Cheers for Sean Penn's Call for Impeachment

Cheers to Sean Penn whose acceptance speech upon receiving The 2006 Christopher Reeve First Amendment Award from The Creative Coalition, was a timely wake up call deeply challenging complicity and calling for impeachment of the Bush Administration. Penn expresses his sense of moral responsibility to speak out and act. With a wry sense of humor and outrage he exposes a lot of hypocrisy in the media and the current political atmosphere. There are some valuable insights, including on the case for impeachment. He poses to us “I've got a feeling about how we can begin to change this process and I want to pass it by you” and then goes on to demand that the Bush administration be held accountable:

“Now, there's been a lot of talk lately on Capitol Hill about how impeachment should be "off the table." We're told that it's time to look ahead - not back…

“Can you imagine how far that argument would go for the defense at an arraignment on charges of grand larceny, or large-scale distribution of methamphetamines? How about the arranging of a contract killing on a pregnant mother? "Indictment should be off the table." Or "Let's look forward, not backward." Or "We can't afford another failed defendant."

Our country has a legal system, not of men and women, but of laws. Why then are we so willing to put inconvenient provisions of the U.S. constitution and federal law "off the table?" Our greatest concern right now should be what to put ON the table. Unless we're going to have one set of laws for the powerful and another set for those who can't afford fancy lawyers, then truth matters to everyone. And accountability is a matter of human and legal principle. If we're going to continue wagging our fingers at the disadvantaged transgressors, then I suggest we be consistent. If truth and accountability can be stretched into sham concepts, we may as well open the gates of all our jails and prisons, where, by the way, there are more people behind bars than any other country in the world. One in every 32 American adults is behind bars, on probation, or on parole as we stand here tonight.”

Penn's feelings that we must demand impeachment and hold these people accountable are an important sentiment which needs to be echoed all throughout society at this time, and must be acted on by large numbers of people. Read his entire speech on-line at worldcantwait.net.

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