ACTION ALERT: OPPOSE GONZALES

[ArkySue]

>> please forward widely >>
ACTION ALERT * UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
http://www.unitedforpeace.org | 212-868-5545
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OPPOSE GONZALES AS ATTORNEY GENERAL!
Contact these key Senators first thing Wed. and urge a no vote:
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), committee chair 202-224-4254
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), minority leader 202-224-4242
Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) 202-224-4543
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) 202-224-5323
* additional action steps below *
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It appears that the Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on the nomination of Alberto Gonzales for U.S. Attorney General on Wednesday, January 26, with the full Senate voting early next week. There is an urgent need to flood the Senate with phone calls urging that Gonzales be rejected.

The actions of people like you around the country have already made a difference: the Judiciary Committee was expected to vote last week, but Democratic senators succeeded in pushing it back, no doubt in part because of constituent pressure.

During the Judiciary Committee hearing, Gonzales' responses to questions about the actuality of torture were evasive, full of "I don't remember" in regard to a very important and unprecedented memo on torture he gave the President and on memos he received about it from lawyers in the Justice Department. He explicitly repeated the Bush Administration's assertion that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to people the Administration labels "enemy combatants." Even worse, he has not been willing to repudiate the definition of torture contained in the memo, a definition so extreme that it permits most forms of torture.

Now is the time to take action!

(1) The following members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are more likely than others to be responsive to pressure from people around the country. Make sure their offices are flooded with calls on Wednesday, as early in the day as possible:

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), committee chair 202-224-4254
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), minority leader 202-224-4242
Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) 202-224-4543
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) 202-224-5323

(2) Call the two senators from your state and urge them to vote no on the Gonzales nomination, should it come to the floor of the Senate. If you do not have phone numbers for your senators, call 202-224-3121 and ask for their offices. Be sure to get your message to the staff person who is handling the confirmation issue.

(3) Activate your own networks, send this message to everyone you know, call your friends!! Do whatever you can to get the word out...Now is the time to make those calls to the Senate!!

For more information visit these websites:
Peace Action: http://www.peace-action.org
Center for Constitutional Rights: http://www.ccr-ny.org
Human Rights First: http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/us_law/etn/gonzales/index.asp