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Cheryl's past columns Cheryl may be reached at cherylseal@hotmail.com. |
by Cheryl Seal
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The moment I heard the news that the unabashedly liberal, gloriously conscientious Senator from Minnesota Paul Wellstone had died in a plane crash, I could feel in my bones, in my heart, and in my soul that he had been murdered. Maybe not by the CIA (Bush has managed to alienate even this group, whose best advice is routinely ignored or slighted), but at the very least by GOP operatives. A serious accusation? Damn right, and I mean it, in all seriousness. I only half-seriously wondered if Mel Carnahan, running against John Ashcroft in Missouri in 2000, had been murdered. Remember him? His death occurred under almost identical circumstances: right before an election, at the height of a close race in which the victim had started to pull ahead, a popular, well-loved senator — suddenly dead in a plane crash. To the GOP's shock, the Missouri voters elected Mel anyway, and his wife Jean stepped in and took his place in Congress. Now Wellstone has been killed, another voice of Democracy silenced by those who would murder not just good men, but Democracy herself. The only difference between the Carnahan and Wellstone tragedies is that this time, the perpetrators made sure to get the wife, too. Less than two weeks ago, here in Baltimore, a family of seven was murdered by a vengeful drug lord, burned to death in their homes in what was intended to appear as an "accidental" fire. Just days before, the family had taken a stand against the drug lords in their neighborhood, a remarkable act of courage in their crime-torn area. Now Paul Wellstone is dead, just days after taking a stand against the "oil lords", by voting against Bush's "war resolution" (which wrests the power to declare war from Congress, as prescribed in the Constitution, and hands it to the most unfit lead this country has ever had). He is dead along with the rest of his immediate family, including his wife. My heart feels ripped apart. Here was a man of courage and conscience — an American hero in the truest sense of the word. When so many of his colleagues in Congress cowered, afraid to uphold truth, Wellstone risked all to stand up and say "Enough!" I remember reading how, before he cast his vote against the Bush war resolution, he called his aides and family together to tell them. I may be finished politically, he warned them, but I must vote my conscience. Please understand. What a fine human being. And now, he is dead. Can anyone not totally brainwashed believe this is a coincidence? This was murder, pure and simple. I am far from alone in my suspicions. The St. Paul Pioneer conducted an impromptu poll the evening of the tragedy and asked readers what they believed caused Wellstone's death. Several choices were presented, including bad weather, Al Qaeda, act of God and icing.. But 69% of all polled gave the other answer: GOP conspiracy. There is certainly plenty of circumstantial evidence mounting already. On October 28, "Common Dreams "reprinted an article first published in the Madison Times in April 2001 which describes the obsessive hatred G.W. Bush had of Wellstone http:// www.commondreams.org/ views01/ 0424-07.htm Here is an excerpt: "The Bushies despise Wellstone, who unlike most Senate Democrats has been fighting spirited battles against the new administration's policies on everything from the environment to the tax cuts for the rich to military aid for the "Plan Colombia" drug war boondoggle. Other Democratic senators who face re-election contests in 2002 are, according to polls, more vulnerable than Wellstone. But the Bush camp has been focusing highest-level attention on "Plan Wellstone" — its project to silence progressive opposition." |
Certainly looks as if "Plan Wellstone" achieved its goal of "silencing" Wellstone, doesn't it? To give you an idea of just what sort of human beings we are talking about when we are talking "Bushies," also known as "Freepers" (short for "Free Republic" — an outrageous misnomer for one of the most anti-freedom groups to ever hit the American scene), consider their behavior following Wellstone's death. Democrats.com constructed a memorial site for Wellstone, open to those wishing to post tributes or comments. The site was attacked by Bushies with the infantile, vicious thuggery of the Nazis smashing windows of Jewish homes and shops and covering their walls with obscene graffiti. Ghoulish, obscene, chillingly sociopathic messages were posted that gloated over the death. These are Bush's strongest, core followers — the love it or leave it, you're with us or against us, my country right or wrong, pack of bigots whose colossal ignorance is surpassed only by their lack of compassion and respect for any group other than themselves. These are Bush's devotees ... the Lord of the Flies and his maggots. This is it, folks — war has been declared on America and the world by those among us who seek absolute power, by a fascist "junta" that lusts to plunge us and the world into eternal war designed to cement and perpetuate their control. If America allows Wellstone's murder to go unaddressed, uninvestigated by an unbiased task force in a search for facts open at every turn to the public, then our nation is doomed. The Nazi-esque "flies" are here to stay. Who then, will be next? Jim Jeffords? Al Gore? Robert Byrd ... any of the woefully short list of those who dared opposed His Heinous? Or will Wellstone's less courageous colleagues in Congress at last find the guts and conscience to speak up and demand justice? Their fallen brother deserved their support on October 11 and failed to get it. Will they give it now? The next month may well decide the fate of America and much of the globe. Americans have a chance to vote this cancerous growth known as the Bush GOP out of control of the House and Senate on Nov. 5. As with the French in their last election, we will have to "hold our noses and vote" for Democrats to strike a blow against the greater evil. Thank God the French held their noses and voted for Chirac — had they not, the world would be a giant step closer to war, because there would be no Chirac (whatever else his failings may be) standing firm against Bush. But if Americans decide, once more, to stay home, passive and content to let others control their fate, we may well be seeing the end days of the America. Scarcely 50% of all registered voters typically turn up at the polls for any election, be it Congressional or presidential — a pathetic record for a nation that professes to value democracy above all things! Even in the hotly contested 2000 election, only 53-54% of Americans bothered to shift their sorry butts to the polling place. This means that less than half of HALF of all registered voters cast a ballot for G.W. Bush. That's less than ONE IN FOUR AMERICAN VOTERS. Our nation is being ridden roughshod over by a man who not only failed to win a majority of the vote, he failed to garner a 25% show of support from the overall electorate!!! It is time for a clear majority of Americans to make themselves heard. In France, more than 75% of all voters turned out to oppose the ultrarightwinger running against Chirac. In the end, the neoNazi received just 10% or so of the total vote, despite his claims of a "groundswell" of support from the "mainstream French." Americans must show the same support for their nation — the same show of outrage against those who represent everything Americans SHOULD abhor. Do not let Paul Wellstone die in vain.
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