Randi on AAR said we are now just two votes shy of a vote in the house

[lonestarnot]

for full investigation of bushitler and his boys re lying us into war with Iraq! Keep the faith people! It's going to happen!

[LSK]

1. if that is the case...

Then the million people visiting DC on Sept 24 might scare a few more into voting for investigation.

[growlypants]

4. Do you think we'll get a million??

[tblue37]

31. Is that beautiful puppy yours? (eom)

[stepnw1f]

32. Aw Hell Yeah We Will!

They are off balance... time for a little push.;-)

[nashville_brook]

7. oh wow -- people need to see this!

the DC, Sept 24 thing has been simmering in the background. we need to build the urgency! this is a great angle. a HUGE protest would most certainly change some minds.

kick for sept 24!

[lonestarnot]

40. Yes, that is my appraisal also.

[flamin lib]

58. At the height of the anti-'nam protests there were two events in DC

the topped a half million. May Day and the Vietnam Moratorium.

I was there for both--you'd recognize me as the one wearing OD green and hanging out with a bunch of other guys wearing OD green wearing gas masks.

I gotta tell you that half a million will get all the attention you want. It's a hell of a lot of people.

A hundred thousand is enough to scare hell out of police.

Who's organizing the event?

[derby378]

2. How many Republicans are ready to sign up?

That sounds promising - but let's wait until we get those two votes.

[Chichiri]

3. Wait a sec . . .

Two votes shy of forcing an actual vote, or two votes shy of WINNING the vote?

[Pirate Smile]

20. Two votes shy of winning. Leach signed on so there will have to be a

vote. Check out the post below.

[lonestarnot]

41. two votes shy of a full House vote.

[the_spectator]

51. No.

Two votes shy of passing something out of a HOUSE COMMITTEE - see post 6, below. Not the full House, which I had a hard time believing.

[Cleita]

5. I hope she's right.n/t

[Pirate Smile]

6. Here you go:

"Congressman Jim Leach (R, Iowa) has informed Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D, California) that he will co-sponsor her Resolution of Inquiry into Bush Administration communications with the U.K. about Iraq at the time of the Downing Street Memos. Leach is the first Republican member of Congress to publicly support a demand for an inquiry into the Bush Administration's pre-war claims. The 131 congress members who have signed Congressman John Conyers' letter to the President about the Downing Street Memo are all Democrats. The 11 Senators who have asked the Senate Intelligence Committee to do the investigation it committed to in February 2004 but never did are all Democrats.

The Resolution, H. Res. 375, is a privileged resolution which must be brought to a vote in the House International Relations Committee by September 16th, or Lee is permitted to demand a vote of the full House. Fifty-two Democrats, including Lee, have co-sponsored the Resolution. Leach is the first Republican to join them, and he is a member of the International Relations Committee.. "

http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/171... /

...for those catching up to congressional procedures, a resolution of inquiry is the 1st step in impeachment. The resolution provides for investigation needed to draft the articles of impeachment, which would then be voted on...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1724922

edit to add the part about "two votes" from within the DU thread:

"from the OP:

The International Relations Committee has 27 Republican members and 23 Democratic members. Thus far 10 of the Democrats have co-sponsored the Resolution. If the other 13 vote for it as well, then along with Leach, one more Republican vote will be needed for a tie, or two more for passage.

Leach has questioned Bush's war policies for years and was one of five Republicans in May to vote for Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey's amendment requiring an exit strategy. Another of those five, Congressman Ron Paul of Texas, also serves on the International Relations Committee. "

[Sanity Claws]

8. Yippee --

Thanks for the explanation. That helped a lot

[Pirate Smile]

9. I just added more which explains the two votes needed.

[aquart]

14. What kind of district is Leach in?

[justgamma]

15. He's from the blue half of Iowa. n/t

[aquart]

25. Polls scaring him silly?

[cascadiance]

16. He's in the Eastern Iowa

encompassing the great University of Iowa! Congrats my fellow U of I students and alumni! Perhaps we may have made a difference with our pressure on Jim to bring this set of criminals to justice!

[bobbieinok]

39. I was in IA 68-89: Leach usually seemed OK, definitly not RW

[Donailin]

28. My rep is a sponsor and I thanked him

make sure we let our reps know they have our support.

[FourStarDemocrat]

35. Rep. Jones from NC would be another good Republican to co-sponsor

If his constituents could encourage him.

[melissinha]

37. Ah yes!

yesm. He seems open to this.... we need to pursue as many individuals to ensure that DeLay pressure doesn't reduce our chances.

[mmonk]

56. I thought of Jones as well

[lonestarnot]

42. Thanks Clieta, had to go get cat food right after I posted.

[bonito]

10. Theres nothing with out hope, Recommended!

[Ilsa]

11. Bookmarking...I'm not home right now, but tomorrow, I can call

my representative, Ron Paul (R) (really a Libertarian) and get him on board also.

[meganmonkey]

17. Yeah, Ron Paul has been pretty open with criticism of the war

and bushco. If all the dems on the committee get on board, this is feasible. And right now, I will believe that all the dems will get on board (despite history, I will believe it ;) )

Very promising indeed.

*fingers crossed*

[Pirate Smile]

18. Leach is my Representative. It is a district that voted for Kerry and

Gore.

He has been on Franken's show because he wants an investigation into the missing billions in Iraq.

I wish he would switch to Independent because he is generally decent BUT voting for Hastert and Delay for Speaker and Majority Leader makes it so I could NEVER vote for him.

I had been thinking about the kinds of ads we need to air before 2006 to try to beat him re checks and balances and that as long as Repubs control things, there will never be any accountability for BushCo.

It will be interesting to see how hard he pushes this. He is definitely a maverick.

[Pirate Smile]

22. Thank goodness Ron Paul is also on there. I guess a tie means a

loss :shrug: . Does anyone know the details?

[YDogg]

12. Beats the hell out of pointless Aruba disappearance coverage.

This news does, that is.

[existentialist]

13. beats Aruba disappearance coverage

Well you clearly do not speak for Faux News!

[yojon]

19. I wonder who the one repug on the committee is who

we could focus persuasive efforts on? I mean... I wonder which repug on the committee would be most interested in listening to our persuasive efforts.

Anybody know the remaining repugs? Are they all droids?

[meganmonkey]

23. Ron Paul, TX

I think the harder part will be getting ALL the dems on board. There seems to be at least one on every committee vote that sells us out.

:shrug:

[Ilsa]

24. Exactly! Dr. Paul has been very vocal about the failures and

wastefulness of Bushonomics and the war. He hates that all this money has been spent on this damn war.

[melissinha]

36. Quite true

We can't assume all the democrats would be on board, you saw those creeps who were forced to vote for CAFTA, I mean THIS ISSUE is gonna get so nasty, I would advise all Democrats to steer clear from private planes, if you know what I mean.

[cascadiance]

21. So, will they call this the Lee/Leach bill?

Kind of a funky name! :)

[LoKnLoD]

26. Here's all the members of that committee

http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/committees.tt?commid=hinte

[tinfoilinfor2005]

30. Henry Hyde, that paragon of virtue.

blech.

[LoKnLoD]

33. It full of them assholes

Katherine Harris, Hyde, Tecrendo (sp?)

[LSK]

45. i just emailed Henry Hyde

Not that it will do anything except mark me as one of those looney leftists, but oh well. I did quote Hans Blix's WMD report from March 7, 2003.

What I wrote:

Dear Sirs,

I would encourage everyone to read Hans Blix's Oral introduction of the
12th quarterly report of UNMOVIC. This was reported on March 7, 2003.

http://www.un.org/Depts/unmovic/SC7asdelivered.htm

In it, he CLEARLY STATES that Iraq was cooperating with the weapons
inspectors. He states:

"we are able to perform professional no-notice inspections all over
Iraq
and to increase aerial surveillance."

In addition, Iraq was providing the inspectors team with names of
people
who were involved with the Iraqi WMD destruction of the 90s and was
providing more documentation on these subjects:

"More papers on anthrax, VX and missiles have recently been provided.
Many have been found to restate what Iraq had already declared, some
will
require further study and discussion.

There is a significant Iraqi effort underway to clarify a major source
of
uncertainty as to the quantities of biological and chemical weapons,
which
were unilaterally destroyed in 1991."

Reading this report by Hans Blix leads one to wonder why George Bush
ordered the invasion. It would seem obvious that war was NOT a last
resort. It would seem obvious to anyone reading the report that the UN
weapons inspection team lead by Mr Blix had the situation well in hand
and
Saddam was cooperating with them.

Why then, did Bush need to invade???

Now I know you republicans have been playing major party politics and
have
never departed from the President. However, the President not being
forthcoming with reasons for a war is the most serious abuse of power
known in this countries history.

Therefore, I as one of your citizens ask that you investigate the
Presidents reasons for the war in Iraq. You are my elected official. I
would ask that you DO YOUR JOB.

Thank you.

[AllyCat]

47. Oh jeez, Gregory Meeks? Wasn't he one of the "defectors" on

the House energy bill? It was something. I know he's DLC and might not be a sure thing. We need to write those on the Dem side to make SURE they know we want them to support this and then pick a few likely candidates from the Repuke side. I think we can automatically rule out Katherine Harris and Henry Hyde. Ugh...

Does anyone know if one needs to be a constituent for these folks to listen to us, or will they possible answer if it is committee business, even if I'm not from their districts?

[brettdale]

27. mass email everybody

Because you see, diehold will rig the 2006 elections, if Bushy lasts until then, there is no hope.

[peacetalksforall]

29. I don't study Leach, but my impression of him is that he thinks and

studies and comes with an old fashioned truth meter, but, if true, he hasn't had the mettle to stand against the Republican bandwagon in the past. Perhaps the Repub regime went to far for all decent people.

I think this country would be different if it didn't have DeLay giving orders and threatening grown men and women who might want to do the right thing.

We must continue to expose DeLay.

[Nothing Without Hope]

34. Some Rethugs are starting to be concerned that Bush's plummeting

political capital will rub off on them - they only like coattails when they can ride them up. Even Diebolding elections only works if you're within, say, 5-10% of the true winner. Much more than that, and in today's environment, people start to pay too much attention to election fraud.

[Redstone]

38. I do not believe it. There's NO way a majority of politicians

(congressmen and women) will EVER develop so much in the way of guts.

Wonderful fantasy, but it ain't gonna happen.

Redstone

[lonestarnot]

43. Well so sorry to disappoint you, but it IS"gonna"happen. Never say never

unless well unless you don't want it to happen. Ever read or heard of the book "Think Big" Read it, it might help you overcome the pessimism.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

49. My faith and hope are with you on this

I believe.

[the_spectator]

52. You are right.

We are "two votes shy" - of passing something out of a House COMMITTEE - not two votes shy of winning a vote in the full House on this! See post 6.

[pa28]

44. I hope it's true.

As we speak I'm sure Tom Delay is on the phone blackmailing and threatening his fellow Republicans.

[lonestarnot]

46. That only works for soooo long then drop like a hot rock! And who

wants hot rocks around your neck when your running? for election

[pa28]

50. Could be the case.

Things are falling apart at the center of their power structure. Finally.

[lonestarnot]

54. Heehehehehehehhe

[LaPera]

48. Cheney, will make his wicked, death house calls to change that!!!

Wake up congressman, you have a visitor...

"Oh, fuck, Dr. Death is here!"

[AllyCat]

53. Mark Green of WI is stepping down from his post to run for Guv

(buh buh bye, Mr. Green!). But he might be too busy campaigning to show up for a vote on this. Don't know enough about how committees work to know if this will affect anything. But it's part of the hope.

[lonestarnot]

55. Keep the pressure on people there has to be two more that have the good

common sense to know if they don't jump the ship they are going down with it.

[SammyWinstonJack]

57. This should send bush** over the top!

:woohoo: Hope he enjoyed his Vacation! :evilgrin: