Report on Conyers' appearance at Take a Stand Town Hall in Pontiac, MI on 8/28

SharonRB

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Wed Aug-29-07 09:59 AM
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Report on Conyers' appearance at Take a Stand Town Hall in Pontiac, MI on 8/28

Edited on Wed Aug-29-07 10:04 AM by SharonRB

Here's a link to a clip of the first six minutes of Conyers' speech, where he says "impeachment isn't off my table." My summary follows -- please forgive the lack of detail, but it was hard to take notes:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7045631199028588216

First of all, this was a well-attended event -- we had over 600 people in the auditorium at Pontiac Central High School. The Raging Grannies and a rap group sang, there was a panel discussion, DU's own lwfern spoke, and there were several other speakers, including Nancy Skinner, who gave a rousing speech against the war. The big Joe NOllenberg head showed up, too.

Before the event began, I had a chance to talk the Chairman Conyers. I asked him if we're going to be hearing "inherent contempt" when Congress is back in session. He basically said there's a good chance it could happen, and he referred to it later in his speech.

Conyers, of course, was the highlight of the evening. He opened up by saying, in response to all of the "IMPEACH" signs around the auditorium, that he has no reluctance to impeachment in general when it is appropriate.

He respects and loves Cindy Sheehan and he respects all of the people there in that room.

He defended Nancy Pelosi's statement that impeachment is off her table, but then he stated that it is not off of his table and that she can't prevent him from bringing articles of impeachment if he decides it's the right thing to do.

He spoke about all of the Republicans leaving a sinking ship and rattled off a partial list: Scooter Libby, Monica Goodling, Karl Rove, Don Rumsfeld, Scott Jennings, and a number of others and, finally, Alberto Gonzales (cheers all around).

Nothing has changed with Gonzo's resignation. Investigations will continue and they will get at the truth about everything, including the national security letter, enemy combatants, etc. We WILL PROTECT VOTING RIGHTS!

He then discussed inherent contempt and, for those who didn't know what it was, proceeded to explain the process. Sergeant at arms goes and arrests the person, brings them to Congress, where they are tried. If convicted, they take them to jail in the Capitol. The House jail has been closed for years, but the Senate still has theirs and he's sure they'll let them use it.

Conyers then talked about HR 676, his health care bill. Under this bill, everybody is in, nobody is out.

He mentioned Flint, MI and then gave kudos to Michael Moore for "Sicko." He also salutes Al Gore for his work on the environment and global warming.

We must end the imperial government.

Suggested everyone read "Bush on the Couch." He spoke a little about the book and then said "I'll just leave it at that because I'm not in the Witness Protection Program."

The government is out of touch. We need to mobilize. We must use diplomacy to work toward peace, including talking to Iran, Korea and China.

He ended by thanking the various speakers, including "the fabulous Nancy Skinner" and mentioned that Gary Peterson was in the audience.