Team Obama has thrown a bit of a monkey wrench into the impeachment of Gov. Rod Blagojevich. On the eve of Christmas Eve, an Obama transition team lawyer, Greg Craig, releases a report which essentially exonerates not only Obama's staff members of wrongdoing in the alleged attempt by the governor to sell Obama's vacant Senate seat but also the governor. Naturally, the governor's lawyer, Ed Genson, would like to call Rahm Emanuel, Valerie Jarrett, David Axelrod and Dr. Eric Whitaker as witnesses before the House committee seeking to impeach the governor so they can tell the committee what they told Craig: we were not aware of any attempt by the governor to sell the Senate seat. And because Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. also says he never participated in any quid pro quo to win the Senate appointment, Genson would like to call him as well.
The Republicans agree with Genson on calling the witnesses. The problem is that Democrat House Speaker Mike Madigan, who may just want to see his daughter appointed sooner rather than later to the Senate seat, stacked the committee rules giving the Democrats complete control over who may be subpoenaed by the committee. The committee chairperson, Barbara Flynn Currie, says she doesn't want to interfere with the U.S. Attorney's ongoing investigation, but these members of Team Obama and Jackson we're told are not targets of the investigation. So what gives?
The Democrats in Springfield know what I've been telling you all along. Barack Obama is knee-deep in the pay-to-play politics that are pervasive in Illinois. Hell, Obama knew Tony Rezko before Blagojevich and worked with him as close if not more closely than the governor. Sure, Rezko may have helped the governor out with some of that remodeling work on his northside home. But he helped Obama even more in purchasing a house he and his wife could not afford without Rezko's assistance. Behind closed doors, you can bet Currie and her Democratic colleagues know that Obama and his team members probably don't have entirely clean hands on this business of selling a Senate seat. After all, this sort of thing happens all the time. It just happened that the feds were eavesdropping on telephone conversations this time.
What a conundrum Illinois Democrats now face. They so badly want to dislodge their disgraced governor they supported in his last two elections, but they fear if he starts talking too much about how business is conducted in the Land of Lincoln, he just might swallow their political careers along the way. They also can ill afford to put others at risk by unnecessarily making them testify under oath and presenting an opportunity for them to perjure themselves and at the same time help the governor present evidence that there really is no "there" there to the allegations made by the U.S. Attorney. Perhaps this is why the Democrats are dragging out old issues which have been lying around for more than a year as grounds for impeachment--the same ones they earlier didn't feel were worthy of impeachment.
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ROADMAP TO ADDRESS THE LOOMING CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS:
Since the Supreme Court has now prevented itself from acknowledging the question of whether Barack H. Obama is or is not an Article II “natural born citizen” based on the Kenyan/British citizenship of Barack Obama’s father at the time of his birth (irrespective of whether Barack Obama is deemed a “citizen” born in Hawaii or otherwise) as a prerequisite to qualifying to serve as President of the United States under the Constitution -- the Court having done so at least three times and counting, first before the Nov 4 general election and twice before the Dec 15 vote of the College of Electors -- it would seem appropriate, if not necessary, for all Executive Branch departments and agencies to secure advance formal advice from the United States Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel as to how to respond to expected inquiries from federal employees who are pledged to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States” as to whether they are governed by laws, regulations, orders and directives issued under Mr. Obama during such periods that said employees, by the weight of existing legal authority and prior to a decision by the Supreme Court, believe in good faith that Mr. Obama is not an Article II “natural born citizen”.
Moreover, each and every member of Congress should be notified that he or she is personally liable (can be sued) for his or her own failure, or the same in conspiracy with other members, to perform what is a ministerial and constitutional duty, that is, to require and/or insist that Presidential electoral votes only be counted for candidates who are “natural born citizens” under Article II of the United States Constitution, the failure of which creates a cause of action for deprivation of claimants’ constitutional rights (as allowed under the Bivens case) against employees of the Federal Government, in this case, to a lawful President and Commander in Chief, and therefore, for deprivation of adequate continuation of the United States as a Constitutional Republic. The constitutionally tortious conduct is not subject to congressional immunity and would be the jettison of Article II of the Constitution by failure to stop and/or object to the counting of electoral votes for Barack H. Obama who has admitted that at the time of his birth his father was a Kenyan/British citizen and not a citizen of the United States of America.
Finally, if 1/20/09 comes and goes with a usurper in the Whitehouse (that is, Obama is definitely NOT an Article II “natural born citizen” -- dad Kenyan/British citizen at BHO’s birth -- albeit he MAY be a 14th Amendment “citizen”) with usurper enablers in Congress and the Supreme Court … God help us because many of the people will -- rightfully and under our Constitution and Declaration of Independence -- endeavor through other means to take back the Government from what is nothing less than a non-constitutional coup d’etat. (SCOTUS now does have the power to forestall that grim yet inevitable scenario, otherwise the blood and possible loss of our Constitutional Republic is SQUARELY ON THEIR HEADS.)
Give it up. We've had our constitutional crisis. Its called the Bush administration.
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