Pelosi Pushed Book, While Taxpayers Revolted Over Bailout

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“The bailout is…economically foolish…downright sinister [and] makes a mockery of our Constitution.”

— Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX)

On Sept. 29, 2008, the House of Representatives, responding to a taxpayers’ revolt, rejected the $700 billion bailout of the greedy Wall Street bankers. Meanwhile, on Sept. 23, 2008, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was in Baltimore, MD, to give a talk at the central library hawking her book, “Know Your Power.” At that point, the Congress was still debating the bailout proposal submitted to it by the Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson and “The Fed’s” czar, Ben Bernanke. Speaker Pelosi didn’t mentioned the bailout in her spiel. Why? I submit because she was too overconfident and thought that there were more than enough votes to pass the financial scheme being pushed by the Bush-Cheney Gang. She was wrong! Finally, the voice of the taxpayers has been heard on Capitol Hill!

There was something Kafkaesque, too, about Speaker Pelosi’s appearance at the library that night. She spoke in the main chamber room of the building to a large, receptive audience. Her speech was full of worn out clichés, distortions of history and just plain crap. Its sugary tone almost made me ill. It seemed Speaker Pelosi was disconnecting from the reality the rest of us see: The U.S. is in a desperate condition as a result of eight years of the warmongering sparked by the Bush-Cheney Gang, the outsourcing of millions of middle class jobs, predatory lenders being allowed to run amuck, and widespread economic meltdown. [1]

Pelosi’s library gig reminded me also of a scene out of the 1965 hit movie, “Doctor Zhivago,” which was based on the insightful tome of the same name by the splendid Russian writer, Boris Pasternak. In the film, two of the principal characters are enjoying themselves with a lavish meal, and dancing the night away at a fancy restaurant in Moscow. They are totally oblivious to the massive suffering of the vast majority of their fellow countrymen. This is just before the launching of the Russian Revolution, in 1917, where their world will soon be violently turned upside down.

A false sense of security is what Speaker Pelosi conveyed to her audience. She chose to ignore the grim facts that are today shredding our way of life. Instead, Speaker Pelosi implied, like some silly Pollyanna, that things will soon be “all better” in America because President George W. Bush’s days in the White House “are drawing to a close.” [2] What dangerous, naive and wishful thinking this is, coming from the Speaker of the House.

And here is why: The hugely influential Military-Industrial Complex, the Israel Lobby, the Wall Street Gang and Big Oil, to name just a few of the predators feeding off our Republic, are not going to go away simply because there is a new president! Also, the Neocons will not go quietly into the night either. In fact, the ultra hawkish William Kristol, as I write, is promoting a U.S. led war against Iran and a more belligerent attitude towards Russia.

The fact is there is little or no real difference between the two major political parties, known also as the “DemRepublicrats,” or Duopoly. In some ways, the Speaker’s remarks at the library were to be, sadly, expected. She doesn’t see herself as being “in opposition” to President Bush, or to the illegal Iraq War, or to the Special Interests which have for so long dominated Capitol Hill. [3] She sees all of it, I suspect, as simply a “disagreement” between Duopoly members over the tactics that will be utilized, on behalf of the reigning Shadow Government, in order to preserve its globalist schemes and power.

At the library, Speaker Pelosi also complained about President Bush’s wasting “billions of dollars” on the Iraq War, as if she herself hadn’t been in a position to “stop funding” the conflict, since Jan. 2007. She has been urged over and over again by Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH) to do just that, but she refused to do so. [4] It is clear to me that Speaker Pelosi chooses to be mostly clueless about her role under the U.S. Constitution, as spelled out in the writings of James Madison. I’m also convinced that she hasn’t read the “Federalist Papers,” and that she knows littler or nothing about the careers of any of her predecessors, such as Speaker Henry Clay of Kentucky.

Thankfully, four Third Party candidates have been spotlighting how the rigged Two-Party System is seriously failing the Republic. These gutsy candidates: Ralph Nader, Cynthia McKinney, Bob Barr and Chuck Baldwin, are struggling to get noticed by the electorate and to be included in the important presidential debates now wrongly dominated by Speaker Pelosi’s beloved Duopoly. [5]

Here’s another reality check for Speaker Pelosi: Earlier in the day, on Sept. 23, 2008, over in Washington, D.C., five courageous members of the Veterans for Peace staged a protest action at the National Archives. They occupied a 35-foot-high ledge in front of the building, where they unfolded a 22×8 foot banner. It read: “Defend Our Constitution: Arrest Bush and Cheney: War Criminals.” The Veterans for Peace is a national organization.

One of the Veterans for Peace’s members, Tarak Kauff, discussed, on camera, the reasons for the protest action. He said that there are members of the U.S. Congress who “knew” about the “torture” of detainees, but did nothing about it. Mr. Kauff underscored that such a member of Congress would be “complicit” in War Crimes, if they failed to act after be “told about” such outrageous conduct, which violated the laws of our country, their Constitutional duties and the provisions of the Geneva Convention. [6] I wondered if Speaker Pelosi knew about the “torture,” as I listened to her library rant? [7]

During the Q&A period of her book-selling gig, Speaker Pelosi was confronted about the issue of impeachment. The question from an audience member was: “Why don’t you initiate the impeachment of President Bush?” Her response to the query was very long winded. Speaker Pelosi’s lame excuses why she hasn’t take any action were essentially that impeachment proceedings would have played into the hands of the “Republican Caucus” in the House and that now it’s just too late to do anything, since Bush will be out of office in Jan., 2009. [2]

Finally, 1,172 U.S. troops have died in Iraq, since Speaker Pelosi took office in Jan., 2007. Meanwhile, the war still rages on, our national economy continues to nose dive, and the parasites on Wall St. are looking to get even fatter. (8) All of this and more are part of the ugly legacy of Speaker Pelosi, a woman who’d rather push the sales of her stupid book, than do her job consistent with the values and principles of the Republic. [9]

Notes:

[1]. http://www.economyincrisis.org/ and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5b2M2lIVCI

[2]. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO1-HBXarRs

[3]. “The Sorrows of Empire” by Chalmers Johnson.

[4]. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gIz44GIftI

[5]. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZEdyiSTmjI

[6]. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1JAFasEYZY

[7]. http://www.thenation.com/blogs/
thebeat?bid=1&pid=258258

[8]. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJaTpgZHyeE

[9]. On Sept. 28, 2008, the “Baltimore Sun” newspaper, on page 20 A, posted 25 names of the latest members of the U.S. military killed in the Iraq War, a conflict which was preemptively launched by the Bush-Cheney Gang based on 935 damnable lies.