From: Sherry Conable <sherryc (at) cruzio.com>
Date: Thu Feb 26, 2004 12:58:55 PM US/Pacific
Resent-To: sherry Conable <sherryc (at) cruzio.com>
To: mike rotkin <mrotkin (at) ci.santa-cruz.ca.us>, cynthia mathews <cmathews (at) ci.santa-cruz.ca.us>, tim fitzmaurice <tfitzmaurice (at) ci.santa-cruz.ca.us>, mark primack <mprimack (at) ci.santa-cruz.ca.us>, scott kennedy <kenncruz (at) pacbell.net>, ed porter <eporter95 (at) aol.com>, emily reilly <ereilly (at) ci.santa-cruz.ca.us>
Subject: contacting HJC and council meeting times!




Dear Mayor and Council Members:

I was planning to come to oral communications on Tuesday, February 24th, but found out a bit late that they had been moved to 3PM rather than 7PM. I know that most council meetings since the new year have not had an evening session, only an afternoon one.

Since so many more people can come in the evening than during the daytime, I am wondering why shorter agendas are not scheduled for evening only, rather than afternoon only. I am also concerned about protecting oral communications. This is the only time, twice each month, that citizens can bring you concerns you may not be aware of - I have heard some very important issues brought forward first in this venue, many of them local, and some of state or national concern.

If the time changes meeting by meeting, it makes it very difficult for folks to plan to participate in the democratic process. In honor of that democratic process, I think oral communications should always be at 7PM, unless there is an overwhelming reason to have it be different. I hope that we are all committed to protecting the access of citizens to their government. In fact, I came another time, I think in December, assuming the evening time, and again found out there had only been an afternoon session and I had missed oral communications!

I hope the justification will not be 'budget". If staff are needed in the evening, there are easy ways for them to compensate that time during the rest of the week.

What I wanted to talk about, as many people have asked me to do, is to propose some followup action on the letter you sent to the House Judiciary Committee last September. We all know that there has been no response, not even a generic thank-you-for-your-concerns type response, let alone one of any meaning or substance!

When we spoke, as activists, citizens, and elected officials, we spoke for thousands of people in this community, and, I believe, for tens, and probably hundreds of thousands of people in this nation! The response I got from people all over this country who I did not know was really amazing, as I know was true in the council office as well! I think it is not only rude that we have been ignored, but, a violation of the democratic process. Therefore, I would like to suggest that the mayor, with the council's authority, send another letter to the HJC, noting the lack of response, citing our expectations as members of a democracy, and again asking the same questions.

Certainly one thing that has changed since last September is the breadth of understanding of the intentional deception and manipulation that this Administration has engaged in. If it is true that last September there were still lots of folks who wanted to believe their claims, I think it is also true that the vast majority of those people have now changed their minds. More and more, folks realize that we were led into a preemptive war of aggression based on lies and deceit. Since this question was one of the central ones that your original letter posed, all the more reason to resubmit it now!

As you probably know, lying in itself is not a crime (lying under oath is!). However, when a president or other national officials engage in behavior that is "egregious" enough that, in most people's minds, it rises to the level of a crime, that is an impeachable offense. These lies, and their horrific consequences, certainly meet that standard. As does, of course, the repeated violation of countless international treaties and agreements that this Administration has perpetrated, a violation of the supremacy clause of the Constitution itself. The policy of waging preemptive war, alone, violates the United Nations Charter.

As I said, a number of people have asked me why we have not come back to the council and asked you to take this next step and ask for a response once again. I feel a bit remiss for the delay, but perhaps now is the perfect timing! The quagmire of Iraq grows thicker day by day. Our own service people continue to die (almost 600 now) and to be maimed and wounded (8-10 wounded for every death). Estimates of Iraqui deaths range from 15,000 - 25,000, and who knows how many wounded. Their infrastructure is shattered, American business people and government officials are busy robbing them of economic control, and the world stands in disbelief and shock.

I have a friend who is German and lives part time here, and part time there. I asked him what folks think over there, and he said that people talk about the situation all the time. He said people cannot believe what is happening, they think Bush is clinically crazy, and they cannot understand why the American people are not removing him, and his advisors, from power with all due speed!

So, let's step up to the plate yet one more time. There is nothing to lose, but perhaps something quite important to gain. When we acted last September, we provided a great and necessary opening in this nation. We actually demonstrated that it was not only reasonable, but responsible, to tell the truth about this Administration and to demand answers and action from our elected officials in Washington. We opened a very large and heavy door, and gave safety to people all over this country to say what they were really feeling. It was a very precious and important gift. By doing that, I believe we made an immeasurable contribution to the wave of energy that is building now to remove this Administration from power. And we need to do it again.

We all have dual citizenship - we are citizens of this nation and we are citizens of the world community as well. As citizens of the world, we are the ones on the hook, right here and right now. It absolutely is our job to take responsibility for what has been done in our name and to change that before any further violation and horror ensues!

Many, many months ago, United States Senator Robert. C. Byrd said "eventually, the truth of this administration will emerge, and when it does, this house of cards, built of lies and deceit, will fall." I have had that quote tacked on my refrigerator for a long time now, reading it day by day, and praying that his prophesy be true. Let's step into the gap together one more time. And let the press know what we are up to!

I will copy this to all the member groups of the Coalition for Impeachment Now! (COIN!), as well as other interested parties, to folks up in Arcata, and to the local press. I think you know that I myself wrote to the HJC, and especially to James Sensenbrenner and John Conyers, back in December asking for a response to this community, but I, as well, was ignored. We do live in a democracy?

Our representative, Sam Farr, did take the time to send a response to a copy I sent to him, asserting that nothing the Bush Administration has done rises to the level of the impeachable. I simply think he is wrong, and I would be happy to make the legal arguments, but do not have the time here! Besides, they have been well made already by Ramsey Clarke, Frances Boyle, and basically anyone with good common sense and the ability to understand the concepts of law and order!

peace, in all places, at all times

sherry conable