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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 Defence 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 an 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...

The Tenth Amendment is a guarantee of the covenant between the states whose representatives framed and ratified the Constitution and the new central government created by the Constitution. The Constitution is the covenant which contains that solemn agreement. The agreement between the several states and the new central government created by the Constitution was really much more than a “deal” as it has sometimes been called. For those civil governments were governments which saw themselves as under God’s authority, as subject to His providential blessings or chastisements for their faithful obedience or unfaithful disobedience to His eternal standards of rightness...

Herein granted The point of this posting is to solicit comments, opinions, and hopefully facts why the words “herein granted” where included in Article 1. Section 1. of the United States Constitution. Article 1. Section 1. could have omitted those two words, “herein granted” and still established the Congress as the legislative branch of government. Let’s begin by assuming that the words of Article 1. Section 1. are as follows :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. If we can agree, just...

Carol Browner, who headed the Environmental Protection Agency under President Bill Clinton, has been named by Barack Obama to be his Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change. This new and undefined office could give her broad influence over economic policy. That is a frightening prospect, not merely because of her participation in a group with overtly socialist ties, but because of the way hostile foreign powers such as China are manipulating the modern Green movement to serve their own national purposes. http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=1051A58C-1F0D-4574-AFF6-C283D4D6FE83

As the partisan Legislative branch seeks to invade the inner offices of the Executive, a review of the separation of powers issue is timely: “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, selfappointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny. Were the federal Constitution, therefore, really chargeable with the accumulation of power, or with a mixture of powers, having a dangerous tendency to such an accumulation, no further arguments would be necessary to inspire a universal reprobation of the system. I...

Just saw her on the Big Story with John Gibson. She seems like a really angry, sad, pathetic young blonde 'rat hack. She constantly talked over another guest and seemed to blame the Republican party for Mark Foley. Where is she from?

Often the most difficult things to see are those hidden in plain sight. Though rarely reported, the violation of checks and balances attributed to the executive branch by the Democrat-led Congress is actually getting perpetrated by the accusers themselves. They're like an intruding neighbor who charges you with trespassing because you leaned into his yard while throwing him out of your own.

Congress' power to oversee the executive branch for lawlessness or maladministration stands at an abyss. If it neglects to enact a revised edition of the lapsed Independent Counsel Act of 1978, Congress will have been disarmed by President Bush from knowing what the executive branch is doing. Secret government will flourish. And darkness invites executive machinations to violate the law and to destroy political or personal rivals. Remember President Richard M. Nixon's ill-conceived Huston Plan recommending domestic burglaries, illegal electronic surveillances and mail openings of political radicals. President Bush has announced his intent to decline criminal contempt prosecutions of any...

WASHINGTON - President Bush is giving an obscure White House office new powers this month over a wide range of regulations affecting health, worker safety and the environment. Calling it a power grab, Democrats running Congress are intent on stopping him. Bush's order would require regulators to show that private markets had failed to address a targeted problem before they went after it themselves. The House voted last week to prohibit the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs from spending federal money on the order. Officially known as Executive Order 13422, Bush signed the directive in January and it is...

Below is an excerpt from Chuck Baldwin's latest about President Bush. See the source. ------------------------------- Then again, perhaps George Bush knows something we don't know. Writing for World Net Daily, Dr. Jerry Corsi reports that President Bush has just signed a Presidential Directive that would give the President dictatorial powers should he decide to declare a "national emergency." Corsi writes, "President Bush, without so much as issuing a press statement, on May 9 signed a directive that granted near dictatorial powers to the office of the president in the event of a national emergency declared by the president. "The 'National...

LAW OF THE LAND Order for emergencies apparently gives authority without congressional oversight President Bush has signed an executive order granting extraordinary powers to the office of the president in the event of a declared national emergency, apparently without congressional approval or oversight. The order was signed May 9 without any announcement, says Jerome R. Corsi in a WND column. Titled, "National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive," it was issued with the dual designation of NSPD-51, as a National Security Presidential Directive, and HSPD-20, as a Homeland Security Presidential Directive. The order establishes under the office of the president...

The Ministry of Defence has defended decision to carry out tests to find out whether psychic powers could be used to detect hidden objects. The previously secret tests - conducted in 2002 - involved blind-folding volunteers and asking them about the contents of sealed brown envelopes. Most subjects consistently failed to establish what was in the envelopes. The MoD said the study was to assess claims made in academic circles and found the theories had "little value". Revelations about the hitherto secret research is contained in a previously classified report released under the Freedom of Information Act. During the tests,...

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's Congress delayed by a day on Tuesday its vote to give President Hugo Chavez decree powers enabling him to nationalize oil and utility assets and press his drive to turn Venezuela into a socialist state. Congress, which has no opposition lawmakers due to a boycott of elections in 2005, had been set to approve the measure on Tuesday but postponed action until Wednesday to hold an unusual open-air voting session in Caracas's central square -- increasing public exposure. If passed as expected, the vote will empower Chavez for 18 months to issue decrees expected to overhaul...

Mary Katherine Ham of Town Hall.com, Michelle Malkin, the "boss" of Hotair.com, Kirsten Powers of Fox News Channel fame, and La Shawn Barber, a black conservative who has her own blog discuss abortion, crisis pregnancy centers, and other related issues.

Mary Katherine Ham of Town Hall.com, Michelle Malkin, the "boss" of Hotair.com, Kirsten Powers of Fox News Channel fame, and La Shawn Barber, a black conservative who has her own blog discuss the never-ending Foley matter.

WASHINGTON – Supreme Court justices appeared troubled Tuesday by President Bush's plans to hold war-crimes trials for foreigners held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. And several seemed outraged by the government's claim that a new law had stripped the high court of authority to hear a case brought by Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni who once worked as a driver for Osama bin Laden. Hamdan has spent nearly four years in the U.S. prison at Guantanamo, and the Supreme Court has been asked to decide if he can be put on trial with fewer legal protections before a type of military...

WASHINGTON - The Senate on Wednesday cleared the path for renewing the USA Patriot Act, swatting aside objections while adding new protections for people targeted by government investigations. The overwhelming votes virtually assured that Congress will renew President Bush's antiterror law before it expires March 10. The House was expected to pass the legislation and send the bill to the president next week. The law's opponents, who insisted the new protections were cosmetic, conceded defeat. "The die has now been cast," acknowledged the law's chief opponent, Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., after the Senate voted 84-15 to end his filibuster. "Obviously...

WASHINGTON – Vice President Dick Cheney on Tuesday called for "strong and robust" presidential powers, saying executive authority was eroded during the Watergate and Vietnam eras. Some lawmakers objected that President Bush's decision to spy on Americans to foil terrorists showed he was flexing more muscle than the Constitution allows. The revelations of Bush's four-year-old order approving domestic surveillance without court warrants has spurred a fiery debate over the balance of power between the White House, Congress and the judiciary. "I believe in a strong, robust executive authority and I think that the world we live in demands it," Cheney...

ABOARD AIR FORCE II - Vice President Dick Cheney on Tuesday vigorously defended the Bush administration's use of secret domestic spying and efforts to expand presidential powers, saying "it's not an accident that we haven't been hit in four years." Talking to reporters aboard his government plane as he flew from Islamabad, Pakistan to Muscat, Oman on an overseas mission, Cheney said a contraction in the power of the presidency since the Vietnam and Watergate era must be reversed. "I believe in a strong, robust executive authority and I think that the world we live in demands it. And to...

Sydney police 'to get new powers' Police have already made a number of arrests Police in Sydney will be given tough new powers to crack down on rioters, the New South Wales premier has said. The state parliament will meet on Thursday "to deal with criminals and thugs who are causing disturbances across our city", said Morris Iemma. He was speaking after a second night of race riots left seven people injured. Gangs of young men of Middle Eastern appearance rampaged through the suburb of Cronulla, in apparent revenge for attacks by white youths on Sunday. In the adjacent suburb...

KAZAN, August 26 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Vladimir Putin told the State Council Friday that he had asked the Cabinet to speed up work on the bill delegating some of the federal government's powers to regional authorities. Putin said that increasing the role and independence of the provinces was a long-term goal possible to achieve only if all the branches of the government worked toward it together. The list of powers vested in regional governments should be extended, he said, adding that a State Council ad hoc group had discussed the issue with Cabinet ministers earlier in the week....

"War of the Worlds" Spielberg-esque Message: Don't Fight Terror By Debbie Schlussel I'm violating Steven Spielberg's review policy for "War of the Worlds" and telling you what I think ahead of tomorrow's scheduled release date. I saw the movie at a press screening, last night, and was disturbed by the message: Don't fight terror, and everything will work out. (Security was literally tighter than that for going to the White House to meet the President. No purses allowed. Three wandings by security.) It's bad enough that Steven Spielberg is adding "balance" and factual inaccuracy to the story of the Israeli...

A well-known conservative and founder of the grassroots public policy organization Eagle Forum says it is not as important to get people of a particular political camp appointed to the federal bench as it is to limit what judges will have the jurisdiction to rule on once they get there. Political commentators agree that the long-threatened Senate filibuster showdown and the tentative compromise that was eventually reached were all about one thing -- the imminent battle over the likely appointments of judges to the U.S. Supreme Court in the next few years. Most pundits seem to feel everything depends on...

World Powers in 2030? a shift in the balance of power continues Those who grew up during the Cold War may have trouble keeping up with shifts among major world powers. Some still think that Russia will reemerge as a superpower, even though it is not even one the world's top 15 economic powers. One may dismiss Japan as a major military power, not realizing that it is the world's second largest economic power whose military spending exceeds that of China. The respected Economist magazine recently published: "World in Figures, 2004." Data has been extracted from this book to provide...

First, let us understand what the Terri Schiavo matter was not about: Despite ideological diatribes from David Corn at The Nation, this was not "an ugly big-government attempt to intervene in a family conflict" designed to appease "religious right crusaders." Despite ranting from Robert Scheer, also at The Nation, this was not "egregious political opportunism and shameless trafficking in human misery," and the citation of dubious polls won't validate Scheer's hope that the majority of Americans want to see a helpless woman starved to death by judicial order. And despite hysteria from the Los Angeles Times, this was not "a...

So far, it appears Judge Greer has been given the power to let Michael Shiavo starve Terri Shiavo to death. Here are some links about Greer: http://www.jud6.org/Addresses/JudgesPhoneNumbers/judgeaddressandphonelist.htm http://www.theempirejournal.com/0228051_petition_seeks_impeachme.htm http://www.hospicepatients.org/wwwboard/messages/330.htm http://www.earnedmedia.org/tf0311.htm http://www.terrisfight.net/ http://www.anncoulter.org/ This is a petition to remove Greer. http://www.PetitionOnline.com/ijg520/ As for what can be done for Terri, here is the Florida Constitution: http://www.flsenate.gov/Statutes/index.cfm?Mode=Constitution&Submenu=3&Tab=statutes#A04S01 Here's what Governor Jeb Bush can do under the Florida Constitution. ARTICLE IV EXECUTIVE (a) The supreme executive power shall be vested in a governor, who shall be commander-in-chief of all military forces of the state not in active service of the United States. The governor...

Spring Breakers are not easily offended, but even they will admit some behavior crosses the line. "We saw two people actually having sex in the sand," said Nat Gale from Hartford, Conn. "Their friends were all around them. Everyone was trying not to look but they were looking." Because nobody complained to authorities, it's questionable whether the couple could have been convicted of committing a lewd and lascivious act. Florida courts have ruled that an unsuspecting member of the public must be offended before somebody can be convicted of the crime. State Sen. Mike Fasano and State Rep. John Legg,...

Supplicants send their mail to the unseen powers that be By Fayza Hassan Egypt Today ArchivesMany believe Bab Zuweila to be a mystical site CUSTOMS DIE HARD, nowhere more than in Egypt. Archaeological documents show that from as early as the Old Kingdom up to modern times, an endemic and persistent distrust in medicine and justice, as practiced in the land, often led the Egyptians to address their requests for health and legal redress directly to their dead relatives and the gods. Later, when monotheistic religions prevailed, they were addressed to saints whose extraordinary powers had become firmly rooted in...

Newly released documents from the Bush administration show that a former member of Saddam Hussein's inner circle has resurfaced inside the new Iraqi government, bringing charges of corruption, bribery and bid-rigging. As a result, millions of U.S. aid dollars and billions in Iraqi government funds have disappeared in an ongoing scandal that is poised to engulf Baghdad and Washington. Worse still, a leading candidate for the top elected post in Iraq has also been implicated in the report as having taken "payoffs" in order to rig a major government cell phone contract. According to a May 2004 U.S. Defense Department...

In the past few years, there have been several attempts by overweight people to blame their health problems on McDonald's and other fast-food restaurants, and they have sought legal remedy in the courts. They've argued that fast-food restaurants served them food that has made their belts increase in size to a degree that now the only things that they're able to buckle are floor boards. Personal responsibility takes yet another holiday, and now, thanks to the 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals ruling, it's retired to Barbados for the foreseeable future. A lawsuit was brought against McDonald's on behalf of two...

WASHINGTON - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and New York Gov. George Pataki are pressing Congress to protect key parts of the Clean Air Act as lawmakers and the Bush administration seek to change the law. The two moderate Republicans on Tuesday urged senators considering updating the act not to reduce the powers states have now to enforce environmental regulations or create tougher state regulations. The governors, who both place great emphasis on their environmental initiatives, wrote to members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which will hold a hearing Wednesday to consider changes to the Clean Air Act....

A Justice Department lawyer may have been laying the groundwork for the Iraq invasion long before it was discussed publicly by the White House. Just two weeks after the September 11 attacks, a secret memo to White House counsel Alberto Gonzales’ office concluded that President Bush had the power to deploy military force “preemptively” against any terrorist groups or countries that supported them—regardless of whether they had any connection to the attacks on the World Trade Towers or the Pentagon. The memo, written by Justice Department lawyer John Yoo, argues that there are effectively “no limits” on the president’s...

One useful fact all Americans should keep in mind is that they have no "right" to be protected by the police. American police are reactive, not proactive. They don't usually "prevent" crime. They catch lawbreakers after they have committed a crime. This was by design of the Founding Fathers. Because, as we see today with the anti-terrorism laws, in order to "prevent" crime, police would need all sorts of obnoxious powers that would trample all over our rights of life, liberty and property. Instead, Americans were intended to have the means of self defense. Put another way, the Constitution does...

Here's a quick question for all you Constitutional scholars: Which of the enumerated powers authorized to the federal government are described in the Bill of Rights? None, of course. Except in later amendments, regulatory powers given the federal government by the Constitution of the United States are listed in the body of the Constitution. The Second Amendment, then, is something else. When we are unsure about the exact meaning of a section of the Constitution, the Supreme Court instructs that we should look to The Federalist Papers for clarification. In Cohens v. Virginia the Court said: "Its intrinsic merit entitles...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

MANAGUA, Nicaragua - In a deepening political crisis touched off by anti-corruption efforts, Nicaragua's congress has voted to give itself the power to ratify and dismiss Cabinet ministers and other officials. The constitutional amendment, which was approved late Thursday and would have to be affirmed again in next year's legislative session to take effect, grew out of a power struggle between President Enrique Bolanos and the party that put him in office, the Liberal Constitutionalist Party. Bolanos lost its support after his anti-corruption campaign landed the party leader and former president, Arnoldo Aleman, in prison, where he is serving 20...

Congress Sends $800 Billion Debt Limit Increase To Bush Same story November 19, 2004 CAPITOL HILL -- A bill raising the federal borrowing limit by $800 billion is on its way to President George W. Bush's desk . . . the debt limit bill will pump up the federal borrowing cap to $8.18 trillion. That is 70 percent the size of the entire U.S. economy, and more than $2.4 trillion higher than the debt Bush inherited upon taking office in 2001. To get a handle on the size of the real national debt, see: Measuring the Federal Government's Unfunded Liability...

Hospital recovery of Michigan House candidate to go through general election 11/1/2004, 5:40 p.m. ETM The Associated Press LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The Republican candidate running for the open 85th state House District will be in the hospital until after Tuesday's general election, preventing him from any last-minute campaigning for the seat that covers Shiawassee County and part of Clinton County. Richard Ball, an optometrist from Laingsburg, had surgery over the weekend to remove an abscess that resulted from an infection in his intestine, campaign manager Charlie Keenan said Monday. The 72-year-old is expected to be in the hospital until...

Does anyone know what the president's benefits, his seven powers, his duties, or even what the former president's benifits are??I looked on all kind of search engines and I can't seem to find it anywhere. Thanks so much for your help to those who can help.

Just watched "Democratic Strategist" Kirsten Powers on Hannity and Colmes. Gawd, I feel old. It seems the political strategists the media is dredging up have the verbal cadence of Valley Girls. The segment was dissecting Heinz-Kerry's comment about never sending anyone in an American uniform to fight and die for oil and greed. Kirsten had one talking point: "What's wrong with objecting to having people die for oil and greed?" Hannity was nailing Kirsten, the Democratic Strategist. Colmes, bless his heart, obviously felt the need to feed her lines, and she agreed and nodded whole-heartedly , thus saving her from...

Congress Aims to Rein In Supreme Court Activism The issue of same-sex marriage, heading for an ultimate decision by the highest court in the land, is driving a new effort on Capitol Hill to curb the Supreme Court’s power. NewsMax's Wes Vernon reveals that the House Judiciary Committee and the House Rules Committee are considering legislation that would allow Congress, by a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate, to override individual decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court. H.R. 3920, "To allow Congress to reverse the judgments of the United States Supreme Court," introduced by 10 House Republicans, argues...

Oh My! What choreography! Pee-ew. Anti-war Protesters flash peace signs as they peform yoga in downtown San Francisco on Friday, March 19, 2004. Demonstrations in several U.S. cities are taking place Friday on the anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) This one is just plain scary!

American Constitutional Research Service Jan. 3, 2004 In a recent case North Florida Women's Health & Counseling Services, Inc. v. State of Florida[decided July 10th, 2003] Senior Justice Shaw delivering the opinion of the Court which struck down Florida’s “Parental Notice of Abortion Act” stated the following: “In the final analysis, we cannot fault the trial court for faithfully applying the controlling law. The court reasoned simply as follows (1) This Court in T.W. held that the Parental Consent Act imposed a significant restriction on a pregnant minor’s right of privacy. (2) The Court in T.W. further held that, in...

The votes by Turkey's Parliament last week to curb the political power of the military and increase freedom of expression are a significant step away from army domination of Turkish politics. The challenge now for the government, dominated by moderate Islamists of the Justice and Development Party, is to ensure that the new measures are carried out. Not long ago, Turkey's military would have responded to such initiatives by seizing power — the armed forces removed four governments in the last four decades. That is less likely today because of broad support in Turkey for democratic rule, but these reforms...

Article origin: http://www.nybooks.com/authors/277 Note: this article serves as a place holder since Charlie Rose's Andy Grove interview transcript isn't available yet. The two of them discussed Paul Kennedy's "Rise and Fall" at one point.Paul Kennedy Paul Kennedy, the J. Richardson Dilworth Professor of History and Director of International Security Studies at Yale is the author and editor of fifteen books, including The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers and Preparing for the Twenty-First Century. (November 2002) November 7, 2002: The Modern MachiavelliThe Tragedy of Great Power Politics by John J. MearsheimerNo Virtue Like Necessity: Realist Thought in International...

Greta Van Susteran just had a Middle East expert on talking about how Iran is developing its nuclear program. The man seemed to think that Iran was doing it not to threaten anybody else, but to ensure its safety. The main question I have is that at the end of the interview this Middle East 'expert' said.... "You have got a bunch of hard line conservatives controlling the country, which puts a black mark over it" The Ayatollah's in Iran aren't conservative??? Was this guy intentionally jabbing conservatives? Or did he mean something else? I would think the conservatives in...

Only in Amerika Developing the capability to build dossiers on all Americans By DOUG THOMPSON Nov 21, 2002, 07:50 As part of its expanded powers under the guise of “homeland security,” the federal government is developing interlinked databases that will track financial transactions, phone calls, Internet activity, gun ownership and even vehicle use of all Americans, Capitol Hill Blue has learned. One such database, the Orwellian-sounding Total Information Awareness System, is a Pentagon-based computer project headed by former Iran-Contra figure John Poindexter, director of the Information Awareness Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the agency that originally...

TEHRAN, Sept 18 (AFP) - Iran's interior minister has announced plans to "decentralise decision-making powers" and shake-up the Islamic republic's unwieldy administrative culture, reports said Wednesday. Abdolvahed Mussavi-Lari was quoted in the local press as saying his ministry would soon present to parliament a bill that would provide more say to local officials, who currently have to refer most decisions to Tehran. "This law shows the government's willingness to give more powers to local councils, elected local officials and those in charge of the different regions," he said. He did not elaborate on the details of the plan. Local officials...

Friday, 2 August, 2002, 12:50 GMT 13:50 UK Iraq arms offer divides powersEarly reactions to Iraq's offer of talks over the possible resumption of arms inspections suggest the big powers on the UN Security Council will be divided over the issue. The UK gave the invitation a cool response, but Russia welcomed the move as an "important step" and France expressed its support. The US and the United Nations have yet to respond. Iraq is suspected of rebuilding its weapons programme In a letter to the UN, Iraqi Foreign Minister, Naji Sabri, invited the chief inspector, Hans Blix, for what...

Bush Gives CIA More Powers to Oust Saddam -- Report Sun Jun 16,11:50 AM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush early this year signed an intelligence order directing the CIA to conduct covert operations to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein , The Washington Post reported on Sunday. The covert program included authorization to use lethal force to capture Saddam, the Post said, citing informed sources. Senate Majority Leader Thomas Daschle said Congress had been consulted about the move by the administration but expressed some reservations about the timing of any such effort. "There is broad support for a regime change...