by Jim Oberg, 1/29/06

Today, along with so many of my friends and neighbors, I am terribly ashamed of my country.  Daily revelations about the actions of my government expose unspeakable things being done in my name.  The America I grew up loving, I must admit, has become the purveyor of terrible horrors against the world and our own citizens, and this regime is steadily depriving we, the people, of our constitutional rights, our freedoms and our democratic process.

How did it happen that my country has become a torturer, and even a defender publicly of our right to use torture in our ‘defense'?  Why has my country come to claim it our right to preemptively and illegally invade and occupy other countries, even one that was no imminent threat, killing thousands of innocents in the process?  When did my country become unwilling to respond swiftly with our aid and compassion when disaster strikes its own citizens, as we saw in horror when Katrina struck with such fury?  What has brought my country to establish a network of secret prisons around the world, where unknown numbers may be held without charge and with no way to monitor their treatment? How is it we can allow our government to unlawfully spy upon any citizen without a warrant, and to then boldly claim their unlimited authority to do anything they deem necessary to ‘protect' us.  Who authorizes these crimes and who carries them out when I never, ever would provide my assent for these horrific actions to be done in my name?

Across America, millions of us are now beginning to awaken to the tragedy that has befallen our beloved country, a travesty brought upon us by an illegitimate, unaccountable regime that has stolen elections and then arrogantly claims a mandate to rule us with absolute disdain for all dissent against their criminal agenda.  Moving inexorably towards the   establishment of a fascist theocracy that will rule us for generations, they enact daily a program that enriches the few at the expense of most in the world, and place their cronies in positions of power in every institution established to protect us from corporate and governmental abuses.  Their global domination project drains our treasury, weakens our military and undermines our ability to meet even the basic needs of our citizens, while putting future generations into unimaginable debt.  We are being taken over a cliff to our material and moral doom by this regime, and many of us are simply not going to take it any longer.  It is time to act.

This Tuesday, George Bush delivers his State of the Union address, and all across America, a new movement for change, the World Can't Wait: Drive out the Bush Regime, will gather many thousand of citizens to proclaim that we in actual fact face a terrible state of emergency in this country, and loudly demand that they STEP DOWN.  We will then, in towns and cities all across the country, drown out his speech with noise of all kinds, music and bells and car horns and our angry voices, calling on everyone to wake up to the danger we all face, and the possibility of creating a new direction for our country.  This regime clearly does not represent the majority of Americans.  It is time for us all to get out of our homes, out from behind our TV and computer screens, make ourselves visible in our unity, and demand that they stop this madness that has overtaken our country.

We must say loudly and with determination that it is time for them to STEP DOWN, and to take their failed and criminal agenda with them.  We must all now come to the streets in our millions to show them that their attempt to steal our democracy has failed, and that we, the people, are now demanding that our government again stand with us in responding to the real priorities we must face together.  We are entering a challenging period ahead, with oil running out and the impact of our environmental abuse about to crash down upon us.  The world can't wait for this regime to continue to destroy our country and our chance for a future that will permit us to responsibly face these crises together.

This Tuesday night, 8:00 PM to 9:30 PM EST, in towns and cities everywhere, I ask you to join with me, with your friends and your neighbors, and come to the streets wherever you are as Bush offers us more of their failed and destructive agenda, and show your determination to fight against this whole direction they seek for our future. They are counting on our apathy and despair to keep us in our place. Let your noisy protest alert the nation to the great danger we face if we stand aside and allow them an uncontested pathway to more of their unacceptable actions.  Then, this Saturday at 11:00 AM, join in marching with us around the White House and delivering the message of the people of America: BUSH, STEP DOWN, AND TAKE YOUR PROGRAM WITH YOU!

Jim Oberg is a retired Engineer who lives in Wilsonville, OR, with his wife and two cats, and is volunteering with the World Can't Wait movement to help mobilize the response to the terrible abuses of this regime.  He can be reached at worldcantwait2005@yahoo.com.

(For more information about the actions taking place around the State of the Union address and how you can assist with this effort, go to the worldcantwait.org website.)

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