Pathway in the Sea

Subject: We're not in Kansas anymore. We're not even in America anymore.
From: Thad Jones
To: civil.liberties@dhs.gov; gpoaccess@gpo.gov; suggestions@osd.mil
Cc: hannity@foxnews.com; huckmail@foxnews.com; bill oreilly <oreilly@foxnews.com>; David Horowitz <info@frontpagemag.com>; David Horowitz <info@horowitzfreedomcenter.org>; dennis prager <dennisprager@dennisprager.com>; glenn beck <me@glennbeck.com>; Jonathan V. Last <webeditor@weeklystandard.com>; The Weekly Standard <newseditor@weeklystandard.com>; The Weekly Standard <publisher@weeklystandard.com>; rush limbaugh <ElRushbo@eibnet.com>; rush limbaugh <rush@eib.net>
Sent: Mon, September 12, 2011 5:47:58 PM

The single most significant piece of news in the past few days has received zero notice by the American News Media:

Washington Ramps-Up Focus on Jobs and the Economy

Obama touts jobs plan

WASHINGTON, DC
Monday, September 12, 2011

President Obama said today that Americans cannot afford Congress to play political games in passing his $447 billion jobs plan. The President sends the bill to Congress today.

Under the U. S. Constitution, the elected representatives of the People of the various States in the House of Representatives and Senate propose, debate, and pass legislation, which is then submitted to the President to either sign into law or veto. Today, the President of the United States of America, reputed to be a scholar of the Constitution, has sent legislation to Congress for "passage".

United States Congress

Overview

Article I of the Constitution states "all legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives." The House and Senate are equal partners in the legislative process—legislation cannot be enacted without the consent of both chambers. However, the Constitution grants each chamber some unique powers. The Senate ratifies treaties and approves top presidential appointments while the House initiates revenue-raising bills. The House initiates impeachment cases, while the Senate decides impeachment cases.^[2] A two-thirds vote of the Senate is required before an impeached person can be forcibly removed from office.^[2]

In 1868, the House impeached Andrew Johnson, but the Senate did not convict him.

The term Congress can also refer to a particular meeting of the legislature. A Congress covers two years; the current one, the 112th Congress, began on on January 3, 2011.^[3] A legislator in either house is a "member of Congress", though usually only representatives are referred to in speech as a congressman, congresswoman, or congressperson, because members of the Senate are almost universally referred to as senator. To avoid confusion, "member of Congress" is used to refer to members of both houses, and "representative" and "senator" to refer to members of the respective houses.

Congress reflects us in all our strengths and all our weaknesses. It reflects our regional idiosyncrasies, our ethnic, religious, and racial diversity, our multitude of professions, and our shadings of opinion on everything from the value of war to the war over values. Congress is the government's most representative body ... Congress is essentially charged with reconciling our many points of view on the great public policy issues of the day. — Smith, Roberts, and Wielen^[4]

Scholar and representative Lee H. Hamilton asserted that the "historic mission of Congress has been to maintain freedom" and insisted it was a "driving force in American government"^[4] and a "remarkably resilient institution."^[5]Congress is the "heart and soul of our democracy", according to this view,^[6] even though legislators rarely achieve the prestige or name recognition of presidents or Supreme Court justices; one wrote that "legislators remain ghosts in America's historical imagination".^[6] One analyst argues that it is not a solely reactive institution but has played an active role in shaping government policy and is extraordinarily sensitive to public pressure.^[6] Several academics described Congress:

Congress is constantly changing, constantly in flux.^[7] In recent times, the American south and west have gained House seats according to demographic changes recorded by the census and includes more minorities and women although both groups are still underrepresented, according to one view.^[7] While power balances among the different parts of government continue to change, the internal structure of Congress is important to understand along with its interactions with so-called intermediary institutions such as political parties, civic associations, interest groups, and the mass media.^[6]

Think of Congress as an automobile. While drivers of various skills can take the automobile in different directions on various types of roads, the internal machinery of the vehicle plays a crucial role in determining how smooth the drive will be, as well as how far and fast the driver can go.—Julian E. Zelizer^[6]

All members of Congress serve two distinct purposes that sometimes overlap: representation of local interests and lawmaking for the national interest.^[8] There has been debate throughout American history about how to straddle these dual obligations of representing the wishes of citizens and those of the nation.^[6] Compromise is often required.^[8]

Enumerated powers

Among the powers specifically given Congress in Article I Section 8, are the following:

One of many congressional powers is to "define and punish piracies on the high seas".

• 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, anduniform 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 andwater;
• 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 repelinvasions;
• To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, themilitia, 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 (16 km) 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.

Ummm.

Broken Arrow?

Dismayedly,

Thad M. Jones