April 22, 2006
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
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_steven_l_060422_bush_impeachment___t.htm
by 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.
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