Ruuuuuuuuude Awakening!!!
I woke up at 6 am this morning to call in and see if I had to report for jury duty. I did : (
Since I was up I decided to check my e-mail and to my dismay I found an e-mail from the ANCA informing me that my Congresswoman JANE HARMAN who "while publicly serving as a cosponsor of the Armenian Genocide Resolution, is in fact working aggressively behind the scenes, alongside the Turkish government, to defeat this human rights legislation" I could not believe what I was reading I had just sent her an e-mail a couple days earlier about this issue and instead of concentrating my efforts on her I was focusing on my other Congressman Dana Rohrebracher.
Congresswoman Jane Harman of the 36th District (Booooo!)
I instantly called Congresswoman Harman's DC office. I left a message for her staffer that handles foreign affairs, I hung up and called back and demanded as her constitutent who campaigned for her and voted for her to know why she had changed her mind. A miffed female staffer put me on hold then returned to inform me that while the Congresswoman believed that the Armenian Genocide happened she doesn't feel this is the right time for this resolution to come up given the current events in the Middle East. I was FUMING! What is that BS excuse? It's never going to be a good time... what if someone had told her that about Holocaust recognition? When did Armenia and Turkey become part of the Middle East? When someone says Middle East I think Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Dubai, Yemen, Israel, Palestine... NEVER Armenia or Turkey!
I proceeded to remind the staffer that as a Congresswoman her boss is voted into office by people like me and her job is to represent me and while I have friends and family in the Middle East I thanked her for the concern but assured her I much prefer she vote on this Resolution. I even expressed my disappointment that as a Jewish-American who has had to deal with the Holocaust being a part of her cultural history that she doesn't exhibit more sensitivity towards the issue of the Armenian Genocide which Armenian-Americans are still dealing with.
I was so put off by her sudden change of heart that I even went as far as asking the staffer is perhaps the Congresswoman's actions have something to do with her issues with Pelosi which she instantly assured me wasn't the case.
Today was a hard day for me, I had to miss work to serve jury duty and complete my civic duty to this country and for what? Because it's such a great country? OBVIOUSLY my voice isn't being heard and issues that I care about are being ignored by my own representative.
Fundamentally there is so much wrong with the institution of democracy in this country that I find it laughable that our government is trying to instill this FAILED system in other countries.
I don't want to sound entirely pessimistic here, we haven't lost the battle yet. I will not give up. Tomorrow morning I will start calling Congresswoman Harman's offices again and I won't stop all day and I hope others will do the same as well. I hope her offices are bombarded with phone calls! I might even resort to faxing in, why not! I am even going to contact my local paper and point out to them what our lovely Congresswoman is up to so they can possibly write an article about her portraying her true shady colors!
I will do whatever I can to show this crooked politician that she CAN NOT mess with Armenians and get away with it. We won't take this lying down...even if that means that I have to go picket by myself in front of her office with a "Honk if you Hate Harman" sign!
If I've managed to move you... and you want to call and give her staff a piece of your mind here's her contact info.
Send her webmail http://www.house.gov/harman/contact/email.shtml
Washington, DCPhone: (202) 225 8220Fax: (202) 226 7290
El SegundoPhone: (310) 643 3636Fax: (310) 643 6445
WilmingtonPhone: (310) 549 8282Fax: (310) 549 8250
El SegundoPhone: (310) 643 3636Fax: (310) 643 6445
WilmingtonPhone: (310) 549 8282Fax: (310) 549 8250
posted by LORI at 6:45 AM
5 Comments:
I couldnt believe when I read that Harman was pulling her support and, like you, I instantly thought it might be because of her feud with Pelosi. This is ridiculous- she was just cosponsering it because she thought it would never come to a vote and she can just appease her Armenian-American constituency.
In the letter on her website which she sent to Lantos asking him to reconsider bringing the resolution to a vote, she mentioned that she was worried about the situation in the Middle East. What has changed in the Middle East since the time she cosponsered it (last year)? Nothing! The war was going on then and its going on now, Turkey was doing nothing then and is doing nothing now so thats all BS.
It is time to make an example out of her and pour all our money and efforts into making sure she is not reelected and prevent future appeasers from signing onto our issues just for political cover.
Wheres the AYF with their protest? im sure its being planned.
Get ready. Its hard ball time and the other side has the means and the financial resources. Pressure must be maintained and dont assume that those who have signed on to the resolution will stay the course.
To protest this injustice, we are organizing a campaign to make her regret her decision. This Sunday, October 7th from 9 am to 2 pm, we will be setting up tables at Venice Beach and Marina del Rey (popular areas within her district) to pass out fliers raising awareness about the genocide bill and urging her constituents to call her and ask her to reconsider her decision, as well as having some of our own fun mocking her ourselves!!!
If you are interested in taking part in this, please email nkeosseian@gmail.com for further details on the exact location or for carpooling purposes.
Hope to hear from you soon!
Thank you for your blog. Unfortunately, I am not in her district..Im in LA..but your blog infuriated me into sending her an email anyway.
Thank you for all the support and for taking the time to express your thoughts to Congresswoman Harman.
How did the events in Venice and MDR go?
Post a Comment
<< Home