Truly Patriotic Quote of the Day

"The president is not a king."

- John Bonifaz, the lawyer representing a group of American soldiers, parents of soldiers, as well as Congressmen John Conyers, D-Mich, Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio; Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill.; Jim McDermott, D-Wash.; Jose Serrano, D-N.Y.; and Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas who've filled a Federal lawsuit against President Bush and Sec. Rumsfeld. The suit states that the congressional resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq is unconstitutional and that the deployment of American soldiers without a congressional declaration of war is illegal.

I find myself reminded of Cassius's plea to Brutus, both members of the Roman senate, as Caesar is contemplating making himself king and replacing the Republic, from Shakespeare:

"Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus, and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs and peep about
To find ourselves dishonourable graves.
Men at some time are masters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings."

It's about time somebody tried to do something about this.