HOLLYWOOD EARTHQUAKE!

Hollywood Star disagrees with Obama's approach!

Another one out of the closet!  Oh, my!  This is not a good sign for Obama....beautiful people starting to feel liberated enough to disagree with him.  And, Angie Harmon is tired of having to defend herself against being called a racist for disagreeing with Obama....She's either so very beautiful and talented, or connected, that she doesn't have to worry about working again, or.......the game's up for Barry.

 AP

Angie Harmon

"Here's my problem with this, I'm just going to come out and say it. If I have anything to say against Obama it's not because I'm a racist, it's because I don't like what he's doing as President and anybody should be able to feel that way, but what I find now is that if you say anything against him you're called a racist," Harmon told Tarts at Thursday’s Los Angeles launch of the new eyelash-growing formula, Latisse. "But it has nothing to do with it, I don’t care what color he is. I’m just not crazy about what he's doing and I heard all about this, and he’s gonna do that and change and change, so okay … I'm still dressing for a recession over here buddy and we've got unemployment at an all-time high and that was his number one thing and that's the thing I really don't appreciate. If I'm going to disagree with my President, that doesn't make me a racist. If I was to disagree with W, that doesn't make me racist. It has nothing to do with it, it is ridiculous."

Speaking of dislikes, the starlet has also had enough of the double-standards in the media.

"I do think McCain would have done a better job, only because I think he has more experience. I also think if W or John McCain or Reagan would have gone and done a talk show, the backlash would have been so huge and in his face, and ‘What is our president doing? How unclassy!’ But Obama does it and no one says anything," Harmon said.

And in spite of the scornful opinions most of her Tinseltown counterparts have shared on Gov.Sarah Palin, Harmon remains a true fan.  "I admire any kind of woman like her. My whole motto is to know what I stand for and know what I don't stand for and have the courage to live my life accordingly and she does exactly that. The fact that this woman has made the decisions she's made and literally lived her life according to that and takes heat for it is absolutely disgusting to me," she added. "People cannot look at this woman. I really think they're afraid of her and her morals, ethics and values and the fact that she hangs on them. Is she the most experienced person in the world? But she was running to be the Vice President, so we then put the most inexperienced person as the President. That didn't make any sense to me."

However Harmon is definitely in the Hollywood minority when it comes to her criticism of Obama as other lasses at the Latisse party were quick to advocate their unequivocal support.

Story....

Why Stop At Wagoner?

Line 'em all up!


If Obama saw fit to to fire Rick Wagoner, why stop there? Let's get rid of all the dinosaurs, and go after the other party to the disaster that is GM, Chrysler, and to a large degree, Ford - Ron Gettelfinger of the UAW.

Gettelfinger's been a union leader since 1984 and a major architect of the disfunctional union rules, and the compensation and benefit structure that has been at the core of the industry's malady.  He's spoken against offering any givebacks until the current contract expires in 2011, despite the view by many analysts that his position would cause bankruptcy for the industry.

Oh, I forgot.  Gettlefinger was an Elector for Obama in 2008.

The War On Thought

Back to the Future....


George Orwell's "Animal Farm" and "1984" vividly illuminated how history can be easily revised by continuous repetition of unchallenged false statements and twisted language.  Unfortunately, his work is as relevant and needed today as it was in the 1940's, as illegal aliens are now called "undocumented workers" (soon to be shortened to just 'voters'), and the head of Homeland Security now calls terrorism, "man-caused disasters".

Another example of twisted language is the misappropriation of the term "Liberal"; no longer applying to those individuals who demand greater personal freedom and liberty for the citizenry, but misapplied to those whose main objective appears to be more and greater control of the citizenry by the state.

Mark Levin, a constitutional lawyer and syndicated broadcaster, wants to end the misuse of the label "Liberal", and instead, has named these people "Statists".  It appears to be an appropriate distinction.

"Statists" seek to increase the power of the State through a variety of methods: the imposition of higher taxes on specific segments of society and industries that are in their disfavor; increased restrictions on personal property ownership from autos to guns; elimination of choice over a wide range, from educational sources to even food choices; elimination of faith-based and conscience driven action, including health professionals' ability to not perform procedures based on their beliefs; censorship of radio shows, and substitution of politically correct euphemisms as a means of repositioning socially negative acts as socially beneficial.

Another chilling aspect of the "Statist" agenda is the increased number of citizens being absolved from taxation, yet receiving increased wealth transfer payments from this same "beneficent" government. Essentially  making them increasingly dependent on the whim of the state, and like the hooked addict, desirous of even more State entitilements.

Looking back on Orwell's "1984", it's even more important today that we have more characters like Orwell's "Winston Smith" questioning our government and its policies. In this quest, however, style has increasingly become higher valued than intellectual substance in evaluating critical issues.  As a society, we've become complacent in our responsibility to weigh the content, and instead prefer the packaging.  Our 4th Estate - the Press,  like Orwell's "Inner Party", is now generally monolithic in thought, has become increasingly linked with the Democrat Party, and is intellectually unchallenging.  It's members are more comfortable with applauding consensus and flowing along with their peers, than in thoughtful evaluation and investigative journalism.

Conservative broadcasters like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and others who challenge these "Statists", are demeaned and devalued because they eschew subtlety; lack nuance; focus on personal responsibility; applaud personal achievement and worst of all, encourage the "greedy" development of personal and family wealth. They also point out the hypocrisy of the "Statist's" actions, such as Obama's recent proposal to increase taxes on charitable donations under the guise of "fairness", while his real objectives are to confiscate more wealth to further his agenda, and eliminate private charity as the main source of funding for many social endeavors.

Andrew Brietbart, like Daniel in the den of lions, speaks out against the "Statists" from Hollywood, via his blog "Big Hollywood".  Here's a discussion between Andrew and Sean Hannity .  If the embedded video doesn't display, you can view the video here.

Weekend Report

It's been a long two weeks.....

I picked up a bug on the flight to NYC and the St. Patrick's Day parade last week, (which was great fun) and I've been dealing with the pest since then.  My son Jim politely 'nudged' me yesterday to get writing again, but between the bug in my head and the incredible number of assaults on liberty and sanity that the Obama camp has initiated, I told him that I felt as if I was being overrun by aggressors and didn't know which one to shoot at first.


Let's see if we can get a few shots off at some of the most egregious one's.....

• Obama signed the order allowing Federal funding of research on new lines of embryonic stem cells.  Thoughtlessly brushing aside the ethical issues of a majority of citizens that were the basis of the previous hold on creating human embryos for research as "ideology", Obama said "Now, this order is an important step in advancing the cause of science in America. But let's be clear: Promoting science isn't just about providing resources -- it's also about protecting free and open inquiry. It's about letting scientists like those who are here today do their jobs, free from manipulation or coercion, and listening to what they tell us, even when it's inconvenient -- ".  George Bush, recognizing the serious conflicting issues, had not only crafted an excellent compromise that respected the sanctity of human life, but was the first President to allow Federal funding of embryonic stem cells.  Obama, however, didn't remove ideology from the equation, he just moved the goal posts.
  
  Where Bush had put the stake in the ground  against taking potential human life based on ethics and morality, Obama merely rejects human cloning, but provides no higher grounding for the basis of his position except his personal belief, which I guess is subject to change on a whim  "And we will ensure that our government never opens the door to the use of cloning for human reproduction. It is dangerous, profoundly wrong, and has no place in our society, or any society."  Sure, just like the "Octo-mom" is a clear example of how government sponsored Medicaid controls prevented that assault on our sensibilities and wallet.
  
  Stem cell research is barreling along, funded by the National Institutes of Health, private investors, European governments and U.S. states. Federally funded embryo-destroying stem cell research would be a drop in the bucket. Why offend the religious beliefs of millions of Americans for such a small contribution?  Obama's action was purely designed to satisfy the abortion-wing of the Democrat party base.
  
  Further proving the needlessness of Obama's action, Researchers announced yesterday that they can create embryonic-like stem cells from human skin, eliminating the need to compromise on any ethical issues.
  
  
• Obama proposed a tax increase and deduction change that will decrease charitable giving.  His basis for his position is an Orwellian "fairness"!  Obama's definition of fairness?  "When I give $100, I get the same amount of deduction as when some -- a bus driver who's making $50,000 a year or $40,000 a year gives that same hundred dollars. Right now, he gets 28 percent -- he gets to write off 28 percent, I get to write off 39 percent. I don't think that's fair."  Notice that there wasn't any comment regarding the potential impact on the charities, or their constituents, who will be negatively affected by this proposal.
  
  Gregory Helvering explains the " double whammy": "By simultaneously increasing tax rates to 39.6 percent and decreasing the tax benefits of deductions to 28 percent, the government can (a) eliminate the increased tax incentive for giving and thus protect its new revenue; and (b) at the same time, reduce the tax benefit for the giving already occurring and thus generate even more money for the government.  The government keeps its higher revenues that might be reduced by increased contributions, while the charities see existing contributions fall (since the tax cost to contributors of even the existing level of contributions increases).  There is an effective shift of money from private charity to government -- the exact opposite of what would occur if there were only a single whammy (an increase in tax rates)."
  
  This is one more signal that the real motivation here is "Statism"; displacing private charity with State dolled-out benefits provides increased control over the disposition of greater amounts of your money, and targeted recipient groups.
  
  
• Think that there's going to be a major debate over "Cap-and-Trade" legislation and it's associated regressive tax implications on every item purchased by everyone in the country, regardless of income, or tax bracket?  WRONG!  Yesterday, the EPA under Obama, issued a "finding" that carbon dioxide is a pollutant that threatens human health and can thus be regulated under the 1990 Clean Air Act.  This is how Obama will "Change and Transform" America.
  
  This is an unprecedented assault on the citizenry of this country based on scientific fraud claiming that a basic element of our atmosphere, a byproduct of of human and animal life, and a necessary element for the majority of plant life on the on the planet, is now classified as a "pollutant".    If science were the driver of the issue, one would  have to ask why the EPA has not declared water vapor, dihydrogen monoxide, a more potent 'greenhouse' gas  a pollutant.
  
  Our industrial power and economic freedom are being taken away via bureaucratic fiat.  Our representative government has been usurped by Obama, who apparently answers to no one, but seems to lean towards a global government.
  
  
• The EPA's action coincide's with a broader UN assault on the economic order of wealth in the Democratic West.  Fox News reports that a United Nations document on "climate change" will be distributed next week that envisions a huge reordering of the world economy involving trillions of dollars in wealth transfer, millions of job losses and gains, new taxes industrial relocations, new tariffs, subsidies, and complicated greenhouse gas cap-and-trade schemes all under the control of the UN, as a successor to the Kyoto Treaty.  The Obama administration has said it supports the treaty process if, in the words of a U.S. State Department spokesman, it can come up with an "effective framework" for dealing with global warming.  The paper makes no effort to calculate the magnitude of the costs and disruption involved, but despite the discreet presentation, makes clear that they will reverberate across the entire global economic system.
  
  
• Obama and the Democrats have been acting like Madame Defarge, yelling "off with their heads" as they excoriate the managers of AIG and other financial entities that have received Government assistance during this crisis.  The loudest of these jackals were Obama ( who accepted over $100K from AIG);  Charlie Rangel who owes back taxes, misused subsidized NYC rental apartments, and  and tried to strong-arm AIG to fund a Center named for him at NY's City College; and last but not least, the fraud-encrusted Sen. Dodd who took the most money from AIG than anyone else in Congress (he actually just beat out Obama - but of course he had more time), and who also was surprised to find out that he was a VIP with Countrywide,  entitled to those low rates.  Oh, yes, he also finally admitted that he was the one who secured the wording in the Bill that allowed the existing contracts to be paid, that is, after he initially denied that he did.  What a crew!
  
  
• Our star tax-evading, Treasury Secretary, after a somewhat positively received plan for addressing the difficult to value legacy assets of the banks, revealed his lack of experience, and agreed with the Chinese that the Dollar should be replaced as the "de facto" international reserve currency, immediately sinking the Dollar and the stock market.   As the Wall Street Journal points out  "The dollar's status as a reserve currency gives the U.S. enormous advantages, and it should be protected ferociously by our public officials. It means we don't have to repay our debts in foreign currency and that our borrowing costs are cheaper. To the extent that the rest of the world follows a dollar standard, it also gives us far greater global sway."   This situation also pointed out the not-so-subtle admonition that the Chinese were giving Obama regarding his budget and the inordinate deficit financing he is planning that will not only debase the Dollar but as the world's reserve currency, will dramatically affect world trade.  We can only hope that Obama and the rest of his team quickly learn the difference between campaigning and governing.  Unfortunately, its not apparent that they will.
  
  
• The "Poster Child" for Government Health Insurance, the Massachusetts health care insurance program  initiated by Mitt Romney three years ago, is about to collapse, swallowing the state budget with it.  The program provides low- or no-cost coverage to about 165,000 residents, or three-fifths of the newly insured, and is budgeted at $880 million for 2010, a 7.3% single-year increase that is likely to be optimistic. The state's overall costs on health programs have increased by 42%  since 2006.   So.....they're now trying to figure out how to control costs, and guess how that's turning out?
  
  They've increased fines for those not signing up, increased taxes on smokers, raised fees, and now are  considering options to exclude coverage of services , limit coverage to services, or set a limitation on the total amount of money available for health care services - Rationing!  Oh, yes,  one other additional change....cutting the fees paid to providers.
  
  One of the main selling points of the plan was that the more people covered, the lower the costs.  But, increasing access and lowering costs are irreconcilable.  In addition, if they had said that they would have to cut fees paid to providers, they would have never gotten the support of the hospitals, doctors, and nurses that was essential to passing this legislation.
  
  Since the States have been touted as the testing labs for Federal programs, do you think anyone in the Obama camp is studying this? Do you think that they care?  I don't.  They want government controlled health care, and they don't care how they get it.  The financial crisis has just been Obama's first issue.  Brace yourself.  We're in for a lot more trouble.
  
  
• Chairman Mao had his "Red Guards", and Obama has his Acorn legions.   Over the weekend, Obama supporters knocked on over a million doors, engaging citizens in "discussion" over Obama's proposed budget.  Think about the intimidation factor involved in having an 'activist' in your face about supporting Obama.  It's kind'a like a friendly Union organizer asking you to sign a card to authorize a union vote.....they know where you live, and where your kids are.  Adding insult to injury in this affront to democracy, these Acorn thugs are being funded by your tax dollars.  This needs to be stopped.
  
  
  
• Obama was going to regain America's standing in the world (although we were actually doing pretty well with the countries who really count - the UK, Germany, France, and the rest of Europe and Japan).  Now that he's in office and been hitting the "Reset" button, we seem to be in trouble with all the above, and they're aghast at his relentless drive towards huge deficit budgets.  Plus North Korea won't return Hillary's phone calls and is threatening to launch a ballistic missile; Russia is threatening to militarize the Arctic; China is bumping our Navy ships; Chavez is inviting the Russians into Venezuela, and Iran is rushing towards building it's nuclear weaponry.
  
  Welcome to the neighborhood Barry!

Change?  You betcha!

Geithner Pumps, Market Jumps

The 'Treas' speaks, and the market leaps....

It's as if he spoke a new language today.......finally!

Tim Geithner and President Obama got a Mulligan today when the Market jumped 497 points on Secretary Geithner's plan to facilitate the movement of the bank's legacy assets off their books.  Now, we don't know if the jump was due to some kind of 'mojo' Geithner was using when he announced the plan, or if the market saw his plan as really good stuff.  I guess that only time will tell.

I'm still amazed that the plan did not include any change to the 'Mark-To-Market' FASB rules.  It would seem that if the banks would be able to value their legacy assets at cost for their capital reserve requirements, that it would allow them to reduce their need for government capital, and allow them the time to realize the true value of those assets as the market recovered.

It will also have to be seen if Congress has so poisoned the atmosphere with it's anti-business, anti-capitalism populism rhetoric; threats to summarily cancel contracts; create ex post facto legislation and bills of attainder to single out individuals to punish with tax legislation, that the private sector will be too leery to join in the dance macabre that Obama want them to join him in.

So far, there's been no indication that the public and private sectors can agree on co-investment terms, let alone agree on the value of the legacy assets under question.

Any of these issues would be difficult to hammer out in normal environments.  With the rabble roused and the bonfires lit over 'Wall Street's" supposed malfeasance, the Democrats will have one hell of a job to get this deal done, let alone done well.

We wish Secretary Geithner success in rolling out his plan.  We all need something to work.

Dealing WIth The Democrats

x

Like Gulliver being overwhelmed by the Lilliputians....


Reason and rational thought are being overwhelmed by the relentless obfuscations, misdirections, attacks, non sequitur's, purely partisan legislative initiatives, and non-truths being unleashed by the army of Obamacrats'  and their 5th Column in the 4th Estate, the apparent bull-pen for Obama's communications staff and the Democrat Party.

Let's take a look at the issues Obama and the Democrats have put up that need to be addressed:

• Signing the Omnibus Funding Bill was the most brazen act of hypocrisy committed by President Obama. Despite his oft-stated campaign promises to change the way that Washington worked and to go line-by-line through every budget and eliminate ear-marks, Obama, in a most sinister way, signed this pork-laden affront to the citizens of the United States with the sole comment that it had errors in it, and he'd do better next time.
  
  
• The Employee Free Choice Act (another Orwellian aspect of the Bill) was reintroduce in the Congress by the Democrats . Not only will this dishonestly named act eliminate freedom of choice for the workers by eliminating the secret ballot, but they've slyly included injected the government into collective bargaining. If a union and an employer can't agreee to their first contract in 120 days, the government will appoint a panel of arbitrators who will. An arbitration panel's power to dictate terms is virtually limitless. Such panels could impose uncompetitive wage rates and unworkable work rules. Arbitrators could also impose mandatory union dues and discharge for failure to pay. Neither of these elements are needed, unions currently win well over 50% of certification elections (In the first half of 2008, they won 67% of the time).  This Act is not only a pure political payback to the Unions for their support, but a highly injurious intrusion of the hand of government into private commerce.  If enacted, this will have a chilling and significantly negative impact on job growth in the U.S. There seems to be a direct correlation between states with high unionization and low job growth - Michigan being a prime example.
  
  
• President Obama, in signing the executive order allowing Federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, was not only ungracious in his comments regarding President Bush, but dishonest and cynically sly in his statements. As Charles Krauthammer points out in his column, "Bush had restricted federal funding for embryonic stem cell research [specifically]to cells derived from embryos that had already been destroyed (as of his speech of Aug. 9, 2001). While I favor moving that moral line to additionally permit the use of spare fertility clinic embryos, Obama replaced it with no line at all. He pointedly left open the creation of cloned -- and noncloned sperm-and-egg-derived -- human embryos solely for the purpose of dismemberment and use for parts."  Although many dismiss the concept of 'slippery slope', the historical reality shows up that when ethics are tossed aside, man can be an extraordinarily evil being. As Krauthammer points out, Dr. Mengle and Tuskegee are but a few examples. Obama's abdication of the role of an ethical parent by abandoning the decisions on dealing with human embryos, will be a stain on his legacy forever.
  
  
• This week, ostensibly "pro-nuclear" Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced the administration's decision to eliminate nuclear energy as a direction for our energy independence, by killing the nuclear-waste-storage site at Yucca Mountain in the Nevada desert. Chu said the project needed a "fresh look" and that "we can do a better job." That's an interesting perspective from a supposedly astute scientist, but then again, similar to Al Gore, he is a Nobel Laureate.
  
  The Yucca site has been studied for more than 20 years, undergoing $9.5 billion of tests by some 2,500 of the nation's leading scientists who gave it a clear green light to proceed for the following reason; it's in the middle of nowhere and has ideal meteorological conditions.  If after all that analysis we can't stockpile waste there, we won't be able to find another place.  At least not in our lifetimes.  As pointed out by Josh Gilder , "those billions of dollars of studies determined that 10,000 years from now the greatest annual radiation dose near Yucca Mountain as a result of deteriorating storage canisters would be 0.24 millirem. In a million years, it might get up to .9 millirem. Yet normal cosmic radiation delivers a dose of 26 millirems a year at sea level. If you moved from Manhattan to Denver, you'd be about doubling that."
  
  
• President Obama's Education agenda sounds great initially. I can't argue against calling for higher standards, more charter schools, merit pay, increased accountability and eliminating bad teachers.  However, as they say, the proof will be in the pudding.  The initial information that I've been able to get (and given it was from NPR...who could argue with it - smirk on my part) suggests that he's not being forthcoming.  It appears that his idea of evaluating teacher quality will be based on teachers completing some type of certification process managed by the NEA, as opposed to objective and credible and tested knowledge of the students. It appears that we have another credibility issue with this President.  The NEA, just like it's brethren in other unions, will be able to increase it's ability to shut out competition from non-union teachers and non-public schools.  This is not a surprise, given that by signing the Omnibus funding bill, he eliminated the Federally funded voucher program that allowed disadvantaged black children to continue their attendance at the Sidwell school where his own daughters are students.  As the Wall Street Journal reports , "The stimulus bill throws an unprecedented $100 billion at the nation's 14,000 school districts, but it subsidizes the status quo and demands little from recipients in return. The Milwaukee school system is receiving millions of dollars for additional school construction though it has excess capacity and stagnant enrollment. Detroit Public Schools, according to a recent Detroit Free Press story, "stands to reap $530 million -- $355 million with no strings attached -- from the federal stimulus package that will hand Michigan nearly $7 billion over two or three years. . . . In all, the state and local school districts could have at least $2.5 billion to spend as they see fit." (Our emphasis.)
  
  Detroit graduates a mere 24% of its students and has a history of corruption. Audits in 2001 and 2004 found $2.5 million missing or misspent, and the city's schools superintendent was fired in December for incompetence. How does shoveling hundreds of millions of dollars more into such a system advance Mr. Obama's reform agenda?"
  
  
• It always depends on whose ox is being gored.......It seems that the celebrities in Hollywood and New York believe in Supply-Side Economics, and they also give proof to the adage that when you tax things, you get less of them, and less tax revenue.   The Wall Street Journal  reports that "the actor Alec Baldwin recently rebuked New York Governor David Paterson for threatening to try to help close the state's $7 billion budget deficit by canceling a 35% tax credit for films shot in the Big Apple.
  
  "I'm telling you right now," Mr. Baldwin declared, "if these tax breaks are not reinstated into the budget, film production in this town is going to collapse, and television is going to collapse and it's all going to go to California." Well, well. Apparently taxes do matter, at least when it comes to filming "30 Rock" in Manhattan.  According to the Wall Street Journal, the Motion Picture Association of America states that "nearly 40 states have corporate tax carve outs, or generous cash rebates, to lure movie studios to their states.
  
  Of course, this is the same Hollywood film industry whose members fund causes and candidates that favor raising taxes on everyone else. The Motion Picture Production and Distribution industry last year gave $14 million in political contributions: 89% went to pro-tax Democrats. A few years ago, director Rob Reiner funded a successful California initiative to raise the state income tax rate to more than 10%. Unlike a film shoot, which can relocate on a moment's notice, your average small businessman in Encino is stuck paying the highest tax rate in the country -- at least until he gives up and moves to Reno."
  
  
• Joe Biden was correct,  President Obama is being tested, and it didn't take six months. He's been "flicked " by the Chinese, the Iranians, NATO, and the Russians already, but now the Cuban's and Chavez 'flicked' him too. They both announced that they would provide landing and support capabilities for Russian long-range Tu-160 Blackjack bombers, a supersonic, heavy bomber, designed to strike strategic targets with nuclear and conventional weapons deep in continental theaters of operation. Now the question is, how will he respond to these threats? And how will the rest of the world assess his reaction? Oh, yes, lest we forget, the Chinese upped their 'flicking' by Chinese Premier Wen Jaibao asking whether or not US Treasury Bills were safe. "There’s no safer investment in the world than in the United States,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said today. Wen earlier said he is “worried” about his country’s holdings of U.S. government debt. China held $696 billion of U.S. government securities at the end of last year, 46 percent more than 12 months earlier.  Expect this subject to be raised often and loud by the Chinese if Obama doesn't respond effectively, and that doesn't mean just saying "our IOU's are good".
  
  
• Maxine Waters has once again displayed tremendous insensitivity, if not actual ethical violations as a result of her actions associated with OneUnited, a Black-owned bank.  If one were to follow the Attorney General,  Eric Holder's advice to not be a coward and discuss race issues, this would be one of those 'magic moments".  Representative Waters actions, if done by a white person, would have that person subjest to a Judicial investigation, and rightly so.  The question is, will the Democrats have the fortitude to do the right thing.  My guess is that they won't, and she will continue in her corrupt ways.
  
  
• Obama has now created a rift between what he said he was going to do, and what he's done.
  First, he said he was going to eliminate earmarks and go through the budget to eliminate pork.
  He did just the opposite.
  Second, he was going to be bi-partisan.
  Aside from offering a few drinks at the White House, he hasn't been.  In fact, he's been exceedingly politically partisan.
  Third, ethics reform was a big deal for him during the campaign.  He couldn't stop bashing lobbyists as the main culprits of our governmental problems.  Well, not only did he nominate lobbyists to key positions, the majority of his nominees have been tax evaders, or cheats.  Nice start, can't wait to see what happens when he gets a real feel for the job.  His Cabinet and Congress will really look like the Star Wars bar scene.
  
  
• I'm convinced that one of the fundamental elements of the financial crises has been the requirement for banks and other financial institutions to mark their assets to market.  In November I called for this FASB regulation to be changed, and recently their have been others  calling for the same action. The reason that our banks need more capital, is that the government has required them to value their assets backed by mortgages to zero, because there isn't any market for them right now.  Those assets are worth a lot more than zero, and you and I would both love to have ownership of them.  Allow the banks to value their assets appropriately, and the financial crises would end tomorrow.  Of course we'd still have to rebuild the economy, but at least Barny Frank, Chris Dodd, Maxine Waters, and Barack Obama wouldn't be as much in the way.
  
  
• Ending on a classic view of this nation at it's journalistic best, here's the Chris Matthews – Ari Fleischer smack down.  Ari wins.....
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
  
  

And that's just one week's worth of issues (if I hadn't run out of time, Iraq, Iran, and the whole global climate change fiasco would have listed too.)

Republicans Are From Venus, Conservatives Are From Mars

The Conservative - Republican Kerfuffle

The following is for those with any interest in the Conservative and Republican scuffling-around while outside the halls of power. Others, can click off now.

There’s been a lot of discussion and commentary on the subject of Republican Party leadership and Conservatism the past few weeks, and Dan Flynn’s following article in the Spectator, illustrates the kerfuffle that’s going on between Conservatives and Republicans (separate entities) to effectively articulate their relative positions. I think that both are seeking an effective way to present themselves to the broader public, with the ultimate goal of winning hearts and minds. My view of the difference between the Conservative and Republican Party entities is more fundamental than usually presented, and not effectively explained by employing the term Far-Right as an element of the commentary, although I do believe that there is a Far-Right, just as there are Communists. A better descriptive may be the term ‘Resolved’… as in a firm position.


It seems to me that a significant element of the quibble is that in general, most Conservatives prefer to see principles determine policies, while many Republicans are comfortable embracing their opposition’s policies in the pursuit of their own more flexible principles..…


Many Conservatives favor a clearer presentation and evangelization of the ‘why’ of Conservative principles, believing that if understood, they would be preferred by a majority, and if implemented, they would enable a much improved and effective society. Preferring to convert, not necessarily rule, and in general, believing that principles are immutable and not subject to compromise.


Many Republicans, although oriented towards Conservative concepts, are more interested in the process of wresting political power for their Party in order to implement their preferred policies, and as a result, are amenable to compromise. To those so oriented, less of a ‘bad’ policy is ok, if that’s what gets them elected. They can work with being ‘Liberal - Light’, as they see society being on a trajectory of inexorable value changes, and their main goal becomes just slowing that train down, while getting themselves holding the throttle. Being optimists, they harbor the fantasy that in time it just might eventually be possible to stop the ‘train’ and turn it around. Resolved Conservatives believe that getting on a track that Liberals have laid out, even for just a short run, is a one way journey they don’t want to start.


For both groups, this period will be an uncomfortable and disjointed period without a lot of focus, or feeling of accomplishment. Someone will ultimately emerge who'll be able to reconcile both sides, once again, into a formidable political movement that will seize that throttle back. Hopefully, it won’t be too late.


Dead Wrong
By Daniel J. Flynn on 3.12.09 @ 6:09AM

Dead Wrong  

By Daniel J. Flynn on 3.12.09 @ 6:09AM

Newsweek's favorite conservatives are either dead or not very conservative. Its obituary of Bill Buckley serves as exhibit A. The current David Frum-penned cover story, featuring a muzzling "Enough!" that covers talk-host Rush Limbaugh's moneymaker, is exhibit B.

"I'm a conservative Republican," writes Frum. "I volunteered for the Reagan campaign in 1980. I've attended every Republican convention since 1988. I was president of the Federalist Society chapter at my law school, worked on the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal and wrote speeches for President Bush -- not the 'Read My Lips' Bush, the 'Axis of Evil' Bush. I served on the Giuliani campaign in 2008 and voted for John McCain in November. I supported the Iraq War and (although I feel kind of silly about it in retrospect) the impeachment of Bill Clinton. I could go on, but you get the idea."

Indeed, he could go on. Frum supported the banker bailout. He wrote last September, "I say 'aye' to the proposed national debt bailout -- and a big shout out to Rep. Barney Frank, one of its early authors, who has been a prescient early voice on the need for a big solution to a big problem." He is pro abortion-rights: "I am not pro-life. I think abortion ought to be legal for the first 12 weeks of a pregnancy and available to protect the health of the mother during the weeks thereafter. I don't see this as a matter of fundamental human rights, so much as one of accommodating reality." In his latest volume of advice to conservatives, Comeback: Conservatism That Can Win Again, he advises them to get over their fixation of lowering income-tax rates and offers a massive "carbon tax" as a way of promoting "green conservatism."

David Frum, in other words, isn't very conservative these days. One might say he has evolved. Twelve years ago, for instance, Frumbrilliantly schooled Andrew Sullivan in an online debate over gay marriage. Now, despite ballot rejections of homosexual marriage in such deep-blue states as California, Michigan, and Oregon, Frum inexplicably argues that the gay marriage train has left the station and it’s time for conservatives to, if not get on board, at least get out of the way.

Frum's embrace of various liberal positions doesn't make him a dummy, or an unskilled writer, or someone who should be excluded from a necessary conversation among self-identified conservatives about the direction of their wayward movement. It just makes him rather hubristic to envision himself as a general giving marching orders, or as a pope issuing excommunications, to a movement he no longer has much use for.

The piece suffers from the same delusion its writer has: the conflation of the cultural and policy objectives of the conservative movement with the electoral success of the Republican Party. The first six years of the Bush presidency have cured some conservatives of that delusion, but not Frum -- as the article's interchangeable use of "conservative movement" and "Republican Party" demonstrates. This common error does more to explain the conservative movement's sorry state than any "aggressive," "bombastic," "cutting," or "sarcastic" utterance of the talk-radio king.

Frum's premise is one that nobody privately accepts: Rush Limbaugh is the leader of the Republican Party. As Frum notes, this is a useful notion for Barack Obama and Rush Limbaugh. It allows the president to hand-select his opposition, with the hand-selected opponent naturally going along with the flattery. It's good for the president's Gallup poll numbers and the talkmeister's Arbitron ratings. Unstated is that the situation also presents an opportunity for a writer to land space in a mass-circulation liberal magazine by trading on his credibility as a "conservative" voice to mouth ideas soothing to the editors at that mass-circulation liberal magazine.

Frum points out that Limbaugh is a fat, thrice-divorced, cigar smoker who once had a major drug problem. Ad hominem masquerades as argument, as so many talk-radio critics imagine it does on the airwaves, in the pages of Newsweek. The pot calls the kettle black throughout.

The Newsweek article informs, "In the conservative world, we have a tendency to dismiss unwelcome realities. When one of us looks up and murmurs, 'Hey, guys, there seems to be an avalanche heading our way,' the others tend to shrug and say, he's a 'squish' or a RINO -- Republican in Name Only." Or how about an "Unpatriotic Conservative"? It neither occurs to Frum that he once served as the chief enforcer of the very real narrow-mindedness that he now castigates, nor dawns on him that the avalanche "heading our way" has already hit.

For Frum, it's not the failed president he dubbed "the right man," or the far-fetched utopian military crusades he advocated as "an end to evil," but Rush Limbaugh who is to blame for the Republican Party's sorry state. It's worth remembering that Limbaugh is neither a new phenomenon nor at the apex of his influence (Remember the bestsellers? The magazine covers? The late-night television show?), which makes laying the blame for the Republican Party's current woes on a radio host in national syndication since the Reagan years a rather dubious proposition.

Frum's Bush-worshipping book, Torquemada-like intolerance of Iraq war dissent, and big-government conservatism is what got conservatism into the mess. Just as Rush Limbaugh serves as a useful distraction from the president's economic woes, the radio yakker serves as a useful distraction from the destructive role Frum has played within the conservative movement during the Bush presidency.

When liberals adopt you as their token conservative, kiss your credibility among conservatives goodbye and say hello to writing gigs at the Atlantic, appearances on Keith Olbermann's program, and lectures at the Kennedy School of Government. David Brooks, who serves as the house conservative to both PBS's News Hour and theNew York Times op-ed page, could have told David Frum this. To be the liberals' favorite conservative is usually an indication of just how alienated from conservatism one really is.

Obama's Getting Flicked

Flick!
When I was a kid in grammar school, one of the indications of personal status in the pecking order was whether one was a 'flicker', or 'flickee'.  Flicking is the process of snapping either the pointer or middle finger on the most prominent part of another's ear.  It's application although not painful, depending on circumstances, can be shocking, annoying, or embarrassing to the one being 'flicked'.  If you were flicked, you either had to retaliate in some way - preferably in an highly escalated way, or you would be subject to ever increasing personal jabs, pokes, punches, or some higher order of humiliations and painful personal experiences throughout the course of your school experience.

It apparent that the Obama Administration is being 'flicked' by a number of entities globally, testing his astuteness and resolve on some very specific issues.

Russia, very early on has 'flicked' Obama on asserting it's hegemony over the former Soviet satellites; it's assertion of claims on presumed oil-rich Arctic seabed territory; and it's support of Iran's nuclear capability development by selling them tools an services.  China 'flicked' President Obama yesterday by harassing the U.S. Navel research vessel USNS Impeccable.  Interestingly, this comes immediately on the heels of Sec.of State Clinton's visit, during which she indicated the Obama regime's diminished interest in supporting human rights suppression in China.  Iran's recent dismissal of Obama's overtures was a clear 'flick,' and some would say an even ruder gesture.

The escalation of attacks in Afghanistan and Iraq, although on a higher level and deadly, can also be viewed as 'flicks' by the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

Without appropriate response to these 'flicks', we can expect that the Russians, Chinese, Taliban, and Al Qaeda will progressively turn up their tests of President Obama's resolve and willingness to absorb offensive acts against the interests of the U.S.  And just as in the school yard, if the 'flickee' does not react with appropriate force, not only will the abuses increase in intensity and frequency, but those who were once thought of as friends and allies will join in the 'flicking' process.  After the abysmal lack of appropriate courtesy and protocol shown to P.M. Brown and therefor the UK during his visit last week, it will be interesting to gauge their posture towards the US as these acts of testing Obama increase, as they will inevitably do.

The Constitution of the United States of America

It's such a magnificent document, that every so often, we should just read it again....

Preamble	Article 3	Amendment 1	Amendment 15
Article 1	Section 1	Amendment 2	Amendment 16
Section 1	Section 2	Amendment 3	Amendment 17
Section 2	Section 3	Amendment 4	Amendment 18
Section 3	Article 4	Amendment 5	Amendment 19
Section 4	Section 1	Amendment 6	Amendment 20
Section 5	Section 2	Amendment 7	Amendment 21
Section 6	Section 3	Amendment 8	Amendment 22
Section 7	Section 4	Amendment 9	Amendment 23
Section 8	Article 5	Amendment 10	Amendment 24
Section 9	Article 6	Amendment 11	Amendment 25
Section 10	Article 7	Amendment 12	Amendment 26
Article 2		Amendment 13	Amendment 27
Section 1		Amendment 14
Section 2
Section 3
Section 4

---

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Article I

Section 1.

All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

Section 2.

The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states, and the electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature.
No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state in which he shall be chosen.
Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. The number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each state shall have at least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the state of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.
When vacancies happen in the Representation from any state, the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies.
The House of Representatives shall choose their speaker and other officers; and shall have the sole power of impeachment.

Section 3.

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each state, chosen by the legislature thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote.
Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the first election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three classes. The seats of the Senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the second year, of the second class at the expiration of the fourth year, and the third class at the expiration of the sixth year, so that one third may be chosen every second year; and if vacancies happen by resignation, or otherwise, during the recess of the legislature of any state, the executive thereof may make temporary appointments until the next meeting of the legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies.
No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state for which he shall be chosen.
The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided.
The Senate shall choose their other officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the office of President of the United States.
The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two thirds of the members present.
Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States: but the party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment, according to law.

Section 4.

The times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing Senators.
The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.

Section 5.

Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner, and under such penalties as each House may provide.
Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two thirds, expel a member.
Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their judgment require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of either House on any question shall, at the desire of one fifth of those present, be entered on the journal.
Neither House, during the session of Congress, shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.

Section 6.

The Senators and Representatives shall receive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the United States. They shall in all cases, except treason, felony and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other place.
No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time: and no person holding any office under the United States, shall be a member of either House during his continuance in office.

Section 7.

All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments as on other Bills.
Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a law, be presented to the President of the United States; if he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a law. But in all such cases the votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each House respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law.
Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the same shall take effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill.

Section 8.

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;
To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States;
To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;
To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States;
To establish post offices and post roads;
To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;
To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;
To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations;
To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;
To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;
To provide and maintain a navy;
To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces;
To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings;--And
To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.

Section 9.

The migration or importation of such persons as any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person.
The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.
No bill of attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.
No capitation, or other direct, tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken.
No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any state.
No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the ports of one state over those of another: nor shall vessels bound to, or from, one state, be obliged to enter, clear or pay duties in another.
No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law; and a regular statement and account of receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published from time to time.
No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States: and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.

Section 10.

No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility.
No state shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it's inspection laws: and the net produce of all duties and imposts, laid by any state on imports or exports, shall be for the use of the treasury of the United States; and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of the Congress.
No state shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops, or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another state, or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay.

Article II

Section 1.

The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same term, be elected, as follows:
Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector.
The electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves. And they shall make a list of all the persons voted for, and of the number of votes for each; which list they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person having the greatest number of votes shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if there be more than one who have such majority, and have an equal number of votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately choose by ballot one of them for President; and if no person have a majority, then from the five highest on the list the said House shall in like manner choose the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by States, the representation from each state having one vote; A quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. In every case, after the choice of the President, the person having the greatest number of votes of the electors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal votes, the Senate shall choose from them by ballot the Vice President.
The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes; which day shall be the same throughout the United States.
No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty five years, and been fourteen Years a resident within the United States.
In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation or inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what officer shall then act as President, and such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.
The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services, a compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that period any other emolument from the United States, or any of them.
Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the following oath or affirmation:--"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."

Section 2.

The President shall be commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when called into the actual service of the United States; he may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.
He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law: but the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments.
The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session.

Section 3.

He shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper; he shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers; he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the officers of the United States.

Section 4.

The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.

Article III

Section 1.

The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of the supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behaviour, and shall, at stated times, receive for their services, a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.

Section 2.

The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority;--to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls;--to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction;--to controversies to which the United States shall be a party;--to controversies between two or more states;--between a state and citizens of another state;-- between citizens of different states;--between citizens of the same state claiming lands under grants of different states, and between a state, or the citizens thereof, and foreign states, citizens or subjects.
In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in which a state shall be party, the Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions, and under such regulations as the Congress shall make.
The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by jury; and such trial shall be held in the state where the said crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any state, the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law have directed.

Section 3.

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.
The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason, but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture except during the life of the person attainted.

Article IV

Section 1.

Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state. And the Congress may by general laws prescribe the manner in which such acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof.

Section 2.

The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states.
A person charged in any state with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another state, shall on demand of the executive authority of the state from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime.
No person held to service or labor in one state, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due.

Section 3.

New states may be admitted by the Congress into this union; but no new states shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other state; nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more states, or parts of states, without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned as well as of the Congress.
The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any particular state.

Section 4.

The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence.

Article V

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.

Article VI

All debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation.
This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.

Article VII

The ratification of the conventions of nine states, shall be sufficient for the establishment of this Constitution between the states so ratifying the same.
Done in convention by the unanimous consent of the states present the seventeenth day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven and of the independence of the United States of America the twelfth. In witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names,

G. Washington	- Presidt. and deputy from Virginia
New Hampshire:	John Langdon, Nicholas Gilman
Massachusetts:	Nathaniel Gorham, Rufus King
Connecticut:	Wm. Saml. Johnson, Roger Sherman
New York:	Alexander Hamilton
New Jersey:	Wil. Livingston, David Brearly, Wm. Paterson, Jona. Dayton
Pennsylvania:	B. Franklin, Thomas Mifflin, Robt. Morris, Geo. Clymer, Thos. FitzSimons, Jared Ingersoll, James Wilson, Gouv Morris
Delaware:	Geo. Read, Gunning Bedford jr, John Dickinson, Richard Bassett, Jaco. Broom
Maryland:	James McHenry, Dan of St Thos. Jenifer, Danl Carroll
Virginia:	John Blair, James Madison Jr.
North Carolina:	Wm. Blount, Richd. Dobbs Spaight, Hu Williamson
South Carolina:	J. Rutledge, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Charles Pinckney, Pierce Butler
Georgia:	William Few, Abr Baldwin

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Amendments to the Constitution of the United States

Amendment I (1791)

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment II (1791)

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

Amendment III (1791)

No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Amendment IV (1791)

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Amendment V (1791)

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment VI (1791)

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

Amendment VII (1791)

In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Amendment VIII (1791)

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Amendment IX (1791)

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment X (1791)

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.

Amendment XI (1798)

The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens of another state, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign state.

Amendment XII (1804)

The electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate;--The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted;--the person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.

Amendment XIII (1865)

Section 1.

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 2.

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Amendment XIV (1868)

Section 1.

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Section 2.

Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state.

Section 3.

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Section 4.

The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any state shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Section 5.

The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Amendment XV (1870)

Section 1.

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Section 2.

The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Amendment XVI (1913)

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several states, and without regard to any census of enumeration.

Amendment XVII (1913)

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each state, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislatures.
When vacancies happen in the representation of any state in the Senate, the executive authority of such state shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, that the legislature of any state may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.
This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.

Amendment XVIII (1919)

Section 1.

After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.

Section 2.

The Congress and the several states shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Section 3.

This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several states, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the states by the Congress.

Amendment XIX (1920)

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Amendment XX (1933)

Section 1.

The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin.

Section 2.

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall begin at noon on the 3d day of January, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.

Section 3.

If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become President. If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term, or if the President elect shall have failed to qualify, then the Vice President elect shall act as President until a President shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice President elect shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice President shall have qualified.

Section 4.

The Congress may by law provide for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the House of Representatives may choose a President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them, and for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the Senate may choose a Vice President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them.

Section 5.

Sections 1 and 2 shall take effect on the 15th day of October following the ratification of this article.

Section 6.

This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several states within seven years from the date of its submission.

Amendment XXI (1933)

Section 1.

The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.

Section 2.

The transportation or importation into any state, territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.

Section 3.

This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several states, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the states by the Congress.

Amendment XXII (1951)

Section 1.

No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.

Section 2.

This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several states within seven years from the date of its submission to the states by the Congress.

Amendment XXIII (1961)

Section 1.

The District constituting the seat of government of the United States shall appoint in such manner as the Congress may direct:A number of electors of President and Vice President equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives in Congress to which the District would be entitled if it were a state, but in no event more than the least populous state; they shall be in addition to those appointed by the states, but they shall be considered, for the purposes of the election of President and Vice President, to be electors appointed by a state; and they shall meet in the District and perform such duties as provided by the twelfth article of amendment.

Section 2.

The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Amendment XXIV (1964)

Section 1.

The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.

Section 2.

The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Amendment XXV (1967)

Section 1.

In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.

Section 2.

Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.

Section 3.

Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.

Section 4.

Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.

Amendment XXVI (1971)

Section 1.

The right of citizens of the United States, who are 18 years of age or older, to vote, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of age.

Section 2.

The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Amendment XXVII (1992)

No law varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives shall take effect until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.