So, what do we do now?

[Le Taz Hot]

As DU's resident curmudgeon and skeptic and one who is delusional enough to think she always has the answers, I'm at a loss. I mean, what do we DO? Monies are being taken out of OUR paychecks for taxes that are being used to torture human beings. Our so-called elected representatives voted, in OUR names, to torture human beings. Our U.S. military, representing us, are being ordered to torture and kill innocent people.

If this passes the Senate, All the Kings Men will have engineered a "get out of jail free" card for War Crimes for themselves. How convenient.

I repeat: What do we do?

Write letters? Write letters what? We're not going to change any representative's mind on this. Vote Democrat? Democrat what? I'm serious! Look at the number of Democratic Congresspersons voted for this! Vote Democrat what?

This is, literally, a national emergency. There are people being tortured in OUR names. We, the people, have to do SOMETHING and we have to do it NOW. I repeat: What do WE do?

[OwnedByFerrets]

1. Also waiting on that important answer. tick, tick, tick.......

nt

[SutaUvaca]

2. And, a national tradgedy

It's sickening how many elected leaders voted for this. Whatever their party. National emergency, yes, because as you ask, what do we vote for now. Who can we trust when they run for high office, or any office. Soon will be wonder how much we can write in emails and postings and not be picked up for "questioning"? Does my employee's Iranian fiance cause greater risk for me to be scrutinized by some Chimp-empowered goon?

We seem headed for a great and tragic, and maybe sudden, decline as a nation - into a deep dark hole.
Pardon the downer. I better go out for a walk and get some fresh air or something.

[Finder]

3. March on Washington DC...

and not just for one afternoon listening to free mumia speeches and celebrities cracking jokes.

[OwnedByFerrets]

4. Just like the folks were supposed to

get into their suv's and get the hell out of NO before the levys broke?:sarcasm:
Most of us can neither afford to drive to DC, nor can we afford to be away from work long enough to go. There has to be something more we can do, without losing our jobs or our homes for lack of money.

[Finder]

5. Give me Liberty or Give me Death, Live free or die, blah blah

mere logos from the past.

The admin obviously knows this.

[Moochy]

6. Aint that the crux of it?

That's why the media is there to encourage our consumerism and to annihilate any activism or direct participation in Democracy. Can we take this shit down? I have my doubts that Amerika can wake up from this fucking nightmare.

A slightly encouraging note to end on, there is a protest as we speak in front of Dianne Feinsteins' office.

[Le Taz Hot]

7. Her office in San Francisco?

Just curious.

[Moochy]

8. Yes thats the spot

I heard it on the morning traffic report on SF's good NPR station, KALW 91.7 information radio.
Not to be confused with the evil KQED FM 88.5 :)

[Vinca]

14. You're right. A million-pissed-off-citizens march.

[enough already]

9. I am unbelievably depressed over this.

I wish I had the will to take to the streets and fight this, but I'm close to giving up. I can't believe this is happening.

[Le Taz Hot]

10. Then don't read the rest of DU

The people on this board are supposedly activists. Read the posts on Ford & Brown (Dems who voted to torture human beings). It's so unvelievable. Vote for this person because he/she has a "D" next to his/her name. This is truly disgusting. If people on THIS board can justify voting for these vermin, they can justify anything.

I WANT MY COUNTRY BACK!!!!!

[QShok]

12. Vote lesser of the two evils.

Is the torture bill a litmus test? If so than I might as well stay home election night because there is no lesser of the two evils.

Shok

[Le Taz Hot]

13. Voting the lesser of two evils

is still voting for evil. Personally, the IWR was my litmus test. Took Kerry and Feinsten out of the running for me. It's the political parties that have put us in this place. Loyalty to the party instead of the ideology is what is being demanded. You can play or you don't have to. It's up to you.

[Greyhound]

11. For myself, right now, I'm recommending this thread.

I'm moving out of a horrible red-state. I'm trying to build a nation-wide community of resources for what is coming, for I believe it has gone too far and it is now too late to stop the juggernaut. We are seeing yet another repeat of history and I think it is about 1936 or 1937.

In the coming years, there will be no option to be "neutral" and all of us will have to choose sides, which side will you be on?

[gully]

15. See my thread here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2246444&mesg_id=2246444

[mom cat]

16. KEEP CALLING SENATORS.

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

[meganmonkey]

17. GET IN THE STREETS!

Protests planned in over 100 cities already. Maybe this issue will finally get some people out there:

http://www.worldcantwait.org/

Announcing a Day of Mass Resistance:


OCTOBER 5, 2006


BRING THIS TO A HALT!


YOUR GOVERNMENT, on the basis of outrageous lies, is waging a murderous and utterly illegitimate war in Iraq, with other countries in their sights.

YOUR GOVERNMENT is openly torturing people, and justifying it.

YOUR GOVERNMENT puts people in jail on the merest suspicion, refusing them lawyers, and either holding them indefinitely or deporting them in the dead of night.

YOUR GOVERNMENT is moving each day closer to a theocracy, where a narrow and hateful brand of Christian fundamentalism will rule.

YOUR GOVERNMENT suppresses the science that doesn't fit its religious, political and economic agenda, forcing present and future generations to pay a terrible price.

YOUR GOVERNMENT is moving to deny women here, and all over the world, the right to birth control and abortion.

YOUR GOVERNMENT enforces a culture of greed, bigotry, intolerance and ignorance.

People look at all this and think of Hitler - and they are right to do so. The Bush regime is setting out to radically remake society very quickly, in a fascist way, and for generations to come.

We must act now; the future is in the balance.

Millions and millions are deeply disturbed and outraged by this. They recognize the need for a vehicle to express this outrage, yet they cannot find it; politics as usual cannot meet the enormity of the challenge, and people sense this. There is not going to be some magical "pendulum swing." People who steal elections and believe they're on a "mission from God" will not go without a fight. There is not going to be some savior from the Democratic Party. This whole idea of putting our hopes and energies into "leaders" who tell us to seek common ground with fascists and religious fanatics is proving every day to be a disaster, and actually serves to demobilize people.

But silence and paralysis are NOT acceptable. That which you will not resist and mobilize to stop, you will learn - or be forced - to accept. There is no escaping it: the whole disastrous course of this Bush regime must be STOPPED. And we must take the responsibility to do it. And there is a way. We are talking about something on a scale that can really make a huge change in this country and in the world. We need more than fighting Bush's outrages one at a time, constantly losing ground to the whole onslaught. We must, and can, aim to create a political situation where the Bush regime's program is repudiated, where Bush himself is driven from office, and where the whole direction he has been taking society is reversed. We, in our millions, must and can take responsibility to change the course of history. Acting in this way, we join with and give support and heart to people all over the globe who so urgently need and want this regime to be stopped.

This will not be easy. If we speak the truth, they will try to silence us. If we act, they will try to stop us. But we speak for the majority, here and around the world, and as we get this going we are going to reach out to the people who have been so badly fooled by Bush and we are NOT going to stop. The point is this: history is full of examples where people who had right on their side fought against tremendous odds and were victorious. And it is also full of examples of people passively hoping to wait it out, only to get swallowed up by a horror beyond what they ever imagined.

The future is unwritten. WHICH ONE WE GET IS UP TO US.

http://www.worldcantwait.org/


Mass Resistance
October 5th 2006
No school! No work! Be there!

[enough already]

21. It will all be over by October 5

I feel sick about this.

[meganmonkey]

23. the protests aren't a response to this bill specifically

They are a general response to the overall lack of democracy and accountability in this country. This general strike has been in the works for awhile now. What is happening this week in our legislative branch is just further proof that we need more than elections and phone calls to our reps to have our voices be heard.

BRING THIS TO A HALT!

:patriot:

[Le Taz Hot]

24. October 5 is on a Wednesday!

Most of us HAVE to work that day (welcome to the Bush economy). Don't these organizers ever think about that???? This is so frustrating!

[meganmonkey]

25. That's the whole point!

This isn't a Saturday afternoon - everything-is-closed-nobody-notices kind of event.

THIS IS A STRIKE!!!!!

Remember the immigration protests and how much press they got compared to the Saturday or Sunday afternoon anti-war protests? It's because they did it during the week! It's because they disrupted the normal course of affairs - businesses had to close - buses were blocked - traffic was stopped.

PEOPLE ARE DYING. OUR DEMOCRACY IS DYING!!! It is WAY past time to get out of our fucking comfort zones and get into the fucking streets.

Doesn't anyone get it? IT IS SO BAD! IT IS GOING TO GET WORSE!!!!

:cry:

[Blaukraut]

18. What I'd like to do, but it's probably not possible

Is to sue the republican party and/or Bush, or even specifically those representatives and senators who have sold out our rights and the constitution.

[meuniermr]

20. Right idea

Im going to try to see if I can get my law prof. to file a Qui Tam suit charging that the law is unconstitutional. I dont know if that will follow procedure or work at all but IM going to try.

[brentspeak]

19. What do you do? First, stop panicking. Second, it's "Democratic"

not "Democrat". Third, work to ensure a Democratic majority in Congress so that these kinds of bills never go anywhere.

[Le Taz Hot]

22. Oh, well, by all means

let's nitpick about 2 letters. I mean, THAT'S what is SO important! :eyes: A Democratic majority? Did you even READ the OP?

[mhatrw]

26. Torture is just the sensationalistic cover story for this bill.

It's the gutting of the 6th and 7th amendments as well that is the even greater crime.