[Peace-discuss] Cindy Sheehan

[Morton K. Brussel]

Critique of her opponent's speech to the convention.

The "Experience of Being Wrong"

I did not watch Ms. Pelosi's speech at the DNC. I was actually giving  
a speech of my own in another part of Denver, but I have read the  
transcript of Ms. Pelosi's remarks and I have also read the  
criticisms of this speech on all of the Democratic blogs. Ms. Pelosi  
did not get high marks, to say the least. I have read some things I  
cannot repeat, but criticisms of "wooden," "boring," "uninspired,"  
and "hypocritical," are some comments coming from committed and rabid  
Democrats. It does seem pretty hypocritical when such a public  
failure can claim that McCain has the "experience of being wrong."

With Congress at a 9% approval rating, it is amazing to me that Ms.  
Pelosi can stand in front of anyone and claim "success" and claim  
that her leadership has taken this nation on a better path. Our  
economy is crashing; hundreds of thousands of people have lost their  
homes despite the $300.00 "stimulus" check Ms. Pelosi sent them. Some  
Americans are being forced to choose whether to buy gas or food,  
despite the miniscule hike in the federal minimum wage, which  
affected a very small percentage of the population since most states  
already had minimum wages that exceeded the federal minimum wage. A  
true progressive "change" in that direction would be mandating a  
living wage, which differs from state/state and city/city; but based  
on the cost of living. It's easier to push people of color or poor  
people out of cities like San Francisco by increasing the cost of  
living, while not mandating a living wage.

Some other of Ms. Pelosi's "accomplishments" that she touted in her  
speech were:

Keeping toxic toys out of the hands of children.

(The toys that were put into our children's hands by the "free" trade  
agreements she supports and the outsourcing of jobs that pay slave  
wages to countries that make our consumer goods and encourage cutting  
back costs so we can go to Wal-mart and get "low, low" prices).

We passed legislation to keep hard working American families in their  
homes

(According to Reality Trak,  1 out of every 194 homes received  
foreclosure notices in the first quarter of this year and Congress  
was more interested in bailing out Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and  
predatory lenders than keeping "American Families" in their homes.)

And, we enacted a new G.I. Bill to thank our veterans from the wars  
in Iraq and Afghanistan by sending them to college.

(Ms. Pelosi did not mention in her speech that her congress has  
funded the war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan to the tune of over 400  
billion




dollars and since she became Speaker, over 1200 of our troops have  
been killed unnecessarily and hundreds of Iraqis/Afghans have been  
murdered or displaced from their homes. Ms. Pelosi should not be  
"thanking" our veterans, she should be apologizing to them for  
continuing to send them off to fight a war that has physically,  
mentally, or emotionally wounded tens of thousands of them for no  
reason at all).

Ms. Pelosi even said that Iraq was: "a catastrophic mistake that has  
cost thousands of lives of our men and women in uniform and trillions  
of dollars, as well as has weakened our standing in the world and our  
capability to protect the American people, Barack Obama is right and  
John McCain is wrong. Very, very wrong." Well, if John McCain has  
been wrong and the occupation of Iraq (she says nothing about  
Afghanistan, and, in fact, she supports the Obama plan of redeploying  
troops from Iraq to Afghanistan to fight the "real war on terror"),  
then Nancy Pelosi has also been "very, very wrong." One doesn't pour  
funds to the tune of "trillions" of dollars into a "catastrophic  
mistake."

Borrowing the rhetoric of the right, Ms. Pelosi wants to honor our  
troops that have made America the "Land of the free and the home of  
the brave." Collaborating with the Bush regime to foist upon us a "

Prevention of violent radicalism and homegrown terrorism law

" and working with the City of Denver and the State of Colorado and  
Homeland "Security" to turn Denver into a fascist police state, would  
have made a person of conscience choke on those words. I certainly  
know that my son did not join the US Military and die in a  
"catastrophic mistake" to turn this nation into one that is looking  
more like a bi-partisan repressive despotic dictatorship every day. I  
have a radical idea for Ms. Pelosi! How about she honors our troops  
by obeying her sworn oath to "uphold and defend the constitution from  
all enemies foreign and domestic," the same oath our troops take.

Ms. Pelosi is famous for taking our constitution "off the table" and  
will go down in infamy as the Vichy-enabler of the Bush regime and  
along with her beloved "party" will be known as the party that killed  
the 4th amendment to the Bill of Rights (with her support of  
warrantless spying on Americans and immunity from the felonious  
breaking of the FISA laws) and the 8th amendment as the sanctioners  
of torture.



During her speech, Ms. Pelosi is giving evidence that her leadership  
will also further dissolve the separation between church and state  
that has accelerated during the Bush "catastrophic mistake" of a  
Presidency. She assured the convention goers and lapdog media that  
the Democratic path is one to the Christian heaven: "It is the path  
that renews our democracy by bringing us together as one nation under  
God." Whose god? Bush's god? Obama's god? Pelosi's god? Osama's god?  
Olmert's god? The god of the "two" party system: mammon? The very  
words, "God," or "religion" do not belong anywhere near public  
political discourse. Obviously, not everyone worships the same god,  
or any god, or gods. We must end the rhetoric of "holy wars" and  
remember that we do not elect a Pope of America, but a President. I  
also have another question...how is democracy "renewed" by forcing us  
together as a "nation under God?" This was not only an un-American  
thing to say, but the rhetoric is as empty as the treasury of the USA.

The "successes" of Pelosi's leadership look an awful lot like  
failures when we know that she mostly capitulated to the Bush regime  
and when her failures have been so catastrophically tragic.

In September, Ms. Pelosi, will have a few weeks left of her  
leadership position when she will go back to lead a congress that has  
that abysmal approval rating and has passed the least amount of  
legislation in the last 20 years. Congress will take up business for  
about three weeks in September and a good start will be to arrest  
Karl Rove on the first day for ignoring a congressional subpoena. On  
day two, begin to roll back the executive branch excesses of the last  
eight years and reclaim the separation of powers that were ensured by  
the founders before the next president takes over and takes the  
scepter of an empire and not the mantle of public service as only the  
"first of equals."

There's nothing more important for her to do.

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