While I have been too busy since last Thursday getting the Velvet Revolution underway, I have been unable to adequately express my thanks to the members of Congress who didn’t fail us last Thursday.
While Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones and Sen. Barbara Boxer received the lion’s share of the notice and thanks last week, the Herculean efforts of Rep. John Conyers and his staff in ferreting out Election Irregularities and Malfeasance in Ohio and elsewhere cannot be understated.
They have been true to their promise — made to me by a staffer back in November — to “not let this one go”.
To promise such a thing, and then actually do it seems to be a rare thing indeed in Washington these days. From Republicans and Democrats alike! Yet, Conyers and his staff have stayed true to their words. And for that, they have won our greatest respects and enternal thanks.
And this morning, in an open letter posted on John Conyers’ website he continues that same promise; To stay on this until the job is done. There are very few politicians on either side of the aisle we can say this about, but we have come to believe that he means what he says.
Hoping to let us all know where he intends to go from here, Conyers’ letter starts with a gracious thank you to all of us who helped make so much happen…
We do. And behalf of so many of us, you are tremendously welcome.
He then goes on to outline his intentions for today looking forward…
With the exigency of January 6 behind us, I wanted to let you know what I will be doing in the coming months. First, my investigation of Ohio voting irregularities is not over. In an effort to get as much information confirmed and circulated in advance of January 6, many valuable leads still need to be pursued and I pledge to do so. Substantial irregularities have come to light in other states during the course of this investigation and I will also pursue those leads. While there has been powerful opposition to my efforts and personal attacks against me as a result of my efforts, I want to assure you I remain steadfast.
Second, there are other matters involving wrongdoing by Administration officials that I will continue to pursue. Among other things, I will continue to seek answers about the role of senior Bush Administration officials in outing an undercover Central Intelligence Agency operative. I will also continue to examine the sources of the fraudulent case for the Iraq war, which intersects with the outing of this operative.
Third, I intend to develop and introduce legislation in a number of areas. Most importantly, I intend to introduce comprehensive election reform legislation in the coming weeks, and I will fight for its passage at the earliest possible moment. I intend to hold further hearings on this issue.
If there was any doubt before, there is certainly none left, that — in a year marked by the heroic deeds of many great Americans (too numerous to list here) on behalf of our democracy — John Conyers has truly, hands-down, deserved the high-honor of being our very first “BRAD BLOG Man of the Year”.
As regular readers may have noticed by now, there are very few politicians these days that The BRAD BLOG is particularly fond of. So this is no small honor, as many of you would likely attest.
Thank you, Mr. Conyers. And we look forward to more historic and heroics efforts in the near future! (If you haven’t sent him thanks yourself, feel free to do so via email here. For the other 31+1, BuzzFlash has put all of their names and addresses together here if you’d like to drop them a note as well.)
We will do whatever we can to support his efforts both here at The BRAD BLOG and over at Velvet Revolution where we exist to support such efforts and such great American heroes!
And onward we go…We’d hate to be nice for too long…gotta reputation to keep! 😉
Thanks Brad!
That is goosebumpy stuff.
" .. I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to the internet activists, who spread the story of my efforts and supported me in every way possible. I am also thankful to the alternative media, including talk radio and blogs that gave substantial attention and investigation to these matters when all but a handful in the mainstream media refused to examine the facts…"
A huge understated "wow."
What a classy gutsy guy. And, MO, a great, admirable followup promise to those who supported his efforts.
BTW, I had trouble with the link … easy to google find tho.
R
Conyers, Truly a rare and great man! From my home state of Michigan. He does deserve this honor and I am sure we will be hearing more from him soon. You have chosen well, Brad.
Thank you, Brad, for recognizing Conyers, who richly deserves the "Man of the Year" award. He has carried the election issue like Sisyphus. The man is a true patriot & hero.
Since the Democratic party has evidently been highjacked along with our voting process–and I now realize that perhaps, indeed, this happened long ago–I am seriously thinking of writing in his name in any upcoming election, for any office, as a small, symbolic bit of protest.
Why is it that our black brothers and sisters are most attuned at secreting out oppression?
Anyway thanks to them for struggling and those that help.
There was a time when they could not be politicians. Now that they are we are better off for it.
I made this comment elsewhere in your blog, but it was at the tailend of an issue and sits there. I will repeat it here where it is more appropriate.
If any of us are moved by gratitude and admiration to contribute more than heartfelt thanks (to Conyers, Boxer, etal), is there a particularly appropriate fund to which we can send a donation? I am thinking in particular of the upcoming Dr. Martin Luther King Day. Does the entity of the Congressional Black Caucus accept donations?
CD
John Conyers is a great man, and he deserves to be the person of the year, but to believe that January 6 advanced liberal politics and electoral reform is foolish.
Star Trek fans know a saying, which I have seen attributed to unnamed Quakers: "Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me." The first fooling was in 2000. The second fooling was January 6, 2005. Take a look! After the speechifying, nearly all of the present Democrats voted to keep Bush as The Leader. They did so for fear that if they did not they would suffer retaliation. Out of raw fear and terrible spinelessness, they rubber stamped a second stolen election, after delivering a lot of routine Washington noise. How many stolen elections must these terrified politicians rubber stamp?
Shame on me if I were to be fooled this second time, and shame on everyone who is fooled this time.
Thank you for the interest in Congressman Conyers. His web-site is listed above, and any support that can be given will help him fight the GOP!
Here’s the link: http://www.johnconyers.com
Right now we should be experiencing heated media coverage of Bushist retaliation for Democrats having voted to a person to exclude Ohio’s electors.
Suggestion for our first group project.—–
The Clint Curtis story needs support in the mainline press … Brad needs your help.
With the Electoral Vote Rebellion in the news thoughts of vote fraud are on the minds of all mainline newspaper editors. That now makes "Vote Fraud" an acceptable mainline newspaper story. Suggestion … all Bradblog readers should contact newspapers in major markets such as Chicago, LA, NY, Dallas etc. and demand the Clint Curtis story be covered and "investigated".
All Bradblog posters should access the "Progressive Democrats of America" web site. The "PDA" site offers direct research and email links to all Congressmen, Committees etc. plus it offers the same with all "newspapers, TV, radio and new services". When in the PDA site click on "Action Alerts" …then plug in the zip code you want under "Guide To The Media" then click on it….. up pops a complete list of local media with parent companies also listed. Then just click on one of the companies… up pop’s all management names, addresses, phone numbers and blue linked "email address’s"…. then click on the email address and a message box pop’s up with their managements name & email address in it . … then all you do is, at the bottom, fill in "your" name address information once and save it. Then fill in your messgae. Then cut and paste the same message while sending it to different people over and over and over … you can send out 50 or 75 messages an hour to different people with the use of the Microsoft BACK button and cut&paste. You know the drill … a truly wonderful site.
With a list of zip codes from the Internet you can cover every major media market in the US.
However, I’m not computer savvy enough to make direct links work on this site. Sooooooo….if one of you wonderful people could please cut and paste this message with the PDA web site link intact … it would be appreciated. Also, please cut & paste it to the Velvet Rev site ASAP.
Time is right to send messages about "Clint Curtis, YEI & Feeney " … it needs to be investigated.
The mainline press might bite!
G
"Wow" indeed.
Fixed that link, by the way. Sorry about that. I was drunk. And on horse tranquilizers. As usual 😉
G~
While I appreciate your suggestions, I remain skeptical (wow, is that an understatement) about anything mainstream at this point.
I have been phoning, writing to & emailing journalists, editors, senators & congressmen, especially since the election. I copied Freeman’s paper in its entirety & sent it & a letter to several in Congress.
Their response has been rather underwhelming.
I wrote to the NYTimes several times. Sometimes they responded & included links of related articles, the great majority of which contained no mention of the many serious allegations that were unfolding in Ohio & elsewhere, but almost always included
some form of the mantra "no proof of fraud has been found".
In one case the author of the piece had cited a research paper on rampant voting irregularities & had misquoted the researcher such that her "conclusion" was the opposite of what she had actually written in her paper.
So I dunno…"thoughts of vote fraud are on the minds of all mainline newspaper editors", you write.
They’re sure keeping damn quiet about it!!
G –
They are only overwhelming up until the point at which they are overcome.
Brad-
Maybe I should have said " vote fraud is on the mind of one editor … somewhere … and we have to find him".
Overwhelming odds …. seems to be the story of most Democrats life right now.
G
Brad is obviously one of those "the glass is half full" people.
Brad, do you know something we don’t, because it looks pretty damn hopeless from here.
Oh, there is always hope, Terri.
What do you get from giving up? Losing? Who needs it? 🙂