another dumb naive e-mail to another Democratic Congress member which is better than the e-mail you didn't write

Robert Merkin
55 Milton Street
Northampton, Massachusetts 01062
413-586-1616

24 July 2007

The Honorable John Conyers, Jr.
Chairman, House Committee on the Judiciary
John.Conyers@mail.house.gov

Dear Congressman Conyers:

News reports concerning the arrest of Cindy Sheehan and 45 fellow protesters at your Capitol office indicate you told Ms. Sheehan that you cannot proceed with impeachment against President George Bush because you do not have enough votes.

As Chairman, you can call for a Committee vote. This will give every Judiciary Committee member a chance to have his or her vote recorded at this moment regarding his or her approval of or opposition to President Bush's unconstitutional acts.

Sir, only the impending pressure of impeachment from the House Judiciary Committee drove the lawless Richard Nixon from office, and ended the interminable national nightmare of the Vietnam War.

Cindy Sheehan's son, Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, is only one of three thousand six hundred and thirty-six American soldiers and Marines who have died in this liars' and scoundrels' war -- as Congressman Abraham Lincoln described James K. Polk's Mexican War.

How many more Americans in uniform must die before you feel the moment is appropriate to hold President Bush accountable for his high crimes and misdemeanors?

Vietnam cost us 52,000 Americans in uniform, including some of my friends.

Cindy Sheehan and her associates went to the right office to ask the right Committee of the right branch of the government for help. Rather than hold President Bush accountable and stop this war, you had these people arrested. I believe this was a great mistake, and a gesture of disrespect to my vote last November to change control of every House and Senate Committee to the Democratic Party.

I did not vote to empower the Democratic Party. I voted to stop the Iraq War and I voted to call upon Congress to do its Constitutional duty to reign in a lawless president.

Sir, stop this lawless president, and stop this war. As happened in the Judiciary Committee once before, when hearings start, evidence and testimony will generate the votes, from both parties, required for impeachment, and save American lives now in peril.

Sincerely,

Robert Merkin

SP5, US Army 1969-1971
Army Commendation Medal

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Los Angeles Times (California USA)
Tuesday 24 July 2007

NATION IN BRIEF / WASHINGTON, D.C.

Sheehan, 45 other
protesters arrested

From Times Wire Reports

Antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan and 45 fellow protesters were arrested at the Capitol for disorderly conduct in demanding the impeachment of President Bush.

Sheehan was taken into custody in Rep. John Conyers Jr.'s office, where she had spent an hour imploring him to launch impeachment proceedings against Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Conyers (D-Mich.) is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, where any impeachment effort would have to begin. Sheehan said Conyers told her there weren't enough votes for impeachment to move forward.

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