Posted on 07/24/2002 9:13:35 PM PDT by Willie Green
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Dramatic, defiant and dressed in bell-bottom pants that were stylish three decades ago, Rep. James Traficant made his last performance on the House floor one for the history books.
Recalling familiar themes from his four-day hearing before the House ethics committee last week, the 61-year-old Traficant used his last moment in the spotlight to launch into a haphazard diatribe of who did what and why he's not to blame for his conviction.
``What I am trying to tell you is there's no physical evidence,'' the Ohio Democrat shouted to the unusually crowded House chamber.
In a sign of the seriousness of the debate, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., had asked lawmakers to be on the floor for the debate and to behave in a dignified and decorous manner.
Traficant, who left Youngstown, Ohio, Wednesday morning to drive to Washington, didn't afford his colleagues the same courtesy.
In his last appearance as a sitting member in the stately, wood-paneled House chamber, Traficant appealed to colleagues to keep him around. Knowing they wouldn't, he said he may be back anyway after re-election.
Traficant is running again as an independent from the largely blue-collar 17th District in northeastern Ohio that he has represented for more than 17 years.
On his last night as a lawmaker, Traficant drew a few quiet chuckles from lawmakers even as they prepared to vote for his expulsion.
``Am I different? Yeah. Have I changed my pants? No. Deep down, you really want to wear wider bottoms, you're just afraid,'' he said. He said he wore skinny ties to de-emphasize his heft and joked about using a Weed Wacker to cut his unruly silver hair.
In the end, Traficant left Congress quietly. He secluded himself in his office across Independence Avenue from the Capitol briefly after the vote, declining to make himself available to reporters.
He faces sentencing in Cleveland on Tuesday. Federal prosecutors have recommended he serve at least 7-1/4 years in prison.
Would you believe Condit?
Also, another tidbit. Myers was expelled in 1980 (A Democrat). Three others were expelled during the Civil War for treason. Are we taking bets that they were Democrats too?
Are the Democrats 5 for 5 in the expulsion category?
Subject: .The Bankruptcy of The United States United States Congressional Record, March 17, 1993 Vol. 33, page H-1303
Speaker-Rep. James Traficant, Jr. (Ohio) addressing the House:
"Mr. Speaker, we are here now in chapter 11.. Members of Congress are official trustees presiding over the greatest reorganization of any Bankrupt entity in world history, the U.S. Government. We are setting forth hopefully, a blueprint for our future. There are some who say it is a coroner's report that will lead to our demise. It is an established fact that the United States Federal Government has been dissolved by the Emergency Banking Act, March 9, 1933, 48 Stat. 1, Public Law 89-719; declared by President Roosevelt, being bankrupt and insolvent. H.J.R. 192, 73rd Congress m session June 5, 1933 - Joint Resolution To Suspend The Gold Standard and Abrogate The Gold Clause dissolved the Sovereign Authority of the United States and the official capacities of all United States Governmental Offices, Officers, and Departments and is further evidence that the United States Federal Government exists today in name only.
The receivers of the United States Bankruptcy are the International Bankers, via the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. All United States Offices, Officials, and Departments are now operating within a de facto status in name only under Emergency War Powers. With the Constitutional Republican form of Government now dissolved, the receivers of the Bankruptcy have adopted a new form of government for the United States. This new form of government is known as a Democracy, being an established Socialist/Communist order under a new governor for America. This act was instituted and established by transferring and/or placing the Office of the Secretary of Treasury to that of the Governor of the International Monetary Fund. Public Law 94-564, page 8, Section H.R. 13955 reads in part: "The U.S. Secretary of Treasury receives no compensation for representing the United States."
Image: United States Congressional Record, March 17, 1993 Vol. 33, page H-1303
If he hadn't tried to educate America he would be doing just fine like the rest of the cowards in the Congress and Senate. The truth is a forbidden topic in DC.
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