Pawn to King, checkmate? Three members of the Illinois General Assembly may precipitate a forced review of impeachment charges against President Bush by the unwilling Republican-controlled Congress.
Through an obscure rule that allows a joint resolution by a state legislature to recommend impeachment (Section 603 of Jefferson's Manual of the Rules of the U.S. House of Representatives), Representatives Karen Yarbrough, Sara Feinholtz, and Eddie Washington filed Illinois House Joint Resolution 125. If both Illinois Houses approve HRJO125, then the US House must consider the issue of impeachment as its first priority.
HJRO125 makes these charges against Bush, long unofficially circulating about the masses of single-vote citizens:
What sort of political inertia is HRJO125 aiming to overcome? According to John Nichols of The Nation (who goes into state-level censures in more detail):
Only 33 members of the U.S. House of Representatives have signed on as cosponsors of Congressman John Conyers' resolution calling for the creation of a select committee to investigate the administration's preparations for war before receiving congressional authorization, manipulation of pre-war intelligence, encouraging and countenancing of torture, and retaliation against critics such as former Ambassador Joe Wilson, with an eye toward making recommendations regarding grounds for possible impeachment. Only two members of the Senate have agreed to cosponsor Senator Russ Feingold's proposal to censure the president for illegally ordering the warrantless wiretapping of phone conversations of Americans.Those who wish to take action or send out a word of encouragement to the legislators can refer to this OpEd post, via NewsVine. In related news, students of U.S. History should check-out Rolling Stone's April cover story.
Update: California becomes second state to initiate impeachment against Bush, adding Cheney into the fire to boot! via OpEd News.
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