A lot of people might recall then Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson's speeches the last two times Bush came to Salt Lake City. (2006 speech) (2007 speech)

Well, Rocky is planning an even larger demonstration when President Bush and Mitt "double-gitmo" Romney visit Utah again next week.

Since leaving office in Jan, has formed High Road for Human Rights Advocacy Project, which is sponsoring the event.

Rally for Peace and Human Rights.

If you're in Utah next Wednesday, May 28th, take an hour from 5:30 - 6:30pm at Washington Square in Downtown Salt Lake City (451 South State Street) and lend your voice to this protest.

Even if you're not in the Salt Lake City area next Wednesday, High Road could use a a little help with money to help defray costs. This is a very expensive undertaking and High Road is a non-profit still in its very early stages. You can help out HERE.

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So ... what do George McGovern, Ralph Nader, Robert A. Feuer, Rocky Anderson, Blase Bonpane, Theresa Bonpane, Ramsey Clark, Mimi Kennedy, Andy Jacobs, Jr., James Abourezk, Daniel Ellsberg, Noam Chomsky, Paul Findley, Kevin Zeese, John Nichols, Tim Carpenter, Marcus Raskin, Jonathan Kozol,  and Harry Belafonte have in common?

They all signed a letter in January of this year (below the fold) asking Rep. Conyers to hold hearings into abuses and violations of the law by members of the Bush administration. The letter got some press coverage, but the Judiciary Committee has so far failed to act.

Now it's time for John and Jane Q. Public to raise their voices (via email and website) to up the volume quite a bit.

http://www.restoreruleoflaw.com

Please add your name to the call for hearings by the House Judiciary Committee and forward the link below to everyone on your email list.  Through networking, we can generate hundreds of thousands -- perhaps millions -- of supporters for hearings.

http://www.restoreruleoflaw.com

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At the Anderson/Hannity "debate" Friday night, I had an experience I can't seem to shake, and that in the days since has festered into near contempt.

Many recaps exist, so I'll quickly offer only this in addition: Rocky brought to the table a well researched case, as if presenting it at a trial court. Sean Hannity brought two long, emotional videos and a nice tie.  A majority of the audience brought their lack of understanding of the Middle East and the war in general, and an unwillingness to partake in mature dialog.

About half-way through Anderson's presentation, he displayed a picture of the World Trade center in flames, shortly before the tower's fell. Up to this point, he had detailed his argument for the mishandling of our country and the War on Terror by the Bush team. When the twin towers picture appeared on the screen behind him, and before Anderson could continue, a man sitting a few rows behind me shouted "You have no right!"

I thought of nothing else the rest of the night.

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Oh but they are crumbling at Fox News.  There's this little sordid episode, for instance.  After challenging the wildly popular Democratic mayor of Salt Lake City to a debate on Iraq and impeachment, Sean Hannity has backed out of the debate and tried to foist it on Anderson.

Conservative talk show host Sean Hannity has claimed on his syndicated radio program that Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson is putting up roadblocks to get out of their proposed debate.
    But it is Hannity who is balking, and here is the proof, based in part on e-mails between Anderson's office and Hannity's staff that I obtained through an open records request:
    * Hannity said on his radio program Monday: "First, he [Anderson] said he wanted a joint press conference instead of a debate. If it's just a press conference, I might as well just send a video."
    * But here is a March 12 e-mail from Eileen Lofrese, Hannity's producer, to Patrick Thronson, Anderson's communications director: "For the sake of bipartisanship I think it is best to refer to this as a 'Joint Press Conference' and not a 'Debate' and I will relay that to all parties intending on broadcasting this educated and civilized forum for the voicing of opinions and conflicting viewpoints."
    * Thronson responded: "Mayor Anderson cannot agree to any other format than a structured debate format, with a moderator. Mr. Hannity has repeatedly expressed his desire for a debate on the Iraq War and impeachment, not a 'press conference.' We are mystified as to why he has now apparently changed his position." Lofrese then apologized and said the misunderstanding was her mistake.

The whole Fox News charade is coming apart.  According to Mark Mellman, surveys he did showed that the audience of Fox News is the single most Republican voting block in the country.  People like Sean Hannity (whose spokesperson refers to bipartisanship when discussing a debate with a Democrat... hmmm) are unwilling to confront their opponents or follow through on their public commitments out of fear their bluster will be exposed.  And Democrats have moved out of their 1990s induced torpor, bringing a new hard-edged attitude that we are right, they are immoral fools, the public is sick of them, and calling Fox News Republicans out is a productive strategy.

Hopefully we can be done with the Fox News fight at some point soon.  I hadn't realized the depths to which the Democratic establishment is still split over the news channel, and how productive an open debate can be.  Hannity is worth understanding as a public figure.  He is an important Republican surrogate, and his attempts to lie about this debate and about Rocky Anderson are a tremendously weak cover to the role he and most Repulbican leaders played in operating as lackeys for Bush.

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There's been a lot of talk since 9/11 about Rudy Giuliani running for President, and he has, in fact, formed an exploratory committee, but when it comes to big city Mayors that ought to run for President, I don't think he can hold a candle to Salt Lake City, Utah's Ross C. Anderson, known to one and all as "Rocky."

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