This just happened today … Jim Doyle of the San Francisco Chronicle reports,
Five members of Congress, including Rep. Tom Lantos (D-San Mateo) were arrested today when they blocked the front entrance at the Embassy of Sudan in Washington, D.C. Their protest and civil disobedience was designed to embarrass the military dictatorship’s ongoing genocide of its non-Arab citizens.
All told, 11 people were arrested outside the Sudanese embassy on Massachusetts Avenue, including six activists as well as representatives Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Houston), Jim McGovern (D-Worcester, Mass.), Jim Moran (D-Virginia) and John Olver (D-Massachusetts). They were held in a jail cell for about 45 minutes and then released.
Good for them! I boldfaced the names in case you want to email and thank them.
Lantos, 78, was first elected to Congress in 1981. Two years later, he founded the Congressional Human Rights Caucus. As the only Holocaust survivor ever to serve in Congress, he has pressed the Bush administration to take steps to deter the state-sanctioned murder and rape of hundreds of thousands of people in Sudan’s Darfur region.
I just emailed my congresswoman (Sheila Jackson Lee) and expressed my approval for her actions today. Here is what I wrote:
* note, my full name appeared in the email, but is redacted here for privacy reasons.
Off topic…..But Rush Limbaugh just got busted.. allah akbar!
Q. what kind of birds don’t fly?
A. Jailbirds!
I was so worried today. I kept hearing snippets on the news about two congressmen from my state that were arrested but I kept missing why. I was so hoping it wasn’t for some ethics type of thing. I don’t want the Dems to balance the scales that are so heavily weighted down by the Repubs. But I was quite happy to hear that the arrests were, in fact, the result of an ethics issue – genocide. I’m proud of my representatives and will certainly let them know.
Tom Lantos
was a major drumb-banger for the attack on Iraq, he gleefully stated Iraqs’ oil production after liberation would more than pay for the invasion.How cool is that? The holocaust survivor had a point, kinda like supporting bank robbers who are enterprising enough to realize they can fund additional bank robberies with the proceeds from the first.Keep this in mind if you plan on thanking Mr. Lantos, who bravely risked being held for 45 min. and fined $50.00 for his photo op.