Saturday, December 22, 2007

January 8, 2008 - Impeachment Show with Phil Burk, Elizabeth de la Vega, John Nirenberg and David Swanson
























Listen 7:00- 8:00 pm (PST) to the WeThePeopleRadioNetwork.com and to our guests Phil Burk and Elizabeth de la Vega.

Listen 8:00- 9:00 pm (PST) to the WeThePeopleRadioNetwork.com and to our guests John Nirenberg and David Swanson.


Phil Burk founded ImpeachBush.tv in December of 2000, before the inauguration of George Bush. The efforts made by the Bush team to avoid counting votes in Florida led Phil to believe that George Bush might abuse his Presidential authority once in power.

His website provides information about the process and history of impeachment, and describes impeachable offenses committed by Bush. One focus of his group has been to help cities and states pass local impeachment resolutions. Phil helped draft the impeachment resolutions used by the California, New Mexico, Missouri and Washington state legislatures.

Phil works closely with the National Impeachment Network, a group of activists from AfterDowningStreet.org, Democrats.com, ImpeachForPeace.org, Progressive Democrats of America, and others.

Phil is a businessman and American citizen who believes that the rule of law should apply at every level of society.

Elizabeth de la Vega is the author of "United States v. George W. Bush et al," in which she uses her 20 years of experience as a federal prosecutor to present a hypothetical grand jury presentation setting forth the pre-war intelligence fraud committed by Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld and Powell. Since retiring in 2004 from her position of Assistant United States Attorney in San Jose, California, where she was a member of the Organized Crime Strike Force, and chief of the office for several years, Ms. de la Vega has been writing about legal and political issues.

In the second hour, John Nirenberg has been walking from Boston to Washington DC to pressure Nancy Pelosi to move forward with impeachment. His website- http://www.marchinmyname.org/ reveals this about him:

    "I was born in the midst of the Nuremberg Trials. I grew up conscious of that place as both the beginning of the hate and violence that destroyed all of Europe, and the trials that confirmed a powerful moral sense of what is acceptable and unacceptable even in the depths of war.

    As a child I watched all the war movies and believed we Americans really were different and that we fought for a noble cause. I believed in the supremacy of freedom over fascism, I surely thought our glory was based on doing the right thing and our victory showed the power of real democracy.

    But even as a child I was puzzled about how the world could sink so low. How could a civilized country like Germany turn into a nightmare of fear, violence and wanton destruction? Watching the movies and seeing a nation turn on one scapegoat after another I asked myself, “when do you see the evil for what it is and resist it?” For me, I know the time is now. I am appalled that Americans are actually debating the usefulness of torture techniques and that the Government of the United States is systematically torturing people in the name of freedom and security. As I write this, knowing that President Bush and Vice President Cheney actively support these methods, my skin shudders with anger and fear. Anger because we have stooped so low. Fear because all of what we have cherished as a nation - indeed, all of the great things about the United States that we have shown the world - are being destroyed by the current administration. It isn’t just that this administration authorizes torture, that is reason enough for me to take this action, but Bush and Cheney have placed themselves above the law. And that is the first step of all dictators and tyrants.

    I am not an activist. The defense of the Constitution isn’t ideological. I march because it is essential to stand up to this shame. I march also because I am fortunate enough to do so. I march for everyone uncomfortable with movements, organizers and radicals, but who understand the dire straights we’re in. This is about saving our Constitution. This is about restoring the promise of America. This is about doing what I can as a citizen. This is about shaking the Congressional leadership out of their complacency so that they, too, see the urgency and the importance of their action to right a host of perilous wrongs perpetrated by Bush and Cheney.

    Finally, I need to walk because as a citizen it is all I can think to do that demonstrates how important this is to me. I can’t sit back any longer satisfied with my outrage. It isn’t enough. So I am doing this for me and, I hope, for you.

    A Little Bit More About the Project

    With a little help from my friends…

    This project developed rather spontaneously after one Bush/Cheney outrage too many finally moved me to literally walk my talk. My first job when I was discharged from the Air Force was teaching high school social studies including American History. It was during the Nixon era a year before he resigned. When he resigned I was overjoyed that it proved to the whole world our system of checks and balances and the very ideals I taught were alive and well.

    I moved on to study organizational systems and taught management at the collegiate level on three continents. I was fortunate enough to see the world and to confirm my suspicions that our democracy, as imperfect as it is, still works. I never dreamed that it would be hijacked and that my return to active citizenship would be in a time of another Constitutional crisis. I certainly didn’t think my return to active citizenship would be because the institutions I assumed would look after the Constitution would abandon it.

    I have decided to undertake this walk from historic Faneuil Hall in Boston to Nancy Pelosi’s office in Washington D.C. because I’ve written the letters, spoken with my Congressman, and been patient while the Democrats settled into their leadership role. I hoped they would do the right thing. But they haven’t. Impeachment is “off the table.”

    This effort is to put it back on the table."


David Swanson is the creator of www.impeachcheney.org/, the Washington Director of democrats.com/ and of www.impeachpac.org/. He is co-founder of the www.afterdowningstreet.org/ coalition, creator of www.meetwithcindy.org/, and a board member of Progressive Democrats of America, of the Backbone Campaign, and of Voters for Peace. He was the organizer in 2006 of Camp Democracy. He serves on the steering committee of the Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice and on a working group of United for Peace and Justice.

He has worked as a newspaper reporter and as a communications director, with jobs including Press Secretary for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign, Media Coordinator for the International Labor Communications Association, and three years as Communications Coordinator for ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Swanson is a member of and has served on the Executive Council of the Washington Baltimore Newspaper Guild. He obtained a Master's degree in philosophy from the University of Virginia in 1997. His website is www.davidswanson.org/. In April and May 2007, Swanson consulted part-time for Kucinich for President 2008.

Recently, he spoke in New Hampshire with "Lord of the Rings" star Viggo Mortensen, Maine Lawyers for Democracy leader John Kaminsky, Congressman Kucinich, and John Nichols. (A video of the event should be posted soon at www.kucinichtv.com/.

Together, we will look at what is happening across the country and what people can do to make Impeachment a reality this year. Here are some of the things they urged folks to do:

John shared his own personal transformation story and details of his amazing march through winter along the path laid down by our country's founders. He should be an inspiration to any who have not yet taken to the streets, and urged people, who weren't quite ready to make such a huge committment to at least give Nancy Pelosi a call and urge her to put Impeachment on the table (Her phone number is: 202-225-0100). He also urged people to simnply raise the issue one on one with people they know or oeven people they don't know- as the public has a responsibility to educate one another, in light of the failure of the corporate media.


David Swanson noted that more and more candidates are pushing for Impeachment, as part of their platform. He also said that Kucinich would be a resolution introducing articles of impeachment against George W. Bush in January. He also said that there is a national campaign underway to phone/fax/email/pressure Congress to move forward on Impeachment on January 15th & 16th.


He urged people to sign Wexler's petition at wexlerwantshearings.com, call Congress, visit their offices, do actions, do civil disobedience, write op-eds, write letters to the newspapers, join protests, be creative and do whatever you can think of to raise the Impeachment issue and broadcast your support of Impeachment to the world.


Tuesday, December 11, 2007

December 17, 2007- Passion, Purpose and Poetry Show with Vanessa German



Listen 7:00- 9:00 pm (PST) to the WeThePeopleRadioNetwork.com and to our guest - Vanessa German.




Vanessa German is a performance and visual artist currently based in Pittsburgh, PA. Her mixed media sculptural works gather inspiration from the Kongo "Nkisi" power figures, Mexican iconography, and the many potent, tragic, and stark realities of present day life. Seeking to create work that evokes not only the visceral emotional response of spirit and memory, Vanessa's work also seeks to create a visual contemporary ritual iconography relevant to the realities of the modern world; to employ objects with the power to invoke. Recent exhibitions include "Celebration of Visual Traditions", touring PA through 2008; "Migrations" at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts; "In Our House", at 937 Liberty Avenue, and "Objectification" at Gallerie Chiz.


German has shown and performed throughout the country. A featured performer at the International Arts Festival in Grahmstown, South Africa, Vanessa's performance poetry could be seen and heard in Germany, Sweden, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Olympia, and New Mexico.


Vanessa was a 2005 and 2006 nominee for Emerging Artist of the Year at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. She is the National Slam Bush Champion, Ink Tank Slam Champion, and was voted Best Spoken-word Poet by the Pittsburgh City Paper. Other performance credits include August Wilson's “The Piano Lesson”, “Seven Guitars”, and Jo Turner’s Come and Gone”; "Fire", her performance project with the Three Rivers Arts Festival, and this spring's Kuntu Repertory Theater production of "Relativity".


She says:


    "I am interested in work that is most thoroughly alive. Work which itself is a contribution to a culture of humanity, connected by ritual, ceremony and celebration."


I met Vanessa at the Storyfield Conference last August, where the mantle of organizing the next conference landed on her shoulders. As a teacher, she is currently working on a project that was born out of Storyfield, to enable students to create "Vision videos"- individual and collective videos expressing hopeful visions for the future.


P.S.On the day we did this show, I became violently ill, unfortunately it was very sudden and started only minutes before the show began, so I finally gave up at one hour and forty-five minutes into the show. We actually thought I had appendicitis, and my husband called 911, and I was taken by ambulance to the hospital. I was diagnosed with having a kidney stone. Eventually, I was stabilized and sent home, and I'll be taking a rest and recuperating with family over the holidays.


I felt very badly about not finishing the show, especially since I have great love and respect for Vanessa. I did want to share my favorite poem with her, but was unable to do so. So let me, at least, post it here:


It is from Magister Ludi, or The Glass Bead Game by Herman Hesse


Stages

    As every flower fades and as all youth
    Departs, so life at every stage,
    So every virtue, so our grasp of truth,
    Blooms in its day and may not last forever.

    Since life may summon us at every age
    Be ready, heart, for parting, new endeavor,
    Be ready bravely and without remorse
    To find new light that old ties cannot give.
    In all beginnings dwells a magic force
    For guarding us and helping us to live.

    Serenely let us move to distant places
    And let no sentiments of home detain us.
    The Cosmic Spirit seeks not to restrain us
    But lifts us stage by stage to wider spaces.

    If we accept a home of our own making,
    Familiar habit makes for indolence.
    We must prepare for parting and leave-taking
    Or else remain the slaves of permanence.

    Even the hour of our death may send
    Us speeding on to fresh and newer spaces,
    And life may summon us to newer races.
    So be it, heart: bid farewell without end.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

December 10, 2007- 9/11 Truth Show with Jason King, Mia Hamel, Dylan Avery
















Listen 7:00- 8:00 pm (PST) to the WeThePeopleRadioNetwork.com and to our guests - Jason King and Mia Hamel.

Listen 8:00- 9:00 pm (PST) to the WeThePeopleRadioNetwork.com and to our guest - Dylan Avery.

Jason King is an activist, parent and graphic designer and a major force behind Boston911Truth.org and the Boston Tea Parties for 9/11 Truth. He is also on the steering committee of 911Truth.org/.

At the age of 17 he participated in the 1971 May Day demonstrations, and was a plaintiff in the class action suit Dellums v. Powell conducted through the ACLU, which established the precedent for monetary compensation for the violation of one's constitutional rights. The Supreme Court later cited this case as a precedent in the decision to grant compensation to Japanese Americans who in WWII were interned in American prison camps.

From a family of WWII veterans, Mr. King's role has been to fight the injustices of war itself by lending his talents as a graphic artist to many organizations in campaigns to end the wars waged, from Vietnam to Iraq. In the 1980's Mr. King was a member of Communicators for Nuclear Disarmament, a media and design clearinghouse for the Nuclear Freeze movement. His goal is to continue creating professional level design and creative teams, to convey the urgent message of our time regarding the unanswered questions 9/11. Mr. King maintains that peace and truth are American values that transcend political ideologies, and that the fundamental principals of our republic enshrined in the Constitution and Bill of Rights need to be restored.

Mia Hamel is an activist in Florida, who has also helped with 9/11 Truth Conferences, and communications through her White Rose Newsletter. She was arrested for leafletting at the premiere of Oliver Stone's film World Trade Center exercising her first amendment rights in an act of civil disobedience. She is a courageous, inspiring person showing how one person can and does make difference.


Dylan Avery wanted to make films. He was told by the famous actor, James Gandolfini, "If you want to be a successful director, you have to have something to say to the world." His first foray was a fictional film about some guys who found out that 9/11 was was not a terrorist attack, but rather, an attack by their own government.


In the process of making the film, the evidence began adding up. Dylan took the heroic path of seeking and speaking truth, capturing the attention of an entire generation with- the internet blockbuster- Loose Change. In a very organic way, he and his friends began traveling to promote the film, speaking to audiences across the country. They garnered media attention and harsh criticisms from researchers within the 9/11 Truth Movement.

Dylan and his friends continued to do research, learn from their critics, work with the activists, bond with the victims, support those who risked their lives to save lives at Ground Zero and suffered the devastating health effects of the toxic dust. Dylan grew, the film evolved, and evolved again. With facts checked and given the warm approval of our esteemed researcher, David Ray Griffin, they have produced a third edition of the original idea - "Loose Change - Final Cut" released November 11th, debuting in the U.K., then the East Coast, and now premiering in the West Coast. Dylan and Jason Bermas will be at the premieres, along with local musician Remo Conscious who produced the soundtracks for the films. They will also be participating in the second San Francisco Tea Party for 9/11 Truth, held in Solidarity with the Boston Tea Party, on the 234th Anniversary of the first Boston Tea Party- Sunday, December 16, 2007.


The Tea Parties


From Boston to San Francisco, modern patriots will express their rejection of Bush’s tyrannical laws and their demand for a genuine investigation of 9/11--as well as their demand for impeachment--by tossing, burning or shredding into oceans, rivers, and barbecue pits the rejected 9/11 Report, the PATRIOT Act, the Military Commissions Act, Presidential Directive 51, and H.R. 1955: Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007.

In solidarity with Boston 9/11 Truth’s re-enactment of the Boston Tea Party, the Northern California 9/11 Truth Alliance will echo the call for all Americans to cast off the tyranny, deceit and lies imposed on the American public since 9/11/2001.

At 12 noon on December 16th in San Francisco, costumed activists will rally at Pier 39, bearing oversized replicas of the flawed 9/11 Report and other tyrannical, offensive documents, ringing bells, and making proclamations. The activists will parade westward past Fisherman’s Wharf to rally again at 2 pm at the foot of Hyde Street Pier, before a final march through Aquatic Park to the end of Municipal Pier where at 3 pm the replicas will be thrown into the Bay.

The 9/11 Truth Movement is highly critical of the omissions and distortions of the official 9/11 Commission Report, which failed to answer the majority of the questions posed by the families of 9/11 victims. Many scientists--and even greater numbers of experienced professionals, from pilots to retired intelligence officials--are challenging the Commission’s findings and the NIST Report and calling for the release of evidence that the government has withheld.

H.R. 1955, in its heavy-handed measures to prevent homegrown terrorism, is reminiscent of “A Proclamation for Suppressing Rebellion and Sedition” issued by King George III in 1775, which had the effect of transforming loyal subjects into traitorous rebels and ordering all colonists "to use their utmost endeavours to withstand and suppress such rebellion." In Congressional hearings, those who dare to raise legitimate questions about the government’s account of 9/11 are now being branded as terrorists. Congress has joined the Executive branch in declaring war upon citizens who oppose war and defend the Constitution.

The San Francisco Tea Party for 9/11 Truth will feature the reading of a formal proclamation, which concludes as follows:

“Therefore, we the people… REJECT the findings in the official 9/11 and NIST Report, the PATRIOT ACT, the Military Commissions Act, the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act, and Presidential Directive 51, and DEMAND the release of documents and evidence withheld by the government, and an IMMEDIATE, genuinely independent 9/11 investigation with subpoena powers, independent 9/11 researchers, and oversight by 9/11 families and concerned citizens. We DEMAND that Congress members uphold their oath of office to defend our Constitution, exercise executive oversight, and IMPEACH the President and Vice President before they commit more crimes against our nation and the world through deceptions, lies, and war.