Bush Impeachment - The Illinois State Legislature is Preparing to Drop a Bombshe

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Sat, 22 Apr 2006 23:16:22 -0700 (PDT)

Bush Impeachment - The Illinois State Legislature is

Preparing to Drop a Bombshell, Utilizing a little

 

 

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_steven_l_060422_bush_impeachment___t.htm

 

Bush Impeachment - The Illinois State Legislature is Preparing to

Drop a Bombshell, Utilizing a little known rule of the US House

to bring Impeachment charges

by Steven Leser

 

 

Oped News

http://www.opednews.com

 

 

Steven Leser

 

The Illinois General Assembly is about to rock the nation.

Members of state legislatures are normally not considered as having

the ability to decide issues with a massive impact to the nation as a

whole. Representative Karen A. Yarbrough of Illinois' 7th District

is about to shatter that perception forever.

 

Representative Yarbrough stumbled on a little known and never utlitized

rule of the US House of Representatives, Section 603 of Jefferson's Manual

of the Rules of the United States House of Representatives,

which allows federal impeachment proceedings to be initiated

by joint resolution of a state legislature. From there, Illinois House

Joint Resolution 125 (hereafter to be referred to as HJR0125) was born.

 

Detailing five specific charges against President Bush including one

that is specified to be a felony, the complete text of HJR0125

is copied below at the end of this article. One of the interesting points

is that one of the items, the one specified as a felony,

that the NSA was directed by the President to spy on American citizens

without warrant, is not in dispute.

 

That fact should prove an interesting dilemma for a Republican controlled

US House that clearly is not only loathe to initiate impeachment

proceedings, but does not even want to thoroughly investigate

any of the five items brought up by the Illinois Assembly as high crimes

and/or misdemeanors.

 

Should HJR0125 be passed by the Illinois General Assembly,

the US House will be forced by House Rules

to take up the issue of impeachment as a privileged bill,

meaning it will take precedence over other House business.

The Illinois General Assembly joins a growing chorus of voices

calling for censure or impeachment of President Bush including

Democratic state committees in Vermont, Wisconsin, New Mexico,

Nevada and North Carolina as well as the residents themselves

of seven towns in Vermont, seventy Vermont state legislators

and Congressman John Conyers.

 

The call for impeachment is starting to grow well beyond what could be

considered a fringe movement. An ABC News/Washington Post Poll

Conducted April 6-9 showed that 33% of Americans currently support

Impeaching President Bush, coincidentally, only a similar amount

supported impeaching Nixon at the start of the Watergate investigation.

 

If and when Illinois HJR0125 hits the capitol and the individual charges

are publicly investigated, that number is likely to grow rapidly.

Combined with the very real likelihood that Rove is about to be indicted

in the LeakGate investigation, and Bush is in real trouble beyond

his plummeting poll numbers. His cronies in the Republican dominated

congress will probably save him from the embarassment of an

impeachment conviction, for now,

but his Presidency will be all but finished.

-------------------------

HJ0125 LRB094 20306 RLC 58347 r

 

1 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION

 

2 WHEREAS, Section 603 of Jefferson's Manual of the Rules of

3 the United States House of Representatives allows federal

4 impeachment proceedings to be initiated by joint resolution of

5 a state legislature; and

6 WHEREAS, President Bush has publicly admitted to ordering

7 the National Security Agency to violate provisions of the 1978

8 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a felony, specifically

9 authorizing the Agency to spy on American citizens without

10 warrant; and

11 WHEREAS, Evidence suggests that President Bush authorized

12 violation of the Torture Convention of the Geneva Conventions,

13 a treaty regarded a supreme law by the United States

14 Constitution; and

15 WHEREAS, The Bush Administration has held American

16 citizens and citizens of other nations as prisoners of war

17 without charge or trial; and

18 WHEREAS, Evidence suggests that the Bush Administration

19 has manipulated intelligence for the purpose of initiating a

20 war against the sovereign nation of Iraq, resulting in the

21 deaths of large numbers of Iraqi civilians and causing the

22 United States to incur loss of life, diminished security and

23 billions of dollars in unnecessary expenses; and

24 WHEREAS, The Bush Administration leaked classified

25 national secrets to further a political agenda, exposing an

26 unknown number of covert U. S. intelligence agents to potential

27 harm and retribution while simultaneously refusing to

28 investigate the matter; and

29 WHEREAS, The Republican-controlled Congress has declined

 

HJ0125 - 2 - LRB094 20306 RLC 58347 r

 

1 to fully investigate these charges to date; therefore, be it

2 RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE

3 NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE

4 SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that the General Assembly of the

5 State of Illinois has good cause to submit charges to the U. S.

6 House of Representatives under Section 603 that the President

7 of the United States has willfully violated his Oath of Office

8 to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United

9 States; and be it further

10 RESOLVED, That George W. Bush, if found guilty of the

11 charges contained herein, should be removed from office and

12 disqualified to hold any other office in the United States.

 

Take action -- click here to contact your local newspaper

or congress people:

Support the Impeachment of President Bush

http://www.usalone.net/cgi-bin/oen.cgi?qnum=365

 

Click here to see the most recent messages sent to congressional reps

and local newspapers

http://www.usalone.net/cgi-bin/transparency.cgi?qnum=oen365

 

Steven Leser is a freelance journalist specializing in Politics,

Science & Health, and Entertainment topics. He has held positions

within the Democratic Party including District Chair and Public Relations

Chair within county organizations.

 

His coverage of the Ohio Presidential Recount in 2004 was

distinguished by actual interviews with Carlo Loparo, spokesperson for

the Ohio Secretary of State, along with Supervisors

of Elections of several Ohio counties. Similar efforts on other topics

to get first hand information from sources separate Mr. Leser

from many of his contemporaries.