By David Swanson

Here are two upcoming live online radio shows you can participate in:

Tuesday, July 8, 8-9 p.m. ET: John Dean, counsel to President Richard Nizon, whose latest book is "Broken Government," and whose past works include "Worse Than Watergate."

Wednesday, July 9, 8-9 p.m. ET: Elizabeth de la Vega, former federal prosecutor, author of "The United States vs. George W. Bush."

Go to http://www.thepeoplespeakradio.net/listen-live to listen live.

You'll find instructions there to enter a paltalk chat room where you can post questions.

You can also phone in and ask your questions on the air. Call in tollfree from anywhere in the United States or Canada at 888-228-4494 or anywhere else in the world at 877-489-6350.

Following each show, the audio file will be posted at http://www.thepeoplespeakradio.net/audio/2008 and you can find there now the recordings of numerous shows with amazing guests, including Cindy Sheehan, Lincoln Chafee, Brad Friedman, Shirin Ebadi, Phil Donahue, Mark Crispin Miller, William Odom, Byron DeLear, etc.

To support The People Speak Radio please donate at http://www.thepeoplespeakradio.net/donate

Story and photos are at Boston Indymedia, and apparently nowhere else. If we'd protested Bush that day only miles away on th

By Bryan McKenzie, Charlottesville Daily Progress

It was an exciting weekend of patriotic fervor with a presidential appearance, minting of new citizens, protests and other fireworks.

The events and surrounding media hoopla, however, begged questions of what patriotism is and why it’s useful, so we sought answers in many different places. Here’s what we found: READ THE REST AND POST YOUR COMMENT.

By David Swanson

Charlottesville Daily Progress columnist Bryan McKenzie reported on our recent protest of Bush at Monticello that we had made our point of diminishing a citizen naturalization ceremony? We did? McKenzie had plenty of communication from protesters before and after the event, all of which made perfectly clear that we wanted to NOT do that, that we wanted in fact to counter Bush's diminishment of the day and to communicate to the world that Americans oppose our president's crimes at home and abroad. McKenzie can claim that diminishing someone's day was what we in fact did and that having done so is more significant than all the days for the rest of their lives that Bush has ruined of the relatives of the people he's killed and is going to continue to kill as long as we allow him, but McKenzie can't claim that that's what we intended to do.

By David Swanson

I'll be uploading video and photos, so watch http://afterdowningstreet.org

When Bush opened his mouth to speak I shouted "Defend the Constitution, Impeach Bush!" I repeated that several times, as people nearby knocked me over, cops handcuffed me, people gave me smiles and thumbs up signs. They threw me out and a couple of more defenders of our Constitution behind me, and then a few more, and then a few more. The handcuffed citizens who'd done their duty kept comign down the hill. They did not arrest us but did give us a ride down the mountain where we joined a crowd of protesters in the road who greeted Bush's limo coming and going.

Why did we do this? Here's why:
http://afterdowningstreet.org/busharticles

Some of the Constitution defenders after getting thrown out of Bush's event. Click to enlarge:

By David Swanson

Congressman Virgil Goode recently responded to a statement I'd blogged about him. Here's what I wrote and his response:

"The Unitary Executive is scheduled to disgrace the grounds of Thomas Jefferson's house, Monticello, in Charlottesville, Va., making a speech on the morning of July 4, 2008. The event is open to the public, and is Monticello's annual Independence Day Celebration and Naturalization Ceremony. Numerous immigrants will become citizens in an event besmirched by the presence of a war criminal, and held in the district of Congressman Virgil Goode, whose entire reelection campaign platform consists of hatred for immigrants."

The coalition of groups and individuals planning to protest President George W. Bush's Fourth of July visit to Charlottesville on Friday continues to grow. Participating organizations include RVA4Peace, the Augusta Center for Peace and Justice, CODEPINK Women for Peace both National and Charlottesville, AfterDowningStreet, Democrats.com, and Charlottesville MoveOn.org. Many other people expected to participate are not members of any of these groups.

That's $4,681 per household, $1,721 per person, $341.4 million per day.

Taxpayers in Charlottesville, Virginia will pay $75.1 million for total Iraq war spending approved to date. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:
490 Affordable Housing Units
OR
1,094 Elementary School Teachers for One Year
OR
10,478 Head Start Places for Children for One Year
OR
9,350 Scholarships for University Students for One Year
OR
21,036 People with Health Care for One Year

These are the new numbers from the National Priorities Project ( http://www.nationalpriorities.org ). So, these numbers need to be multiplied by about 10 to give you the true cost as calculated by Linda Bilmes and Joseph Stiglitz to include interest, rising price of oil, care for injured veterans, etc. And, of course, we aren't actually spending this money, we're borrowing it and expecting our kids and grandkids to pay it. Hence the need to tell people how much it is!

A growing coalition of groups and individuals plans to protest President George W. Bush's Fourth of July visit to Charlottesville on Friday. Participating organizations include RVA for Peace, the Augusta Center for Peace and Justice, CODE PINK Women for Peace both National and Charlottesville, AfterDowningStreet, Democrats.com, and Charlottesville MoveOn.org. Many other people expected to participate are not members of any of these groups.

A growing coalition of groups and individuals plans to protest President George W. Bush's Fourth of July visit to Charlottesville on Friday. Participating organizations include the Augusta Center for Peace and Justice, CODE PINK Women for Peace both National and Charlottesville, AfterDowningStreet, Democrats.com, and Charlottesville MoveOn.org. Many other people expected to participate are not members of any of these groups.

The full remarks as provided by the White House:

THE PRESIDENT: Distinguished guests, fellow citizens, and future citizens: the grounds of this house, which saw so many changes during President Thomas Jefferson's lifetime provide an ideal setting to reflect on the history of our nation. We have progressed so far in so many ways since that day on which the Declaration of Independence was signed, in that distant time when slaves inhabited this place.

Charlottesville Municipal Ban Ready To Play For President.

I read that and hoped for this.

While George Dubya will desecrate Monticello with some dishonest remarks from a podium on Friday as new citizens swear to defend the Constitution he has destroyed, this AP story has the plans of the man in charge. Dick Cheney will make his remarks on a ship named the Constitution and talk about fighting pirates rather than being one:

By David Swanson

The number and variety of the excuses for failing, in various ways, to resist the transition we are in from democratic republic to dictatorship never ceases to amaze me. A lot of the time I imagine that Congress members hold all the prizes in this regard, with perhaps some dishonorable mentions for party leaders and directors of national activist organizations. But I've been repeatedly jolted out of that notion by being involved in specific plans to organize protests, most recently protests being planned for Bush's Fourth of July visit to my town of Charlottesville, Virginia.

Here's a discussion that might benefit from your voice. Just take a moment and add a comment. Thanks. Please post your comments at this link.

Join a protest of Bush at Monticello on July 4.

Here's a discussion that might benefit from your voice. Just take a moment and add a comment. Thanks.

http://tinyurl.com/6efm72

Issued by Veterans for Peace for July 4

Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, and are instituted to secure the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But

Read the letters HERE.

To get in you must pick up free tickets at 7 a.m. on Wednesday at the Monticello Visitors Center. Bring as many people as you can, and each request the maximum of four tickets. Go early!

To protest outside meet at 8 a.m. on Friday at Quarry Park. Please bring posters, signs, costumes, banners, props.

Here's a map that includes Monticello, the visitors center, and Quarry Park: Map.

Here's a new flyer: PDF Flyer.

Keep phoning Monticello! The Thomas Jefferson Foundation, a private nonprofit, owns and operates Monticello with a professed mission of preservation and education. Call Monticello right now and ask them to uninvite Bush: (434) 984-9822. Then let the Daily Progress newspaper in Charlottesville know that you've done that: enewstips@dailyprogress.com

The Unitary Executive is scheduled to disgrace the grounds of Thomas Jefferson's house, Monticello, in Charlottesville, Va. During a July 4 naturalization ceremony, immigrants will swear to "support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic" at an event besmirched by the presence of the Constitution's leading domestic enemy. Jefferson's Declaration of Independence from King George faulted him for harassment by his troops, elevating the military above civilian power, denying people a fair trial by jury by transporting them overseas to be tried on false accusations, and other abuses that have been matched by our current King George. He has claimed the power to ignore laws, to rewrite laws, to adhere to secret laws, to discard habeas corpus, to spy without warrant, to detain without charge, to torture, to murder, and to lie the nation into wars of conquest. All citizens, old and new, have a duty to support and defend the Constitution, a document that requires the impeachment of a president as criminal and abusive as the current one.

Learn more about impeaching Bush: http://afterdowningstreet.org/bush

For information on the protest, including housing if coming from out of town, call 434-961-6278.

Sponsored by Augusta Center for Peace and Justice (ACPJ), Code-Pink Charlottesville, After Downing Street, and independent concerned citizens.

From the Monticello Website:

Free tickets to Monticello's July 4 event will be distributed Wednesday

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. – Free tickets to the July 4 event at Monticello that will feature the participation of President Bush will be made available to the public Wednesday (July 2).

By David Swanson

Here are two upcoming live online radio shows you can participate in:

Monday, June 30, 8-9 p.m. ET: Jesse Ventura, Former Governor of Minnesota, Wrestler, and Navy SEAL, and author of new book "Don't Start the Revolution Without Me," in which he asks whether he should run for president this year.

Tuesday, July 8, 8-9 p.m. ET: John Dean, whose latest book is "Broken Government," and whose past works include "Worse Than Watergate."

Go to http://www.thepeoplespeakradio.net/listen-live to listen live.

You'll find instructions there to enter a paltalk chat room where you can post questions.

You can also phone in and ask your questions on the air. Call in tollfree from anywhere in the United States or Canada at 888-228-4494 or anywhere else in the world at 877-489-6350.

Following each show, the audio file will be posted at http://www.thepeoplespeakradio.net/audio/2008 and you can find there now the recordings of numerous shows with amazing guests, including Cindy Sheehan, Lincoln Chafee, Brad Friedman, Shirin Ebadi, Phil Donahue, Mark Crispin Miller, William Odom, Byron DeLear, etc.

To support The People Speak Radio please donate at http://www.thepeoplespeakradio.net/donate

Should a war criminal be permitted to speak on the Fourth of July at Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello?

Right Now, Wherever You Are: The Thomas Jefferson Foundation, a private nonprofit, owns and operates Monticello with a professed mission of preservation and education. Call Monticello right now and ask them to uninvite Bush: (434) 984-9822. Then let the Daily Progress newspaper in Charlottesville know that you've done that: enewstips@dailyprogress.com

In Charlottesville on July 4th: Join us for a colorful nonviolent exercise of our First Amendment rights at 8:30 a.m. at the first parking lot on the right on Rt. 53 just east of Rt. 20. Or attend the event at Monticello, open to the public.

PRINT FLYER.

The Unitary Executive is scheduled to disgrace the grounds of Thomas Jefferson's house, Monticello, in Charlottesville, Va. During a July 4 naturalization ceremony, immigrants will swear to "support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic" at an event besmirched by the presence of the Constitution's leading domestic enemy. Jefferson's Declaration of Independence from King George faulted him for harassment by his troops, elevating the military above civilian power, denying people a fair trial by jury by transporting them overseas to be tried on false accusations, and other abuses that have been matched by our current King George. He has claimed the power to ignore laws, to rewrite laws, to adhere to secret laws, to discard habeas corpus, to spy without warrant, to detain without charge, to torture, to murder, and to lie the nation into wars of conquest. All citizens, old and new, have a duty to support and defend the Constitution, a document that requires the impeachment of a president as criminal and abusive as the current one.

Learn more about impeaching Bush: http://afterdowningstreet.org/bush

For information on the protest, including housing if coming from out of town, call 434-961-6278.

Please bring posters, signs, costumes, banners, props.

» dswanson's blog | login or register to post comments | read more

By David Swanson

The Unitary Executive is scheduled to disgrace the grounds of Thomas Jefferson's house, Monticello, in Charlottesville, Va., making a speech on the morning of July 4, 2008. The event is open to the public, and is Monticello's annual Independence Day Celebration and Naturalization Ceremony. Numerous immigrants will become citizens in an event besmirched by the presence of a war criminal, and held in the district of Congressman Virgil Goode, whose entire reelection campaign platform consists of hatred for immigrants.

By David Swanson

I posted the following on TomDispatch at the start of the current (and last?) Congress:

By David Swanson
(Originally published in July 2007, and to be published every summer until the right to do so is gone.)

It's remarkably common for a grandson to take up his grandfather's major project. This occurred to me when I read recently of Thor Heyerdahl's grandson taking up his mission to cross the Pacific on a raft. But what really struck me was the BBC story aired on July 23rd, 2007, documenting President George W. Bush's grandfather's involvement in a 1933 plot to overthrow the U.S. government and install a fascist dictatorship. I knew the story, but had not considered the possibility that the grandson was trying to accomplish what his grandfather had failed to achieve.

By David Swanson

On the first Fourth of July, the members of the Continental Congress signed a declaration of their disloyalty to the third George to rule the empire, denouncing his abuses of power. They complained of harassment by his troops, of his elevating the military above civilian power, of his denying people a fair trial by jury and instead transporting them overseas to be tried on false accusations, and in general of rendering the colonies almost as unpleasant and fearful a place to dwell as occupied Iraq would one day become.

By David Swanson

Here are some upcoming live online radio shows you can participate in:

Thursday, June 26, 7-8 p.m. ET: Vincent Bugliosi, Author of ‘The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder’. Following a scheduling SNAFU and a wildfire, this is the third attempt to make this show happen.

Monday, June 30, 8-9 p.m. ET: Jesse Ventura, Former Governor of Minnesota, Wrestler, and Navy SEAL, author of new book "Don't Start the Revolution Without Me."

Tuesday, July 8, 8-9 p.m. ET: John Dean, whose latest book is "Broken Government," and whose past works include "Worse Than Watergate."

Go to http://www.thepeoplespeakradio.net/listen-live to listen live.

You'll find instructions there to enter a paltalk chat room where you can post questions.

You can also phone in and ask your questions on the air. Call in tollfree from anywhere in the United States or Canada at 888-228-4494 or anywhere else in the world at 877-489-6350.

Following each show, the audio file will be posted at http://www.thepeoplespeakradio.net/audio/2008 and you can find there now the recordings of numerous shows with amazing guests, including Cindy Sheehan, Lincoln Chafee, Brad Friedman, Shirin Ebadi, Phil Donahue, Mark Crispin Miller, William Odom, Byron DeLear, etc.

To support The People Speak Radio please donate at http://www.thepeoplespeakradio.net/donate

By David Swanson

That's a translation of subpoena: Sub Poena: Under Punishment. And if you or I refused to obey a subpoena we would certainly be under punishment.

In fact, it used to be that laws in this country could be applied to everyone, even presidents. When President Richard Nixon refused to comply with subpoenas from a prosecutor, the Supreme Court told him he had to. When Nixon refused to comply with subpoenas from Congress, the House Judiciary Committee passed an article of impeachment against him. Nixon claimed "executive privilege," and the Supreme Court and Congress both told him to take his privilege and stick it in a helicopter home.