Not Fast Enough

AfterDowningStreet:

Leslie Angeline began a fast [Monday], Rosa Park's birthday. She had been trying for some time to get an appointment with Congressman John Conyers to ask him to begin impeachment hearings. She began a sit-in in his office yesterday, and within 5 minutes he agreed to an appointment with her on Thursday at 3 p.m. But she is going to continue fasting, because he has not agreed to open impeachment hearings, and can of course be expected to tell her than yet more non-impeachment hearings on impeachable offenses is all we need.

Leslie adds in a message to the Code Pink House mailing list:

I want to present him with a strong, concise argument from the perspective of the Civil Rights Movement...and my father, one of the original Freedom Riders.  I hope to remind him of a time when the government told the people to "Be patient!" and the country said "NO!"  We can't wait any longer for Congress to uphold their oath to the Constitution.  People are dying every day in Iraq, being tortured,! being denied habeas corpus...They continue to threaten Iran...the list is too long and serious.  We need to hold the Cheney/Bush administration accountable!!

I spent the morning in the Library of Congress copying photographs from the Civil Rights Movement. I have pictures and stories from our trip to Iran to share.  I hope to inspire him ...I wore a Rosa Parks quote on Monday...On Thursday I will wear one by Martin Luther King Jr., "There comes a time when silence is betrayal."
...
I just heard Jodie Evans is joining the fast, along with Ellen Taylor and Carrie Biggs-Adams.  Gael Murphy will be fasting on Thursday.  If you would like to join us in solidarity for a day or longer...please let me know and I'll tell Congressman Conyers the number of concerned citizens who are Hungry for Impeachment and Peace!

The fast of moral pressure can be very powerful, whether it's one person or many, but the more the merrier.  I just wrote to Leslie and have committed to joining her fast officially at 3pm tomorrow, when her meeting starts, and continuing until 3pm Sunday.  Anybody else on board?

ntodd

PS--Leslie posted pictures related to Monday's action on Flickr.

(x-posted at Dohiyi Mir)

Comments

[Karin]

I'll fast on Friday. Maybe Saturday too, depending on how I'm feeling.

[Joe Klein's conscience]

I remember someone ran into Conyers a few weeks ago and he said impeachment is not off the table. The question Conyers never answered is what it would take for him to start hearings.

[NTodd]

Thanks, Karin!

JKC - yes, he's never explicitly taken it off the table, but he's never explicitly put it on. And he really hates Code Pink, as I witnessed during an exchange with Medea in December.