May They All Fall Like Dominoes

I was thinking last week that one person on my short list for Obama's VP would be Dennis Kucinich. He's one of the few politicians I'd trust to lead this nation in the event Barack ever takes a bullet.


Kucinich proposed nuclear disarmament at a time when the Bush Administration set the stage for nuclear proliferation. He wants to create a Department of Peace to explore alternatives to war.

He's also opposed the PATRIOT Act, NAFTA, and fought against Social Security cuts. Prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, he argued there was no proof Saddam Hussein had WMDs and predicted that our invasion would destabilize the Middle East. This is only a few, and in short, he's pushed for things that many Americans say they want.

Long before all of this, Kucinich almost took a bullet himself in1972 as the young mayor of Cleveland after refusing to sell the local power plant to private corporate interests. Someone hired the mob to take him out.

On the sunny day that he had an appointment with death, he was getting ready to leave his home and give a speech in an outdoor location.

The assassin was ready and waiting.

So was an ulcer he didn't know about. It exploded. Blood oozed from mouth and shirt. Unconscious, he was rushed to the hospital where surgery was performed. Meanwhile, the crowd and the killer wondered where he was.

Dennis Kucinich was saved by nothing short of a miracle. I mean, what are the odds of this happening on the hour you would have otherwise been murdered?

I read about this at his website in April or May. If it's there now, I couldn't find it, but you can read the details at the above link or googling. Maybe he took it down so as not to give ideas to garden variety of haters who might fantasize about trying to harm him, because this time, our warrior is after bigger dragons of chaos - the President of the United States, George W. Bush, and Vice President Dick Cheney.


Dennis wants them impeached.

The all-powerful House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said the impeachment issue is 'off the table' because she'll reject it. Take note that she's a Democrat. It's one thing to not get involved with partisan politics, but another to not appear troubled enough to let a well-documented case of power abuse and alleged crimes against humanity go forward and at least be heard. If they're innocent, she nor anyone else needs to protect them.

This impeachment issue should be the Rev. Wright story of the month, but in a good sense. Instead, the media turned Kucinich's Articles of Impeachment into a 24 hour mini-story. You have to google now to find it.

Bush will likely not be impeached so the naysayers say, but Dennis's efforts to document Bush and Cheney's war crimes so that some of what really happened will at least make the history books.

It bothers me that his name is not on Obama's VP short list or that the media hasn't given him a thought. Why not?

We can trace part of the answer to 2002. In case you don't recall, Rep. Cynthia McKinney, a black Georgia Congresswoman, became demonized and vilified by the media, conservatives, moderates, and even liberals for daring to question what happened on 9/11.

McKinney was treated like a black laundry woman who had the audacity to ask about blood and shit stains on the sheets of the plantation owner at an all-white dinner party.


They wanted her out of there. Huge donations to her opponent in the next Georgia congressional election came from Manhattan. It cost her seat, but she ran again in the next election and got it back.

McKinney refused to remain invisible or keep her questions to herself. Her cross-examination of Donald Rumsfeld; Tina Jonas, the Defense Department Comptroller; and Gen. Richard Myers is fascinating. She grilled them about 9/11, why NORAD wasn't around when the World Trade Center was hit, trillions of misspent money via unseemly and inappropriate contracts in Iraq, and one contractor's alleged connection with the sex trade. Their "I don't knows" and passive uncooperativeness is striking.

McKinney also dragged in Choicepoint to give testimony about the 2004 election. She got them to admit how Texas gave Florida the list of Florida voters (identified by race) who "could be" felons because their names "sounded like" the names of known felons, and thus kept thousands of black Florida voters - mostly Democrats - off the ballot. This voter fraud resulted in Gore losing the election to Bush, throwing us into what may become a century of wars.

(Start watching this video at 3 minutes 58 seconds.)

Anyone who wants to know about McKinney has to sift through the virulent racist attacks on her - which by design, disguises what she's been legitimately questioning since 2001.

In December 2006, McKinney submitted House Resolution 1106 - Articles of Impeachment against George Walker Bush, President of the United States of America, and other officials, for high crimes and misdemeanors.

Did this dominate a long, public discussion of her questions?

No. Instead, her afro was endlessly criticized. Yeah, I agree it often looks ratty and she should either trim the damn thing, stick with braids, or hire a makeover artist. By not doing this as often as she should, a lot of black folks wondered WTF?, but worse, she left herself open as a target to bigots. This type of photo below dominates the internet and the racism oozes.


Cynthia has some major weakness beyond not having a polished look. She's currently running for President under the Green Party, yet her website is, well, appalling. You get the sense she's not well-organized and that she doesn't network well enough with others to even get a few college kids to design and better maintain it. It should have a lot more information about her platform, updates, and better videos to underscore her ideas.

The Green Party's site sucks too. They don't have the photos or names of any of their candidates on their damn homepage. You have to go on a hunt to find them, and then the information is outdated. Would I vote for a candidate or a political party who can't pull together something as simple or well as high school kid could? Hell friggin' no.

However, this is time for the mainstream and alternative medias and blogosphere to give her kudos for having the insight and courage to dare to question - and investigate the unthinkable - in a repressive don't ask, don't tell atmosphere. Instead they've been listening to the corporate agenda's ideas of who should be picked for Obama's VP to maximize his electability on Nov. 4th, instead of following our conscience and giving serious thought about who would serve in the best interests of We The People.

We know McKinney ain't perfect, but we also know she's been a victim of politics and negative racial stereotyping. She's been smart enough to not be suckered by Bush's lies which has led to the deaths of over 4,100 U.S. soldiers, thousands more who are permanently disabled, and the murder of over 1,000,000 civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan.


(Yes, that's Bush behind the happy face. You can see this pic again and the original photo in the excellent article, You Lost Your Face and Legs, But I'm Here Now.)

We also know even though we can trust McKinney to dig for the truth and fight for us, she hasn't a snowball's chance in hell of ever becoming President or VP.

Well, neither does Dennis Kucinich, and his hair and website look great, plus in my opinion, his wife is prettier and classier-looking than Cindy McCain.

But let's look beyond the external. Cynthia tried to get Bush impeached first. Dennis is trying again. Corporate and defense industry white collar cutthroats won't allow it. Still, these two congressional representatives have paid their dues in fearlessly trying to get justice, and if the history books are written accurately, the truth will be told.

Kucinich and McKinney have paved the way for Obama to do what needs to be done if he becomes President: deal with the long list of men and women who one day may be legally labeled as war criminals.

Think he'll follow up? I don't. I think Obama's too political, and the general American media, public and corporate muscle won't allow a black man to lock up white men for killing brown people in a far away land. Barack wants to win, and this has made him vulnerable to being backed into corners and making promises that run counter to change. My assessment is that he's not likely to take advantage of the road Cynthia and Dennis have paved.

But if he does go after those who have harmed our nation and engaged in crimes against humanity, may they all fall like dominoes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio
In the United States House of Representatives
Monday, June 9th, 2008
A Resolution

Article I
Creating a Secret Propaganda Campaign to Manufacture a False Case for War Against Iraq.

Article II
Falsely, Systematically, and with Criminal Intent Conflating the Attacks of September 11, 2001, With Misrepresentation of Iraq as a Security Threat as Part of Fraudulent Justification for a War of Aggression.

Article III
Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction, to Manufacture a False Case for War.

Article IV
Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Posed an Imminent Threat to the United States.

Article V
Illegally Misspending Funds to Secretly Begin a War of Aggression.

Article VI
Invading Iraq in Violation of the Requirements of HJRes114.

Article VII
Invading Iraq Absent a Declaration of War.

Article VIII
Invading Iraq, A Sovereign Nation, in Violation of the UN Charter.

Article IX
Failing to Provide Troops With Body Armor and Vehicle Armor

Article X
Falsifying Accounts of US Troop Deaths and Injuries for Political Purposes

Article XI
Establishment of Permanent U.S. Military Bases in Iraq

Article XII
Initiating a War Against Iraq for Control of That Nation's Natural Resources

Article XIIII
Creating a Secret Task Force to Develop Energy and Military Policies With Respect to Iraq and Other
Countries

Article XIV
Misprision of a Felony, Misuse and Exposure of Classified Information And Obstruction of Justice in the Matter of Valerie Plame Wilson, Clandestine Agent of the Central Intelligence Agency

Article XV
Providing Immunity from Prosecution for Criminal Contractors in Iraq

Article XVI
Reckless Misspending and Waste of U.S. Tax Dollars in Connection With Iraq and US Contractors

Article XVII
Illegal Detention: Detaining Indefinitely And Without Charge Persons Both U.S. Citizens and Foreign Captives

Article XVIII
Torture: Secretly Authorizing, and Encouraging the Use of Torture Against Captives in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Other Places, as a Matter of Official Policy

Article XIX
Rendition: Kidnapping People and Taking Them Against Their Will to "Black Sites" Located in Other Nations, Including Nations Known to Practice Torture

Article XX
Imprisoning Children

Article XXI
Misleading Congress and the American People About Threats from Iran, and Supporting Terrorist Organizations Within Iran, With the Goal of Overthrowing the Iranian Government

Article XXII
Creating Secret Laws

Article XXIII
Violation of the Posse Comitatus Act

Article XXIV
Spying on American Citizens, Without a Court-Ordered Warrant, in Violation of the Law and the Fourth Amendment

Article XXV
Directing Telecommunications Companies to Create an Illegal and Unconstitutional Database of the Private Telephone Numbers and Emails of American Citizens

Article XXVI
Announcing the Intent to Violate Laws with Signing Statements

Article XXVII
Failing to Comply with Congressional Subpoenas and Instructing Former Employees Not to Comply

Article XXVIII
Tampering with Free and Fair Elections, Corruption of the Administration of Justice

Article XXIX
Conspiracy to Violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965

Article XXX
Misleading Congress and the American People in an Attempt to Destroy Medicare

Article XXXI
Katrina: Failure to Plan for the Predicted Disaster of Hurricane Katrina, Failure to Respond to a Civil Emergency

Article XXXII
Misleading Congress and the American People, Systematically Undermining Efforts to Address Global Climate Change

Article XXXIII
Repeatedly Ignored and Failed to Respond to High Level Intelligence Warnings of Planned Terrorist Attacks in the US, Prior to 911.

Article XXXIV
Obstruction of the Investigation into the Attacks of September 11, 2001

Article XXXV
Endangering the Health of 911 First Responders