Yesterday in Congress, fifty-one new bills were introduced. Due to recent controversy, and for those who start reading this series of articles in the middle, I will include the following boilerplate information in every article.
When taking a look at the list below, keep in mind that the U.S. Constitution, which created our Federal Government, clearly enumerated 18 specific functions that it is given. For all other things, the 9th and 10th amendment make it clear that the individual states have the power. Note that it states in the Constitution that it is the Supreme Law of the Land, which can be usurped by no other. This means that all opinions to the contrary made by the Supreme Court are technically invalid. Throughout the past couple of hundred hears the Supreme Court has rule one way or another on some “interpretation” of the Constitution, but in fact no interpretation is necessary, as the intention of the founding fathers are quite clear. For example, if the “general welfare” clause or the “interstate commerce” clause was intended to be used as a catch-all for any arbitrary piece of legislation, then the 10th amendments which reads:
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
would be completely meaningless. So simple logic, in addition to the writings of Madison and other founding fathers, dictates the notion that the Federal Government was set up to have very little power, and that these United States are intended to be a loose federation of sovereign states.
Only due to politician’s greed and overwhelming desire for power does the Constitution get relegated to the trash heap.
So, despite the noble intentions of many of these bills, it doesn’t mean they are legal.
Of the bills introduced yesterday, these are ones that are clearly not legitimate functions of the Federal Government [as always, my commentary will appear in red]:
HCR89 – Supporting the goals and objectives of the Prague Conference on Holocaust Era Assets.
HCR86 – Authorizing the use of Emancipation Hall in the Capitol Visitor Center for the unveiling of a bust of Sojourner Truth.
HCR87 – Observing the 15th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide and calling on all responsible nations to uphold the principles of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
HR298 – Congratulating the on-premise sign industry for its contributions to the success of small businesses.
HR299 – Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that public servants should be commended for their dedication and continued service to the Nation during Public Service Recognition Week, May 4 through 10, 2009, and throughout the year.
HR300 – Congratulating Camp Dudley YMCA of Westport, New York, on the occasion of its 125th anniversary.
HR301 – Honoring the life of Dr.John Hope Franklin
The debauchery on Capitol Hill continues unabated, with an amazing ninety-three new bills introduced yesterday in Congress, many of which attempt to do the same thing. How many of these bills do you think are Constitutional? (Answer: very few). Here are some of the worst:
HR1652 – To require institutions receiving certain assistance from the Troubled Asset Relief Program or the Federal Reserve to have employee bonus payment plans approved in advance of the payments being made. [Each member of Congress must operate in a bubble, and/or they're all hoping for the "credit" if their bill is passed. This is at least the fifth bill on this subject in the past three days!]
HR1650 – To enhance the oversight authority of the Comptroller General of the United States with respect to expenditures under the Troubled Asset Relief Program. [Yet another TARP regulation bill. The full text of the bill is not currently available, so I couldn't tell if it specifically mentions employee bonuses so I could add it to the list above. Why don't these people just come out and admit that this TARP garbage is immoral an unconstitutional in the first place?]
S-651 – A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to impose an excise tax on excessive bonuses paid by, and received from, companies receiving Federal emergency economic assistance, to limit the amount of nonqualified deferred compensation that employees of such companies may defer from taxation, and for other purposes. [Number 7, by Sen. Max Baucus [D-MT]…]
HR1649 – To authorize the Secretary of Education to make grants to reduce the size of core curriculum classes in public elementary and secondary schools, and for other purposes.
HR1645 (also S-638) – To provide grants to promote financial and economic literacy. [While I think it's critical that people become more financially and economically literate, government should certainly not be the teacher, or else we'll end up with more Keynesian nitwits that have destroyed our economy to date. Rather, people can take Chris Martenson's Crash Course for free, and read books like Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson and Tom Woods' Meltdown.]
HR1643 (also S-648) – To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to establish a prospective payment system instead of the reasonable cost-based reimbursement method for Medicare-covered services provided by Federally qualified health centers and to expand the scope of such covered services to account for expansions in the scope of services provided by Federally qualified health centers since the inclusion of such services for coverage under the Medicare Program.
HR1642 – To provide loans and grants for fire sprinkler retrofitting in nursing facilities.
HR1641 – To amend the National Trails System Act to provide for a study of the Cascadia Marine Trail.
HR1640 – To amend the Truth in Lending Act to protect consumers from usury, and for other purposes. [Caveat emptor. The process of buying a home would be much quicker and hassle-free if not for the myriad of regulations and bureaucratic red-tape imposed by the federal, state, and local governments.]
Ron Paul delivered an excellent speech at CPAC this afternoon. He received a lot of applause and cheering for many of his lines. There were some obvious skeptics and shaking of heads in the audience as well, but overall he was on his game and hit all of his talking points and then some.
He talked about his bill calling for more Federal Reserve transparency. He claims it is getting bipartisan support in the Congress. That would be a great first step. He also spoke about abortion, foreign policy, and individual vs. groups with respect to liberty.
There were a few lines that I loved. It reminded me of the many rallies during his campaign in 2007 and and early 2008.
Quote of the Day: “All great truths began as blasphemies.” — George Bernard Shaw, Annajanska, 1919
Subject: Mexican Civil War could spill over into U.S.
You’re not hearing about it yet, but a civil war is raging in Mexico — between drug lords and the government. The Mexican government deployed 36,000 troops to fight this war in 2006, but the problem is getting worse. Here are the disconcerting results . . .
* There have been more kidnappings in Mexico than Iraq! 1,000 have been officially reported, but human rights groups estimate the real number at 3,000.
* Despite high-profile arrests but the bloodshed has doubled from 2007 to 2008, with between 5,300 and 5,700 dead in the past year from attacks related to the drug trade.
* The city of Ciudad Juárez ended the year with 1,600 of those deaths
Now this violence is threatening to spill across our border!
Ron Paul reveals why he was so outraged at the recent House vote condemning Gaza. Here’s one more reason he should be outraged.
by Jake, the Champion of the Constitution
Originally published January 14, 2009 at http://www.nolanchart.com/article5795.html
WASHINGTON, D.C. – I remarked in my last article “Ron Paul Shows Some Outrage (The Gaza Slaughter – Epilogue)” that Congressman Paul (R-TX) was visibly upset at the end of his 2-minute opposition speech to House Resolution 34 which called “on all nations to lay blame both for the breaking of the calm and for subsequent civilian casualties in Gaza precisely where blame belongs, that is, on Hamas.”
For those who do not follow Ron Paul quite so much, this is unusual as he typically constrains himself from showing anger. Well, this 4-minute video released Tuesday night by the Campaign for Liberty reveals why. The House had called a last minute vote the night before and started the session one hour earlier than normal. Dr. Paul claims he was notified at the last minute and was barely able to arrive and interject with his opposition for two minutes. (photo)
Paul also related that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair are skipping their appointments with the House Finance committee to fly off to the Swiss Alps to meet with the international banking cartel known as the BIS, or Bank of International Settlements. My guess is that their conversation will cover the price of gold at some point.
In the latest interview with Ron Paul with Russia Today he continues making claims that reveal why he is loved by so many people dreaming of hearing the truth from our representatives.
Perusing several comments found on liberal and conservative blogs the sentiment seems to be of the form, “I respect Ron Paul for telling the truth, but I still think he’s crazy and would never vote for him.” I think that sums up the main reason he didn’t win the GOP nomination. People truly respect his honesty but he may be too honest for the average voter. It’s almost like voters seek liars rather than truth tellers for public office.
Of course in my mind’s eye I see crowds of average Americans with sheep-like bodies wandering the streets on election day mindlessly chanting: “We can’t handle the truth. We can’t handle the truth.”
Hopefully in the coming 2010 and 2012 elections Americans find new respect for the truth. For a good start check out the interview below with Ron Paul.
I’ve long held that just about every U.S. President and U.S. Congressman deserve to be hanged (or at least some sort of punishment) for violating their oaths of office.
Upon entering office, U.S. Presidents must pledge:
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
Similarly, members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives must affirm:
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.
If our public servants aren’t held to their oaths, then the oaths are rendered meaningless.
In similar fashion, Bruce Fein has opined in the San Francisco Chronicle, that the actions of President Bush and Vice President Cheney have violated the Constitution in a variety of ways, and indeed deserve censure. Here’s a piece of what Fein had to say:
By wielding the threat of international terrorism, the Bush-Cheney team put the nation on a permanent war footing – the first time in history that war has been undertaken against a tactic. They maintained that the entire post-9/11 world is an active battlefield where United States military force may be used to kill suspected members of al Qaeda irrespective of international boundaries.
They claimed executive privilege and state secrets to conduct secret government – thereby circumventing political and legal accountability. This included directives to former White House officials Karl Rove and Harriet Miers to flout congressional subpoenas for testimony. They detained hundreds of people (including American citizens) as enemy combatants without accusation or trial. They authorized torture (waterboarding and extraordinary rendition), abductions, secret prisons and illegal surveillance of American citizens.
Like its immediate predecessors, the 110th Congress eagerly yielded its authorities – even the power of the purse – to the president. The Iraqi War Resolution, the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Act, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act amendments, and the declination to hold Rove in contempt of Congress were emblematic.
If left unrebuked, the Bush-Cheney usurpations of power will become part of the constitutional firmament and risk creating a safe harbor for future presidential abuses. Every member of Congress, moreover, is required to take an oath to “support (the) Constitution” pursuant to Article VI. There is no corresponding oath to support the Republican or Democratic parties or to subordinate the Constitution in the name of political harmony. Censure would be no novelty.
Ron Paul is not one to beat around the bush (no pun intended), and his reaction to Israel invading Gaza in this video is no different. He calls the Middle East a powder keg and says the United States will ultimately be blamed due to support of Israel.
He believes that we should just get out of their business and focus on the problems here at home. I could not agree with him more (as usual).
He also delves into a bit of an economic prediction for 2009. He says inflation is what we need to worry about, not deflation. Also, his big worry is that fairly soon people (other countries) will no longer finance America’s debt.
“The victims will be the innocent American people.”
“The real tragedy will be an attack on our personal liberties.”
I’m starting to believe that Ron Paul will feel compelled to run for president again in 2012. Especially if what he is predicting comes to pass. I wrote following the Iowa Caucus and the New Hampshire Primary that America is not ready for Ron Paul in 2008. Perhaps America will be ready in 2012.
Digest Ron Paul’s words below. The words my give you indigestion, but sometimes the truth is uncomfortable.
It’s quite amusing (if not nauseating) to hear McCain and Palin calling Obama a socialist at every turn if you pay the slightest attention to the ideas McCain embraces. A nice little article at HighClearing.com successfully reams McCain for his hypocrisy:
The word “socialism” can mean many things to many people, anything from Western European style social welfare to state ownership of the means of production to the New Deal or the Great Society or a wide range of other usages. I’ll let those who know (or at least claim to know) more about the real meaning of the word have the debate over which usage is proper (mostly because I hate debates over whether somebody is using a politically-charged word correctly). Instead, I’ll engage the McCain rhetoric on its own terms.
McCain, just like Obama, believes that taxes should be levied for the purpose of funding social programs that redistribute income downwards. (We’ll leave aside, for the moment, the fact that both of them also believe that taxes should be levied for the purpose of funding a bloated military-industrial complex and other things that redistribute at least some of the income upward.) McCain and Obama may envision different forms and scopes for those programs, and those differences may or may not have profound consequences in practice. However, the McCain rhetoric is being employed to argue that just about any downward redistribution is a type of socialism. If it is (at least in McCain’s usage of the term) then McCain is a socialist. Maybe not as much of a socialist as Obama (we’ll leave aside welfare for the rich, for the moment) but a socialist nonetheless.
Liberty Maven
WASHINGTON, D.C. – I remarked in my last article “
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I’ve long held that just about every U.S. President and U.S. Congressman deserve to be hanged (or at least some sort of punishment) for violating their oaths of office.
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