September 29 My Meeting With My Congressman

Folks have asked me about my meeting with my representative Congressman Jared Huffman. Yesterday’s cry helped me a bit to break out of my funk, so here goes.

Meeting with Jared, his aid Scott Rasmussen, and all of his office staff beforehand was a very pleasant experience. Our meeting was friendly. And the Congressman was very busy he talked to me even though others were also waiting. I guess a 3,500 mile bicycle ride earns one some benefits. 

My intended audience of my message was environmentalists and the need for their support for looking closer at our foreign policy and how our government’s decline into war power over negotiations was hindering attempts to solve the global issue of climate change. Jared Huffman is certainly a very effective advocate for addressing our climate change crisis and I am happy to watch him mostly be an advocate for the reduction of the use military force. I thanked him for his efforts regarding the push to bomb Syria over chemical weapons and for his support for the Iran nuclear agreement. And Jared alerted me to the just breaking then news that Russia and  the US were starting to talk again since their frozen positions on Ukraine.

We talked about my ride and its challenges. Jared grew up in Missouri the state where I first had hills too steep to pedal. I told him of the Katy Trail, a rail to trail path, that was developed after he had left Missouri. In the fifteen minutes we, or more accurately I, mentioned quite a few issues and groups that I had met in DC. 

Here is a item list of topics mentioned:

My ride and the Hills of Missouri

Syria and a Russian initiative for negotiation

The Congressman’s support for the Iran nuclear agreement

The Congressman's position last year on bombing Syria

The development of the Ukraine civil war 

Carbon farming in Australia

The Progressive Round Table monthly meeting

CISPES

Code Pink and Cheney's presentation at the American Enterprise Institute

The Civic Center Watershed Restoration project to float an island in the CC Lagoon

My support for the effort to bring a bill for a Department of  Peace Building

The Clean Energy/GreenJobs Resolution supported by Raul Grijalva