Its the Constitution, stupid!

On Veterans Day  2004 I posted this about the oath of enlistment.

It ended with;

My first allegiance is to The Constitution of the United States; my first duty is to protect it from all enemies, foreign and domestic; and my vow of obedience to the President of the United States expired in 1993.

Therefore, I stand today opposed to my President, and the anti-American, un-Constitutional, unpatriotic Administration for which he serves as figurehead. I will do my part to voice my opposition, educate the populace, diligently support my political causes, and work with others to restore American freedoms to their former glory.

As a soldier, I made a promise. As a veteran, I will carry that promise with me to the end of my days.

In June of '05 I wrote "The Promise".

Follow me on the flip.

The Promise was about the journey we take from learning what America promises to what it actually delivers.

Unfortunately we are even further from the promise and most of our elected officials refuse to stand up and fulfill their obligation under the Constitution which promises in the preamble:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Tucked away in the middle of the Constitution is Article VI.

Clause 2: This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.

Clause 3: The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

There in Article VI is one of the reasons for my total outrage at this administration and those who enable it.

In the Supreme Court decision, HAMDAN v. RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE, et al., the court found that:  

4. The military commission at issue lacks the power to proceed because its structure and procedures violate both the UCMJ and the four Geneva Conventions signed in 1949.

Take notice the mention of the "four Geneva Conventions signed in 1949". As in previous court decisions, the Supreme Court had ruled that international law has the power and authority of the Constitution when we have signed a treaty, convention, declaration or other instrument of international law. The President has violated not only the Geneva Conventions but also the Conventions against Torture, The UN Declaration Of Human Rights, The UN Charter, Laws and Customs of War on Land (Hague IV), U.N. Gen. Assembly Res. 3314 and the  Nuremberg Tribunal Charter.

I do not believe these facts are in dispute. So to our elected representatives, I say;

You have a duty to stand up and uphold your oath of office. You must hold the President responsible for his violation of his oath of office. You can only do this by demanding an investigation of his administration’s violation of the Constitution and international law. To do otherwise, you will have failed in you duty as an elected representative of the people of the United States. You are honor bound by your oath.

It is not about impeachment per say, it is about the truth.
Cindy Sheehan asked the President what "noble cause" Casey died for? I would suggest that the truth is a noble cause. Let us demand our elected officials seek the truth.

I finished "The Promise" with this call:

It is now time to grow our number until the voice of the choir drowns out the echo chamber of the radical elements of our government and their minions of hypocrisy who repeat the same lies over and over again on talk radio and in their rarefied position as "pundits". To drown out the misinformation put out by "think tanks", corporate propaganda organs and Madison Avenue ad agencies whose sole purpose is to steer you away from the truth and lead you through the looking glass into a wonderland, where if you drink the right beer you get the girl of your dreams. A wonderland where a pill solves every problem or a new car puts you on the road of happiness. A wonderland of facades and shallowness built on the premise that money can buy you love. That is their promise. It is a false one.

It is as false as the glorious worship of war that permeates our society. War is a false god worshiped by warmongers and poll watchers; a false god worshiped by the media whores who wish to be bathed in its reflected glow; a false god worshiped by those who have never seen, heard, smelled or touched the obscenity of the violence they glorify. War is the promise breaker. As James Madison wrote in 1795,

"Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes. And armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive [Branch of Government] is extended. Its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds are added to those of subduing the force of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war...and in the degeneracy of manners and morals, engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare."

The promise cannot co-exist with war.

The promise cannot co-exist without the truth either.