This email has a correction, an explanation, and contact information
for the Judiciary Committee.
First, on November 18 I misquoted Marge and David Schneider's account
of what Joe Courtney said to six (not seven) people in his office. Joe
Courtney told them that he had been led to expect an attack on Iran in
January. Unlike Olver, Courtney did not mention anything about an
attack on an American city or martial law. Courtney added an element
Olver's story did not contain: that the source of the story was a
congressional budget hearing. The group did not remember who Courtney
said had spoken at the hearing, so they called his office later and an
aide told them that Lee Hamilton was the original speaker. I
mistakenly assumed there was more overlap between Courtney's story and
Olver's story than there was because I also assumed that Courtney and
Olver had to be referring to the same original event. I still believe
that they had to be referring to one event. But I apologize for my
carelessness in confusing the two stories.
Second, on November 13 I passed on a request to send handwritten
letters to Pelosi. A couple of people have asked about the origin of
the statement that Pelosi would respond to 10,000 handwritten letters;
another has said handwritten letters won't arrive because of the
anthrax scare. Emily West has sent us a beautifully thoughtful email
explaining how the request arose. It comes right after the next
paragraph: it's marked I.
Third, Jody Eiseman sent out an email containing some very useful
information—the contact information for the members of the Judiciary
Committee. After Pelosi and Conyers (Chair of the Judiciary
Committee), the members of the Judiciary Committee are the most
important people for us to contact in order to advance H Res 799
(formerly 333) to impeach Cheney. Let's start calling, emailing, and
writing them. The list is marked II.
I.: Emily West on letter to Pelosi:
Dear Richard,
Thank you for your inquiry. I have had many as you may have guessed.
Here's the story: I received a message from a professor at a local college
who belongs to Peace and Justice Studies Assoc. notifying me in good faith
that Pelosi was open to being shown what the people want. This is believable
and of course this is believable because it is actually illegal for her to
set her own precedent and remove a legal action that is a part of the US
Constitution, as well as what the majority of the American people are now
calling for.
I didn't know it was rumor at the time and still do not know the origin of
the information. I found out it was a rumor because I wanted to know and
many others did too, whom I felt I owed a response to. One of the people in
PDA was searching and found the link to the Rawstory.com article which
quoted David Swanson and names me, erroneously, as the source.
The story exists because I suggested to several people to call Pelosi's
office, which they did, saying it was a rumor only. Pelosi has rewritten the
law to her own political liking, and so is as much a traitor to her country
as Bush at this point. Not Cheney, however, who is in a category of his own.
if Pelosi believes that she can use her position to ignore what is required
of her by US law . She can also be taken to task with impeachment as she
is faced with civil servants in the federal government whose disregard for
the rule of law is precisely what the Founders clearly identified as
Impeachable and when she is faced with a resolution in the House she has to
honor it. It is her duty as Speaker to respect the rule of law and protect
and defend the people of the United States of America and the US
Constitution. To even suggest that she would ban impeachment from the House,
a constitutional process that is imperative to democracy (as opposed to a
dictatorship), is illegal.
Bush and Cheney have admitted that they are repeatedly breaking our American
laws, violating the Constitution, and international laws. In fact, they are
in our faces about it. It's time.
Please do not spend too much time battling your fellow activists. I am happy
to respond to your inquiry however. We are in this together, and it is the
best cause of our lives. Have faith that we are all killing ourselves with
integrity to save our republic as others are literally killing people across
the ocean for their resources, and torturing them senselessly in our names.
Many people saw the letters to Pelosi as a terrific tool - and long overdue
- and naturally wanted to know if it was true. I would guess that whomever
started the rumor knew just what they were hoping for - to deluge the person
blocking the process with real information from the people who should be
running our country, US! I would like to know who it was too, so that I can
commend them for sensing the next correct action to move this along. It has
had an effect and has drawn attention to the fact that we are not directing
our demands to the correct position in the federal government until we
address Pelosi's illegal attempt to thwart the American legal system. We
have not been hard enough on Pelosi! She is dead wrong! It's time we looked
to the sources of where this action has been thwarted and addressed them.
So in the end the perpetrator of the rumor is not identifiable. Let's look
to the broader issue.
A fellow from Brattleboro, VT - John Nirenberg - is walking from Boston to
DC beginning Dec 1 to gather signatures to give to Pelosi on impeachment.
Please feel free to add your energy to this movement! www.MarchInMyName.org
This is a fantastic way to bring positive attention to this urgent issue.
Also: I have asked a friend in CT to help put together a list of all the
House Judiciary Committee members with their numbers and addresses a s well
and I will attach this list. Beginning after Thanksgiving we will want to
call them every day and write to each and every member along with Conyers in
the way that we have written to Pelosi. Let's tell Conyers to finish the job
he so correctly started! We will swamp them with our pleas and urgings to do
their duty to their country (continuously) until they act.
This is the most appalling situation our country has ever found itself in
since the Civil War. We have no leaders who care about their oath of office
or their duty to their country other than Kucinich who is being for the most
part ignored! So We The People have taken the lead. But we will have to
STICK TOGETHER and trust one another that the majority of us are not
intentionally trying to deceive anyone. We are the people who believe in
what this country stands for - Integrity! Liberty, Justice! This is also how
we conduct ourselves in the process of our battle to take down this criminal
neocon corporatist coup.
The letters to Pelosi should continue, and there should be no limit to the
number. Thank you for caring, Richard. Please feel free to contact me again.
In Solidarity toward International Peace
and with best wishes,
Emily
II: Information on House Committee on the Judiciary:
Contact Information
Majority (Democrats) Minority (Republicans)
Committee Office: Rayburn House Office Building 2138 Rayburn House
Office Building B351-C
Committee Phone: 202-225-3951 202-225-6504
Committee FAX: 202-225-7682
Committee Email: http://judiciary.house.gov/contact.aspx (Entire Committee)
Staff
Majority Communications Director Jonathan Godfrey - (202) 225-3951
Majority Press Secretary/Spokesperson Melanie Roussell - (202) 225-3951
Majority Staff Director/Chief Counsel Perry Apelbaum - (202) 225-3951
Minority Chief Minority Counselor Joseph Gibson - (202) 226-0002
Minority Communications Director Kim Smith - (202) 225-6906
Committee Membership
Majority Members (Democrats)
Member Name DC Phone DC FAX Email
John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) [Chairman] 202-225-5126 202-225-0072
http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Howard L. Berman (D-CA) 202-225-4695 202-225-3196
http://www.house.gov/berman/contact/
Rick Boucher (D-VA) 202-225-3861 202-225-0442
http://www.boucher.house.gov/index.php?
option=com_content&
task=view&id=645&Itemid=
Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) 202-225-5635 202-225-6923
http://www.house.gov/nadler/emailform.shtml
Robert C. Scott (D-VA) 202-225-8351 202-225-8354
http://www.house.gov/writerep/?Submit=Email+Bobby+Scott
Melvin L. Watt (D-NC) 202-225-1510 202-225-1512
http://watt.house.gov/IQform.asp
Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) 202-225-3072 202-225-3336
http://lofgren.house.gov/emailform.shtml
Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX) 202-225-3816 202-225-3317
http://www.jacksonlee.house.gov/feedback.cfm?
campaign=jacksonlee&
type=Let%27s%20Talk
Maxine Waters (D-CA) 202-225-2201 202-225-7854
http://www.house.gov/waters/IMA/issue.htm
Bill Delahunt (D-MA) 202-225-3111 202-225-5658 william.delahunt@mail.house.gov
Robert Wexler (D-FL) 202-225-3001 202-225-5974
http://www.wexler.house.gov/email.shtml
Linda T. Sanchez (D-CA) 202-225-6676 202-226-1012
http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Steve Ira Cohen (D-TN) 202-225-3265 202-225-5663
http://cohen.house.gov/option=com_email_form&Itemid=111
Hank Johnson (D-GA) 202-225-1605 202-226-0691
http://hankjohnson.house.gov/contact.shtml
Betty Sutton (D-OH) 202-225-3401 202-225-2266
http://sutton.house.gov/about/emailform.cfm
Luis V. Gutierrez (D-IL) 202-225-8203 202-225-7810
http://luisgutierrez.house.gov/feedback.cfm?
campaign=luisgutierrez&
type=Let%27s%20Talk
Brad Sherman (D-CA) 202-225-5911 202-225-5879
http://www.house.gov/sherman/contact/
Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) 202-225-2906 202-225-6942
http://www.house.gov/formbaldwin/IMA/get_address.htm
Anthony Weiner (D-NY) 202-225-6616 202-226-7253 weiner@mail.house.gov
Adam Schiff (D-CA) 202-225-4176 202-225-5828
http://schiff.house.gov/HoR/CA29/Artur Davis (D-AL) 202-225-2665
202-226-9567 http://www.house.gov/arturdavis/zipauth.shtml
Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) 202-225-7931 202-226-2052
http://wassermanschultz.house.gov/zipauth.htm
Keith Ellison (D-MN) 202-225-4755 202-225-4886 http://www.house.gov/writerep/
