Cindy Sheehan Occupies John Conyers' Office - NEW! with Photos
Cindy Sheehan led 2-300 impeachment activists on a march from Arlington Cemetary to the Congressional office of Rep. John Conyers, whose job as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee puts him in charge of impeachment. AP reports:
"Impeachment is not a fringe movement, it is mandated in our Constitution; Nancy Pelosi had no authority to take it off the table," Sheehan told her group of orange-clad activists Monday. "If Nancy Pelosi doesn't do her constitutionally mandated job by midnight ... I will announce that I'm going to run against her."
I just got a live report from David Swanson, who says Conyers is nowhere to be found - but Sheehan, Rev. Lennox Yearwood, and former CIA presidential briefer Ray McGovern are inside his office holding a press conference!
In fact, there are so many reporters with Cindy that they are taking turns going into the packed office to ask questions.At least 300 activists are lining the halls outside the office, both the marchers and those who went directly to the Capitol.
Update 1:30 EST: Conyers staff is negotiating with activists to move the protest to a larger room.In Detroit, 50 people went to Conyers' district office, but they only let 5 people in and wouldn't let them keep their cellphones so we're not getting any reports.
Update 1:35 EST: Conyers just arrived!! As he walked down the hall, activists shouted IMPEACH so loud the whole floor echoed. Conyers and his staff took Cindy, Rev., and Ray into a private office without the media. Stay tuned!
Update 2:55 EST: After an 80-minute meeting, Cindy emerged and told the activists that Conyers said "our only recourse is elections," and the activists groaned. Cindy announced she will run against Pelosi because she and Conyers haven't "stepped up," and the activists cheered. Rev. Yearwood is giving a fired-up speech and activists are crowding in to Conyers' office for the sit-in.
Update 3:43 EST: Capitol Police arrested Cindy Sheehan, Ray McGovern, Rev. Yearwood, David Swanson, and 20 other activists and put them on a police bus. But all is not grim - Cindy is calling it her "campaign bus."
Update 7:55 PM CST:Sheehan arrested while calling for Bush, Cheney impeachment
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan was arrested Monday at the Capitol for disorderly conduct, shortly after saying she would run against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over the California Democrat's refusal to try to impeach President Bush.
art.sheehan.ap.jpg
Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan says "Impeachment is not a fringe movement."
Sheehan was taken into custody inside Rep. John Conyers' office, where she had spent an hour imploring him to launch impeachment proceedings against Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Conyers, D-Michigan, chairs the House Judiciary Committee, where any impeachment effort would have to begin.
"The Democrats will not hold this administration accountable, so we have to hold the Democrats accountable," Sheehan said outside Conyers' office after the meeting. "And I for one am going to step up to the plate and run against Nancy Pelosi."
Sheehan and about 200 other protesters had walked to Conyers' office from Arlington National Cemetery. She said Conyers told her there weren't enough votes for impeachment to move forward on the issue.
Forty-five of Sheehan's fellow protesters also were arrested. Capitol Police spokeswoman Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said that after they are processed, the arrested activists could each pay a $50 fine to be released.
"Impeachment is not a fringe movement, it is mandated in our Constitution. Nancy Pelosi had no authority to take it off the table," Sheehan told her group of orange-clad activists before they began their march from the national cemetery.
Sheehan, whose 24-year-old son, Casey, was killed in Iraq, has been saying for two weeks that she would seek to oust Pelosi from office by running against her as an independent in her San Francisco district if Pelosi didn't change her mind by July 23 on trying to impeach Bush.
Conyers introduced a bill last term calling on Congress to determine whether there are grounds for impeaching Bush. Pelosi has steadfastly dismissed any talk of impeachment, saying Democrats should focus their efforts on ending the war in Iraq.
Update 10:35 PM CST:Democracy Cell Project has the photos
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www.VelvetRevolution.us
Conyers needs 3 more MOCs, then Impeach...?
Not according to the person answering the phone in his office this morning. She told me, "The Congressman was misinterpreted..."
Who will run against Conyers in '08? He IS correct: "only elections" will make the difference!
It's time to keep our ranks and focus on the new task. If impeachment isn't the answer, then good old-fashioned retribution is our only weapon left. Unless Bush cancels the elections.
Outrage
I just called the Congressman's office to clarify that this is so and (if so) make my dissatisfaction with this clear. No one is answering, and I can't leave a message because the voicemail is full.
How many people have been disenfranchised by this?!
I'm outraged.
CONYERS, YOU MOTHERFUCKER!
So much for "only 3 more" - just another load of bullshit from Conyers - who has now well and truly fucked us AGAIN; for the SECOND TIME in 7 months!
Today, his brazen "our only recourse is elections" - RIGHT ON THE HEELS of leaking the "only 3 more" to impeach - proves, as nothing else could, that Conyers' entire Judiciary Chairmanship has been about NOTHING except placating us while he engages in 2 years' monumental foot-dragging. Well, fuck that! We're going to obtain Justice with- or without his help.
And we're going to expose this prick for the traitor he truly is now. I can still hear him saying, back in January: "...Welcome, Gold Star Families...Welcome, Code Pink...(George Bush) can't fire us - but we can fire him...". And I remember afterwards, when he started to backpedal on it someone here - maybe it was David - said "There are two John Conyers'". Well there is only ONE CONYERS today - and FUCK YOU to that insincere dirtbag!
This low-life has by now lied to and betrayed us worse even than Pelosi and Reid - I don't give a shit if they did "make him" do it. Tell it to Benedict fucking Arnold!
We've got to unseat this shit-bag every bit as prominently as NoGood Nancy. Somebody make up a Help Wanted sign (or I will, if no one else does): NOW HIRING: One Honest American from Detroit...
Meantime, what's the possibility of a recall on this slime ball - does anyone know?
Semper Fi,
-Matty in Florida
About Recall
I thought about the recall thing myself. Apparently, people have tried to push through an option to recall Congress members in the past. Not surprisingly, it always gets voted down. Recall is only an option for local officials, not federal. Congress can vote to eject a member, but of course that only works if you don't have a Congress filled with Nazi Republicans or invertebrate Democrats. I have been researching, trying to find some recourse for the People aside from the one that our forefathers sought to avoid by putting the power in the People's hands. Our so-called representatives are backing us into a corner, and that's not good for any of us.
I don't know what to do in the short term. I know in the long term, i.e. the 2008 elections, I will not be donating, now or ever, any money to any of the sitting Democrats that have let us down. I will instead swing my monetary support to anyone who runs against them, starting with Cindy Sheehan. Hopefully MoveOn will think about supporting candidates like Ned Lamont again in 08. Our other option is to run ourselves using Clean Campaigning, more info at www.just6dollars.org.
I just want to say, using my real name, for the record, that John Conyers is a miserable excuse for a Democrat or an American. Every Democrat was eager to embrace Cindy Sheehan and use her grief for their own gain in 06. Now that she wants impeachment, now that they actually have to walk the walk instead of just talk the talk, they throw her to the wolves. Christopher Shays, the Republican Misrepresentative from Connecticut cusses out a Capitol policeman and he's not arrested. Cindy Sheehan asks our do nothing government to do what it was put there for, and she gets hauled out in handcuffs. By the People, for the People, huh? Which People would that be?
Thank You, Julie Whitby
There truly is no difference any more, where the rubber meets the road, between Party Democrats and Republicans. Yours were some very pro-active and enlightening words - in spite of what I presume must be your disappointment, at least equal to my own (bountiful foul language), in response what we saw happen today.
Your response is encouraging - all the more appreciated on a day such as today. I will be visiting the website you recommended.
Would you yourself consider running for a House seat, and are you - please, God - by any chance located in the Detroit area...? (LOL)
Semper Fi,
-Matty in Florida
Conyers, you Motherfucker!
Matty from Florida, Loved your comment/email! Keep up the good work! My sentiments exactly! Down with all slime in Washington... let's eject them from office! Who the hell needs Washington, D.C. anyway? Let the states run their own damn governments, free of the scumbags/whores for the corporations in Washington, D.C.! We don't need centralized government anymore...what THIS country needs is detaxation and rule by the people, for the people, OF THE PEOPLE! No more presidents, vice presidents, "advisors" like pig Karl Rove, and warmongers like Cheney, Powell, Rice and Rumsfeld, etc., etc., ad infinitum! It's time for Americans to hold another revolution--this time against "King" George of Kennebunkport/Crawford! Down with all the harlots, whores, pimps, liars and scum in Washington, D.C.!
Year of the Independent, Year of Rebellion!
We need to run independents against every one of the scunbag traitors, Pelosi, Conyers, Reid the whole bunch.
When Cindy Sheehan runs against Pelosi as an independent there are two likely outcomes; Sheehan will win and I believe there are so many Repunlicans and Democrats fed up with the corruption that she has a real chance, or she will split the Democratric vote and throw the election to a Republican; either way Miss Nancy is history. A Republican winning will not make us any worse off then we are now. This is the same scenario for the rest of the scumbags.
In the mean time how to end the war and depose little George "shit for brains" Bush and tricky Dicky? I believe the only way this will happen, given the tratiours Democratic Party, is a Tiannamen Square like rebellion and sustained occupation of Washington DC until our demands are met. How this will ever happen, given the apathy in the country is beyond me, any suggestions?
It is clear that a week or week end of protest is a waste of time. As long as we play by there rules and act nice the powers that be will let us march whenever we want, they could care less. It will take a massive sustained protest with serious civil disobedience that brings the Capitol to its knees to get results. We need to get real serious and stop playing nice and stop playing by their rules.
Bush might do it for us
Bush is bankrupting our country and making us the pariah of the world. If the economy really goes belly-up and people are suffering, no gas, no money, there will be big trouble for Bush. Just killing our soldiers and being a complete scumbag is not enough.
It is sad that we will have to suffer, but our "leaders" don't care. We have neither morals nor values in America. Very sad.
"Tiannamen Square"
REVOLUTION! It's time to start the revolution! Who's in it? Who's not? The pricks that be in Washington, D.C. couldn't care less about We the People, so why should we put up with their lyin' bullshit any longer? What's the date? Let's begin it! Where can we sign up? Let's march! Let's camp out on the White House lawn! Let's stay there until George packs his bags and runs out the back door! Let's take back our White House, our Congress, our Constitution! One thing we sure as hell don't need is to be supplying anymore money to the U.S. Govt. so it can cause wars, drive out independently elected governments in other nations, send our jobs overseas, cheat the people of other nations out of decent wages, drive third-world countries further into poverty and debt, starve and kill thousands upon thousands of little children every day! The United States is the worst! I don't want to be a part of a nation that is hated by all the other countries of the world! I don't want to be a part of a nation that is doing everything in its power to ruin the planet by refusing to act cooperatively with other nations against global warming! The U.S. USED to be a great nation--now, it is just reprehensible at best, thanks to the rich and powerful who have pimped and prostituted it! Let's throw all the bums out and start all over again!
REFUSE TO SUPPORT ANY CANDIDATE WHO ISN'T GREEN, OR WHO IS RICH, OR WHO HAS A HISTORY OF $400 HAIRCUTS AND 21,000 SQ.FT. MANSIONS (EDWARDS!) AND ACCEPTS OVER $800,000 FROM THE MEDICAL ESTABLISHMENT/INSURANCE LOBBYISTS TO CUT HEALTH CARE FOR THE PEOPLE (HILLARY CLINTON!)! SUPPORT NO CANDIDATE WHO DOESN'T TRULY COME FROM THE PEOPLE! Obama lost me when I learned he said that "Impeachment should be reserved for truly 'serious' offenses"! If Bush and Cheney ain't a serious offense, I don't know what the hell is!
Down with fear! Let the NEW Boston Tea Party begin!!
Our Recourse is NOT Elections.
Just how are Elections, in this Country, truly a "recourse" for the public when they were, in fact, stolen in both 2000 and 2004?
And with the Democrats refusing to outlaw the easily tampered and error-prone Diebold/ES&S/Sequoia Electronic Voting machines and their electronic Databases and go back to an open, publically monitored, verified voting approach, how can anyone think the same thing will not happen again in future elections?
John Conyers is a tiny, coward and Nancy Pelosi is both a coward and a fool. You build the case for Impeachment by exposing and talking about the lawbreaking and bloody bodies and the theft of American Taxpayers each and every day. You build and build and build the case until the public outcry is so large than even some in the GOP are forced into responding to it. You hold hearings and get whistleblowers to testify. Impeachment is neither impossible nor impracticle.
Impeachment is the only way to prevent Rudy Guiliani from getting in there and doing exactly the same things. And you just know, that Jeb Bush is waiting in the wings to run for President in 2012 or 2016 depending on the outcome of 2008.
Impeachment may well also be the only way to prevent a Military Invasion on the Country of Iran. How many more hundreds-of-thousands of dead bodies and mutilated bodies do you want these people to be free to create.
Keep the focus on H.R. 333
It is really the only hope we have.
Conyers responsible for the worst precedent in American history?
Dear Congressman John Conyers,
Please do not leave the American people and abandon the Constitution in our hour of need.
Impeachment was invented by our Founding Fathers to restore law and order to a lawless Executive Administration. If you do not impeach, you will be responsible for setting the worst precedent in the history of the United States of America.
We beseech you, Congressman Conyers... please impeach them immediately.
Sincerely,
yankhadenuf
Liars, dirtbags, lobbyist sucking scumbags, career crooks
It looks like the American electorate needs to seriously consider VOTING OUT ALL INCUMBENTS each and every election - why do we keep electing these shitheads?
Greens
It might not hurt for us all to consider voting straight green party - I really like their platform and now would be a great time to make the switch.
You are WRONG, Mr. Conyers!
johnconyersjr@gmail.com
Elections are NOT your only recourse! Your own work proves it!!
Why did you spend all that time working on your devastating report "Constitution in Crisis", only to refuse to honor your oath of office by carrying out your sacred duty under the Constitution of the United States?
Are you at all concerned with the legacy you will leave? Your forty years of accomplishments in the service of our country will be rendered completely worthless if you refuse to act to remove the criminal Bush regime from office.
Do you realize that If you allow this administration to finish their term, there is a very real chance that the elections you say are the only recourse will not happen?! Bush's unprecedented crimes against our country, our Constitution and the world community (you know, the ones you are IGNORING after so expertly documenting them) are not indicative of an administration that will leave office willingly when their term expires.
If they do leave office willingly at the end of their term, without having been held accountable in any way whatsoever by the public servants like you who are now egregiously violating the peoples' trust, it will only serve to validate their crimes, providing carte blanche for the next administration to act similarly or worse.
THAT will be your legacy, Mr. Conyers, unless you act IMMEDIATELY to honor your oath and re-earn the trust of your constituents and the rest of the American people by initiating impeachment proceedings.
John Perry
Video Commentary You'll Never See in the MSM:
johnperryonline.com
Now Playing: "Get Ready for the Real News"
Recourses
Elections are madated by the Constitution. So is impeachment. So if elections are a recourse, why isn't impeachment? And if impeachment isn't a recourse, why is Chairman Conyers so sure elections will be? What if they're cancelled? What if they're rigged? What if no one votes because they see now that there's no point to it anymore? The Dems are doing a great job of presenting a united front -- but it's to a vanishing constituency.
To John Conyers
Dear Congressman Conyers:
You are making a terrible mistake for the Democratic Party. You think that the American people are so stupid and supine that we will vote for any Democrat that the DLC decides we should have. Well, guess what? That happened in 2004 when we voted for John Kerry as the lesser of two evils, and he stabbed us in the back. We are not going to fall for that one again this time.
I will never vote for a Democrat again unless you and Nancy put impeachment on the table and allow the American people to have an informed debate about the crimes the Bush regime has committed. You said you needed support from the people and you got it. What are you the evil twin of John Kerry?
If you had asked us to lobby certain congress members, we would have done that. If you had said, go talk to Nancy, we would have done that. But you said elections are the answer. So elections it will be. I am sure there will be someone far better than you to take your seat. We are all excited about Cindy taking Nancy’s seat. The whole lot of Congress, Democrat and Republican as well as that slime LIEberman who will not protect and defend the Constitution of the United States must be removed.
I am very sorry that a man who appeared to have morals and courage has fallen to such a low as to be a prostitute for Nancy Pelosi. We’ll be happy to be done with both you and Nancy Pelosi.
Sincerely,
CodePink
Progressives will bend over like they always do.
Progressives are weak and they are fools. If Conyers truly agreed to impeachment if 3 more cosponsors to H Res 333 signed, he reneged.
I was there when Cindy Sheehan and the "leaders" buckled. They threatened they wouldn't leave accept if they were arrested.
I recommended using the system which would force answers that would open the issue to constant public debate but the leaders of this group rejected my strategy.
Progressives will vote for Hillary, Edwards, or Obama -- the pure corporate candidates. They reject the only Progressive because they believe the media poll liars.
And just what was your system?
Cindy and a number of the "leaders" were arrested in Conyers' office. I was not in Conyers' office. We will have to have alternatives to the dumbbells that we have running at this time -- the anointed ones. I will not vote for the three you have listed -- no how, no way.
CodePink
Who's blogging from Code Pink
Is that you, Rae,
or Midge?
peace,
jim
Nancy Pelosi and John Conyers
Oh, how disappointed and utterly disgusted I am with both of them, the turncoats! Conyers blustered and blew about impeachment BEFORE the 2006 election, when he stood to become Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Now that he IS Chairman, he has turned out to be as yellow as a yellow-bellied snake! I am severely disappointed in Carl Levin from Michigan as well...I had so much hope for this Democrat from my home state! I have given up on all representatives and senators except for Russ Feingold, Dennis Kucinich and the other 12 who are backing HR 333 for impeachment ...they are the only ones with true courage and resolve. I wrote to MSNBC executives tonight, telling them that Keith Olbermann from "Countdown" should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for being the lone wolf in the media who constantly and relentlessly speaks out against and bashes Bush! I suggest Keith Olbermann for president! Let's run him whether he wants to run or not! I trust no other candidates (or non-candidates who are thinking about it) at this point!
I'll vote for Cindy Sheehan if she will run against Pelosi...! Let's all vote for Cindy Sheehan to get that wimpy sot Pelosi out of office! It's going to take a REAL WOMAN in that office to beat out the likes of the crooks and criminals occupying OUR White House right now!
It's happened before...
I have in front of me William Shirer's epic work "The Collapse of the Third Republic", an account of the fall of France in 1940. Towards the end of the work, Shirer wrote of the politicians of Vichy, who in the aftermath of the Armistice with Hitler voted to end the Third French Republic, and substitute for it an authoritarian regime. Shirer quoted the comments of Vincent Badie, a French legislator at that time:
"...Those who had profited most from the Third Republic, who had been most honoured by it, who often had been ministers, who should have, by their formation, their education and their sentiments, defended the Republic, cowardly let it be assassinated".
But unlike France in 1940, the USA in 2007 hasn't been invaded by a foreign foe. Those who run the USA have no one to blame for the fall of democracy but themselves.
Will your Charles de Gaulle please stand up?
+++++++++++
"A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves"
Edmund R. Murrow
ET TU, JOHN 'BACKSTABBER' CONYERS?
well, the people who got the most aggregiously stabbed in the back by this lying son of a bitch, are in Iraq right now, on both sides of the conflict.
because of Conjob Conyers, thousands more American military will be squandered and not fully counted, and hundreds of thousands, if not millions more Iraqi's will be murdered by the troops in their conquest to get the oil.
John Conyers, their blood is on your scummy, goddamned, lying hands!