Mourn, don't celebrate, this Independence Day
Cynthia Banas / Guest Columnist

This year it is more appropriate to mourn rather than celebrate July Fourth. Our freedom is based not only upon the Declaration of Independence, but also our Constitution, the bedrock of our democracy.

Our Constitution is being attacked and ignored by the very leaders who are sworn to uphold it. For example, Bush has never vetoed a law passed by Congress. Instead Bush signs the bill, which then becomes law. But after his signature is added a postscript called a “Signing Statement.” If Bush signs this statement, it gives him the authority to disregard the law he has just signed!

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So, what is the point of Congress? Why doesn't Bush just make decrees and proclamations? How is Bush's rule any different from a dictator's? And what has become of our system of checks and balances?
According to Article 6 of the U.S. Constitution, international laws and treaties to which we are signatory are the highest laws of our land. Among these are the United Nations Charter, Geneva Conventions and Nuremberg Principles. Bush has broken all these highest laws. Bush's war is an illegal one since it violates the United Nations Charter. Just as Hitler “preventively” attacked Poland in 1939, so Bush “preventively” attacked Iraq on March 19, 2003. It is public knowledge that Iraq did not attack the Twin Towers. Bush attacked Iraq in spite of most of the international community calling for more time for inspections rather than invasion.

Article 4 of the Constitution gives an accused person the rights to be charged with a crime and to confront his accusers and defend himself. Holding people by whatever name they are given (such as “enemy combatants”) does not exempt the United States from treating them with basic human decency as specifically stated in Article 3 of the Geneva Accords.

Torture is used at Guantánamo Bay as it is used in other U.S. prisons. This is public knowledge. (See the book “Guantánamo and the Misuse of Presidential Power.”) Holding prisoners in Guantánamo detention camps for years without charge — while the whole world is watching and calling for the camps' closure and while Bush is traveling the world talking of “freedom and democracy” — has to give people of other lands pause to wonder what our country is about.

Before the rise of Hitler, there was a breakdown of the German language. By misuse and reinterpretation of language, all the crimes committed in Germany during Hitler's time were made legal; none of the atrocities committed in Nazi Germany were illegal according to the remade German laws. In our country members of the judicial branch have corrupted our language, thereby making illegal actions “legal.” For example, calling people held at Guantánamo “enemy combatants” makes it okay to torture them since “enemy combatants” do not come under the rules of the international accords we have signed. These changes were made by Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez and attorney Samuel Alito, who now holds a seat on the Supreme Court, and their staff of lawyers in our Justice Department.

What happened to our nation of law?

So, let us have our Fourth of July parades. But let us carry our flags upside down as we march. It is perfectly patriotic and legal (even without misrepresenting any truths or corrupting any language) to hold our flag upside down. Carrying or flying the flag upside down is a signal of distress, and certainly the fracture and violation of our Constitution are great signs of distress. Carrying our flags upside down signals that some of our greatest freedoms have already been destroyed or are in the process of being destroyed, not by some foreign enemy but by the very people whom we have elected.

As we walk, let us also wear a black armband in memory of the thousands of Americans and Iraqis who have been the victims of this illegal war.

And as we walk, let us reflect. Let us not fool ourselves into thinking that we are sending our youngsters to Iraq to kill and be killed so that we can be free here on our streets. The purpose of our being in Iraq is to control it and its resources. Why else are we constructing the largest U.S. embassy in the world in Iraq, a nation of some 24 million people? And why are we building five huge U.S. military bases in Iraq?

As Lincoln said, “you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.”

North Korea has test-fired a number of missiles, one of which was reported to have been the long-range Taepodong-2 which US media said failed in flight.

I was at the Jesse Brown V.A. Medical Center because I'm participating in the Voices for Creative Nonviolence's 30-day, 320-mile "Walk for Justice," from Springfield to North Chicago, Illinois, to reclaim funding for the common good and away from war.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2006/07/14/cnusa14.xml&me...

That's amazing and ironic.  The Federal Reserve (which is neither federal nor a reserve) is saying we're going bankrupt?  Well it's weird because they were set up by the globalists just for that reason!!!

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