Only a few HJC Dems are blocking impeachment. It's still alive ... KEEP CALLING!

The Democratic Activist
It seems the Cheney impeachment resolution is still very much alive.

I just got off the phone today, an uneventful Thursday, with the office of House Judiciary (HJC) Chairman John Conyers. Initially, I had called to indicate once again my support for the Cheney impeachment resolution being considered by the HJC, and was shunted over to a "House Judiciary Committee Comment Line." Turns out ... the comment line voice mail was filled to capacity, and wasn't taking any more messages. I then called back Mr. Conyers's office to let them know that I was unable to leave my message for Mr. Conyers because their comment line message box was full.

What follows immediately below (roughly paraphrased) is the conversation I then had with a member of the HJC Chairman's staff:

"That's probably because we've been receiving hundreds of calls today," the staff person told me. "You're supporting the Cheney impeachment resolution, right?" he went on. I said that I was, and asked what Mr. Conyers was doing to move the resolution forward to a hearing. "He is trying to move it forward. There's a fight going on right now among the Democrats on the committee," the staff person went on to say. I asked who specifically was holding up the resolution, and was told "The fight is between those Democrats on the committee who favor the resolution, i.e. those who've co-sponsored it, and others who oppose it."

It seems that the pressure on the HJC in support of the Cheney impeachment resolution now before the HJC hasn't slackened over the past couple of weeks, but on the contrary, has at least held steady! We now know that Conyers has felt compelled to go to the trouble of installing a special "comment line" to save his staffers from having to take all the calls he was getting in support Cheney's impeachment, so numerous have they become.

It's working, people ... keep it up!

Given the massive public support for Cheney's impeachment that the Chairman Conyers is continuing to receive, and the apparent fact that it's only opposition from a few Democrats on the HJC that's holding up hearings, we all now really need to keep those calls and letters going to those Dems on the HJC who opposed the most recent incarnation of the Cheney impeachment resolution (H. Res. 799).

Please ... pass along this information to as many people as you can, and make daily rounds of calls yourself to the "Ninny Nine" (those Dems on the HJC who've showed opposition to impeachment), Chairman John Conyers, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer supporting the Cheney impeachment resolution now awaiting a hearing in the HJC. It seems we've almost got this ball rolled to the top of the hill; with a just little more effort, another big push or two, we may actually be able to get it over the top and rolling down the other side.

We're getting there. Imagine ... impeachment could actually happen!

Click here for full information on exactly what to do, and how to do it.

Thank you.

Pass it on.
The Democratic Activist

Is the Christian Right Turning Left?

The Democratic Activist
In the opinion of many, myself included, the "Christian Right" is neither right nor Christian. After decades of dedicated, deliberate brainwashing, most evangelicals came to regard the Republican Party as practically holy. Conservatism has been seen as next to Godliness. The Right could do no wrong.

But is that changing? Have a string of recent gay sex scandals, blatant corruption and criminality within the Bush administration, and betrayal by Republican leaders perfectly willing to cynically use Christians for the merest of crass, political purposes begun to fatally crack the tough shell of conservative indoctrination surrounding American evangelicals?

Fewer evangelicals now support the Republican party than has been the case in decades. A recent study indicates that, suddenly, Christians (especially youth) acknowledge that their religion is hypocritical and judgemental. Breaking with sacrosanct Republican talking points, many evangelicals now admit that the global problem of man-made climate change not only exists but is a terribly serious world-wide crisis, "a profound moral imperative" that requires followers of Christ to respond with urgency and active commitment as stewards of the Earth (see here and here). Today, Evangelical Christians are beginning to focus their massive, finely-tuned grass-roots machinery on combating social injustices like modern slavery and ending the genocide in Darfur.

And now, finally, charismatic Christians are waking to the fact that finding a true solution to the HIV/AIDS crisis is a moral imperative, also. Many evangelicals now admit they've been "late to the party" on the AIDS issue and rebuke the "sinful absence and puny efforts" of their own religion. Inviting pro-choice leaders like Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton to speak at church-sponsored conferences, this new wave of Christian activism is "interested in saving lives" and wants "to focus on common ground, not differences."

At the risk of appearing overly optimistic, while a great many conservative Christians still cling in their human imperfection to religious dogma and political policies that fly in the face of Christ's liberal message to humanity, it seems that a true sea change may be in fact be underway.

Could this really be true?

But how? Why?

I believe it's just real hard to read the Bible year after year without eventually getting the message that it's in our deepest nature to seek justice, to care for and help and sacrifice for one another, to put principle over power:

---

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8 (New International Version)

---

An article in today's Yahoo! News gives details.
The Democratic Activist

Translation: "Support the troops" means "Steal their enlistment bonuses"

The Democratic Activist
Another excellent example of just how devotedly the Bush administration and their neoconservative backers really do "support the troops:"

---

Wounded Soldier: Military Wants Part Of Bonus Back

Wounded soldiers ordered to repay signing bonus

Pentagon Bends (But Does Doesn’t Reverse) Policy That Withholds Bonuses From Wounded Vets

---

Isn't this typical?

Apparently, "We conservatives support the troops, and you liberals don't" now actually means "we conservatives are going to break enlistment commitments made to wounded soldiers and try to steal the sign-up bonus we promised them."

Unbelievable!

Thank you.

Pass it on.
The Democratic Activist

What can liberals do? Take back the Democratic Party!

The Democratic Activist
Pelosi and company have behaved disgracefully.

To my mind, the Democratic Party leadership is guilty of nearly the same disloyalty to our nation and constitution as are the neocons headed by Bush/Cheney. Those of our elected leaders who refuse to enforce the laws, who who ignore the will of the people, who refuse to honor their oaths of office and hold criminals in our government accountable, should themselves be held accountable as criminals.

Nevertheless, there seems to be no simple way to remove Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the other Democratic neocon collaborators from their positions of power within the oldest and largest politcal party in America.

However, there is something we can do that may influence the Speaker to change her corrupt, wimpy, invertebrate ways.

As a species, what most motivates politicians? That's simple. The thought of being re-elected ... or not.

Aside from persistently lobbying our own senators and congresspersons to dump the Democratic Party's quisling congressional leadership, I think the best thing we can do about Ms. Pelosi is to put the fear of God into her by working to nominate Cindy Sheehan to take her place as the Democratic candidate in the 2008 congressional election. As Madam Speaker begins to see throngs and throngs of volunteers and wads of $100 bills going to support Sheehan, she may just realize the error of her ways. Even if she doesn't, getting behind Cindy Sheehan with everything we've got just may get her nominated and elected (I hear Pelosi's San Francisco constituency really is generally pretty unhappy with her performance on their behalf, to say nothing of her stubborn dedication to appeasement of neo-fascists as Speaker of the House).

Bye-bye goes Pelosi. And good riddance.

To support Cindy Sheehan in her quest to liberate Nancy Pelosi's seat in congress, click here.

Those of us who can should immediately plop down contributions as large as possible for Cindy Sheehan's campaign, and then sign up as volunteer "boots on the ground" that always make such a difference in critical elections like this.

What can liberals do? Take back the Democratic Party! There's really no other way. Air America host Thom Hartman has been harping on this theme for some time now.

It's time we get on board, and get it done.

Thank you.

Pass it on.
The Democratic Activist

John Nichols Rocks the House at SF Green Festival

The Democratic Activist
Last Sunday afternoon, my teenage daughter and I had the opportunity to hear The Nation writer John Nichols speak on the main stage at the San Francisco Green Festival being conducted at the Gift Center that weekend at the urging of blogger Gail Jonas, publisher of Thinking Out Loud. Gail credits a John Nichols talk with being the spark that lit her fire for impeachment ... and after seeing him deliver the powerful, articulate, and inspired speech he gave last week, I can certainly see why.

11/11/07 was a beautiful day in San Francisco. Sunny, warm, crystal clear after a cleansing rain (postcard weather). The Gift Center's main pavilion was filled to capacity with 500-600 Nichols fans waiting for John to do his magic. Before he began his talk, Gail had managed to arrange a short interview with the man of the hour, and armed with her video camera I did the deed. John was as gracious as can be, and allowed me several questions. A portion of the interview appears below:



John spoke first of an American soldier, a friend of his, who recently returned from Iraq, and his buddy whom he met on his first day there. After being given just 30 minutes of "cultural sensitivity training" (but no language training, etc.) and then sent off to guard a Bagdad checkpoint, this brand new soldier shot and killed Iraqi civilians in a car whose driver failed to stop when given the "Halt!" signal -- a fisted arm raised to the square (the driver had returned the signal to the American soldier, apparently thinking it was the international signal of "solidarity," and that it meant he was free to proceed). Later that night, John's friend had to repeated coax his buddy back to sleep, but to no avail; he kept waking in fits of screaming. The soldier finally explained, "You don't get it. I'm a Christian. Today I took innocent life, for no reason. I'M GOING TO HELL!"

Could experiences like this be the reason that American vets are up to four times as likely to commit suicide as is the average American, as cited in this recent article in the Herald Sun?

John also told of American President James Polk, the "George W. Bush" of his day, and his plan to start the Mexican War under false pretenses, steal vast swaths of Mexican territory, and divide the spoils into southern slave states to prevent the sin of slavery from passing from American as it was beginning to pass from the rest of the world. John went on to tell the rest of the story, that of a young rural congressman, the "Dennis Kucinich" of his day, who, though alone, stood up forcefully against Polk, continually demanding that if the president could not provide actual evidence of Mexican attacks to justify our invasion of Mexico, that he be impeached and removed from office!

Who was that rural congressman? He was Abraham Lincoln.

John confessed to being "a plagiarist, a stealer of ideas, a copycat." He explained that he'd been spending the last several years "not in the 21st century but in the 18th century, copying down the ideas and statements of the American founding fathers." Referring to the founders' belief in impeachment as the sine qua non of the American experiment in democracy, John said: "George W. Bush and Dick Cheney have violated the Constitution. Jefferson, Madison, Mason DEMAND that you impeach them NOW!"

I've only recounted here a couple of the highlights of John's magnificent speech. His delivery was fiery, the content enlightening, and the response overwhelming. Being there was a powerful and memorable experience. No doubt there were many others, who, like Gail, had their fuses lit for impeachment by Mr. Nichols.

Realizing it would be impossible to capture the impact of the speech in writing, I purchased a CD of John's speech, and will update this post with a link to the complete audio file, as soon as I can get it online.

Please check back later, to listen to the full speech. You really shouldn't miss it.

Thank you.

Pass it on.
The Democratic Activist

Cindy Sheehan's Thanksgiving Gift to Ms. Pelosi

The Democratic Activist
Here's another great thing to do with copies of your letters to the Democratic leadership supporting the Cheney impeachment resolution (H. Res. 799)!

Our good friend Cindy Sheehan wants you to send letters demanding Dick Cheney’s impeachment to her so she can send a sack of letters to Nancy Pelosi before Thanksgiving.

Send them to:

---

Cindy For Congress
RE: Impeach Dick Cheney
1260 Mission Blvd.
San Francisco, California 94103

---

Thank you.

Pass it on.
The Democratic Activist

Cheney Impeachment: Two Videos to See

The Democratic Activist
I received an email yesterday from democrats.com containing links to two noteworthy video files pertinent to the sudden rising from the dead of the Cheney impeachment resolution.

Check out historic video of Mr. Kucinich presenting his privileged resolution before the House:



The Real News Network recently featured a video piece that did an excellent job of presenting and dissecting this important story that's been virtually ignored by the main stream media:



Thanks to the courage of Congressman Dennis Kucinich, the bizarre last-minute support of Cheney's own party, and no thanks to the Democrats' current unprincipled, scare-di-crat leaders, phones in the office of House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers have been jammed by a tsunami of support for impeachment since the resolution was thrown to his committee for guillotining last Tuesday.

We need to keep full applying pressure to the "Ninny Nine" and the Democratic Leadership in the House if we're going to be able to roll this ball over the hill. It'll take all we've got ... but imagine the outcome if we're successful.

WOW ... would that be worth it!

Thank you.

Pass it on.
The Democratic Activist

Low-Tech Letters to Pelosi Could Do the Trick

The Democratic Activist
(Note: as of 11/16/07 I and others now believe that the commitment reportedly made by Nancy Pelosi to move the Cheney impeachment resolution forward if she were to receive 10,000 hand-written letters supporting impeachment was, in fact, just a rumor, and that Ms. Pelosi has made no such promise.)

~~~

An unconfirmed but intriguing rumor is circulating.

Apparently, the word is that Speaker Pelosi CAN be convinced that impeachment should go forward. Her's is really the only mind we need to change on this score. The rest would just fall into place like snow on Santa's back lawn.

Here's the alert:

---

"Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is reported to have replied to the question of impeachment that if she received 10,000 hand-written letters she would proceed with it. What are we waiting for? Letters should go to her San Francisco office."

---

Here is a link to Blogger Gail Jonas's post in which she broke this story.

Whether or not the Speaker actually said such a thing ... this is a GREAT idea, and a fantastic goal. It's doable. It's energizing. And no doubt it would leave a strong impression in the mind of the recalcitrant Ms. Pelosi."

I would add the following suggestion:

Add a cc at the head of the letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and your own congressperson; then send a photocopy of your original hand-written letter to Pelosi along to Conyers, Hoyer, and your local rep.

Speaker Pelosi's district office address and phone number are below:

---

Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi
450 Golden Gate Avenue, 14th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94102
Phone: (415) 556-4862

---

Here are the addresses for Mr. Conyers and Mr. Hoyer:

---

Chairman John Conyers, Jr.
House Judiciary Committee
2426 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515

Mr. Steny H. Hoyer
House Democratic Majority Leader
H-107, The Capitol Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

---

To find the address for your own congressional representative in the House, click here.

Remember ... letters to our representatives, hand-written or otherwise, need not be long. The point is to get them counted (and they WILL be counted).

A salutation, three short paragraphs (with even just a couple of sentences in each), and signature is really all that's needed. It would literally only take a few minutes, plus 10 or 15 more to make copies and then stuff, address, and stamp envelopes.

I'll get mine letters out as soon as I get back from hearing The Nation's John Nichols speak to the masses in San Francisco this afternoon:

---

San Francisco Green Fest
Noon Sunday, Nov. 11
Main Stage Giftcenter Pavillion Theater
888 Brannan Street
San Francisco, CA 94103

---

I'll be reporting on the event after its conclusion, and will do a short video interview with John before he speaks which I hope to be able to get online, as well.

Now ... starting hand-writing those letters! Let's hear it for good ol' writer's cramp!

P.S. Here is something further you can do with your letters (Cindy Sheehan, running from the left for Congress in 2008 against Nancy Pelosi, is planning to deliver a Thanksgiving gift to Madam Speaker ... and you can help!).

Thank you.

Pass it on.
The Democratic Activist

Update: Cheney Impeachment Resolution

The Democratic Activist
After initial success on Tuesday, I've been utterly unable to get through by phone to the office of House Judiciary Committee Chairman, John Conyers, since then. Repeated attempts each day. Nothing but busy signals. All phone numbers completely jammed.

(Note: as of Tuesday, 11/13/07, phone calls to the office of John Conyers are once again getting through.)

So, what can an activist do, after making his daily round of calls to the "Ninny Nine," as blogger Gail Jonas calls them?

Keep those phone calls coming ... but don't forget to write!

Good, ol' fashioned snail-mail letters count much more than phone calls to reps who receive them, since they take more effort to send and therefore far fewer people do so.

Below, you'll find postal address information for each of the nine Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee who voted to table the Cheney impeachment resolution earlier this week (indicating their opposition to impeachment). They're the folks we need to target with calls and letters. (Remember ... the toll-free Capitol Switchboard number is: 1-800-828-0498. Have you memorized it, yet? Put it in your speed dial!)

If you're organized, you can easily compose a short, three paragraph letter template, print nine letters, and then sign, stamp, and seal them, in half an hour.

Ideally, you should also send letters to Chairman Conyers, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, while you're at it. We really do need to bombard Mr. Conyers with letters ... since the poor chairman has his phones jammed up so terribly. (Postal addresses for Mr. Conyers, Mr. Hoyer, and Ms. Pelosi are included under those for the "Ninny Nine," below.)

It's way past ironic (truly surreal) that the only thing standing in the way of removing criminals from the highest offices in our land is the leadership of the Democratic Party.

Surreality aside ... please ... get those letters printed and mailed, asap!

Mine are ready to be mailed, and will go out this morning after I finish this post.

We've got to keep up the pressure well into next week, and probably beyond, to move the Cheney impeachment resolution (H. Res. 799) to a hearing, and on to the full House. That means each of us should make a daily round of phone calls to the "Ninny Nine," at minimum, if possible. In addition, calls and emails to family, friends, neighbors, etc. with info about the resolution and requests for their active involvement are just as important at this extremely critical time.

Here are the postal mailing addresses you'll need, ready to copy and paste:

---

The "Ninny Nine:"

Hon. Howard Berman
2221 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

Hon. Frederick Boucher
2187 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Hon. Artur Davis
208 Cannon H.O.B.
Washington, D.C. 20515

Hon. William Delahunt
2454 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Hon. Zoe Lofgren
102 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

Hon. Jerrold Nadler
2334 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Hon. Linda Sanchez
1007 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Hon. Debbie Wasserman Schultz
118 Cannon H.O.B
Washington, DC 20515

Hon. Adam B. Schiff
326 Cannon House Office Building
Washington D.C. 20515

---

Democratic Party Leadership

Chairman John Conyers, Jr.
House Judiciary Committee
2426 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515

Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Office of the Speaker
H-232, US Capitol
Washington, DC 20515
Mr. Steny H. Hoyer
House Democratic Majority Leader
H-107, The Capitol Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

---

Note: Gail Jonas has posted complete contact info (including fax numbers, district office address and phones, etc.) for Chairman John Conyers and the "Ninny Nine" in a new post at Thinking Out Loud. To get the info, click here.

Thank you.

Pass it on.
The Democratic Activist

Contact Addresses: National Mass Media

The Democratic Activist
These days, it's just as important to lobby the mainstream mass-media as it is to communicate frequently and passionately with our governmental representatives in Washington D.C. and elsewhere.

Below is a collection of addresses, phone numbers, and live links to use to communicate your opinions and requests for coverage to major U.S. news and entertainment outlets (please let me know via comments if any of the information or links below are incorrect or non-working, or if you know of other contact info that should be included):

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ABC

ABC NEWS
77 W. 66 St.
New York, NY 10023
Phone: 212-456-7777

World News Tonight (put show in subject line): NETAUDR@abc.com

Good Morning America (put show in subject line): NETAUDR@abc.com

World News Now: wnn@abcnews.com

Nightline: nightline@abcnews.com

This Week with George Stephanopoulos: thisweek@abc.com

Primetime: abc.news.magazines@abc.com

20/20: 2020@abc.com

---

AP

Associated Press
Dallas Bureau
4851 LBJ Freeway, Suite 300
Dallas TX 75244-6002
(972) 991-2100 News
(972) 991-7207 Fax

---

CBS

CBS NEWS
524 W. 57 St.
New York, NY 10019
Phone: 212-975-4321
Fax: 212-975-1893

CBS Evening News: evening@cbsnews.com

The Early Show: earlyshow@cbs.com

48 Hours: 48hours@cbsnews.com

Face The Nation: ftn@cbsnews.com

CBS News Sunday Morning: sundays@cbsnews.com

Up to the Minute: uttm@cbs.com

---

CNN

CNN
One CNN Center (or: Box 105366)
Atlanta, GA 30303-5366
Phone: 404-827-1500
Fax: 404-827-1906

CNN asks for emails to all shows to go through this form:
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/cnntv/

---

FOX

FOX NEWS
1211 Ave. of the Americas
New York, NY 10036
Phone: (212) 301-3000
Fax: (212) 301-4229

Special Report with Brit Hume: Special@foxnews.com

FOX Report with Shepard Smith: Foxreport@foxnews.com

The O'Reilly Factor: Oreilly@foxnews.com

Hannity & Colmes: Hannity@foxnews.com, Colmes@foxnews.com

On the Record with Greta: Ontherecord@foxnews.com

DaySide with Linda Vester: Dayside@foxnews.com

FOX & Friends: Friends@foxnews.com

FOX News Live (put show in subject line): Feedback@foxnews.com

Heartland w/ John Kasich: Heartland@foxnews.com

Studio B with Shepard Smith: Studiob@foxnews.com

The Big Story with John Gibson: Myword@foxnews.com

---

LA TIMES

Los Angeles Times
202 West First Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Phone: 800-528-4637 or 213-237-5000
Fax: 213-237-4712

Readers' Representative: readers.rep@latimes.com

---

MSNBC

MSNBC
One MSNBC Plaza
Secaucus, NJ 07094
Phone: (201) 583-5000
Fax: (201) 583-5453

Viewer Services: viewerservices@msnbc.com

Hardball with Chris Matthews: hardball@msnbc.com

Countdown with Keith Olbermann: countdown@msnbc.com

The Situation with Tucker Carlson: Tucker@msnbc.com

---

NBC

NBC
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112
Phone: 212-664-4444
Fax: 212-664-4426

NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams: nightly@nbc.com

Today Show: today@nbc.com

---

NY TIMES

New York Times
229 W. 43rd St.
New York, NY 10036
Phone: 212-556-1234
Fax: 212-556-3690
D.C. Bureau phone: 202-862-0300

Byron Calame, public editor: public@nytimes.com

National Editors: national@nytimes.com

---

NPR

NPR
635 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20001-3753
Phone: 202-513-2000
Fax: 202-513-3329

Email correspondence to NPR must go through this form:
http://www.npr.org/contact.

All Things Considered: atc@npr.org

---

PBS

PBS
1320 Braddock Place
Alexandria, VA 22314
Phone: 703-739-5000
Fax: 703-739-8458

The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer: newshour@pbs.org

---

USA TODAY

USA Today
7950 Jones Branch Dr.
McLean, VA 22108
Phone: 800-872-0001 or 703-854-3400
Fax: 703-854-2165

---

WSJ

Wall Street Journal
200 Liberty St.
New York, NY 10281
Phone: 212-416-2000
Fax: 212-416-2658

Letters to the Editor: wsj.ltrs@wsj.com

General comment: wsjcontact@dowjones.com

---

WASHINGTON POST

Washington Post
1150 15th St., NW
Washington, DC 20071
Phone: 202-334-6000
Fax: 202-334-5269

Ombudsman: ombudsman@washpost.com

Michael Abramowitz, national editor: abramowitz@washpost.com

---

Thank you.

Pass it on.
The Democratic Activist

Action Plan: Cheney Impeachment Resolution

The Democratic Activist
(Note: this post has been updated, here.)

Of the 38 members of the House Judiciary Committee (HJC), 23 are Democrats, 15 are Republicans.

The Dems on the HJC voted to support the resolution 14 to 9. That's 61% of the Dems on the committee -- a MUCH higher percentage than among all House Dems (that's encouraging).

However, we still need 6 more Dems to have a majority of committee members who will vote to move H. Res. 799 (the new version of H. Res. 333, the original Cheney impeachment resolution introduced by Kucinich back in April that's now before the HJC) through the committee process and on the full House.

So, our job is to convert 6 of 9 recalcitrant Dems on the committee.

Here's a list of the Dems on the HJC, showing how they who voted to on the motion to table the Cheney impeachment resolution (a "Nay" vote indicates support for the resolution; a "Yea" vote indicates opposition to it; those Democratic reps who voted "Yea," against the resolution, are in bold, and are the ones we need to concentrate on):

---

Adam B. Schiff - (D) California, 29th
Yea

Anthony D. Weiner - (D) New York, 9th
Nay

Artur Davis - (D) Alabama , 7th
Yea

Betty Sutton - (D) Ohio, 13th
Nay

Brad Sherman - (D) California, 27
Nay

Debbie Wasserman Schultz - (D) Florida, 20th
Yea

Hank Johnson - (D) Georgia, 4th
Nay

Howard L. Berman - (D) California, 28th
Yea

Jerrold Nadler - (D) New York, 8th
Yea

John Conyers, Jr. - (D) Michigan, 14th
Nay

Keith Ellison - (D) Minnesota, 5th
Nay

Linda T. Sánchez - (D) California, 39th
Yea

Luis Gutierrez - (D) Illinois, 4th
Nay

Maxine Waters - (D) California, 35th
Nay

Melvin L. Watt - (D) North Carolina, 12th
Nay

Rick Boucher - (D) Virginia, 9th
Yea

Robert C. Scott - (D) Virginia, 3rd
Nay

Robert Wexler - (D) Florida, 19th
Nay

Sheila Jackson Lee - (D) Texas, 18th
Nay

Steve Cohen - (D) Tennessee, 9th
Nay

Tammy Baldwin - (D) Wisconsin, 2nd
Nay

William D. Delahunt - (D) Massachusetts, 10th
Yea

Zoe Lofgren - (D) California, 16th
Yea

---

Action Plan:

The easiest way to do contact congressional representatives (in the House or Senate) is to call the Capitol Switchboard toll-free at:
1-800-828-0498, and ask to speak to the office of a particular congressperson or senator.

Here's what you can do:

1. Contact House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (either by calling the Capitol Switchboard number below, or by calling his Washington D.C. office number: 202-225-5126), expressing support for Cheney impeachment resolution H. Res. 799 and demanding that Congressman Conyers make passing this resolution the committee's top priority, hold a hearing on the resolution as quickly as possible, and work hard to swiftly move the resolution out of committee and on to full debate and consideration by the entire House.

2. Contact each Democratic member of the HJC who voted "Yea" to table H. Res. 799 in opposition to the Cheney impeachment resolution (names in bold in list of Democratic committee members, above), express your own ardent support of the resolution, and insist that recalcitrant Democrats on the committee fully and enthusiastically support the resolution and its quick passage to full debate and consideration by the entire House (you might also want to contact all the "Nay" voters to applaud them for their support of the Cheney impeachment resolution, and the office of Rep. Dennis Kucinich to thank him for his courage and commitment in authoring and presenting the resolution to congress).

3. Contact House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Steny Hoyer (call the Capitol Switchboard number, above) to express your support of the Cheney impeachment resolution and demand that they obey the will of a solid majority of Americans and the vast majority of Democrats to immediately impeach Dick Cheney, to put impeachment back on the table where it belongs, and to energetically work as leaders of the Democratic Party to see that Cheney and other criminals in the currently administration are removed from office and held fully accountable before the law.

4. Contact your own representative in the House (click here to find your representative's name and web site), express your fervent support of the Cheney impeachment resolution, urge him or her to co-sponsor the resolution to impeach Dick Cheney, and ask him or her to lobby members of the HJC to work hard to advance the resolution swiftly through the committee and on to the full House.

5. Contact national mass-media outlets and request full coverage of this important news story (click here to go to a page listing addresses, phone numbers, and live email links to major U.S. news outlets).

Afterdowningstreet.org has their own action page (click here) with additional ideas and ways to further the cause of impeachment.

Be creative!

Add to this list of action items by including your own ideas and links in comments to this post, so others can benefit from them.

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Carrying out the full action plan above requires that you make 12 short phone calls.

12 calls to the Capitol Switchboard takes about 15 minutes. Committed individuals could easily do it on their lunch break, using their cell phones (not at all a difficult or onerous task, for those who really care). In addition, you can quickly and easily send email messages to your congressperson and senators, Speaker Pelosi, the HJC, and a letter to your nearest daily newspaper in support of the Cheney impeachment resolution by clicking here.

Activists should implement the action plan each day, till the resolution is moved to a hearing, and until we get public commitments to support the Cheney impeachment resolution from HJC Chairman John Conyers and at least 6 more Dems on the HJC.

Direct action is only half the battle, though. The other half is enrolling others in the fight.

In addition to making these critically important calls yourself, it is VERY IMPORTANT that activists email a link to this page and the information it contains to as many people as possible, with an short explanation of the crucial issue at hand and a request for their own active involvement at this critical time.

Letters to representatives are also extremely effective, more so even than phone calls ... though they do, of course, take more time to generate and mail. Please consider writing a short letter template, and then printing out and mailing a separate copy of your letter to each of the HJC members who voted "Yea" to table H. Res. 799 (for mailing addresses, click here to go to the HJC main page, then click on a member's name to go to that representative's web site and contact page). Make clear your unequivocal support for Cheney's impeachment, and that your continued support of the Democratic Party, financially and otherwise, depends on Democratic members of the Judiciary Committee acting speedily and decisively to move the Cheney impeachment resolution through the committee to the full House.

Although most House members only accept email messages sent through the contact page of their web sites from zip codes within their home districts, HJC Chairman John Conyers can be contacted directly via email at the following address:

John.Conyers@mail.house.gov

Letters to Chairman Conyers can be addressed to:

Honorable John Conyers, Jr.
2426 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515

Click here to read the text of the Cheney impeachment resolution, and here to view supporting documents.

Dick Cheney, in addition to conceiving and committing the high crimes outlined in the impeachment resolution, is the man most responsible for the insane plan to attack Iran, probably timed to occur next spring or summer, before the election ... which Republicans fear they're otherwise almost sure to lose.

Are the American people ready for another outrageous, ridiculous, felonious, wasteful war based on greed, deceit, and power-madness?

Are we as a people and as individuals willing to lose America to a budding dictatorship, risk the advent of WW3, and ignore the most fundamental principles of American democracy ... by leaving criminals like this in office one day longer?

This is it. We actually have a real chance to impeach Dick Cheney.

It's now, or never. Time to move. It will take work. But we can do it.

Please forward this information to as many people as possible, make calls and send letters yourself, and urge others to do the same.

(Click here to read the update to this post.)

Thank you.

Pass it on.
The Democratic Activist

What? IT'S ALIVE! Republicans vote FOR impeachment, Dems vote AGAINST!

The Democratic Activist
Just when it seemed politics in America couldn't get more surreal ... House Republicans today voted en masse IN FAVOR of the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney, while the Democrats voted against it!

Excellent articles on this potential watershed political event are linked below:

Cheney Impeachment Resolution Sent to House Committee

Debate on Cheney Impeachment Averted

The Die is Cast

Here's the text of the resolution:

Rep. Dennis Kucinich Privileged Resolution

In a characteristic display of bullying arrogance and overconfidence, Republicans, thinking they could gain political traction by once again stealing the Democrats' leaders' lunch money and making them look like the wimps and fools they are, dared the fearful, cowardly Democratic Party to debate the impeachment resolution brought to the floor by their own Dennis Kucinich ... by voting FOR the impeachment resolution ... despite the best attempts of the panicked Democrats to make the awful thing go away!

Suffering as it's been for the past two decades from a political version of "battered wife syndrome," the Democratic Party doesn't even know anymore when it's being abused and spat on, so this seemed a pretty safe move on the part of congressional Republicans.

Cowering in fear, afraid to follow the majority of Americans (who by a 54-40% margin already favor impeaching Cheney) and openly debate Kucinich's impeachment resolution on the floor of the House, the Dems' only alternative was to send the resolution to the House Judiciary Committee ... which is where articles of impeachment originate!

So ... by a strange twist of fate fortuitously created by the precise pathologic dysfunctions present in both parties, a reality warp so bizarre it wouldn't be believed as an episode of "The Twilight Zone" ... it looks like impeachment of Dick Cheney may now actually be a serious and imminent possibility!!

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To read the full text of the impeachment resolution:

1. go to: http://thomas.loc.gov/;
2. enter "H. RES. 799" (without the quotes) into the field titled "Search Bill Text;"
3. select "Bill Number" (immediately below the search field);
4. click the "Search" button.

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It's now time to FLOOD the offices of members of the House Judiciary committee with communications (phone calls, emails, letters, etc.) demanding that they do NOT allow this impeachment resolution to die in committee ... but, rather, that they pass the resolution along immediately to the full House for consideration.

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee is Illinois representative John Conyers. He's the one who will have the greatest influence on the outcome of this historic opportunity for America to save its dying democracy.

In addition to Mr. Conyers, all other members of the House Judiciary Committee also need to hear our demand for the will of the American people to be heard, and no longer ignored, by the very party we put into power in 2006 to change course and restore the Constitution and accountability to our government.

The toll-free Capitol Switchboard phone number is:

1-800-828-0498.

Below are links to pages where you can get full information on committee members' names and full contact info:

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http://judiciary.house.gov/CommitteeMembership.aspx

http://www.house.gov/

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Now is the time to let Mr. Conyers and others on his committee know that we demand he and the rest of the Democrats stop collaborating with neocon criminals, fully support the impeachment resolution presented by Dennis Kucinich (the bill is H. Res. 799), and put American democracy, the rule of law, and impeachment of criminals in the Bush Administration back "on the table" where it has always belonged!

This could actually happen, as unbelievable as it sounds, despite the seemingly intractable corruption in both parties ... if we really pour the pressure oto the right people, right now.

Call everyday, if you can, till the impeachment resolution is passed out of committee to the full House for their consideration.

Please ... do all you can to support this crucial effort, at this most critical time (to read an important action alert update on this, click here).

Thank you.

Pass it on.
The Democratic Activist

Pink: Dear Mr President (Live)

The Democratic Activist
Do yourself a favor, and take a few minutes right now to feed your spirit.

Here's Pink – performing her amazing song: Dear Mr. President from the album "I'm Not Dead" (2006).



Once again, proof positive ... the guitar is indeed mightier than the sword.

Please feel free to share your favorite social activism songs, especially those for which YouTube or audio file links can be provided, in comments to this post, so that we all can nourish our souls and renew our activist commitment through the spiritual power gifted only by art of the heart such as this.

Thank you.

Pass it on.
The Democratic Activist