[atari 2600]

it's happening

http://www.opednews.com/articles/ope...chment___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

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.

[atari 2600]

As for Cheney, turn out the lights, the party's over!!!

http://www.opednews.com/articles/gen..._becomes_s.htm

California Becomes Second State to Introduce Bush Impeachment

http://www.opednews.com

Joining Illinois, California has become the second state in which a proposal to impeach President Bush has been introduced in the state legislature. And this one includes Cheney as well.

California Assemblyman Paul Koretz of Los Angeles (where the LA Times has now called for Cheney's resignation) has submitted amendments to Assembly Joint Resolution No. 39, calling for the impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney. The amendments reference 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.

The resolution, in the words of Koretz's press release, "bases the call for impeachment upon the Bush Administration intentionally misleading the Congress and the American people regarding the threat from Iraq in order to justify an unnecessary war that has cost billions of dollars and thousands of lives and casualties; exceeding constitutional authority to wage war by invading Iraq; exceeding constitutional authority by Federalizing the National Guard; conspiring to torture prisoners in violation of the 'Federal Torture Act' and indicating intent to continue such actions; spying on American citizens in violation of the 1978 Foreign Agency Surveillance Act; leaking and covering up the leak of the identity of Valerie Plame Wilson, and holding American citizens without charge or trial."

Koretz submitted amendments gutting AJR No. 39, a resolution unrelated to impeachment, to the Assembly Rules Committee. The Rules Committee may take up the bill this week for referral, allowing him to formally introduce the amended resolution.

AJR 39 is a bill introduced in January by Koretz calling for a moratorium on depleted uranium:

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/bill/asm/ab_0001-0050/ajr_39_bill_20060104_introduced.html

"At both the state and national levels," Koretz said, "we will be paying for the Bush Administration's illegal actions and terrible lack of judgment and competence for decades—not only in the billions of dollars wasted on the war and welfare for the rich, but in the worldwide loss of respect for America and Americans. Bush and Cheney must be impeached and removed from office before they undertake even deadlier misdeeds, such as the use of nuclear weapons. There are no bounds to their willingness to ignore the Constitution and world opinion—we can't afford to wait for the next disaster and hope that we can survive it."

For more inormation and to thank this American hero, contact Paul Michael Neuman in Koretz's District Office: (310) 285-5490 paul.neuman@asm.ca.gov or go here:

http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/members/a42/contact.htm

Here is a kit to help with promoting this resolution and with passing others in your towns and cities and states. Also on this page is information on activities in other states and localities:

http://www.impeachpac.org/resolutions

Get organized in California to pass this bill!

http://pdamerica.org/statecaucus.php?s=ca

Illinois Legislators Were First to Introduce Bill for Bush Impeachment

Three members of the Illinois General Assembly have introduced a bill that urges the General Assembly to submit charges to the U. S. House of Representatives to initiate impeachment proceedings against the President of the United States, George W. Bush, for willfully violating his Oath of Office to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and if found guilty urges his removal from office and disqualification to hold any other office in the United States.

The Jefferson Manual of rules for the U.S. House of Representatives makes clear that impeachment proceedings can be initiated by a state legislature submitting charges. The state of Illinois is on its way toward forcing on the House what not a single one of its members has yet had the courage to propose: Articles of Impeachment.

The text of the Illinois bill and information on its status are available here:
http://tinyurl.com/nhs3r

The bill takes up the issues of illegal spying, torture, detentions without charge or trial, manipulation of pre-war intelligence, and the leaking of classified information.

Please thank these sponsors of the bill:

Rep. Karen A. Yarbrough, phone (217) 782-8120 or (708) 615-1747; fax (708) 615-1745

Rep Sara Feigenholtz , phone (217) 782-8062 or (773) 296-4141; fax (217) 557-7203 or (773) 296-0993

Rep. Eddie Washington phone (217) 558-1012 or (847) 623-0060, fax (847) 623-6078

Here is a kit to help with promoting this resolution and with passing others in your towns and cities. Also on this page is information on activities in other states and localities:
http://www.impeachpac.org/resolutions

Get organized in Illinois to pass this bill!
http://pdamerica.org/statecaucus.php?s=il

This article

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/9249

Future updates:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org

Take action -- click here to contact your local newspaper or congress people:

Demand Impeachment

Click here to see the most recent messages sent to congressional reps and local newspapers
http://www.davidswanson.org
DAVID SWANSON is a co-founder of After Downing Street, a writer and activist, and the Washington Director of Democrats.com. He is a board member of Progressive Democrats of America, and serves on the Executive Council of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, TNG-CWA. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and as a communications director, with jobs including Press Secretary for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign, Media Coordinator for the International Labor Communications Association, and three years as Communications Coordinator for ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Swanson obtained a Master's degree in philosophy from the University of Virginia in 1997.

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[krastian]

It all just makes you sick.

[Drugstore_Cowboy]

Yet you can't help but laugh at his asinine character.

[atari 2600]

as some of you may be aware, the current issue of Rolling Stone contains a scholarly article explaining why George W. Bush, Jr. is indubitably the worst President in United States history. Of course usually a period of a generation or two at least needs to pass before a real assessment of a presidency can be made, but in the case of Bush, an exception was apparently made because of his glaringly transparent crimes.

The Worst President in History?

One of America's leading historians assesses George W. Bush*
by SEAN WILENTZ
*credentials:
http://www.princeton.edu/pr/news/98/q4/wilentz-bio.htm



George W. Bush's presidency appears headed for colossal historical disgrace. Barring a cataclysmic event on the order of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, after which the public might rally around the White House once again, there seems to be little the can do to avoid being ranked on the lowest tier of U.S. presidents. And that may be the best-case scenario.

 

Many historians are now wondering whether Bush, in fact, will be remembered as the very worst president in all of American history.

...
read the article at
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/pro...ent_in_history

[Iain]

I wonder if this will actually make any waves? It's not exactly making the world news headlines in any way...as you might expect it to if there was any chance that Bush might actually face impeachment. But I suppose it's early days yet.

[atari 2600]

Vermont is reported to be the next state legislature recommending impreachment & filing a resolution.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/gen...wmakers_to.htm

Rep. Karen A. Yarbrough (D-IL)

 

the IL charges:

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.

[SpectralJulianIsNotDead]

So, if Bush and Cheney got the boot, Dick Hastert would be president, another Republican.

Now, I'm not defending Bush. but worst president ever? I think you can't do a complete side by side comparison fairly. The times have changed- the media can cover a lot more, and can highlight presidential failures better. Plus, presidents like Nixon didn't have the technology that Bush's administration has to misuse and abuse.

[atari 2600]

Originally Posted by SpectralJulianIsNotDead

So, if Bush and Cheney got the boot, Dick Hastert would be president, another Republican.

Senate pro-tempore Ted Stevens (R-AK) would succeed Dick Cheney, then Speaker of the House Hastert...

 

As the first post makes note of, it is probably unlikely that Bush will be forced to resign or removed as a result of his eventual impreachment, but this will effectively end his administration's stranglehold on all three branches of government & should cool-down the Republican dynasty overall.


What is of greater concern to myself than the order of succession of office is the likelihood of another possible terrorist attack or War on Iran because that's been their pattern to gain & keep control. To go to war against Iran without first mounting a covert military operation would show yet more flagrant unconcern for the security of the USA.

[noumenal]

Atari, thanks for all the info.

[Drugstore_Cowboy]

Colbert reported on this last night. So therefor, it is headline worthy, because the Colbert Report is the only news show that matters.

[Sheriff Rhys Chatham]

As far as people come bush is the worst president. As far as presidents go Hoover was the worst president in my opinion. But I wouldn't mind if something lke this went into effect. But by the time the idea has enough fuel his term will be over.

[terminal pharmacy]

Well hopefully it happens, and the Australian prime minister is to follow with the Australia Wheat Board scandal that is going down here at the moment.


ABC Online

AM - Inquiry hears evidence on what Wheat Board knew of illegal payments

[This is the print version of story http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2006/s1548401.htm]

AM - Monday, 16 January , 2006 08:04:00

Reporter: Michael Vincent

KAREN PERCY: In the four years leading up to the Iraq war AWB, the former Australian Wheat Board, paid more than a quarter of a billion dollars into the pockets of Saddam Hussein under the UN's oil-for-food program.

An inquiry with the powers of a Royal Commission begins hearing evidence today, in an attempt to determine whether AWB and two other Australian companies, knew they were making illicit payments, and in doing so that they broke Australian law.

But even if that knowledge and intent can be shown, a senior international lawyer believes it's unlikely anyone appearing at the inquiry will ever be charged under criminal or corporate law.

Michael Vincent reports.

MICHAEL VINCENT: This inquiry is not looking into a grubby backhander to a few Iraqi customs officials.

From 1999 to 2003, cash from Australian wheat farmers was steadily lining the pockets of Saddam Hussein and his cronies; the final amount a staggering $290 million.

It was the biggest single kickback from any company in the world to the former Iraqi ruler under the UN's oil for food program.

Farmers like Margaret Edmonds from the central wheat belt of Western Australia feel their reputation has been tarnished.

MARGARET EDMONDS: Upset, disappointed. I just can't understand that something like that was allowed to happen.

MICHAEL VINCENT: The Australian Wheat Board, which became AWB, has always maintained it never did anything wrong. It had said it was always operating under the guidance of the UN and the Howard Government.

But Labor says this inquiry won't be looking at any links to Canberra.

Foreign Affairs spokesman, Kevin Rudd.

KEVIN RUDD: Well, Commissioner Cole begins this inquiry with his hands tied behind his back. John Howard, ever the politician, has made sure that the Commissioner can only investigate the Australian companies - mainly the wheat board - and their involvement with Saddam Hussein's regime, and forgets the fact, or tries to avoid the fact in the terms of reference he's given to Commissioner Cole that the Australian Government approved the Wheat Board's operations in Iraq in the first place.

MICHAEL VINCENT: DFAT (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) officials have already attempted to clear the AWB.

Government answers to a series of questions on notice by Mr Rudd, have shown that around six years ago Robert Bowker, then Director of the Middle East Section in the Department of Foreign Affairs, apparently told the United Nations that there was no evidence AWB was paying kickbacks to Saddam's regime.

Mr Bowker, who's now Australia's Ambassador to Egypt, declined AM's request for an interview about his role in examining Australia's wheat sales to Iraq.

It's unclear whether Mr Bowker will give evidence to this inquiry, which was only called after pressure from the United Nations which released its own investigation into the Wheat Board's deals last October.

Australia has been selling wheat to Iraq since 1948, and then in 1999 a curious arrangement was entered into at the behest of Saddam's regime. The Australia Wheat Board was told to pay a Jordanian company, nominated by Baghdad, to truck its wheat.

Within four years the trucking costs rose a phenomenal 500 per cent. AWB apparently never complained because it could recoup the cost as part of the deal.

But the Jordanian company called Alia was a front, the United Nations found Alia had no trucks at all.

The UN also uncovered faxes from the Iraqi Grains Board directly to the Australian Wheat Board demanding payments.

This is what the UN wrote in its final report.

UN REPORT EXTRACT: Numerous aspects of the AWB-Alia relationship suggest that some employees of AWB were placed on notice of facts, strongly suggesting that AWB's payments were in whole or in part for the benefit of the Government of Iraq.

MICHAEL VINCENT: Some of the most influential men in Australia's agricultural sector will be appearing at this inquiry to answer questions.

While the inquiry is not publishing its witness list, the first person expected to be called today is Murray Rogers, the Managing Director of the Wheat Board when the 1999 deal was struck.

He'll be followed by Trevor Flugge, the former Chair of AWB and AWB International, a man appointed by the Howard Government to assist Iraq's agricultural redevelopment in 2003.

Even if it can be shown that employees of AWB or their managers knew that they were paying kickbacks, a senior international lawyer says it's unlikely anyone will ever face prosecution, let alone jail.

Challis Professor of International Law at Sydney University, Don Rothwell, says under Australian law it was not made illegal to breach the relevant UN resolutions. But he still believes there are good reasons for this inquiry to go ahead.

DON ROTHWELL: Well, yes, I think there is, because I think that most Australians would be concerned to understand why the AWB was engaging in these activities, why the AWB was potentially acting contrary to UN Security Council resolutions, and no doubt to also gain a further understanding as to what exactly was the Government's role in this whole process.

The Australian Government has a responsibility to implement international law, a responsibility to ensure that Australians are following international law when those Australians are operating within Australia.

MICHAEL VINCENT: The Oil for Food inquiry is expected to sit for four weeks and is due to report on March the 31st. (this is still currently sitting)

KAREN PERCY: Michael Vincent with that report.

With top level politicians being called to give evidence in this Royal Commision the current federal government is set to fall here at the next election. How ever the problem being that this goverment is the longest serving in the nations history and has been blindly following the Bush presidency into everything...

Do we see some political mirroring here..........

[bucklebone]

I find this whole argument that Bush should be impeached or even that he is the worst President ever as LAUGHABLE. Just put his numbers up against Jimmy Carter and you won't be calling GWB the worst President in history. Not even the worst in my lifetime.

Also, I don't understand what he will be impeached for...if people are saying that the gov't listening to calls and reading e-mails coming into the US from known al Qaeda's is grounds for impeachment, then they're nucking futs.

And if declassifying a CIA agents name is wrong (which I think it is) then let's bring the facts out. I doubt that it will reach the Prez since there is enough insulation around him to allow 20 guys to take the fall.

And for the war on terror, you could be a conspiracy theorist nutjob like Atari or Ricechexx or Tesla and deduce that Bush planned 9/11, but there's no convincing stupidity.

Bush is safe. Bush is an above average President and a below average leader. Does that make sense?? Meaning: he knows what to do, but doesn't do a good job getting the country to follow.

Personally, any political party (such as the Democrats) that has Alec Baldwin, Ben Affleck, Barbra Streisand and Gwenyth Paltrow as it's celebrity mouthpieces should be run from as quickly as possible. Don't even stop to look for your pets or old pictures, just run like hell.

[bucklebone]

That's what I thought.

[stirling]

You thought that no one cares enough about your ad-hom filled post, devoid of logic, facts and even relevancy, to respond to it?
Me, too.

[bucklebone]

blah!!! argh!!

You definitely got a chuckle outta me on that one. We'll see. Someday someone will be able to put together a reasonable, logical, non-reactionary reason as to why Bush is a poor president or why he should be impeached. Until then, maybe I'll bide my time reorganizing my sock drawer.

BTW, I read the lyrics to Neil Young's new song "Impeach the President". I was wholly unimpressed and was left wondering if Neil did the music and one of his kids did the lyrics.

[Danny Himself]

Young Republicans.

Look out.

[Neongod]

Originally Posted by bucklebone

I find this whole argument that Bush should be impeached or even that he is the worst President ever as LAUGHABLE. Just put his numbers up against Jimmy Carter and you won't be calling GWB the worst President in history. Not even the worst in my lifetime.

Also, I don't understand what he will be impeached for...if people are saying that the gov't listening to calls and reading e-mails coming into the US from known al Qaeda's is grounds for impeachment, then they're nucking futs.

And if declassifying a CIA agents name is wrong (which I think it is) then let's bring the facts out. I doubt that it will reach the Prez since there is enough insulation around him to allow 20 guys to take the fall.

And for the war on terror, you could be a conspiracy theorist nutjob like Atari or Ricechexx or Tesla and deduce that Bush planned 9/11, but there's no convincing stupidity.

Bush is safe. Bush is an above average President and a below average leader. Does that make sense?? Meaning: he knows what to do, but doesn't do a good job getting the country to follow.

Personally, any political party (such as the Democrats) that has Alec Baldwin, Ben Affleck, Barbra Streisand and Gwenyth Paltrow as it's celebrity mouthpieces should be run from as quickly as possible. Don't even stop to look for your pets or old pictures, just run like hell.

Good stuff here except the end. You can't blame a political party for having "celebrity mouthpieces". You can only blame the idiots that think their opinions mean anything more than the average person.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by bucklebone

BTW, I read the lyrics to Neil Young's new song "Impeach the President". I was wholly unimpressed and was left wondering if Neil did the music and one of his kids did the lyrics.

some artists are compelled to speak out in times of crisis. that often does not make for good art--- it's more propaganda, but it's still a valid form of expression.

around the time of the military coup in chile neruda wrote a poem calling for the destruction of nixon. it was a bad poem but it was necessary for him to write in a time of terror and brutality. he died 12 days after the "other" september 11, when pinochet killed allende and over power. decades later we know without a doubt what kinds of monstrosities the chilean dictators carried out under the sponsorship of the cia. what was worse? a bad poem, or pinochet? please, get your priorities straight...