For What It's Worth
There's somethin' happening here,
What it is ain't exactly clear.
There's a man with a gun over there,
Tellin' me I gotta beware.
I think it's time we stop,
Hey, what's that sound,
Everybody look what's going down.
- For What It's Worth, Stephen Stills, 1966
We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty
Edward R. Murrow
Al Gore Speech: Unchecked Presidential Power
Al Gore gave a speech today which was a ringing call for the nation to rise up and
resist the further power grabs of the current presidency. he said that President Bush "has been breaking the
law repeatedly and persistently" with the current wiretapping controversy being only one example thereof.
He said "A president who breaks the law is a threat to the very structure of our government" and that the wiretapping, torture,
and illegal jailings had "brought our republic to the brink of a dangerous breach in the fabric of the Constitution."
He was sponsored by an impressive array of groups from the right and the left including the Liberty Coalition,
the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy, MoveOn Pac, ex-Representative Bob Barr (Republican, GA), and others.
The venue and the date were also significant. He spoke at the DAR's Constitution Hall in Washington on Martin Luther King
Day, referring many times to the founding fathers fears of an unduly empowered executive and recalling that Dr. King was
himself wiretapped and otherwise abused by a previous over-reaching executive branch.
He said "The founders of our country faced dire threats. If they failed in their endeavors, they would have been hung as traitors.
The very existence of our country was at risk. Yet, in the teeth of those dangers, they insisted on establishing the
Bill of Rights" and "It is simply an insult to those who came before us and sacrificed so much on our behalf to imply
that we have more to be fearful of than they."
The speech is important, and well given. The not-running-for-anything former Veep and winner of the 2000 vote has never been better.
He calls on Congress, the Judiciary, citizens, corporations... in fact the entire nation, to not allow this crime to continue.
The time is now, the need is dire, and these will fit on your iPod. Please give the speech (about an hour long) a listen and pass it on.
Medium Quality Mono - 7.5MB 'gore-20060116.mp3'
Low Quality Mono - 3.8MB 'gore-20060116b.mp3'
(to download and save to hear later, click with the right mouse button on the link and select 'Save Target As' or 'Save Link' - Mac users do a Command click)
The prepared text of the speech is here http://www.libertycoalition.net/gore-speech
Here is a link to C-SPAN's RealVideo file of the speech.
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