Toni Morrison, as most of you remember, called Bill
Clinton, "America's first black President." In his
BESTSELLING autobiography, Bubba remarks that her
christening meant more to him than "winning a Noble Peace
Prize" would have...And the LNS understands...It is,
afterall the Congressional Black Caucus and the Rev.
Jesse Jackson who wholly and victoriously RESISTED the IMPEACHMENT debacle even from the beginning of that travesty, when others cowered and looked for succour behind the Senator from Sanctimonicut (Lieberman), and it was the CBC that REFUSED to sit down or "get over" the Fraudida debacle which led to the theft of the US Presidency and in reality a coup in America...Michael Moore, in BOX OFFICE BLOCKBUSTER, Fahrenheti 911, has reminded the US Electorate of that painful moment when Al Gore in DEEP DENIAL gaveled down one member of the CBC after another on the day the US House of Reprehensibles certified the coup...Al Gore's eyes have opened, Al Gore stands erect now and speaks TRUTH to power (his father can rest now, and even his not so distant blood relative Gore Vidal gasped at the beauty of it), but the CBC *never* shut its eyes or lowered its voice, the CBC never gave the Bush Cabal the benefit of any feigned doubt, AND, OF COURSE, it was a CBC member, Cynthia McKinneY (D-GA) who had the COURAGE to demand answers to the hard questions that no white official or media propapunditgandist dared to ask in the aftermath of 9/11. Yes, she was betrayed by the Lieberman clones within her own Democratic Party and she sold down the river by the "US Mainstream News Media," yes, both corrupt interest groups delivered her district seat to the "vast reich-wing conspiracy" on a silver gerrymandered
platter...But the slow, inexorable forward flow of
events (both at home and abroad) served to vindicate
Cynthia McKinney, in particular, and the CBC as a
whole and exposed the Bush abomination for what it
is...The day that Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) stood up
to Al Gore and to the co-opted Establishment of
Beltwayistan, I said, SHE SPEAKS FOR ME, THE CBC
SPEAKS FOR ME...If you love the US Constituton, if you
believe in the Bill of Rights, if you understand the
role of a "Free Press" in a Republic, if you believe in multi-culturalism at home and multi-lateralism abroad, you have become black in America, you have become marginalized, and you have become dehumanized, BUT you are not yet
INVISIBLE...Now there has been another outrage
perpetrated against a proud, brave member of the
CBC....Read it, but do not read it and weep, read it
and respond, please do as I have just done and contact
Rep. Brown's office and thank her for speaking TRUTH
to power, thank her for represnting YOU. It has begun.
This battle is the most important political struggle
of our lifetimes, but as the LNS has remarked before,
it is more than political, it is SHAMANIC, it is a
battle for the very soul of America, what they did to
Bill Clinton in the 1990s, they will do to all of us
in this decade IF they succeed in STEALING it,
CANCELING IT or BULLYING their way in (or worse) in
November 2004...You are living in a country where the
Senate and the "US mainstream news media" are
participating in the cover-up of video tapes showing
Iraqi children being sodomized while in US custody
(see yesterday's LNS for the story). Yes, you are
living in a country where an elected official can be
censured for speaking her mind in public on the floor
of the US House of Representatives about events that
occured in her own district and her own state. Welcome
to the Ghetto...Namaste, Sen. Bullworth
Richard Hoefer, Buzzflash: NBC News first reported
tonight about an "outburst" on the floor of the House.
Turns out it was Corrine Brown (D- Jacksonville, FL)
debating the request made by five Representatives to
have the UN monitor U.S. Elections (see article
re/their original proposal below). Turns out that
House leadership answered their call with legislation
forbidding any U.N. money be used to monitor elections
in the U.S. Rep. Brown then said that the House
leadership had participated in a "coup d'etat" in 2000
by stealing the election and that we would need
monitoring to make sure it didn't happen again. They
played a tape of the leadership then shouting Brown
down, slamming the gavel and telling her to get off
the floor.
Thwart the Theft of a Second Presidential Election, Show Up for Democracy in 2004: Defeat Bush (again!)
http://www.buzzflash.com/alerts/04/07/ale04016.html
Rep. Corrine Brown Censured by U.S. Congress For Saying 2000 Election Was Stolen; Serious Free Speech Issue
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT
from Richard Hoefer
Serious Free Speech issue | U.S. Rep Censured by U.S.
Congress | Comments Stricken from Record
Watch a video clip of her House speech -- now stricken
from the record:
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/video/play...
(Watch it quickly before it too is scrubbed)
(...Also, as you can see, the House Chamber is
practically empty. Another way TV distorts through
selective imaging)
Here's how NBC News (TV) Obscured It -- "An Outburst
on the Floor"
From Rapid Reponse Network | July 16, 2004 | Liz
Herbert/Rob Nesvacil
NBC News first reported tonight about an "outburst" on
the floor of the House. Turns out it was Corrine Brown
(D- Jacksonville, FL) debating the request made by
five Representatives to have the UN monitor U.S.
Elections (see article re/their original proposal
below). Turns out that House leadership answered their
call with legislation forbidding any U.N. money be
used to monitor elections in the U.S.
Rep. Brown then said that the House leadership had
participated in a "coup d'etat" in 2000 by stealing
the election and that we would need monitoring to make
sure it didn't happen again. They played a tape of the
leadership then shouting Brown down, slamming the
gavel and telling her to get off the floor.
The House then voted along party lines - now here is
the big news - TO HAVE HER COMMENTS STRICKEN FROM THE
RECORD:
The House's presiding officer, Rep. Mac Thornberry,
R-Texas, ruled that Brown's words violated a House
rule.
"Members should not accuse other members of committing
a crime such as, quote, stealing, end quote, an
election," Thornberry said.
* See U.S. Constitution Rules further below.
-----------------------------------------
Rapid Response Network Commentary:
So, to recap, we now live in a country where an
elected representative may not speak as she chooses if
it violates the sensibilities of the ruling majority.
If such free speech does occur, it is then stricken
from the record? What happened to our representative
democracy?
Write Rep. Brown - she could probably use some support
http://www.house.gov/corrinebrown/
See suggested further actions below.
-----------------------------------------
Here's how AP reported the same story: (better)
Fla. lawmaker says 2000 election 'stolen'
By ALAN FRAM
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
http://tinyurl.com/4uqpb
-----------------------------------------
Florida local television reported the story and played
the speech:
FL Congresswoman Corrine Brown Censured re 2000
election "coup d'etat" speech
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/top...
Florida Congresswoman, concerned about the integrity
of the 2004 elections, especially in her home state of
Florida, speaks from floor of the House re 2000's
"coup d'etat" .... We were told to "get over it". We
will NOT "Get over it"
House members voted her out of order and had her words
stricken from the record
Watch a video clip of her House speech -- now stricken
from the record:
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/video/player.aspx?aid=27805&bw=
( Watch it quickly before it too is scrubbed. )
-----------------------------------------
Context: How the House speech came up:
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=39255
House members send letter to Secretary General Annan
U.N. observers requested for U.S. election
July 2, 2004
excerpts:
Recalling the contentious Florida vote count in 2000,
the lawmakers urged the international body to "ensure
free and fair elections in America," said a statement
by Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, who
spearheaded the effort, Agence France-Presse reported.
The letter was signed by nine members of Congress. ...
The Congress members, including four blacks and one
Hispanic, pointed to a controversial report by the
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights which "found that the
electoral process in Florida resulted in the denial of
the right to vote for countless persons."
The bipartisan commission, they said, determined "that
the 'disenfranchisement of Florida's voters fell most
harshly on the shoulders of black voters' and in poor
counties." ...
Tom Kilgannon, president of Freedom Alliance, a group
dedicated to protecting American sovereignty,
admonished Johnson and her colleagues.
"Your appeal to the secretary general is alarming and
embarrassing," he said. "As a Member of Congress sworn
to uphold the Constitution and represent the people of
the United States, it is disturbing, to say the least,
that you would entrust the most sacred act of American
democracy - our presidential election - to an
international institution, which is unaccountable to
the American people and mired by scandal and
corruption." Kilgannon said the request "undermines
U.S. sovereignty, demoralizes American servicemen who
are fighting to build democratic governments abroad
and sends the message worldwide that the United States
is nothing more than a Third World nation unable to
police itself."
-----------------------------------------
RAPID RESPONSE ACTION ITEMS:
Corrine Brown represents 600,000 people when she
speaks
ACTIONS:
1. Write NBC news and suggest that this story wasn't
about an "outburst" - the story should have been about
the fact that an elected Rep's comments were stricken.
world@msnbc.com
2. Write a letter to your favorite political TV show
or political writer and ask them to cover this part of
the story
3. Write to your elected Representatives and express
your feelings about Representative Brown's comments
being stricken. http://www.house.gov/writerep
You might want to add to your note that you support
the original request for some kind of monitoring to
occur (Earlier this week we covered this petition
urging Carter Center oversight and observation of 2004
Presidential Election:
http://www.petitiononline.com/cce2004/petition.html -
perhaps a more feasible option )
4. Write Rep. Brown - she could probably use some
support -
http://www.house.gov/corrinebrown/
5. The piece is running widely - write your local
paper running it - (scan this google search -
http://tinyurl.com/6xc95 - and you might want to
refresh the search - publications are being added
every few seconds) - express your concern that her
words would be stricken.
-----------------------------------------
See U.S. Constitution for these opposing arguments:
On Free Speech:
http://www.house.gov/Constitution/Amend.html
"Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof; **or abridging the freedom of
speech,** or of the press; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government
for a redress of grievances. " (emphasis added)
re Rules For Censure:
http://www.house.gov/Constitution/Constitution.html
Article I, Section 5, Clauses 2 and 3 of the
Constitution
Clause 2: Each House may determine the Rules of its
Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly
Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds,
expel a Member.
Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings,
and from time to time publish the same, excepting such
Parts as may in their Judgment require Secrecy; and
the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on
any question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of
those Present, be entered on the Journal.
-----------------------------------------
Slightly related note:
Ted Rall on "The O'Connor Factor" -- perhaps some
remorse from Sandra Day O'Connor for intervening in
the 2000 elections? http://tinyurl.com/4eu2e
-----------------------------------------
Commentary: George Orwell
"If the party could thrust its hand into the past and
say this or that event never happened - that, surely,
was more terrifying than mere torture or death."
"And if all others accepted the lie which the Party
imposed-if all records told the same tale-then the lie
passed into history and became truth. 'Who controls
the past' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future:
who controls the present controls the past.'" " Day by
day and almost minute by minute the past was brought
up to date. In this way every prediction made by the
Party could be shown by documentary evidence to have
been correct; nor was any item of news, or any
expression of opinion, which conflicted with the needs
of the moment, ever allowed to remain on record. All
history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and
reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary."
George Orwell, 1984
-----------------------------------------
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT
Note: This email message has been sent by Richard
Hoefer, of Media SummitNet '04, GTV, and the
NationalGrassrootsNetwork. It was a one-time mailing
to a number of you who were BCC'd. You have NOT been
added to a distribution list. This seemed like an impt
matter that might slip under the radar. It needs to be
addressed.
BACK TO TOP
Posted by richard at July 16, 2004 12:18 PM