[Peace-discuss] Illinois & impeachment

Tue Apr 25 10:33:57 CDT 2006

This is great news. 3 co-sponsors have joined Ms. Yarbrough: Sara
Feigenholtz, Eddie Washington and Cynthia Soto. 3 of the four are from
Cook, the other from Lake County.

Most of us are represented in the Assembly by Ms. Jakobsson, I
imagine. What do folks think about having a call-in day? It would seem
to me that whatever organizing we would do around this would also
contribute to the fall referendum campaign.

On 4/24/06, C. G. Estabrook <galliher at uiuc.edu> wrote:
> [We should get in touch with our state legislators and insist
> that the General Assembly pass this, and quickly.  --CGE]
>
>
>  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
>  by Steven Leser
>  http://www.opednews.com
>
> 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.
>
> Developing News; California Becomes Second State to Introduce
> Bush Impeachment
>
> ------------------------------------------
>
> 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
> 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.
>
> ...
>
> 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.
>
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--
RN