We wont take it anymore

[KaiineTN]

Why isn't this guy running for President? >_<



Address by Mayor Ross C. "Rocky" Anderson on October 27, 2007
Salt Lake City, Utah –

Today, as we come together once again in this great city, we raise our voices in unison to say to President Bush, to Vice President Cheney, to other members of the Bush Administration (past and present), to a majority of Congress, including Utah's entire congressional delegation, and to much of the mainstream media: "You have failed us miserably and we won't take it any more."

"While we had every reason to expect far more of you, you have been pompous, greedy, cruel, and incompetent as you have led this great nation to a moral, military, and national security abyss."

"You have breached trust with the American people in the most egregious ways. You have utterly failed in the performance of your jobs. You have undermined our Constitution, permitted the violation of the most fundamental treaty obligations, and betrayed the rule of law."

"You have engaged in, or permitted, heinous human rights abuses of the sort never before countenanced in our nation's history as a matter of official policy. You have sent American men and women to kill and be killed on the basis of lies, on the basis of shifting justifications, without competent leadership, and without even a coherent plan for this monumental blunder."

"We are here to tell you: We won't take it any more!"

"You have acted in direct contravention of values that we, as Americans who love our country, hold dear. You have deceived us in the most cynical, outrageous ways. You have undermined, or allowed the undermining of, our constitutional system of checks and balances among the three presumed co-equal branches of government. You have helped lead our nation to the brink of fascism, of a dictatorship contemptuous of our nation's treaty obligations, federal statutory law, our Constitution, and the rule of law."

"Because of you, and because of your jingoistic false ..patriotism,' our world is far more dangerous, our nation is far more despised, and the threat of terrorism is far greater than ever before.

It has been absolutely astounding how you have committed the most horrendous acts, causing such needless tragedy in the lives of millions of people, yet you wear your so-called religion on your sleeves, asserting your God-is-on-my-side nonsense - when what you have done flies in the face of any religious or humanitarian tradition. Your hypocrisy is mind-boggling - and disgraceful.

What part of "Thou shalt not kill" do you not understand? What part of the "Golden rule" do you not understand? What part of "be honest," "be responsible," and "be accountable" don't you understand? What part of "Blessed are the peacekeepers" do you not understand?

Because of you, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, many thousands of people have suffered horrendous lifetime injuries, and millions have been run off from their homes. For the sake of our nation, for the sake of our children, and for the sake of our brothers and sisters around the world, we are morally compelled to say, as loudly as we can, ..We won't take it anymore!'"

"As United States agents kidnap, disappear, and torture human beings around the world, you justify, you deceive, and you cover up. We find what you have done to men, women and children, and to the good name and reputation of the United States, so appalling, so unconscionable, and so outrageous as to compel us to call upon you to step aside and allow other men and women who are competent, true to our nation's values, and with high moral principles to stand in your places - for the good of our nation, for the good of our children, and for the good of our world."

In the case of the President and Vice President, this means impeachment and removal from office, without any further delay from a complacent, complicit Congress, the Democratic majority of which cares more about political gain in 2008 than it does about the vindication of our Constitution, the rule of law, and democratic accountability.

It means the election of people as President and Vice President who, unlike most of the presidential candidates from both major parties, have not aided and abetted in the perpetration of the illegal, tragic, devastating invasion and occupation of Iraq. And it means the election of people as President and Vice President who will commit to return our nation to the moral and strategic imperative of refraining from torturing human beings.

In the case of the majority of Congress, it means electing people who are diligent enough to learn the facts, including reading available National Intelligence Estimates, before voting to go to war. It means electing to Congress men and women who will jealously guard Congress's sole prerogative to declare war. It means electing to Congress men and women who will not submit like vapid lap dogs to presidential requests for blank checks to engage in so-called preemptive wars, for legislation permitting warrantless wiretapping of communications involving US citizens, and for dangerous, irresponsible, saber-rattling legislation like the recent Kyl-Lieberman amendment.

We must avoid the trap of focusing the blame solely upon President Bush and Vice-President Cheney. This is not just about a few people who have wronged our country - and the world. They were enabled by members of both parties in Congress, they were enabled by the pathetic mainstream news media, and, ultimately, they have been enabled by the American people - 40% of whom are so ill-informed they still think Iraq was behind the 9/11 attacks - a people who know and care more about baseball statistics and which drunken starlets are wearing underwear than they know and care about the atrocities being committed every single day in our name by a government for which we need to take responsibility.

As loyal Americans, without regard to political partisanship -- as veterans, as teachers, as religious leaders, as working men and women, as students, as professionals, as businesspeople, as public servants, as retirees, as people of all ages, races, ethnic origins, sexual orientations, and faiths -- we are here to say to the Bush administration, to the majority of Congress, and to the mainstream media: "You have violated your solemn responsibilities. You have undermined our democracy, spat upon our Constitution, and engaged in outrageous, despicable acts. You have brought our nation to a point of immorality, inhumanity, and illegality of immense, tragic, unprecedented proportions."

"But we will live up to our responsibilities as citizens, as brothers and sisters of those who have suffered as a result of the imperial bullying of the United States government, and as moral actors who must take a stand: And we will, and must, mean it when we say ..We won't take it any more.'"

If we want principled, courageous elected officials, we need to be principled, courageous, and tenacious ourselves. History has demonstrated that our elected officials are not the leaders - the leadership has to come from us. If we don't insist, if we don't persist, then we are not living up to our responsibilities as citizens in a democracy - and our responsibilities as moral human beings. If we remain silent, we signal to Congress and the Bush administration - and to candidates running for office - and to the world - that we support the status quo.
Silence is complicity. Only by standing up for what's right and never letting down can we say we are doing our part.

Our government, on the basis of a campaign we now know was entirely fraudulent, attacked and militarily occupied a nation that posed no danger to the United States. Our government, acting in our name, has caused immense, unjustified death and destruction.

It all started five years ago, yet where have we, the American people, been? At this point, we are responsible. We get together once in a while at demonstrations and complain about Bush and Cheney, about Congress, and about the pathetic news media. We point fingers and yell a lot. Then most people politely go away until another demonstration a few months later.

How many people can honestly say they have spent as much time learning about and opposing the outrages of the Bush administration as they have spent watching sports or mindless television programs during the past five years? Escapist, time-sapping sports and insipid entertainment have indeed become the opiate of the masses.

Why is this country so sound asleep? Why do we abide what is happening to our nation, to our Constitution, to the cause of peace and international law and order? Why are we not doing all in our power to put an end to this madness?

We should be in the streets regularly and students should be raising hell on our campuses. We should be making it clear in every way possible that apologies or convoluted, disingenuous explanations just don't cut it when presidential candidates and so many others voted to authorize George Bush and his neo-con buddies to send American men and women to attack and occupy Iraq.

Let's awaken, and wake up the country by committing here and now to do all each of us can to take our nation back. Let them hear us across the country, as we ask others to join us: "We won't take it any more!"

I implore you: Draw a line. Figure out exactly where your own moral breaking point is. How much will you put up with before you say "No more" and mean it?

I have drawn my line as a matter of simple personal morality: I cannot, and will not, support any candidate who has voted to fund the atrocities in Iraq. I cannot, and will not, support any candidate who will not commit to remove all US troops, as soon as possible, from Iraq. I cannot, and will not, support any candidate who has supported legislation that takes us one step closer to attacking Iran. I cannot, and will not, support any candidate who has not fought to stop the kidnapping, disappearances, and torture being carried on in our name.

If we expect our nation's elected officials to take us seriously, let us send a powerful message they cannot misunderstand. Let them know we really do have our moral breaking point. Let them know we have drawn a bright line. Let them know they cannot take our support for granted - that, regardless of their party and regardless of other political considerations, they will not have our support if they cannot provide, and have not provided, principled leadership.

The people of this nation may have been far too quiet for five years, but let us pledge that we won't let it go on one more day - that we will do all we can to put an end to the illegalities, the moral degradation, and the disintegration of our nation's reputation in the world.

Let us be unified in drawing the line - in declaring that we do have a moral breaking point. Let us insist, together, in supporting our troops and in gratitude for the freedoms for which our veterans gave so much, that we bring our troops home from Iraq, that we return our government to a constitutional democracy, and that we commit to honoring the fundamental principles of human rights.

In defense of our country, in defense of our Constitution, in defense of our shared values as Americans - and as moral human beings - we declare today that we will fight in every way possible to stop the insanity, stop the continued military occupation of Iraq, and stop the moral depravity reflected by the kidnapping, disappearing, and torture of people around the world.

[Arlos]

The shocking thing about that one is the guy is mayor of Salt Lake City. Utah is about as conservative a state as they come. (Gee, shocker, given the overwhelming mormon content, heh). So, that kind of assault you'd think would normally come from a more liberal venue.

-Arlos

[Ouchyfish]

knee jerk garbage. Someone tell the guy on the soapbox that this shit didn't start in the last 8 years.

[Lyion]

Why isn't this guy running for President? >_<



Address by Mayor Ross C. "Rocky" Anderson on October 27, 2007
Salt Lake City, Utah –

Today, as we come together once again in this great city, we raise our voices in unison to say to President Bush, to Vice President Cheney, to other members of the Bush Administration (past and present), to a majority of Congress, including Utah's entire congressional delegation, and to much of the mainstream media: "You have failed us miserably and we won't take it any more."

"While we had every reason to expect far more of you, you have been pompous, greedy, cruel, and incompetent as you have led this great nation to a moral, military, and national security abyss."

You do know this guy is a registered Democrat. This also is pretty much the platform of every DNC candidate and Ron Paul, so either you don't follow politics or you're just trying to score cool guy Bush hater points.

[Tossica]

Buck Fush.

[Narrock]

Buck Fush.

[Ouchyfish]

Fuck Washington D.C.

They're all in this shit together. It isn't JUST Bush.

[Arlos]

Yeah, maybe the current ship of fools wouldn't have sailed without a fuckload of assholes to pull the oars, but Bush has been Captain Fool all along, (with Cheney as Dark Overlord Fool) and set the course on where to go, so if it's possible to blame anyone for the fact that the ship of state has gone aground far up Shit Creek, and the paddles are now missing, it's those two.

Yes, I blame the Republicans more, because for almost all of his presidency, they were the majority party in Congress, and never once tried to rein him in or turn the ship around. Instead, they were more like army recruits, and when he said jump, their universal response was, "YES SIR! HOW HIGH SIR?" Not that the Democrats smell like roses either, given how they've done the last year, I wonder if some of them could find their own asses without approach radar. The media is as culpable as well, as it's their job to question and find out the truth, and they abandoned that traditional role in exchange for palsied grasping for a couple more rating points, and rain-man-esque fixations on sub-par titillation reality crap, like, say Temptation Island....

What do we do from here? Fuck if I know. I just know I wouldn't trust Bush or Cheney further than I could throw the golden gate bridge.

I think the real problem is that the acquisition and maintenance of personal power has become the goal for these people, who use that power solely to acquire more and maintain their position. Almost no one is seeking office in order to use the power to actually improve governance in this country.

-Arlos

[Evermore]

Ron Paul for Pres

[Gypsiyee]

I'll be amazed if a republican wins the election in 08. That's nothing against Ron Paul or any of the republican candidates, but it's going to be an uphill battle I'd imagine after so many people have been soured and might vote democrat based completely on discontent with Bush.

[Evermore]

if Obama or Comrade Clinton get nominated a repub is a shoo in.

[Lyion]

if Obama or Comrade Clinton get nominated a repub is a shoo in.

I disagree. Mediocrity permeates on the GOP side. Anyway, what is happening in the world in a year is more important than who is running.

The trick is who will appeal to moderates. The partisans and kids aren't as important as the middle and senior aged moderates who vote based on a few key issues, as well as that key, most fundamental reason: who has the better hair.

[Evermore]

if Obama or Comrade Clinton get nominated a repub is a shoo in.

I disagree. Mediocrity permeates on the GOP side. Anyway, what is happening in the world in a year is more important than who is running.

The trick is who will appeal to moderates. The partisans and kids aren't as important as the middle and senior aged moderates who vote based on a few key issues, as well as that key, most fundamental reason: who has the better hair.

lol then Hilary and Obama are done for

[Narrock]

Hillary and Obama don't stand a chance anymore. Obama is black, muslim, doesn't have enough experience in the political arena, and has admitted that he "doesn't like Christians." Right, wrong, or indifferent, he doesn't have a shot in hell at the presidency. It was all over the news yesterday. There's no way in hell he can beat Hillary for the Democratic vote.

Hillary just dropped in rating because of her typical question-dodging (like on meet the press where she dodged the question about whether illegals in New York should be given a driver's license or not), and then she cried foul trying to appeal to the emotions of female voters by saying that "all the boys are picking on me because I'm a woman" or some such bullshit. She is losing credibility FAST.

John Edwards is a joke. He has already admitted that he will raise taxes to fund his "health care reform" idea. He also dodges the tough questions, and refuses to go on the air with Bill O'Reilly because he KNOWS O'Reilly will hand him his ass.

Most conservatives aren't backing Ron Paul, because they think he belongs in a loony-farm. Yes, he has some good ideas, but on the whole he seems unfit for the job.

Mitt Romney is charismatic and has that "presidential look" and appears to have what it takes to do the job, but people are fearing that his mormon faith will cloud his decision-making, and thus will probably not gain the votes of non-mormon Christians.

Giuliani has shown excellent leadership skills, is very charismatic, but he's facing two very important barriers in the eyes of voters... the first being that he isn't conservative enough. He is too much to the left on social issues. The other barrier is that people are concerned that he might just be Bush 3.0, and pander to big oil, no matter how much he denies it now in interviews.

Fred Thompson will not have the power to overtake Giuliani OR Romney in key states, so he's out as far as I can tell.

So what does that leave us with as far as promising candidates goes? I just might vote for Colbert after all...

[Lyion]

Hillary and Obama don't stand a chance anymore. Obama is black, muslim, doesn't have enough experience in the political arena, and has admitted that he "doesn't like Christians." Right, wrong, or indifferent, he doesn't have a shot in hell at the presidency. It was all over the news yesterday. There's no way in hell he can beat Hillary for the Democratic vote.

Hillary has name recognition which is invaluable in politics. Obama is most certainly not a Muslim, he's Christian. None of what you say about him is accurate, either.

Hillary just dropped in rating because of her typical question-dodging (like on meet the press where she dodged the question about whether illegals in New York should be given a driver's license or not), and then she cried foul trying to appeal to the emotions of female voters by saying that "all the boys are picking on me because I'm a woman" or some such bullshit. She is losing credibility FAST.

She has a lot of ground to lose to not win the DNC nomination. Obama has a good shot if he gets aggressive, and due to him being a fresh face, has a chance at an upset. Still, it's unwise to vote against the Clinton political machine.

Most conservatives aren't backing Ron Paul, because they think he belongs in a loony-farm. Yes, he has some good ideas, but on the whole he seems unfit for the job.

Kucinich is nuts. Paul is not.

The big problem with Ron Paul is he's a threat to the 'establishment'. That's the inside group of GOP/DNC people who play politics and differe on macro issues but are just subjects within the machine of special interests. Paul is a visionist and unfortunately those are not allowed in modern day corrupt politics.

[Narrock]

Obama may claim to be Christian, but he said that he "doesn't like Christians," and a lot of people think he's a muslim at heart. That is accurate, and factual.

[Arlos]

Care to post a link to where Obama said that?

As to whether people think he's muslim, I have no idea where that comes from, but I certainly can't deny the possibility that people think that. I do know Obama has talked a lot about his faith, and even wrote a book about it. I haven't read it, but he has always struck me as the most hard-core christian on the Democrat side. Not that I care what someone's faith in, as long as it's restricted to their personal life, and not trying to drive public policy.

-Arlos

[Ouchyfish]

They talked about it on Rush Limbaugh (yeah yeah go ahead and go nuts now) but that was the only place I could find it referenced as easilly. It sounds like a lot of liberty was taken with the quote though hehe I could be wrong.

CALLER: Listen, I'm really nervous here so you gotta help me out. Talking about Barack, I was listening to -- actually I was watching Meet the Press, and I couldn't believe, when he said that he doesn't like Christians -- actually he didn't even say he didn't like 'em, he says, "we" didn't like them, and I take that to mean that the entire Democrat Party doesn't like Christians.

RUSH: Tommy, I missed that segment. What was the question, do you remember?

CALLER: I really don't remember the question. I just heard it and I was like in shock. I couldn't believe that he actually said that. He didn't say, "I don't like Christians." He says "we." Like I said, I'm taking it out of context.

RUSH: Okay, I have just been told that it was on a question dealing with reaching out, and Obama said, "Democrats need to do a better job of reaching out to people," quote, unquote, "we don't like," and that's where he included evangelicals and the Christians?

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: Hey, Tommy, another way to look at this is: "Thank you, Mr. Obama. (clapping) You've just been honest. You don't like Christians."

[Evermore]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/22/obama.madrassa/


John Edwards has the best hair = win

Isnt Rudy a cross dressing tushy tackler?

[Narrock]

Arlos, in reference to Evangelical Christians, Obama Bin Laden said "we’ve got to be able to get beyond our comfort zones and just talk to people we don’t like."

You can google it... it's everywhere.

[Narrock]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/22/obama.madrassa/


John Edwards has the best hair = win

Isnt Rudy a cross dressing tushy tackler?

haha yeah, if a 70's haircut = win. lol He just needs some muttonchop sideburns to match his asstard haircut.

[Yamori]

Arlos, in reference to Evangelical Christians, Obama Bin Laden said "we’ve got to be able to get beyond our comfort zones and just talk to people we don’t like."

You can google it... it's everywhere.

Finding the Jerry Falwells and Ted Haggerts of the world reprehensible doesn't particularly make you a christian hater.

[Martrae]

Russert's question, "You had a group of supporters on a Bible tour in South Carolina, headed by a singer called Donnie McClurkin, who said that homosexuality was a curse, and that he had been cured by prayer. Do you believe homosexuality is a curse? Do you believe it's something that you are born gay or that you can change your behavior?"

OBAMA: I do not believe being gay or lesbian is a choice, and so I disagree with Reverend McClurkin, but understand, Tim, part of what I hope to offer as president is the ability to reach to people that I don't agree with, and the evangelical community is one where the Democratic Party, I think, we have generally seen as hostile, we haven't been reaching out to them, and I think that if we're going to make significant progress on critical issues that we face, whether it's education, or health care, or energy, or our foreign policy in this country, we've got to be able to get beyond our comfort zones and just talk to people we don't like (pause) or just talk to people we like, or people that we agree with on every single issue.

[Martrae]

Honestly, though, you CAN be Christian and not agree with the evangelical community.

[Zanchief]

It's so much harder to run on the left because the criticism from the right is completely devoid of logic.

The right is better at manipulating people's perception, because their mongoloid sheep don't care to substantiate anything.

WHA!??!! Obama sounds like Osama, HE'S A TERRORIST!!>>!>!