Dear friends of TuneInTurnOutHelpOut,

Please see this important message from our friends over at Avaaz regarding the current food crisis and what we can do to make a difference today.

Rocketing prices threaten to starve millions and make us all less secure — sign the emergency petition for action to stop the world food crisis
Sign the Petition and Watch the Video here: http://www.avaaz.org/en/world_food_crisis/10.php

Have you noticed food costing more when you shop? Here’s why — we’re plunging headlong into a world food crisis. Rocketing prices are squeezing billions and triggering food riots from Bangladesh to South Africa. Aid agencies say 100 million more people are at risk of starvation right now[1]. In Sierra Leone alone the price of a bag of rice has doubled, becoming unaffordable for 90% of citizens[2]. Fears of inflation stalk the whole world, and the worst could be yet to come.

We need to act now — before it’s too late. As Ban Ki-Moon holds a high-level UN meeting on the crisis, we’re launching an urgent campaign with African foreign minister and human rights campaigner Zainab Bangura. Click below to see Zainab’s video message and add your name to the food crisis petition — we need to raise 200,000 signatures by the end of this week to deliver a massive global outcry to leaders at the UN, G8 and EU:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/world_food_crisis/10.php

The prices of staple foods like wheat, corn and rice have almost doubled, and the crisis is slipping out of control — so we’re calling for immediate action on emergency food aid, speculation and biofuels policy, while asking forthcoming summits to tackle deeper problems of investment and trade.[3]

The global food crisis touches and connects us all, creating a tsunami of hunger for the poor and damaging economies and squeezing citizens in the rich world too. But solutions are on the horizon if leaders act fast [4] — sign the petition at the link below now, then forward this email and ask friends and family to do the same:

With hope,
Paul, Galit, Ricken, Graziela, Iain, Mark, Pascal and the whole Avaaz team

From our friends at Restore the Republic, a bold and brave freedom & liberty watchdog organization, comes this video….

What’s new this earth day?

Watch our Earth Day video to find out:

Dear TuneInTurnOnHelpOut Members,
38 years ago, the first Earth Day thrust the environment onto the national agenda.
What a journey these 38 years have been. Every challenge and every success has primed us for this moment as we face the greatest threat of our time: global warming.

What have we learned? And what must we do?
Watch our video and find out:

Thank you for all that you do to support our work, our persistence and our optimism for the future of our planet.

Sincerely,
Environmental Defense Fund

From those lovely ladies at CODEPINK: 

Dear Friend,

We are in love with our planet. One of the reasons we work for peace is to nurture our entire planet; we want our beautiful Mother Earth to flourish. CODEPINK is one of the few groups that connect war and the environment. Pink and green are gorgeous together, don’t you think? As natural as a stem and a flower.

War is definitely not green. It is, in fact, quite the opposite. The U.S. military is the single largest consumer of oil in the world and the world’s larger polluter, generating 750,000 tons of toxic waste annually. If we stop funding the war for oil in Iraq, our tax dollars can go toward developing clean, green sources of energy that will help us build a healthy, peaceful planet.

We like to think of CODEPINK as a perennial garden; we plant seeds of love and peace that flower throughout the year–often in surprising places (did you see the parody of CODEPINK on Saturday Night Live this weekend?) Help the CODEPINK garden grow. You can spread seeds of peace by signing our War is Not Green petition and sending it along to five friends. The more people who join us, the more we can work for the Earth.

It is deeply inspiring to see what we can create when we come together. We witnessed a glorious blossoming in New Orleans, where we just planted a beautiful community garden in the still devastated Lower Ninth Ward. Click here to see pictures of the garden and photos from the phenomenal tribute to the women of New Orleans organized by V-Day–the campaign to end violence against women and girls. It was a true honor to bring love and beauty and hope to a community so desperately in need of healing.

You can plant seeds of peace in your own community by downloading our War is Not Green petition and flyer and bringing them to your local Earth Day celebrations; you can also put our War is Not Green sign in your window. We need to remind our friends and neighbors how war hurts the Earth as well as her citizens. We need to remind them that we can all stand up and nurture both peace and the environment.

Thank you for helping us spread seeds of peace throughout the world!

With love (and love for our amazing Mother Earth),
Alicia, Dana, Desiree, Farida, Gael, Gayle, Jodie, Liz, Medea, Nancy, Rae, and Tighe

P.S.

• Gather even more seeds of peace at our Summer of Hope in DC! We will be hosting weekly activist training camps in June and July at the CODEPINK house; you and other passionate, engaged women will learn powerful and creative activism tools, and will then bring your new knowledge straight to the halls of Congress! To join us, click here.

• Thanks to those who resisted as the filed their taxes this week and did not BUY BUSH’S WAR.

Your gift today will help Amnesty International free those wrongly detained for acts of peaceful self-expression and intensify our campaign to pressure Chinese authorities for progress on human rights.
Hold China accountable for its abysmal record on human rights.
Amnesty activists in San Francisco last week protest China’s human rights abuses.
Despite a dramatic last-minute diversion of the Olympic torch route in San Francisco last week, the spectacle of thousands of human rights protesters jamming city streets was truly an awesome sight! Hearing and seeing such impassioned support for the long-suffering people of Tibet and Darfur showed the power of peaceful protest - and strengthened my belief in the possibility of change.
Stand up for human rights in China by making a gift to Amnesty International today.
When China bid for the Olympics in 2001, it promised the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that as host, Beijing would enhance “all social conditions, including education, health and human rights” and “give the media complete freedom” to report news in China in the lead-up to the Games.
But with less than four months to go, Amnesty has concluded in a new report that the current wave of repression by Chinese authorities is occurring not in spite of the Olympics, but because of the Olympics.
Beijing has hit back at Amnesty International with the charge that we’ve “politicized” the Olympics. To this we say, human rights are not political - arresting human rights activists and charging them with ’subversion’ is.
Prominent and peaceful human rights activists are being rounded up and jailed. Tibetan protesters are met with intimidation, arbitrary detentions and in some cases lethal force. Web sites are being blocked. TV broadcasts are being censored and foreign journalists are denied access to Tibet altogether - as part of a massive pre-Olympics ‘clean up.’ We cannot let this insult to basic human dignity go unchallenged!

Your gift today will help Amnesty International to free those wrongly detained for acts of peaceful self-expression and intensify our campaign to push for progress on human rights in China in the critical months leading up to the Summer Olympics. In the coming weeks, our campaign will meet with corporate sponsor Coca-Cola and the U.S. Olympic Committee, and organize a global week of action on China and the Olympics.

You and I must hold China accountable for its abysmal record and make sure the Chinese authorities understand that there are consequences for a lack of progress on human rights - before the Games begin. Failure to speak out now is to miss a unique opportunity to push for progress on human rights in China.

Thank you for your continued commitment to defending human rights in China and around the world.

Sincerely,
Larry Cox
Executive Director
Amnesty International USA

P.S. To read more about China’s human rights record in the lead-up to the Olympics, check out Amnesty’s new report, The Olympics countdown: Crackdown on activists threatens Olympics legacy

This just in from the British Times
April 15th, 2008

Well it’s tax day in the great blood-stained state of the USA again. The American people, the majority of whom have proved themselves to be as dumb as mules or oxes over the last five years — no offense to our fine furred friends — will stand in lines by the thousands to hand over great gobs of their own money to their “government” tomorrow. The world community has watched the United States government, if you can call it that at this point, spend more than half a trillion of the American people’s hard earned dollars on invading another country half way around the globe for a whole roster of reasons that turned out to be “lies” (900 plus at last count) by various “intelligence agencies,” at least so says the “White House” and yet they continue to occupy the other country, having killed now what some estimate between one to two million of the Iraqi people in what many are now calling the most atrocious mass gencoide since, well, the same damn thing they did to Vietnam thirty-years ago.

Meanwhile the Americans continue to lose their homes by the tens of thousands each day while their government continues to bankrupt their economy in the greatest economic downturn in American history, the value of their once all-powerful dollar now worth less than it’s ever been in the world community as foreign investors and other countries continue to sell it as fast as possible. Nothing new – the same news as yesterday unfortunately for the sad lot of poor old Yanks. The only thing that makes it newsworthy is that tomorrow is the last day that all three-hundred million of them have to gleefully hand over thier hard earned bread so the war-mongering theives and hatchetmen that invaded their own country seven years ago can continue to bring the once great state down to its knees in what promises to be one hell of a show. The degradation and destruction of America which started some say almost forty years ago as with all empires will not be one giant explosion but a slow erosion that most will miss. It is only now that the Americans themselves are starting to see it as the rest of the world celebrates their great fortune around them they continue to drown in one quagmire after another and can’t figure out how to get out of this mess, all but a few of them remembering that they are a democracy after all and can always vote to boot the whole lot of them in the White House at any time if they were in the right mind to. Problem is the Americans are so damn busy watching their dumbass not-funny tv that most of them are missing the biggest show on earth — the slow crumbling and collapse of the biggest empire on the planet in modern times. And they’re starring it. Poor slobs.

Americans are some of the last people on earth who should be paying their government any taxes on their incomes at this point with how run amok things have been for the poor bastards lately. No matter how hard they try they cannot get their government to tell them why they went to Iraq, are still in Iraq, or when they are getting out if ever and what’s worse, polls show that the majority of the American people don’t even want their country to be in Iraq at all, and yet as that sallow and pitiable clown of a president they have continues to wave the banner of “democracy” around the world in that clumsy annoying backwoods southern drawl of his like a braindead three year old, the American people themselves can’t seem to actually do anything “democratic” to get themselves out of Iraq or any of their other messes. And yet tomorrow the United States government will collect billions upon billions of dollars from this same group of disgruntled Americans who claim to be so uptight and upset about the sorry state of affairs in thier once great state. Doesn’t make much sense on these shores over here that’s for sure. But that Simon Cowell is still one funny bastard. What’s that ya say? Oh yeah, he’s a Brit. Sorry ’bout that. Ok so the Americans indeed are truly fucked afterall.

And now an important news break — an announcement from the son of the former president of the United States 

“Dear Fellow Americans. We know the rest of the world must be laughing at and crying for us at the same time. Tax day is upon us. And though we’re now the only country in the “civilized world” that doesn’t have enough money for health care, and we don’t have enough money for “good schools” or “good edumacation,” and we don’t have enough money to ”get us out of this economic crisis that we’re in,” and God bless ya for believing us (he laughs here), WE HAVE FIVE HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS!!!! DADDY TOLD ME SO! WE BORROWED IT FROM THE SAUDIS AND FROM CHINA. EVIDENTLY THAT’S WHY WE DON’T CARE THAT THE CHINESE ARE KILLING ALL THOSE TIBETAN PEOPLES. Well i never met any Tibetan people so i guess it don’t matter that much to you and me anyway…. But the good news is WE HAVE FIVE HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS!!! AND GUESS WHAT WE’RE GONNA DO WITH IT? Feed the hungry? House the homeless? Improve education? Improve medical sciences? Increase spending on environmental science to prevent global crises? Hell no! What are you some kind of a morons? (O.K. well some of you did actually vote for me, G.W. so we know the answer to that one… “Ma can you believe some of those people really did vote for me? For real?” “Yes Georgie Boy. Your father says a few of them actually did. And you make us real proud by that son. Real proud. Now go back to your blog while your father continues his meeting with Osama.”) So what was I saying there???? Oh yeah, so you know what we’re gonna do with all that money you guys give us for taxes? We’re gonna blow the hell out of some other country, you know that one.. “Iraq” (i know, you don’t know anything about it, and never heard of it till we told you about it) and then after we blow it all up and kill most of fhe people there, we’re gonna spend more of your money to rebuild it.”

“Why? Well why didn’t you ask why five years ago you big dummies? It’s too late to ask “why” now. So shut up, pay your taxes like we tell you to so we can keep on with our killing. And for God’s sake shut the hell up about “your constitutional rights.” Those days are long gone. (in case you haven’t noticed.) Yours truly, Uncle Sam, Big Bad Bushy, Mean DickHead Cheney, and Condi “Don’t mind me, I’m just that scowling whore in the corner that does whatever those two jugheads ask me to do” Rice “I made that one up myself. I hope Condi doesn’t get too mad at me for it.”

“PS — Just because we are your “elected officials” and thus are your “employees” and in effect “work for you,” don’t get any ideas about telling us ”what to do” or “firing us.” I think you have figured that out by now. Those days are over. Happy tax day you morons! And thanks for voting me in!” 

And Yet All is Not Lost…

Dear Friend of United for Peace and Justice,

Tomorrow is Tax Day! People all around the country will be calling attention to how our tax dollars are used, and making the connection between our country’s current financial troubles and the more than $505 billion that has already been spent on the occupation of Iraq.

Ideas for taking action and educating others on April 15th:

• Hand out leaflets making the connections between the war and our growing economic crisis here at home. (See below for resources.) You can distribute this material at your local post office, at busy transportation hubs during rush hour, and in other locations where you can talk with people, including where you work or go to school.
  
• Sign our open letter to Rep. John Murtha, and encourage others to do so as well.
  
• Call in to local radio talk shows, or write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper.
• Call your representatives and your senators in Congress and urge them to use their power to bring all of the troops home!

Resources you can use, created by UFPJ and a few of our member groups:

1) The War Resisters League’s federal pie chart illustrates how much of our tax dollars really go toward military spending.3) This new UFPJ leaflet urges people to pressure Congress to stop funding the war! The leaflet has a box for you to add local contact information — just click inside that box and type. 4) “Healthcare Not Warfare” is a new campaign initiated by PDA.5) The National Priorities Project’s website has up-to-date breakdowns of what the war in Iraq is costing your state and your community!And if you’re receiving a refund this year, please consider dedicating some or all of it to peace! Click here to donate to UFPJ.

Yours, for peace and justice,

Leslie Cagan
National Coordinator, UFPJ

Dear friends,
Zimbabwe is in crisis.

A worldwide effort is needed to urge South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki to pressure his friend Robert Mugabe. A global petition is growing–

CLICK TO SIGN!

On Monday, March 31, thousands in 84 cities worldwide demonstrated for Tibet–and delivered the 1.6 million-strong petition to Chinese embassies and consulates. (Photos here.) However, despite escalating protests and pressure from world leaders, the crisis continues. Watch for more Avaaz alerts on Tibet soon!

Results still have not been released from the 29 March elections–and each day, more signals emerge that Mugabe will resort to violence and fraud to hold on to power.

Mugabe is unlikely to listen to the world’s outcry–but he might listen to his old friend and powerful neighbour Thabo Mbeki, president of South Africa. Click below to add your name to a petition calling for the results to be released, verified, and peacefully honored, and we will do all we can to deliver it to Mbeki–through diplomatic channels, over the radio, and in a public event when Mbeki travels to New York for a United Nations meeting next week.

The more of us sign the petition, the powerful the message that South Africa’s reputation as a world leader is on the line. Click here to add your name, and then forward this email to friends and family:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/democracy_for_zimbabwe/7.php?cl=76476193

South African president Thabo Mbeki said on Monday that “it’s time to wait” on Zimbabwe. But the more time passes, the greater the danger grows that the will of Zimbabwe’s people will be ignored. Avaaz launched this petition earlier in the week to its African members, and thousands signed on; now, we need people around the world to add their voices in solidarity and take the pressure to the next level.

In a crisis like this, a petition is just a small step–but it’s something all of us can do, to raise our voices and call for what’s right. And as history shows, international solidarity can be a powerful thing.

With hope,

Ben, Graziela, Ricken, Galit, Paul, Iain, Pascal, Milena, and Esra’a–the Avaaz.org team

PS: Here’s what to expect this week:

• On Saturday, leaders of the Southern Africa Development Community will gather in Lusaka, Zambia to discuss the crisis. We’re working to buy radio time to reach these regional leaders with Avaaz members’ global message.
• On Monday, the Zimbabwe high court has promised to decide whether to release of the voting results. But a lawyer for the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said Wednesday that it would be “dangerous” if the court did order the release, raising fears of violence.
• South Africa is chairing the United Nations Security Council this month, and Mbeki will be joined by other world leaders for a special meeting in New York on Wednesday. Expect Zimbabwe to be high on the agenda

Read the full, unedited transcript of NBC’s Ann Curry’s interview with the Dalai lama.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24073087/from/ET/

Dear Friends,

The perennial diplomat that I am and that many friends fault me for, I must admit that I am guilty, but i believe that gaining full perspective is important — even in the case of war-criminal-shaping up to be the worst president (if one dares still call him that at this point) in United States history George W. Bush. Every now and then the old dog can surprise us. The article below about his aid to African nation Liberia is impressive. It is what makes America have the potential to be such a positive and powerful influence in the world. Does that make GW a good guy all of a sudden? Nah. Too much water under the bridge. It will take us decades to reverse the damage these liberty-snatching, constitution-bashing war-mongrels have caused in our once-great-State. But it does go to show that when the puppeteers who are pulling the strings let him (whoever they are), the man is capable of some downright good deeds.

A good friend of mine who works for the UN in Liberia sent me this article and I thought you all might find it interesting. In fact even a bit inspiring. Now, if we could just convince him to get his grubby hands out of Iraq and Iran and tend to his business here at home –i.e. the job he was hired to do — then he may not lose this game scoring a big fat -0- points. For now, he hasn’t even scored one point yet in a game that’s lasted seven long years. That’s a long time not to get even one point on the scoreboard. But hey, from what it looks like, not many people are even tuned in to the game. But you are. And thank god for YOU!

Yours, Ed Hale

Read ABC News article here:

Bush parting gift to liberia
Liberians Give Bush Two Medals in Gratitude for Bush’s ‘Legacy’ Gifts

By JON GARCIA
FREETOWN, LIBERIA, Feb 22, 2008

From the Friends Committee on National Legislation — a Lobby in the Public Interest

US Diplomacy with Iran is the Key to Iraq

This week, members of Congress spent long hours questioning generals and administration officials about U.S. strategy in Iraq. According to the top general in Iraq, the war isn’t going to end soon. “We haven’t seen any lights at the end of the tunnel,” General David Petraeus said. The general went on to blame many of the problems in Iraq on Iran. President Bush this morning added his voice to the chorus blaming Iran for the problems in Iraq and insisted that Congress should now approve more money for war.

The tragedy is there is a way to achieve peace in Iraq. The administration needs to be willing to stop blaming Iran and start working with that country. Yet administration officials this week appeared intent on ratcheting up the diplomatic and military pressure on Iran. In testimony that was at times confusing and contradictory, the top U.S. officials said Iran was both responsible for inciting some of the recent fighting in Iraq and responsible for negotiating a ceasefire to stop the violence.

If Iran has this much influence, shouldn’t the United States start talking to Iran about how to end the Iraq war? Negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, without preconditions, were a key recommendation of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group. A bipartisan group of senators and many people in the U.S. military also have endorsed negotiations.

Take Action

Urge your senators to cosponsor legislation introduced by Pennsylvania Senator Robert Casey (S. 2130) that would organize a diplomatic offensive in the region to talk with Iraq’s neighbors and help bring an end to the war in Iraq.

This legislation will not end the war in Iraq, but it will encourage the administration to engage in the type of substantive diplomatic negotiations that could open up the possibility of a way out of Iraq. If the administration can’t see light at the end of the tunnel, then perhaps Congress needs to begin looking for that light.

Find Out More
FCNL’s response to the administration’s testimony.

What senators from both sides of the aisle said this week about the importance of diplomacy and talking with Iran.

More about FCNL’s Iraq Peace Campaign.

Background on the bill, S. 2130.

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 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 of morals engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.

“Political Observations” (1795-04-20); also in Letters and Other Writings of James Madison (1865), Vol. IV, p. 491

– Sandra R Mackie
    Gettysburg, PA
    Sponsor a woman survivor of war @
    www.womenforwomen.org

40 years ago today, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated and this nation lost one of the greatest leaders for peace and justice that we have ever known. Read his words. Listen to his speech in the video below. He could easily be speaking to the American people today regarding our “new war”… it is eerie.

* * *

“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.”

* * *

“I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.”

* * *

“The time is always right to do what is right.”

* * *

Here’s a clip from one of Dr. King’s most powerful speeches:

P.S. If you had trouble clicking on the video above, try this link:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=b80Bsw0UG-U

Brought to us by our friends at http://pol.moveon.org/ – Aisling, Adam G, Adam R, Anna, Carrie, Daniel, Eli, Ilyse, Joan, Justin, Karin, Laura, Lenore, Marika, Matt, Nita, Noah, Patrick, Peter, Stephanie, Tanya, and Wes
MoveOn.org Political Action
Friday, April 4th, 2008

Dear Friends, I can think of many causes today that are worth our attention and effort. That’s the thing about living today’s world… and truly it’s a shame. I, like you I’m sure, would much rather be spending my time enjoying this precious gift of a life we have than be spending every waking hour protesting, marching, signing petitions, or calling congress or the White House… Why must our greatest battles be currently with our own elected leaders and government officials? But times are as they are. This cause is as worthy as any other that we have been called to serve. Please take a moment and read the issue at hand below. Chances are you might be as shocked as I was — the idea that “we the people” can no longer assemble at the National Mall in our Nation’s capital is, well, shocking. Tune in, turn on, and take action. As always, I am confident you will know what to do. Sincerely, Ed Hale

~ Please circulate this urgent update widely ~

The ANSWER Coalition is vigorously supporting the campaign launched by the Partnership for Civil Justice to defend free speech rights on the National Mall. We thank all the ANSWER Coalition supporters who have joined this campaign and we urge everyone to do so. What follows is an urgent message from the Partnership for Civil Justice about the campaign.

Oppose the Bush administration’s assault on free speech! Save the National Mall as a place of protest! Also an important message to those who have signed the Statement in Defense of Free Speech on the National Mall - please read

The struggle to preserve Free Speech in Washington D.C. has entered a new phase. We are writing to you so that you can help in the next step of this critical struggle. If he gets his way, Bush will leave office having shredded fundamental rights to redress grievances and engage in dissent on the National Mall in the nation’s capital. But we can stop this plan.

Because of the participation of you and so many other people around the country, the Bush Administration has been pushed on the defensive. Due to immense public pressure that has been mobilized in the last months the government is now resorting to a smoke and mirror campaign to derail those who are fighting to preserve cherished rights. The people can stop them.

We need you to take action right now:

We are planning on sending the Statement in Defense of Free Speech Rights on the National Mall – with a list of its thousands of signers — to the National Park Service and want to further publish the statement. Showing just how many people have already taken action will be an important part of the campaign to defend the National Mall and the First Amendment.

Before we send or publish the statement and signers, we want to confirm with you that we can include you as a signer. We value your privacy. Please take 30 seconds to fill out the form here if you have already signed the statement.

Please take a moment and help this Free Speech movement take the next step. title=”http://www.pephost.org/site/R?i=kGMnA9vcJg50NFf1hFqZMA..”>If you signed the Statement in Defense of Free Speech on the National Mall before it is crucial that you take the next step by clicking this link. You can also let us know on this same link if you do not want your name included publicly. Initial signers include, Howard Zinn, Cindy Sheehan, Ed Asner, Malik Rahim, Ramsey Clark, Kathy Kelly, Ron Kovic, Dennis Banks and many others.

1) The Partnership for Civil Justice has set up an easy-to-use mechanism that will allow you to send a message directly to the National Park Service about their National Mall Plan. Click this link to send your message.

2) Sign the Statement in Defense of Free Speech Rights on the National Mall.

3) If you have already signed this statement, click this link right now to let us know if we can publicize you as a signer of this important statement.

4) If you are unsure whether you have already signed, you can sign the statement again, and all duplicate names will be eliminated.

Sincerely,

Mara Verheyden-Hillard and Carl Messineo, co-founders of Partnership for Civil Justice

From those lovely ladies at Codepink comes this tasty morsel:

April 1, 2008

Dear Friend,

Before the Congressional recess, I was besieged by CODEPINK women who are fasting until I agree to start impeachment hearings against Bush and Cheney. When I sat down to Easter dinner with my family, I looked at my plate of honey-baked ham and scalloped potatoes and I thought about what was really on my table. Everyday these women sit in my office and ask me to put Impeachment on America’s table; after all the times in my career that I’ve stood up to the “bad guys”-racists, greedy CEOs, corrupt politicians, could I really continue to let Bush and Cheney run roughshod over the Constitution and the American and Iraqi people? My wife Monica voted for impeachment of Bush and Cheney as a Detroit city councilwoman and I was proud of her for cooking their goose.

I sat down to digest my meal and my conflicted feelings on Impeachment by relaxing and watching the opening night Nationals game. Upon flipping on the TV and finding the right channel, I settled in and wouldn’t you know it… the CODEPINK women were there! President Bush was to throw out the first pitch and once he took the field, the CODEPINK women (one of them even wearing a giant Bush head and prison costume) encouraged all the baseball fans to boo him. And guess what? They did. You can see it right here.

As they booed, I thought of the changing times I’ve witnessed in my life. America can change and we are all agents of change.* It struck me then that the American people really want to see this Administration out of office and they want it now. Bush and his pinch-hitter Cheney have been striking out with the American people for way too long.

I realized it was time to step up to the plate for all the citizens of this great country who want to end the war. So I am putting Impeachment on America’s table.

Sincerely,
John Conyers
Chairman, House Judiciary Committee