Friday Night Latrines
You’d think that by now local anti-war protestors would feel free to deliver their messages among the masses huddled in high school football stadiums across Texas on Friday nights this and every autumn. It would make sense because these venues are quality places in which to build enduring relationships with families most easily infected by the disease of war. But no.
Pressure Congress To Dump Bush’s Lawyers: Author
ARLINGTON, Texas — You’d think that by now local anti-war protestors would feel free to deliver their messages among the masses huddled in high school football stadiums across Texas on Friday nights this and every autumn.
It would make sense because these venues are quality places in which to build enduring relationships with families most easily infected by the disease of war.
But no.
It seems as though the only way anti-war activists would ever consider sniffing near their likeness is when the possibility exists that former President George W. Bush has thought about deficating in any one of the 1,700 toilets housed in The Colosseum.
A number of anti-war advocates did just that on Sept. 21, the day that Bush was to have appeared at Cowboys Stadium, the new billion-dollar home of the Dallas Cowboys professional football franchise in Arlington.
Or as Cowboy fans call it: JerryWorld, JerryStar, JonesTown, JerryDome, Jones-Mahal, Boss Hog Bowl, or Six Flags Over Jerry.
“We felt compelled to remind people that even though George W. Bush is no longer in office, he and any government officials involved in decisions that led to torture and other crimes should still be subject to prosecutorial investigation… just as ordinary people are investigated when there’s a possibility they’ve committed crimes,” wrote activist Leslie Harris in her piece “Teachable Moments: Bush Back in Texas” on AfterDowningStreet.org.
So Harris and other activists from North Texas reportedly waved their signs and received anti-and pro-honks from passing motorists nearby (i.e. the usual anti-war protest).
No citizens’ arrests of Bush or his war criminal cronies were made, though; Bush fled the scene after attending the kickoff luncheon of the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee’s service learning program.
But anti-war activist turned radio show personality Cindy Sheehan did get a picture of herself with Roger Staubauch, the former Dallas Cowboy quarterback and Bush supporter.
“The expression on Staubach’s face: priceless!” wrote Harris at the righteous expense of the NFL Hall of Famer.
However, the protest outside Cowboys Stadium wasn’t a total waste for the activists; some took time to teach the “Freedom of Speech” to a few young students that were bused from an unnamed school district to listen to the former president.
“Before anyone noticed us, we swerved out from behind the bus into full view and paraded, single-file, in front of them, with the prison-garbed ‘W’ in tow, displaying our signs for them to read. The teachers, bus drivers, and security personnel just stopped and stared… but the kids reacted immediately,” Harris wrote.
In other words, before “security” threw them out of the area, the activists told the students (whose grade level was not disclosed) to ask their teachers about the First Amendement since the kids had no idea what it was when asked, and of course teachers are supposed to teach, not activists.
These activists were in the DFW Metroplex for a political forum at a local theater as well as a rally outside President Bush’s North Dallas home with Iraq veteran and war resister, Victor Agosto; nationally syndicated talk-show host, Thom Hartmann; musician, David Rovics; and author David Swanson.
“You might just be amazed that this festival of forward-looking environmentalism, peace, and social justice took place in Dallas,” wrote Swanson on his personal blog DavidSwanson.org.
There, Swanson, author of the recently released book “Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union,” was supposed to debate a “Bush-defender on the topic of whether Bush should be prosecuted for war crimes” live on Rational Radio AM 1360.
As it turned out, none of the invited defenders (i.e. the former president himself, right-wing astroturf organizers, or think tank consultants) showed for a host of reasons.
“Pro-immunity pundit Stuart Taylor told the radio station that he would rather not walk into such a ‘lion’s den.’ An AEI (American Enterprise Institute) spokesperson offered to take part for $100,000. Everyone else flatly refused. I did the radio show without an opponent,” wrote Swanson.
Swanson also told the crowd of activists that there are many, many, many, many things they can do to hold both the former Bush and current Obama administrations accountable.
And none of those things include demonstrating in or around sports complexes of any sort; for more suggestions, visit his website ProsecuteBushCheney.org.
For example, chief among the measures Swanson suggested is getting Congress to get off its ass and impeach the former lawyers for the Bush adminsitration, such as John Bybee, who backed limits to human rights like the torture and indefinite detention of detainees.
“If we can impeach a judge from Texas without causing any sort of trauma to the nation because he was groping people, can we not impeach a judge from the West Coast who legalized torture and aggressive war and warrantless spying?” Swanson asked. “If you can’t impeach him, who can you impeach?”
Swanson explained that Congress is terrified to issue subpeonas against former Bush officials because the Justice Department first under Bush and now under Obama doesn’t enforce them.
Yet, every single congressional committee on either side of the Hill, he said, has the undisputed power to send the Capitol police to pick up anybody anywhere and literally hold them in contempt until they testify to the full satisfaction of that committee.
“They won’t do it unless we force them to do it,” Swanson stated. “They don’t want power, but we should want them to want power because they might represent us.”
However, until the “OPR report” is released, the Judiciary Committee in the House and Senate won’t act accordingly; this report by the Justice Department explains what Bush’s lawyers actually did, he explained.
Swanson said that it is important to improve the federal laws, even though they have not been enforced as of late; among the changes to existing laws he advocated are:
– Make a felony and impeachable offense the authorization of war wihout Congress’s permission.
– Make a major felony war profiteering.
– Make serve in the most dangerous military positions the military-aged offspring of U.S. politicians.
– Make illegal the use of mercenaries.
– Make illegal the use of the U.S. military on U.S. soil unless they actually defend the United States.
– Make illegal secret budgets, secret laws, secret militaries, and secret agencies, including the CIA.
Swanson added that political election challenges are good as along as your energy continues after the election.
“There is absolutely nothing disrespectful of asking elected officials to do what you want. It’s your part of the bargain you make when you elect them,” he stated.
