ALSO: Hearings Moved Back into Capitol Building. In the basement. But still...
TrueMajority.org Also Begins Petition Drive. A little late. But still...
By Brad Friedman on 6/15/2005, 1:30pm PT  

C-SPAN has committed to carrying the U.S. House Judiciary Democrats hearings tomorrow on C-SPAN 3. They will be carried LIVE.

For those who don't receive C-SPAN 3 on their local cable system, the video and/or audio from the hearings should be carried via the Internets right here.

The hearings will also be carried live on Pacifica Radio and via Radio Left.

Yesterday, TrueMajority.org, another very large citizens activist organization, joined in sending Petitions to its members to collect signatures for John Conyers Letter to Bush, to be delivered bu Conyers himself after tomorrow's hearing. TrueMajority.org joins MoveOn.org who last week collected some 500,000 signatures in 48 hours or so.

As well, the hearings have now been rescheduled to 2:30pm, and have been moved from the DNC offices --- where they had previously been scheduled, when Republicans would not allow a hearing room for the Democrats --- back to a room in the Capitol Building.

According to a Press Release from AfterDowningStreet.org, the citizens coalition which has been very instrumental in bringing attention to this matter as previously ignored by the Mainstream Corporate Media...

On Thursday June 16, 2005, from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Room HC-9 of the U.S. Capitol, Rep. John Conyers, Jr., Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, and other Congress Members will hold a hearing on the Downing Street Minutes and related evidence of efforts to cook the books on pre-war intelligence.

The hearings had been planned for the Democratic National Committee offices because the Republicans controlling the House Judiciary Committee had refused to permit the ranking Democratic Member to use a large room on the Hill. http://www.thehill.com/t.../UndertheDome/index.html

However, the Democrats did have access to a small room in the Capitol, and Congressman Conyers has decided to move the hearings there. This does not indicate any change in position from the Republicans.
...
Members of the media will be welcome (press credentials required), but citizens in town for the 5 p.m. rally at the White House will have difficulty getting into the 2:30 hearings.

The DNC will serve as an overflow room, so people can still go there: the Wasserman Room at 430 S Capitol St. SE.
...
Later on the same day at 5:00 p.m. ET in Lafayette Square Park, in front of the White House, a large rally will support Congressman Conyers who plans to deliver to the White House a letter addressed to President Bush and signed by over 500,000 Americans and at least 94 Congress Members. The letter asks the President to respond to questions raised by the Downing Street Minutes.

Among those speaking at the hearings will be:
Joe Wilson, Former Ambassador and Africa Expert; Ray McGovern, 27-year CIA analyst who prepared regular Presidential briefings during the Reagan administration; Cindy Sheehan, mother of fallen American soldier; John Bonifaz, renowned constitutional lawyer and co-founder of AfterDowningStreet.org.

Also featuring written testimony from Karen Kwiatkowski, retired USAF lieutenant colonel, who spent her final four and a half years in uniform working at the Pentagon; and Ann Wright, who resigned from US State Department in protest of the war.

Among those speaking at the rally will be:
Congressman John Conyers (schedule permitting); Congresswoman Barbara Lee (schedule permitting); Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey (schedule permitting); Congressman Maurice Hinchey (schedule permitting); Cindy Sheehan, Co-Founder of Gold Star Families for Peace; Reg Keys, Member of Military Families Against the War, challenger to Tony Blair in last election (flying in from UK); John Bonifaz, Co-Founder of AfterDowningStreet.org; Tom Hayden, Co-Founder of Progressive Democrats of America; Medea Benjamin, Co-Founder Code Pink/Global Exchange; Stephen Cleghorn, Member of Military Families Speak Out; Rev. Lennox Yearwood, President and CEO of HipHop Caucus; Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst; William Rivers Pitt, Reporter for Progressive Democrats of America; Leslie Cagan, National Coordinator of United for Peace and Justice; Kevin Zeese, Director of Democracy Rising; Terry O'Neill, Vice President of the National Organization for Women.

More info, printable flyers, and details of local groups organizing around the country in support on the same day, are available via the same link at AfterDowningStreet.org.

UPDATE: Conyers is scheduled to appear on CSPAN's Washington Journal at 9am ET Thursday morning.

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