My DC House Internship, part II

By Lynn Rooks



Day 7

Hello again, and thanks for the great feedback!
Wow, it's been so exciting in DC this week. Thursday we did the "In Bed With Big Oil" action, with $$ themed tunes bumping, a rolling bed we all took turns posing on with our fake giant bills (modeling after this week's scandal involving our DC fat cats in bed and doing drugs with exec's from Chevron and Shell). Good times!

After the action we attended a hearing on the matter, and then I wandered through the House for a couple hours, paying visits to the offices of Michael Burgess, Pete Sessions, Ted Poe, Sam Johnson, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Ralph hall, Kenny Marchant, and Michael McCaul-- all TX Rep's, as I am here from Dallas. I had a mini- debate with McCaul's Legislative Assistant, Charles Fields, wherein he immediately assumed that my being with CP would somehow preclude me from seeing the Iraq mess with a balanced viewpoint. So I told him that "yes, we are a pro-peace group, and yes, the millions of casualties and injuries are obscene. However, it's not about some blanket-rhetoric 'Kumbaya' mentality!" Dear PINK friends, please don't take offense to that... I am PINK, but I know that unfortunately, many of these folks speak only in numbers, not in human rights or justice. So I specifically told him that it was unacceptable that we tax payers are footing the bill for the invasion and occupation, and asked him what Congressman McCaul was waiting for before supporting withdrawal. He suggested that the delay was in waiting for the region to become more stable, "since we did go over there and break a lot of stuff." I corrected him with "since we did... blow up their country" and thanked him for his time.

Saturday we all got up early and drove into Ashburn, VA., where we knocked on doors in suburbia, asking folks to sign our petition--which demands that Congress set a specific date to withdraw from Iraq. It was so great to canvass again; that's what I do in Dallas with Texas Campaign for the Environment (non partisan, non profit). I truly miss and was invigorated by that direct, individual type of community action.



So today, Monday, has been amazing. We all got up early and headed over to the Treasury for our "Bush's Billionaire Bailout" action. It was really exciting, especially when a handful of us walked right down through the gate toward the entrance of the building with our beautiful banners. The guard seemed pretty nervous before his helpers came along!

After the action we went to Congress, where I got some great footage of our impromptu visit with Barney Frank... stay tuned!




Til next time-- peace and blessings!
Lynn