High-Ranking Repubs & Dems: Keep Spitting on the Constitution

That way, soon it will be so soaked in sputum that you'll be able to tear it up and throw it away much more easily.  You've all been spitting on it for so many decades that most of you have a fairly good aim by now, so perhaps before long it simply will dissolve of its own accord... you won't even have to tear it up.  I can't find half of it already.  I think some of you in DC are cheating:  you're not just spitting on it, you're pissing on it as well.  What gets me is that some people, perhaps most, don't seem to notice.  Kudos to you high-ranking politicos on your excellent use of distracting Propaganda.

OPEN LETTER TO REPUBLICAN AND DEMOCRAT POLITICAL OLIGARCHS

The Constitution is exceedingly CLEAR on the following points.

1.  As enumerated in Article I, Section 8:
    a.  only CONGRESS is charged with regulating the value of our money (no other entity has been delegated that power by We the People...furthermore, no law, such as the 1913 Fed Reserve Act, over-rides the Supreme Law of the Land);
    b.  only CONGRESS is charged with the power to put this Nation at war (being Commander-in-Chief of the Military does not mean that the President gets to ignore Article I... furthermore, no law, such as the War Powers Act, over-rides the Supreme Law of the Land);
    c.  only CONGRESS is charged with the power to issue assassination orders, otherwise known as Letters of Marque and Reprisal (that power was not delegated to the Executive Branch by We the People);
    d.  only CONGRESS is charged with the power to "make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water" (that power was not delegated to the Executive Branch by We the People)...who made the Rules for Gitmo, CIA Black Sites, and "enhanced interrogation"?...  not Congress;
    e.  the final clause of Article I, Section 8 does not mean that Congress gets to ignore the duties with which CONGRESS has been charged to perform.  In other words, Congress may not delegate its powers to some other Branch of Government... or any other entity.  Only We the People are allowed to delegate Constitutional Powers.  We did not delegate power to Congress to turn over the duty of regulating the value of our money to an un-elected group known as the Fed Reserve Board of Governors.  It's the duty of CONGRESS to regulate the value of our money... no one else may do it.  [The former Chairman of the Fed, Alan Greenspan, once stated on the PBS News Hour, "No one has control [or perhaps he said "power", not "control"] over us."... the problem with that should be obvious.]

2.  We the People are to be secure in our "persons, houses, papers, and EFFECTS" [emphasis added].  The so-called PATRIOT Act (like any other law) does not trump the Constitution.  Neither does any part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)... or any other law.  The Executive Branch acts as though those laws do trump the Constitution.

If you political Oligarchs don't like parts of the Supreme Law of the Land, you are charged by the People to try and change them.  That can be done legally only two ways:  by Amendment; or, by means of a Constitutional Convention.  No other methods are permitted; plus, you are not legally permitted to ignore those parts and then contravene them.  We did not delegate that power to you.  Finally, I don't want to hear any whining about how difficult it is to change the Constitution.  As you know, it purposely was constructed to be that way.  Live with it, or get out of politics.  As things are now, virtually all of you are violating your Oath of Office to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.  If you can't obey your Oath, then get the hell out.  We don't want you.

Constraints of time and energy prohibit me from enumerating ALL of the ways in which you high-ranking Democrats AND Republicans have been spitting and pissing on the Constitution for decades.  [I've been a keen observer of American politics since 1956; 1956---that's not a typo.]  The few examples above should suffice to illustrate the point.  It's no wonder to me that politicians at the highest levels (especially in DC) have become despised by the People.  The effectiveness of the Distract-Divide-Conquer Propaganda constantly put out by the Oligarchy is beginning to fade.  People finally are stirring... so far, just a bit... but stirring.

Not just my opinion.  Be Well

Lessons for Clinton, Bush, and Obama

1.  Exactly where in the Constitution (C.) does it give the 

Feds the power to use our military as the world's police 

force?  The War Powers Act does not supercede the C., 

nor does any other law.  The phrase, "Commander-in-

Chief" does not negate the rest of the C.  Using our blood 

& treasure to quell insurrections around the world may 

be commonly accepted in this country, but it's blatantly unconstitutional.

2.  RE:  the Justice Dept. memo authorizing the killing of 

an American citizen without a formal charge or a trial---  

The Constitution does permit "Letters of Marque and 

Reprisal" (assassination orders) against enemies, BUT 

THEY MUST BE ISSUED BY THE CONGRESS.  

There are good reasons for that, but that's another story.

3.  Fed Law and Judges often are used to subvert/pervert 

the Fed Justice System.  For a case in point, see the 

excellent documentary Bidder 70, the story of Tim DeChristopher's 

battle over an oil & gas leasing auction.  In the court trial, 

the Judge instructed the jury that they were not to judge 

the law...he would explain the law to them.  (All judges say 

that.)  Here's a quote from John Jay, the very first Chief 

Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court:  "The jury has the right 

to judge both the law and the facts in controversy.".  From

 Samuel Chase, Supreme Court Justice:  "The jury has the 

right to determine both the law and the facts.".  From 

Harlan F. Stone, the 12th Chief Justice of the Supreme 

Court:  "The law itself is on trial quite as much as the cause

 which is to be decided.".  There are many others of a similar

 nature.  The last civilian bastion of freedom in this country is 

the right of a jury to nullify a bad law, but judges usually 

claim 

that jury nullification is illegal.  Let's not forget that we once 

had the following laws in this land:  The Fugitive Slave Act, 

The Indian Removal Act, and the Chinese Exclusion Act.

4.  Supporting the dictatorship in Egypt is as wrong as wrong 

can be.  That regime has demonstrated over and over that it 

does not believe in freedom.

5.  The Office of President has been converted, especially by

 Clinton, both Bush Boys, and Obama, into a virtual Kingship.  

The Head of our Gov't (whoever it is) now thinks that the

 Presidency is superior to Congress and the Courts.  In actual 

fact, it is co-equal.  Unfortunately, recent Presidents have by-

passed the other two branches with impunity.  [One 

example:

Even though Congress was not in favor of it, Clinton sent 

troops 

to 

Bosnia.  Another example:  in 1993, he gave Mexico $20

billion to bail out Wall Street banks... without the 

approval of Congress.]

6.  Iraq, again?  Don't we ever learn?  No matter what is 

done, 

as soon as we leave (again), the civil war will continue.  How 

many years have we "aided" the Iraq Gov't?  How many 

years have we "trained" the Iraq security forces?  How 

many?

  I'm sorry, but enough is enough.  It should be obvious that 

there's another agenda going on.  I leave it to you to figure it 

out.

..................................................

Ours is a Gov't of "Enumerated Powers" [Google it]; if the 

power isn't listed, the Feds don't have it.  Furthermore, the

 Constitution enumerates...it does not "imply".  The 

Executive Branch is out-of-control...especially because of 

Clinton, Bush, and Obama, with their despotic concept of 

the "Unitary Executive".  The "updating" of the Constitution 

must be done by the formal Amendment process or the 

holding of a Constitutional Convention...no other way is legal.

If we're going to ignore the U.S. Constitution because the 

document is not convenient, then I suggest we just throw 

it out.  Ignoring it, as has been done for decades, has the

 same effect.

p.s.  I'm not a Democrat or a Republican, nor a so-called 

"Liberal" or so-called "Conservative".  Those outdated 

labels essentially are meaningless in this time of the 

Oligarchy.

Be Well

Good News and Bad News

1.  After three years in prison and being beaten, tortured & initially held incommunicado for a month, earlier this year a Yemeni journalist by the name of Shaye finally was released.  It wouldn't surprise me if you've never heard of him; the Corporate Media here pretty much ignored the story.  Jeremy Scahill, a journalist for The Nation, covered the story in depth.  Shaye is the journalist who broke the story of the U.S. cruise missile attack in Yemen (a few years ago) that killed a couple dozen civilians.  Whether or not any of them were members of Al Qaeda is hotly contested.  Shaye was set to be pardoned in 2011, but Obama's intervention apparently put a stop to that.  The dictator of Yemen (one of our several Death-Squad-type allies), ever mindful of how to get more U.S. aid, caved in to Obama's "concern".  The journalist, Shaye, had been convicted of abetting terrorism, or some such similar fantasy...according to a number of non-corporate media.

2.  Jeremy Scahill's movie, Dirty Wars, has been short-listed for a possible Oscar nomination in the documentary film category.  [Scahill is the guy who, awhile back, exposed the gross misdeeds of the private security company Blackwater in Iraq.  The company has since changed their name.]  The film, which is superb, details the largely unknown operations of JSOC, the U.S. military's Joint Special Operations Command--- assassinations of SUSPECTS, unreported attacks on various groups, etc.  Whistle blowers are key to the content of the movie.  The piece is on Netflix, and probably can be found elsewhere online.

3.  The Corporate Media mostly missed or ignored this story yesterday.  In about 100 cities here in the USA, fast-food workers protested wages less than $8/hour by walking out and marching.  About half of all such workers also are on public assistance because of their low wages. This while the executives of such companies are subsidized by the U.S. taxpayer---companies get to deduct (on their taxes) "performance-based" bonuses paid to executives.  My guess: some lobbyist wrote that amendment to a legislative bill. Then it was passed by Congress and signed into law by the President.  Both FDR and Mussolini would have called that Fascism---the power of the State married to the power of BIG Business.

4.  In his second term as President, Obama continues his Justice Department's apparent policy of "too big to jail" relative to speculative banking fraud.  J.P. Morgan Chase recently was fined $13 BILLION dollars for NYSE violations, that is, misleading investors...purposely.  [With a fine that large, it makes one wonder what their annual net profit amounts to, given that they're still in business.]  Criminal investigations are "ongoing", but my best guess, don't hold your breath.  Not a single high-level mega bank executive has been criminally charged yet.

5.  Also in his second term as President, Obama continues his completely unconstitutional program of assassination of terrorist SUSPECTS.  Legally, only Congress can issue "Letters of Marque and Reprisal".  It's called Checks & Balances in our system of government.  Even as Commander-in-Chief, any President is limited by the Constitution...and again, no law supercedes the U.S. Constitution, not even the War Powers Act.  He's not a King, and never should be treated as one.

6.  In what seems to be an attempt to mollify the restless masses, just recently President Obama publicly expressed concern over "income inequality" in our land.  It sounds good, but I agree with John Pilger who said this, "Brand Obama...and it's all fake."... and this, "Don't listen to what he says.  Watch what he does.".

7.  As expressed by Jeremy Scahill, there is an ongoing, escalating war on journalism worldwide, that is, on non-corporate journalism.  [ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and even The News Hour on PBS mostly are safe from attack.]  Number 1. above is but one example.  In this country, the attacks usually are manifested as accusations of compromising "national security".  The National Security State appears to trump the First Amendment.  Even without that, the news is managed almost completely by the Corporate Media.  Whistle blowers usually are portrayed as somehow violating the "American Way", or worse, "National Security"...never mind that in most of those instances the Gov't is violating the U.S. Constitution, or mega companies are violating not only U.S. Law, but common decency as well.
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For the best possible newscast in the USA, I heartily recommend Democracy Now, the War and Peace Report, with Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzales.  They do not shrink from covering controversial subjects, and they do so in a manner not influenced by mega corporations.

Just my opinion.

The Endless War of All Wars, and Kill Lists

I just finished watching a 2013 documentary, "Dirty Wars", which is about U.S. covert operations in the so-called "War on Terrorism".  The film is by Jeremy Scahill, the guy who broke the story of abuses in Iraq by the private security company formerly known as Blackwater.  This is an excellent film.

In previous blogs, I've lamented the fact that our Outlaw Fed Gov't (those at the highest levels) orders the murder of terrorist SUSPECTS.  One of those was an American citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki (or perhaps more accurately, -Aulaqi).  Scahill points out that two weeks after Awlaki's murder, our Gov't killed another American citizen in another targeted assassination---Awlaki's 16-year-old son.  Gov't spokesmen claimed that the son's death was not intentional, but rather "collateral damage".  Perhaps...perhaps not.  Perhaps it was a weird type of "pre-emptive strike" because the Powers-That-Be were worried about what the kid might do in the future.  [The entire concept of pre-emptive strikes is atrocious; it's naked aggression while claiming to know the Future.]

The U.S. Constitution DOES permit targeted assassinations through the mechanism of "Letters of Marque and Reprisal".  Here's the catch, however---and this is crucial--- Letters of Marque and Reprisal can be issued only by the U.S. Congress, not by the Executive Branch.  So once again, our Fed Gov't (in this case, the President) is violating the Supreme Law of the Land.  My guess is that the justification for the President marking those suspects to be killed is some "law" or another.  So again, I'll point out that no law supercedes the Constitution...not the War Powers Act, or any other law.

Our Gov't now is engaged in a whole series of undeclared "wars" and is doing so in blatant violation of the Constitution.  We've attained the Machiavellian concept of Perpetual War, a tool used by rulers throughout History to maintain power and control the citizenry.  Very little of this is about "safety"; most of it is about Empire and money.  Neocolonialism, Oligarchy, nonparticipatory democracy, power, mega transnational business, Edward Bernays-style propaganda, and money for the super-rich are all the order of the day.  All adult Americans should be thoroughly ashamed.

Just my opinion.  Be Well