarkable document as "Secret" "appears to be a striking, yet typical, example of overclassification."
"No official secrets act has yet been signed into law, and the grand jury's subpoena power cannot be used to create one," said ACLU Legal Director Steven R. Shapiro. "The most significant thing about this case is not the content of the document but the government's unprecedented effort to suppress it." If the government can enforce a subpoena in this way, Shapiro explained, "it could just as easily have subpoenaed the Pentagon Papers from The New York Times and Washington Post. The effect of the subpoena is no different than a prior restraint and it is equally unconstitutional."

This is where I choose to make my stand.
I am hereby formally requesting the ACLU to release the document to me, a private citizen of the United States. In a fair and unbiased manner, which cannot be guaranteed by any Federal Judge (since the plaintiff is the Government of The United States and the Federal Judiciary is but one arm of the aforementioned Government), my impartiality can be guaranteed to the judgment of the merits.
By so requesting, my choice is to confront the government of The United States, much as Fr. Daniel Berrigan did in the Pentagon Papers imbroglio, and force the government to admit once and for all, that the First Amendment reigns supreme over the wishes of any government cabal and that the rule of law in this country subjects all citizens to abide by that rule.
Bring on Henry Gonzales, bring on George W. Bush, bring ‘em on! (sound familiar?)
I’ve had it with a government that unabashedly lies to its people. Enough of a corrupt government/military/industrial complex that chooses to obscenely conspire to make certain people rich over the sacred bodies of those soldiers who bravely serve to protect and defend this Constitution of The United States.
I’ve had it with a cowardly (there can be no other word for people who claim to be public servants who abandon their duty under Article 1, Sec. 8 of that Constitution and transfer [although there is nothing in the Constitution that permits those servants to transfer those responsibilities] transfer to another branch (i.e. the Executive Branch in the person of the President) of the government.
The framers of the Constitution, wiser than any who now sit in that great chamber, intended that the legislative branch be closer to, and therefore most accountable to, their constituents, the people. That’s you and me, my friend. They drew that document up with the intention that no chief executive could, by personal fiat, involve the sons (and now daughters) in a conflict in a foreign land, but that Congress, itself was to have sole power to “…declare and make war…”.
The election of November 7, 2006 is over. The people have spoken. Yet, this government continues to send our young, brave soldiers to walk around with targets on their backs in a land involved in all-out civil war.
Have you, like me, had enough? Are you mad as hell enough? Are you mad as hell enough to write to your congressperson?
Then, like Nike, JUST DO IT!

Tomorrow: Saturday, a day of rest.

To my dearest Jewish friends, Happy Chanukah!

Today is December 15th; 765 days until the end of the Bush Administration