**Please forward widely to friends, family members, activists and social networking sites**

Demand justice for Sean Bell!
Jail racist killer cops!

Sean Bell with his fiancee Nicole Paultre

Hey folks, let me preface this with the fact that every single issue we all deal with relies on our having an impact on our own government. BushCo ignores us and the law.

 

All the animal and environment and human rights issues will mean nothing at all unless we rescue our type of government.

 

We won't save the arctic from drilling, we won't get funds to find a cure for cancer, we won't save whales, we won't be able to accomplish anything.

Impeachment is necessary.

 

Please, Please do everything you can. not nearly enough people are pushing for it.

 

There is even a free fax you can send listed below, you just go there online , fill it out and they send a fax for FREE.

 

Below this is a list of links, PLEASE DO EVERYTHING AND SEND THIS ON.

Thanks,

Rats

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Conyers Considers Cheney Impeachment Hearings

On Thursday, Chairman John Conyers' House Judiciary Committee held a hearing at which Attorney General Michael Mukasey said that he would not investigate torture or warrantless spying, he would not enforce contempt citations, and he would treat Justice Department opinions as providing immunity for crimes.

None of this was new, but perhaps it touched
something in Conyers that had not been touched before. Following the
hearing, he and two staffers met for over an hour with two members of
Code Pink and discussed activism and impeachment, including Congressman Robert Wexler's proposal to begin impeachment hearings on Cheney.

Conyers expressed his concerns about what might
happen following an impeachment, the danger of installing a Bush
replacement or losing an election. But he said he's listening to
several advocates for impeachment, including Liz Holtzman and David
Swanson of Democrats.com. He hinted he could be swayed by a convincing argument, leaning out of his chair for dramatic effect.

So let's help Chairman John Conyers decide! We know Conyers agrees with all of us on the legal grounds for impeachment because he made this case himself in his 2006 book, "The Constitution in Crisis." Where Conyers needs persuasion is on the politics of impeachment, so we have addressed his concerns here:
http://www.democrats.com/conyers-start-impeachment-hearings

We'd like you to email Conyers (and other Judiciary Committee Democrats) with the link above, but please don't stop there.

1. Call his office at 202-225-5126 and say you would like him to begin Cheney impeachment hearings immediately. Tell him the hearings must
be on impeachment because that's the only way to force the White House
to comply with Congressional subpoenas. The phone in his office was
reportedly ringing once every second, 60 times per minute, all day long
on Monday. Let's ring it faster on Tuesday.

2. Print our petition
http://www.democrats.com/node/15663/print
and fax it to Conyers at 202-225-0072 with your name and address at the end.

3. Urge your Representative and Senators to sign onto Congressman Robert Wexler's letter to Conyers (which he plans to deliver on Friday) here:
http://democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/125

We know we're asking a lot, but we're not alone - our friends from Code Pink are fasting for impeachment and meeting with Conyers on Tuesday to discuss opening Cheney impeachment hearings.

 

Want
to do more? Start planning now to visit your congress member's office
when they're back in their district between February 16th and 24th.
Find ideas here:
http://impeachcheney.org

Join (or create) your Congressional District Impeachment Committee:
http://democrats.com/cdic-find

 

______________

International Days of Action Against Iraq Oil Law on February 22-23

Why did Bush and Cheney concoct WMD lies to scare Congress into authorizing an invasion of Iraq? After five years, it's clear the only reason was to steal Iraq's oil.

US Labor Against the War, United for Peace and
Justice, Oil Change International, and UK's Hands Off Iraqi Oil, are
working to expose the concerted efforts by the Bush-Cheney
administration and the major international oil companies to force
passage of an oil law in the Iraqi Parliament. This oil law would strip
the Iraqi people of their constitutional right to control their biggest
natural resource: oil.

Details on Facebook (login required):
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=16210280243

You can host a local action at your ExxonMobil, Shell, or BP station, or participate in a march in Washington, DC this Friday. If you need help and resources to host a local event email info@priceofoil.org

For more information about the Iraqi oil law visit http://priceofoil.org and http://www.USLaborAgainstWar.org

______________

Start Planning for March 2008

March 19 is the 5th Anniversary of Bush's invasion of
Iraq. Start planning your local and national actions to demand peace
and impeachment in March 2008 here:
http://resistinmarch.org

#####

Forward this message to everyone you know!

To subscribe, create a free Democrats.com account here:
http://www.democrats.com/user/register

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Got this from Laura H.


"........... I have already sent an
email, and just sent a free fax using a page sent to me by Gordon
Kobayashi for this purpose, FaxZero.

The Next Steps to Stop Bush's Assault on Free Speech

Thanks to all the impeachment supporters who have participated in sending letters to the National Park Service to let the Bush Administration know that we oppose any effort to restrict or ban protest on our National Mall. More than 10,000 letters were sent in two weeks alone, which is double the number of letters that the government had received in the entire past year during its charade of public outreach on this issue. This shows the commitment of ImpeachBush.org members and the paucity of the government's efforts to inform people about their radical plans to change the use of the National Mall.

The battle over the National Mall is shaping up as a major free speech fight between the people of this country and the Bush Administration in its last year in office. It is part of a broader pattern. If they can, Bush and Cheney will dismantle civil rights and liberties causing damage that will last for generations to come -- but we can stop them.

Please read the following message from the Partnership for Civil Justice and become a signer on the important new Statement in Defense of Free Speech Rights on the National Mall which is being signed by organizations and individuals across the country. This statement will be publicized as part of a major national campaign and you can sign onto it below.

Join Us to Defend Free Speech Rights on the National Mall
Sign the Statement
Read the major Washington Post article below

Anti-war protest of half a million at the National Mall where Ramsey Clark announced the launch of the ImpeachBush campaign, Jan. 18, 2003.

We are launching a nationwide mobilization of public opinion to defend free speech rights in Washington, D.C. Unless we take action, the Bush Administration will, as one of its final acts, leave office having dramatically altered access of the people to public lands that have been the site of the most significant mass assembly protests in U.S. history.

There has already been an amazing response to the public appeal issued by the Partnership for Civil Justice calling on people to take action to defend free speech rights on the National Mall. More than 10,000 people have sent letters to the National Park Service in the last two weeks opposing the Bush Administration's efforts to restrict or ban protests on the Mall.

Join in demanding a moratorium on any plans to restrict access to the mall. There can be no designated protest zone or protest pit. We are demanding that there be an immediate halt to the proceedings to allow greater input from the American public.

We are writing to you today to urge you to become a member of this campaign.

Here is how you can help as a member of the campaign

1) Circulate and get signers for the Statement in Defense of Free Speech Rights on the National Mall that is being signed by organizations across the United States who have used the National Mall in the exercise of free speech and also by prominent individuals in support of our First Amendment rights to freedom of assembly. Below is an initial list. There will be thousands more signers in the next few days. You can be part of this movement.

2) Right now, you can write to the National Park Service to demand no new restrictions on the right of the people to assemble. We have set up an easy-to-use mechanism that will allow your message to be sent directly to the NPS and the Secretary of the Interior. Click this link to send your message.

3) Send this email to everyone in your email address book and encourage them to join this effort. Please tell your friends, family and community, peace, and civil rights groups that you are a part of about this important fight for free speech -- forward this page by clicking this link.

4) Please Help with a Donation. This challenge, which ranges from the streets to the courtrooms, requires significant funds, and we simply cannot do it without your help. We will be placing newspaper ads, organizing rallies, letter writing and petition campaigns and more. Please click this link to make your donation right now.

Today we are filing a Freedom of Information Act request with the U.S. National Park Service ( NPS ) to obtain the disclosure of organizations that have used the National Mall in the past five years for First Amendment events. When the NPS held its public hearing on this matter on January 12 we confronted them with the fact that they had done no legitimate outreach to notify the thousands of organizations who have used the Mall in recent years for free speech events about the proposed changes, even though they possess those records. Their attempt to exclude the people from this process could not be more clear.

Please read the important Washington Post article, "The Battle to Remold the Mall," below -- and take action today!

Sincerely,

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

Take Action

1) Sign the Statement in Defense of Free Speech Rights on the National Mall
2) Click this link to send your message to the National Park Service
3) Forward this page by clicking this link
4) Please click this link to make a donation right now

Washington Post: The Battle To Remold the Mall
Sunday, January 20, 2008
By: Michael E. Ruane

Preservation Proposals Spark Debate Over Protest Rights

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/19/AR2008011901200.html

The National Park Service envisions a prime venue for demonstrations: a broad space at the foot of the Capitol with restrooms, seating, a paved surface, even a stand for the media.

Attorneys for activist groups fear a designated, government-approved "pit," limiting freedom of speech and movement in a hallowed place of protest.

The proposal to turn Union Square, the site of the Capitol reflecting pool and the Grant Memorial, into an "urban civic square" is one of many ideas the Park Service is mulling over as it plans the future of the Mall.

But that and other suggested changes have sparked harsh debate between government officials seeking to preserve one of the country's most heavily used national parks and activists concerned about limits on free speech and civil rights.

The faceoff prompted tense exchanges at a public meeting this month and demands for the Park Service to halt its planning and seek broader public input.

"This is a sugar-coating effort to conceal the real plan, which is to reorganize the Mall from its traditional venue as the heart and soul of this country's free-speech protest movement," said Brian Becker, national coordinator of the antiwar ANSWER coalition.

Susan Spain, project executive for the National Mall Plan, countered: "We are not seeking to restrict First Amendment demonstrations whatsoever."

The Park Service requires permits for most demonstrations and has "reasonable time, place and manner restrictions" for them, she said. What is proposed is only a better place to protest, with more facilities, she said.

But lawyer Mara Verheyden-Hilliard of the Partnership for Civil Justice, which advocates for protest groups, noted that the Capitol might not always be the protesters' target.

Demonstrators "also want to be able to protest as far back [on the Mall] as they need and as wide as they need," she said. "They have the right to . . . not be shunted off to a protest pit."

None of the proposals for the Mall's future, laid out in three mix-and-match alternatives, has been adopted. The Park Service says that they are only suggestions and that it is seeking public comment.

Last week, it extended the mail and online comment period through Feb. 15.

Information is available at http://www.nps.gov/nationalmallplan.

The proposals, which Spain said were developed from prior public input, are part of the Park Service's attempt to better manage the Mall, which has an estimated 25 million visitors a year and in many areas is worn from age and use.

The Park Service issues 3,000 permits a year for events on the Mall. About half are for "First Amendment" demonstrations. Most of those involving politics draw a few hundred people or fewer, officials said, with perhaps a dozen or so attracting more than 5,000.

The National Mall & Memorial Parks -- the official name -- extends from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial and is home to the Washington Monument, the Jefferson Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. It also includes the Tidal Basin, the National World War II Memorial and the Korean War Veterans Memorial.

It has extensive maintenance problems. Many grassy areas are worn down to the bare dirt. Parts of the wall and walkway around the Tidal Basin have sunk so far that they are submerged at high tide. And the outdoor Sylvan Theater, which sits next to the Washington Monument and traces its history to 1917, looks shabby and dilapidated.

Indeed, one of the proposals is to move the Sylvan Theater, whose 1970s structure stands about 10 feet from the Washington Monument's new security perimeter. A new location was not identified.

Another idea calls for filling in the north bay of the Tidal Basin and removing the Kutz Bridge, which carries eastbound Independence Avenue traffic over the basin.

The Kutz Bridge entered Washington lore in 1974 when a girlfriend of U.S. Rep. Wilbur D. Mills jumped from it into the water during a police stop. A stripper known professionally as "Fanne Foxe," she was rescued unharmed, although Mills's reputation was tarnished.

The Park Service says that the north bay has been the site of fish kills and that the narrow sidewalks along the bridge are crowded and dangerous during peak tourist season.

Other proposals call for paving the Mall's gravel walkways and building a playground near its carousel.

Union Square, between Maryland and Pennsylvania avenues and Third and First streets NW, has been a controversial place for demonstrations. Prior to President Bush's 2006 State of the Union address, protesters had to go to federal court to gain access to the site, which police had said was inside a security perimeter.

Much of the roughly 18-acre square is occupied by the large reflecting pool, which is favored by photographers but filled with dirty water and populated by seagulls. The pool was installed in the late 1960s during the creation of the Interstate 395 tunnel beneath the Capitol and has little historic value, experts say.

Some of the ideas call for removing the pool and paving the square, equipping it as a place to host protests and performances. The Park Service estimates that it could hold more than 50,000 people.

During a Jan. 12 public meeting in the Old Post Office Pavilion, Spain said large demonstrations would not be restricted from spreading across the Mall. Park Service spokesman Bill Line said later that the vast majority of demonstrations would fit tidily in Union Square.

The idea is "how do we better accommodate things, and how do we design for them" Spain said, "and also have this place look the way the American public would like the welcoming space in our nation to look." She said the chief sentiment among 5,000 prior public comments was that the Mall does not look as good as it should. So another proposal suggests "mandatory rest periods between events" to "protect natural resources and views."

But Verheyden-Hilliard argued that the Park Service was unfairly linking appearance and protest.

"They're suggesting that robust political speech and use of [the Mall] . . . for political protest is somehow incongruous or in conflict with the location itself," she said.

"Grass grows back. Free speech doesn't."

"People before Politics"
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• Divide and weaken the just struggle of the Palestinian people;
• Prop up the unstable Israeli occupation regime;
• Legitimize and strengthen the illegal occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, and U.S. plans for colonization of the whole Middle East;
• Help prepare for aggression and war against Iran.

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