Bush Visits "Emancipation Proclamation" On Martin Luther King Day!
President Bush found comfort by visiting the Emancipation Proclamation on Martin Luther King Day.
He stated:
THE PRESIDENT: It seems fitting on Martin Luther King Day that I come and look at the Emancipation Proclamation in its original form. Abraham Lincoln recognized that all men are created equal. Martin Luther King lived on that admonition to call our country to a higher calling, and today we celebrate the life of an American who called Americans to account when we didn't live up to our ideals.And this is President Lincoln.Indeed Mr. Lincoln believed that all Americans were created equal. That nobody was above the law!
Lincoln, in the Lyceum Address in 1838 had this to say:
Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the Revolution, never to violate in the least particular, the laws of the country; and never to tolerate their violation by others. As the patriots of seventy-six did to the support of the Declaration of Independence, so to the support of the Constitution and Laws, let every American pledge his life, his property, and his sacred honor;--let every man remember that to violate the law, is to trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the character of his own, and his children's liberty. Let reverence for the laws, be breathed by every American mother, to the lisping babe, that prattles on her lap--let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; let it be written in Primers, spelling books, and in Almanacs;--let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. And, in short, let it become the political religion of the nation; and let the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the grave and the gay, of all sexes and tongues, and colors and conditions, sacrifice unceasingly upon its altars.I am sorry Mr. President. But you are no Abraham Lincoln!
While ever a state of feeling, such as this, shall universally, or even, very generally prevail throughout the nation, vain will be every effort, and fruitless every attempt, to subvert our national freedom.
This is former Vice-President Al Gore:
Al Gore knows President Bush has broken the law. As reported:
WASHINGTON -- Former Vice President Al Gore called Monday for an independent investigation of President Bush's domestic spying program, contending the president "repeatedly and insistently" broke the law by eavesdropping on Americans without court approval.President Bush you are NO Abraham Lincoln!
Speaking on Martin Luther King Jr.'s national holiday, the man who lost the 2000 presidential election to Bush was interrupted repeatedly by applause as he called the anti-terrorism program "a threat to the very structure of our government."
John W. Dean knows about Presidents and violations of the law. After all he was President Richard Nixon's Counsel in the White House.
This is John W. Dean:
He recently stated about the NSA wiretapping case:
Initially, Bush and the White House stonewalled, neither confirming nor denying the president had ignored the law. Bush refused to discuss it in his interview with Jim Lehrer.Mr. President, you are NO Abraham Lincoln.
Then, on Saturday, December 17, in his radio broadcast, Bush admitted that the New York Times was correct - and thus conceded he had committed an impeachable offense.
There can be no serious question that warrantless wiretapping, in violation of the law, is impeachable. After all, Nixon was charged in Article II of his bill of impeachment with illegal wiretapping for what he, too, claimed were national security reasons.
These parallel violations underscore the continuing, disturbing parallels between this Administration and the Nixon Administration - parallels I also discussed in a prior column.
Indeed, here, Bush may have outdone Nixon: Nixon's illegal surveillance was limited; Bush's, it is developing, may be extraordinarily broad in scope. First reports indicated that NSA was only monitoring foreign calls, originating either in the USA or abroad, and that no more than 500 calls were being covered at any given time. But later reports have suggested that NSA is "data mining" literally millions of calls - and has been given access by the telecommunications companies to "switching" stations through which foreign communications traffic flows.
In sum, this is big-time, Big Brother electronic surveillance.
Gore reminded his audience today that Martin Luther King was also the victim of overzealous wiretapping. As he stated:
Gore, speaking at DAR Constitution Hall, said his concerns are especially important on the King holiday because the slain civil rights leader was among thousands of Americans whose private communications were intercepted by the U.S. government.We have many lessons to learn from Martin Luther King, Jr.
King, as a foremost civil rights activist in the 1950s and '60s, had his telephone conversations wiretapped by the FBI, which kept a file on him and thousands of other civil rights and anti-Vietnam war activists.
Gore said there is still much to learn about the domestic surveillance program, but he already has drawn a conclusion about its legality.
"What we do know about this pervasive wiretapping virtually compels the conclusion that the president of the United States has been breaking the law repeatedly and insistently," the Democrat maintained.
And we have many lessons we can all learn from Abraham Lincoln!
Among them is respect for the rule of law and the importance of the Constitution of the United States.
Nobody is above the law Mr. President! Not Richard Nixon and not you!
We have no kings. We have Americans. And every four years one of us is chosen by the people to serve them as President at their pleasure. And to faithfully execute the laws of this nation. We are now calling upon you to account for not living up to our ideals!
Bob
1 Comments:
Nice!
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