Judiciary GOP pulls the plug on Conyers 'forums'

[Robbien]

If the Financial Services Committee is the best in the House when it comes to bipartisan comity, then the Judiciary Committee may well be the worst.

In December, ranking Democrat John Conyers (Mich.) began holding “forums” — gatherings with all the trappings of official hearings — after Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) refused to hold hearings on topics Conyers requested. The forums have been held in smaller committee rooms, often with C-SPAN coverage and formal witness lists.

In a sign of how far relationships on the committee have soured, majority staff recently announced a new policy to deny any request from a committee Democrat for the use of a committee hearing room.

Majority spokesman Jeff Lungren said the Republicans have given Democrats three opportunities to make clear that the forums are not official committee business. Nevertheless, Lungren said, in at least one case, members were addressing Conyers as “Mr. Chairman.”

“They were unwilling or unable to make those changes,” Lungren said. “At this point, if they want to hold these forums, they’ll have to find some other place to do it.”

http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/UndertheDome/061405.html

[marmar]

1. Rabid dogs...

control Congress.

[ElectroPrincess]

2. This is a good sign, they're backed against the wall and lashing out

The leaks cannot be controlled and/or spun into positives. Soon, Bush-Co. will be unable to "catapult the propaganda" ... listen for the implosion; and the wave of "rats jumping ship."

[David Zephyr]

20. I agree and it truly signals that we're finally about to expose them.

Hit dogs always bark and they are beginning to bark!

[WillyT]

34. Yes... They Are Over-Reaching Wildly Now !!!

And the clock is ticking toward their implosion...

:nuke::nuke::nuke:

[jody]

3. But the Senate allowed its buildings to be used to crown Sun Moon

and his wife as "True Parents", the first couple to have children without sin and the messiah sent by God to finish the job started by Jesus Christ.

[ElectroPrincess]

6. Hey, many Democrats are beholden to the Corporations ...

Especially those linked with the war machine.

It's time to clean OUR HOUSE (and Senate)?

[pokercat999]

21. 100% correct

we shouldn't be holding a fist full of rocks WHILE we live in a glass house. Purge dinos and we will hold the high ground, then throw them rocks.

[faithnotgreed]

8. excellent point. this was eventually traced to sen john warner (r-va)

and when asked about it he responded that he wasnt really aware what moon was doing

remember how no one wanted to fess up about who sponsored/allowed moon to use senate room for this coronation?
outrageous (yet again)

[AngryAmish]

9. Well, didn't God send them to Earth?

Prove me wrong.

[jody]

14. Not me on proof, they may be ETs! I was just repeating Moon's propaganda.

In 1994, Congress passed a bill establishing "Parents Day" as a new national holiday, designated on the fourth Sunday of July. The leading Congressional sponsor of the Moon-instigated legislation was Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.).

[Stand and Fight]

4. Unbelievable!

Can you believe this shit?

Sean McLaughlin, deputy chief of staff for Sensenbrenner, recently wrote to a minority staffer in more pointed language.

“I’m sitting here watching your ‘forum’ on C-SPAN,” McLaughlin wrote. “Just to let you know, it was your last. Don’t bother asking again.”

How long do we have to take this nonsense from the GOP scum? Something needs to be done about these fascist pigs. They're destroying every principle and law that this country is found upon, and it's about time that Democrats stod up and did something SERIOUS about it. The time for restraint has passed, and it's time to start some heads a'rolling.

[mbperrin]

17. How long before history repeats itself?

http://www.us-coin-values-advisor.com/the-nation-drifts-toward-war.html

"A vicious, dramatic attack, foreshadowing national future events, occurred on the Senate floor on May 22, 1856. Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, an avid anti-slavery legislator, had recently delivered a speech about “the crime against Kansas”. During the speech, Sumner demanded the admission of Kansas as a free state, and sharply criticized Senator Andrew Butler of South Carolina. Preston Brooks, a member of the House of Representatives from South Carolina, and a relative of Senator Butler, approached Sumner as he sat writing at his Senate desk. Seeking revenge for the insults heaped upon Butler, Brooks severely beat Sumner with a cane. Although Sumner recovered from his injuries, tensions between the North and the South became even more strained."

These cocksuckers just about infuriate me to this point myself.

(Apologies to cocksuckers everywhere.)

[Stand and Fight]

37. Hopefully, history does not repeat itself...

But the Neo-Cons in Congress and elsewhere seem hell-bent on driving this country deeper into Hades.

[faithnotgreed]

5. whew - when i read the title i thought the were trying to stop thursdays

forum

[SaveAmerica]

7. That's fine, keep trying to cut him off and his followers will just

multiply. They're scared, Conyers mission is almost accomplished.

[jwirr]

35. My first thought was that

the building belongs to us taxpayers not to the gop hoods. My next thought was of the sit-ins in the sixties. Maybe we need to occupy our public buildings for a demonstration of just who owns them.

[gratuitous]

10. Conyers is smarter than Senselessbrenner

He can just hold his forums in a private office building or some other venue that Senselessbrenner doesn't control.

These petty, partisan hacks currently run our beloved country. Soon, though, we will be taking it back and we can begin cleaning their stench out of our public institutions.

[BattyDem]

11. Dems in Congress should take the issue to their constituents.

Maybe they could take out full page ads in their local newspapers back home and let their constituents know that the Republicans who control Congress are not allowing them to be represented because they didn't vote for Republicans. In other words, if they dare to question the authority of the GOP, their voices will not be heard in Washington ... they will be silenced by any means necessary. It doesn't matter if they are tax-paying, law-abiding citizens who elected their representatives legally ... they chose a candidate who was not part of the GOP regime, so they no longer count.

WE PAY FOR THOSE BUILDINGS! WE PAY THEIR SALARIES! IF OUR VOICES ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BE HEARD, THEN WHY SHOULD WE HAVE TO PAY FOR ANYTHING?!? :grr:

[tsuki]

12. Oh, horrors, horrors. The witnesses called Rep. Conyers, Chairman.

This is the worst thing that has every happened on Capital Hill. Our democracy is in danger. These forums must be shut down. Rep. Conyers must be punished. Oh, The Sky is Falling! The Sky is Falling.

[donkeyotay]

28. That does it!!! I'm re-registering as a Republican

You insufferable liberals! They actually called the person running the hearing, ...er meeting,... er public airing of matters important to the public... CHAIRMAN??? That's the last straw.

Good Higher Authority, it must be time to go nuklar.
:sarcasm: :nuke:

[MasonJar]

13. I loved it when Senselessburger told the committee that torture

was not a Judicial Committee subject, and Conyers refuted that claim in no non"sense" terms.

[grasswire]

15. looks to me as if this peon needs to hear from citizens...

...Sean McGloughlin. A peon. He needs to be reminded of his place as servant of the people.

Who's up for a mailing campaign of some kind?

[yurbud]

16. time to start emailing and faxing REPUBLICANS

The longer they obstruct DSM hearings to protect corrupt, lying president, the more likely they are to be viewed by voters as complicit when Bush ultimately goes down, and the that will be left of the GOP.

Hillbilly Hitler art:



Blog:

[Robbien]

18. Dems pay taxes for those buildings

If only Republicans are allowed to use the buildings, Democrats should ask for their taxes back.

[The_Casual_Observer]

19. It's the american way!

Shoot the messenger if you don't like the message & to the victor go the spoils - the one with the gold makes the rules.

[Up2Late]

22. My Mom was active with the NAACP and Urban League in the 60's

We lived in Michigan, North of Detroit.

When I started to tell her about the work Rep. Conyers has been doing this year, she said, "I remember Him!"B-)

[Rex]

23. What a lame excuse. Nonsensenbrenner needs to be fired, today!

I hope all the RWpukers realize that the tyranny of the majority will eventually be overthrown. When that day comes, payback will be the mother of all bitches!

[The Backlash Cometh]

24. Republicans are using those committee rooms for backroom lobbyists.

Lobbyists cart in food and alcoholic refreshments into those caucus rooms to hook in Congressmen and their staff so they can sell them on whatever issues they're whoring for. Maybe C-SPAN can televise one of these reception rooms so we can all see what Congress is really up to?

[donkeyotay]

30. Excellent idea! Let's see what pay-to-play looks like

If we can't watch a representative talking about issues important to the American people, especially the roughly half who vote Democratic, then lets see and hear what our good Republican friends are doing in those rooms we pay for.

[krkaufman]

25. Waaaah!, It's my committee room...

... and you can't play with it.

[IndianaGreen]

26. What's next? Bar Democrats from using the restrooms?

Sensenbrenner is using tactics similar to the ones used by the Nazis in the Reichstag.

[Malikshah]

27. Then they Fight you....then you Win

Keep the balls out folks.

Mention it everywhere...

[Pryderi]

29. Does this mean the DSM forum is cancelled on Thursday?

[Daphne08]

31. This is unAmerican.

Has this ever happened before?

Does anyone know?

The Republicans don't own those buildings.

The American people do.

[bushisanidiot]

32. When republiKKKans don't get their way, they take their ball and go home

it's the american way... go pout like the pussies you are, 'GOOP'!

[onhoth2o]

33. Two items of interest re: impeachment - please read

The National Campaign to Impeach President George W. Bush

<snip>

"...in many instances specific components of the Bush Jr. administration's foreign policies constitute ongoing criminal activity under well-recognized principles of both international law and U.S. domestic law, and in particular the Nuremberg Charter, the Nuremberg Judgment, and the Nuremberg Principles.

"Depending upon the substantive issues involved, those international crimes typically include but are not limited to the Nuremberg offenses of crimes against peace, crimes against humanity and war crimes, as well as grave breaches of the Four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the 1907 Hague Regulations on land warfare, torture, disappearances, and assassinations. In addition, various members of the Bush Jr. administration committed numerous inchoate crimes incidental to these substantive offenses that under the Nuremberg Charter, Judgment, and Principles were international crimes in their own right: viz., planning, preparation, solicitation, incitement, conspiracy, complicity, attempt, aiding and abetting, etc. Of course the great irony of today's situation is that six decades ago at Nuremberg, representatives of the U.S. government participated in the prosecution, punishment and execution of Nazi government officials for committing some of the same types of heinous international crimes that members of the Bush Jr. administration currently inflict upon people all around the world. To be sure, I personally oppose the imposition of capital punishment upon any person for any reason no matter how monstrous their crimes: Bush Jr., Tony Blair, Saddam Hussein, Slobodan Milosevic, Vladimir Putin, Ariel Sharon, my former client John Wayne Gacy, etc."

<snip>

"Certainly, if the U.S. House of Representatives can impeach President Clinton for sex and lying about sex, then a fortiori the House can, should, and must impeach President Bush Jr. for war, lying about war, and threatening more wars. All that is needed is for one Member of Congress with courage, integrity, principles and a safe seat to file these currently amended draft Bills of Impeachment against Bush Jr., Cheney, Rumsfeld, and now Attorney General Albert Gonzales, who bears personal criminal responsibility for the Bush Jr. administration torture scandal. Failing this, the alternative is likely to be an American Empire abroad, a U.S. police state at home, and continuing wars of aggression to sustain both-along the lines of George Orwell's classic novel 1984. Despite all of the serious flaws demonstrated by successive United States governments that this author has amply documented elsewhere during the past quarter century as a Professor of Law, the truth of the matter is that America is still the oldest Republic in the world today. "We the People of the United States" must fight to keep it that way!"


Read the entire article at:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9136.htm

The second item is from The Black Commentator. It is an excellent piece on John Conyers and is well worth the time to read it (long).

FREEDOM RIDER: John Conyers and Deep Throat

"John Conyers and his colleagues have evidence of numerous impeachable offenses against George Bush, but they are unable to make themselves heard."

Read the entire article at:

http://www.blackcommentator.com/141/141_freedom_rider_deep_throat.html

[goclark]

36. The Black Commentator Is Always Important

to read.

They do not pull any punches.