When will the Congress read anything ?

In both houses of Congress there has been approved differing bills that would attempt to over-ride the Constitutionally assigned powers of all legislation in The District of Columbia.

The United States Constitution spells out in very plain language in Article I 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.

and Article I Section 8:

The Congress shall have Power.........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

The only thing stopping this egregious un-Constitutional bill is an even more un-Constitutional measure contained in the bill passed by The United States Senate, stopping it only until both Houses come to an agreement on how make something bad passable. The Senate bill has a provision that tramples on The 2nd Amendment in the same manner as the previous DC gun laws. They are trying to say that DC should have Congressional representation just as long as they surrender their right to representation. But, that is another story.

The District of Columbia is, as it was set up to be, the seat of the federal government. Subject to the legislative authority of Congress. Not a test case for the total disregard of specific language in The Constitution.

Over are the days of extending extra-Constitutional meaning to clauses.

Now there is the complete disregard to the meaning of the word State. The District of Columbia is not a State. If it were to be granted Statehood, then there will be need to move the seat of government to a new region ceded from a current State, or States.

Is that the goal of these stupid, arrogant, self-serving, asinine, illiterate, moronic, bunch of know-nothings that have been sent to Congress in our names ?!?!?!?!?!?

The 44th President of The United States of America - Barack Hussein Obama, Jr.

In full accord with The United States Constitution, the part we all know, we once again witnessed a peaceful transfer of power.

This is a feat that NO other country has ever been able to do for as long as we have. For over 200 years we have been witnesses to what many other Republics can still only hope to achieve.

We also were witnesses to the centuries-old traditions of pomp and ceremony of which such an astounding achievement is worthy.

Do not let this event pass without realizing the profound significance.

Do not be lulled into a sleep induced by how well we do this wonderful, peaceful transition.

History tells us it will not last.

We must remain ever vigilant.

Ever ready to preserve such greatness; for it is greatness that allows us such an event to be peaceful.

President-Elect Barack H. Obama

Despite how uninformed or uninterested the Obama camp was with The United States Constitution, with all of their attempts to pretend otherwise, there was no President-Elect until the votes of the Electors of the Several States were tabulated and certified.
As directed in Article II Section 1:

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 Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.

and
Amendment 12:

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

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

As President of The Senate, Vice-President Cheney announced

"Pursuant to the Constitution and laws of the United States, the Senate and House of Representatives are meeting in joint session to verify the certificates and count the votes of the electors of the several states,"

VP Cheney then opened and presented, in alphabetical order, the certificates of the electoral votes from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Each certificate was read by two members of The Senate; Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., and Robert F. Bennett, R-UT, and two members of the House; Robert A. Brady, D-PA, and Vernon J. Ehlers, R-MI.

After the reading of the certificates, which were without objections, the vote totals were read:

Barack H. Obama/Joseph R. Biden, Jr. - 365

John S. McCain/Sarah L. Palin - 173

Congratulations and Godspeed, Mr. President-Elect Barack H. Obama and Mr. Vice-President-Elect Joseph R. Biden

United States Senate blocks seating of Constitutionally Qualified Senator

The United States Senate has determined that the Constitutionally appointed Senator Burris does not meet their standards.
However, The United States Constitution has spelled out the necessary qualifications in Article I Section 3:

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.

Mr Burris is 71 years of age.
Mr Burris is a citizen of the United States.
Mr Burris is an Inhabitant of The State of Illinois.

So far Mr Burris has met all qualifications.

The Senate is not basing their standards on The United States Constitution.
While it is true that

Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members

Those qualifications are fully met, as we have already seen.

The Senate is basing their standard on a technicality that is in The Senates rulebook. They require the Secretary of State of The Senator's State to sign his credentials.
A seemingly reasonable point considering that each State of the Union has such a requirement to legally determine their own elections.
One thing, though, is very different here. Senator Burris was not elected. Senator Burris was appointed to The Senate in full accord with Illinois State law and The 17th Amendment to The United States Constitution

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.

Illinois State law does not require any Secretary of State signature, nor does The United States Constitution.

There is absolutely no Constitutional basis for the exclusion of Senator Burris.

Merry Christmas to all

and to all a good night

This is evidence

Either Former Senator Obama is Constitutionally ineligible to be President, or he really needs to be more careful about who he puts in his cabinet.

Bill Richardson speaks about Obama

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.

Which is it ?

Will we get all of the facts to determine which it is ?

We all have to give more proof of eligibility for a loan, of any kind, than Former Senator Obama has provided to the Electors of the Several States. More proof is needed in the State of Hawai'i just to claim a homestead tax credit than Former Senator Obama has provided to the Electors of the Several States.

Just answer the critics with the proof, and everyone will know which it is.

Civil Office under the Authority of the United States

Now that it is official

It is time to address the talk that was once conjecture.

Soon-to-be President-elect Barack Obama has selected and publicly adressed, in official nomination style, the name of Senator Hillary Clinton as his selection and choice to be the next Secretary of State.

One would think this is all well and good. It carries on with the “Team of Rivalries” facade that so many fans of the next administration cling to.

There is unfortunately one very large and glaring problem with this announcement.

The Senator is Constitutionally ineligible to take the position of Secretary of State. Or Secretary of any other Cabinet post.

It is because during the length of term to which Senator Clinton was elected, from 2007-2013, there have been and are scheduled to be increases in the emoluments of those positions.

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

All of which leads to why this is an important issue.

Some will argue that since the increases were not voted on by her, this is in no way an effort on her part to profit from such a position.

Some will argue that since these increases are only to keep up with inflation, that they are only restoring the salaries to their 1990’s level.

These both seem to be valid points. To anyone that decides that words are unimportant, they are very valid.

Some will argue there have been other times, when there have been such appointments, which were then attended to by various fixes, therefore all we need a "fix".

This point, while being very historically accurate, is also very wrong.

It was wrong when Philander Knox was appointed to Secretary of State by President Taft. It was wrong when William Saxbe was appointed to Attorney General by President Nixon. It was wrong when Edmund Muskie was appointed to Secretary of State by President Carter. It was wrong when Lloyd Bentsen was appointed to Secretary of Treasury by President-elect Clinton with President Bush as co-conspirator.

It was also so wrong when Orrin Hatch was at the top of President Reagan’s short list for Supreme Court Justice that he was removed from any nomination.

Just because it was done before does not make it right.

There is very explicit language in our National founding document. Let us return to following that language. Fully.