DoOmSdAy!!

It's called the 'Doomsday Legislation', also known by it's official title 'House Resolution 5'. It was passed on January 5th, 2005, and surprisingly has managed to stay out of the spotlight for quite some time.

If you google 'Doomsday Legislation' you'll get a number of news sites that reported on it in 2005, but most of them paint it in the light of merely being a contingency plan in the event that more than a hundred members of the house are killed in a 'terrorist attack' or some other such terrible catastrophe. It states that special elections must be held to replace the House members within 45 days of the event, which some argue should be quicker. However, this isn't the problem with the Doomsday Legislation. These articles paint the picture that the legislation is a good measure in the event of another September 11th style attack, that it would allow government to continue to run smoothly in the event a number of politicians are killed in the attack.

But there is another side to the measure that they do not like to talk about. Under the 'Doomsday Legislation', the House would not need the required 218 members present to pass legislation, but can instead pass legislation with however many show up.

“If the House should be without a quorum due to catastrophic circumstances, then . . . until there appear in the House a sufficient number of representatives to constitute a quorum among the whole number of the House, a quorum in the House shall be determined based upon the provisional number of the House; and . . . the provisional number of the House, as of the close of the call of the House . . . shall be the number of representatives responding to that call of the House.”

In layman's terms, this means that if for some reason only twelve congressmen show up when circumstances arise, including natural disaster, attack, contagion or terrorist attacks rendering representatives incapable of attending House proceedings. So say another plane is hijacked and the skies are shut down again. That would mean that if only fifty or so congress members are in Washington already, they can declare war in order to retaliate, or pass any legislation they want. Or say there's an outbreak of the bird flu or some other convenient contagion, whomever is on the hill that day can pass whatever they want regardless of number present.

Where is the countdown till we lose the last of the few Constitutional rights that they have not taken yet? Where is the outrage? Where is the call for change? Why are we still supporting Neocons such as Clinton and Romney?

The primaries are fast approaching folks. Are you registered? Do you know where to vote? Do you know if your primaries are Open or Closed? Do you know who you will vote for? We need change and we need it now more than ever before it is too late. Go here and click on your state to find out more information about the primaries.

Here are a couple of sites reporting on the 'Doomsday Legislation'. Notice the spin put on it to make it look like a necessary evil by two of the articles.

http://www.rense.com/general52/appr.htm
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/04/23/1082616331689.html
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/doomsday.html