Thursday, March 24, 2011
The McClintock Letter To Obama: The War On Libya Is Unconstitutional And Illegal
Tom McClintock, Republican, 4th District of California has thrown down the gauntlet in a letter to TheWinnerOfThe2010NobelPeacePrize, The One (Oprah? Anything to say?), The Only, The President, who decided to send America to war against Libya, and has declared war on the US Constitution.
The complete text:
Dear Mr. President:
I have read your letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate dated March 21, 2011 concerning your order that United States Armed Forces attack the nation of Libya. You cite the authority of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 and your "constitutional authority to conduct U.S. foreign relations and as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive."
The Constitution clearly and unmistakably vests Congress with the sole prerogative "to declare war." Your letter fails to explain how a resolution of the United Nations Security Council is necessary to commit this nation to war but that an act of Congress is not.
The United Nations Participation Act expressly withholds authorization for the President to commit United States Armed Forces to combat in pursuit of United Nations directives without specific Congressional approval. The War Powers Resolution states that the President's power to engage United States Armed Forces in hostilities "shall not be inferred . . .from any treaty heretofore or hereafter ratified unless such treaty is implemented by legislation specifically authorizing the introduction of United States Armed Forces into hostilities..."
The War Powers Resolution unambiguously defines three circumstances under which the President as Commander in Chief may order United States Armed Forces into hostile action: "(1) a declaration of war, (2) specific statutory authorization, or (3) a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces." Your letter cites none of these conditions.
Nor can the power to order an act of war be inferred from the President's authority as "Commander in Chief and Chief Executive."
The Constitution's Framers were explicit on this point. In Federalist 69, Alexander Hamilton draws a sharp distinction between the President's authority as Commander in Chief as "nothing more than the supreme command and direction of the military and naval forces" and the authority of the British king "which extends to the declaring of war and to the raising and regulating of fleets and armies ~ all which, by the Constitution under consideration, would appertain to the legislature."
With all due respect, I can only conclude that your order to United States Armed Forces to attack the nation of Libya on March 19, 2011 is in direct violation of the War Powers Resolution and constitutes a usurpation of Constitutional powers clearly and solely vested in the United States Congress and is accordingly unlawful and unconstitutional.
Sincerely,
Tom McClintock
Member of Congress
This is succinct, unemotional, clear, respectful, and essentially irrefutable.
The White House, having begun an illegal war, are thrashing about now, attempting to disengage, hoping that Europe will come to his rescue before Congress reconvenes.
Even if they do (and they won't), McClintock's letter remains to be answered. It is the basis of an impeachment resolution.
OS hopes his readers will distribute the letter to all their family and friends. The link above takes you directly to the letter, posted on the Congressman's official site.
The complete text:
Dear Mr. President:
I have read your letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate dated March 21, 2011 concerning your order that United States Armed Forces attack the nation of Libya. You cite the authority of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 and your "constitutional authority to conduct U.S. foreign relations and as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive."
The Constitution clearly and unmistakably vests Congress with the sole prerogative "to declare war." Your letter fails to explain how a resolution of the United Nations Security Council is necessary to commit this nation to war but that an act of Congress is not.
The United Nations Participation Act expressly withholds authorization for the President to commit United States Armed Forces to combat in pursuit of United Nations directives without specific Congressional approval. The War Powers Resolution states that the President's power to engage United States Armed Forces in hostilities "shall not be inferred . . .from any treaty heretofore or hereafter ratified unless such treaty is implemented by legislation specifically authorizing the introduction of United States Armed Forces into hostilities..."
The War Powers Resolution unambiguously defines three circumstances under which the President as Commander in Chief may order United States Armed Forces into hostile action: "(1) a declaration of war, (2) specific statutory authorization, or (3) a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces." Your letter cites none of these conditions.
Nor can the power to order an act of war be inferred from the President's authority as "Commander in Chief and Chief Executive."
The Constitution's Framers were explicit on this point. In Federalist 69, Alexander Hamilton draws a sharp distinction between the President's authority as Commander in Chief as "nothing more than the supreme command and direction of the military and naval forces" and the authority of the British king "which extends to the declaring of war and to the raising and regulating of fleets and armies ~ all which, by the Constitution under consideration, would appertain to the legislature."
With all due respect, I can only conclude that your order to United States Armed Forces to attack the nation of Libya on March 19, 2011 is in direct violation of the War Powers Resolution and constitutes a usurpation of Constitutional powers clearly and solely vested in the United States Congress and is accordingly unlawful and unconstitutional.
Sincerely,
Tom McClintock
Member of Congress
This is succinct, unemotional, clear, respectful, and essentially irrefutable.
The White House, having begun an illegal war, are thrashing about now, attempting to disengage, hoping that Europe will come to his rescue before Congress reconvenes.
Even if they do (and they won't), McClintock's letter remains to be answered. It is the basis of an impeachment resolution.
OS hopes his readers will distribute the letter to all their family and friends. The link above takes you directly to the letter, posted on the Congressman's official site.
The Best Business Model Ever Invented: European Arms Sales To Libya
(Sound of hand slapping forehead...'Damn, why didn't I think of that!')
It's ingenious, really! Sell all sorts of military hardware to mad despots, wait for the serfs to rebel, watch him use his toys to murder the citizenry, then in a fit of righteous indignation (with UN approval of course of course of course), go blow all that stuff to kingdom come.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
From Deutsche Welle-just a sample of the tale:
Could European-made arms technology have been used by authoritarian regimes to silence their own citizens? Analysts say that's hard to prove but reports that governments both in Bahrain and Libya may have done just that have sparked angry debates and accusations of double standards in some European countries.
In Britain, Prime Minister David Cameron this week revoked licenses for arms sales to Libya and Bahrain after fears surfaced that British tear gas or riot equipment may have been used against political demonstrators.
In Belgium, YouTube footage showing alleged semi-automatic FN 303 anti-riot guns recently seized by anti-Gadhafi protesters has sparked a political controversy. Belgian defense company FN Herstal is said to have sold Libya arms worth 11.5 million euros. That included rifles, pistols, rifle grenades and ammunition cartridges.
In Germany, there are worries that its electronic exports to Libya could have possibly been used by the regime to jam internet and GPS services.
Of course, the good news is: If somehow Gadhafi and his homeboyz are sent on their way, then the tribal despots that succeed him will need new toys. And building materials and architects and engineers to rebuild all those cities blown up the last time around.
(Sound of hand slapping forehead...'Damn, why didn't I think of that!')
HT Miller-McCune
It's ingenious, really! Sell all sorts of military hardware to mad despots, wait for the serfs to rebel, watch him use his toys to murder the citizenry, then in a fit of righteous indignation (with UN approval of course of course of course), go blow all that stuff to kingdom come.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
From Deutsche Welle-just a sample of the tale:
Could European-made arms technology have been used by authoritarian regimes to silence their own citizens? Analysts say that's hard to prove but reports that governments both in Bahrain and Libya may have done just that have sparked angry debates and accusations of double standards in some European countries.
In Britain, Prime Minister David Cameron this week revoked licenses for arms sales to Libya and Bahrain after fears surfaced that British tear gas or riot equipment may have been used against political demonstrators.
In Belgium, YouTube footage showing alleged semi-automatic FN 303 anti-riot guns recently seized by anti-Gadhafi protesters has sparked a political controversy. Belgian defense company FN Herstal is said to have sold Libya arms worth 11.5 million euros. That included rifles, pistols, rifle grenades and ammunition cartridges.
In Germany, there are worries that its electronic exports to Libya could have possibly been used by the regime to jam internet and GPS services.
Of course, the good news is: If somehow Gadhafi and his homeboyz are sent on their way, then the tribal despots that succeed him will need new toys. And building materials and architects and engineers to rebuild all those cities blown up the last time around.
(Sound of hand slapping forehead...'Damn, why didn't I think of that!')
HT Miller-McCune
It just keeps getting better and better: 'Mistress of Disaster' Jamie Gorelick On President Obama's Short List for FBI Director
It's not too often that OS simply links another blogger's post verbatim, but this time, it's worth it.
We are paying a high, high price for having elected children to office since 1992.
We are paying a high, high price for having elected children to office since 1992.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
OldSouth Is Speechless, So He'll Let Peter Hitchens Speak
Words fail. OS keeps attempting to string some words together to relate what he is thinking and feeling about recent events. He just splutters and stutters and begins to curse, and his writing is bad enough as it is...
People like OS are why God created real writers, like Peter Hitchens.
Our British cousins have the same problem we have--a chief executive who decided to start a war without consulting Parliament, just because he concluded that the Libyan dictator is a VeryBadMan (which indeed, he is), and the UN sez it's ok.
Hitchens has it nailed for us all, on both sides of the pond.
Here's just a bit of it:
My test is this: If you are so keen to set Libya to rights, establish an International Brigade of like-minded persons, all so truly concerned about that country's fate, and so sure of which side is in the right, that you are prepared to be maimed or rendered limbless and disfigured in that cause, Off you go. Fly to Egypt, slip across the border and offer your services to the heroes of Benghazi.
I won't stop you. But I pay for armed forces to defend me, not to go off on righteous adventures, and soldiers likewise sign up to defend their own country, not mess around with other people's.
My case is that 'democracies' whatever they are, have enough to do at home keeping the weak from being robbed and attacked by the strong. And that war is so wicked that the only real justification for it is to defend yourself against those who would destroy, rob or subjugate you.
In the meantime, OS gets some face-time tomorrow night with his House member. He hopes he'll have his thoughts in order by that time, so he can calmly take it up with the one person locally who can actually do something about this tragic blow to Constitutional government.
The US is making war on Libya. Obama is making war on the Constitution.
People like OS are why God created real writers, like Peter Hitchens.
Our British cousins have the same problem we have--a chief executive who decided to start a war without consulting Parliament, just because he concluded that the Libyan dictator is a VeryBadMan (which indeed, he is), and the UN sez it's ok.
Hitchens has it nailed for us all, on both sides of the pond.
Here's just a bit of it:
My test is this: If you are so keen to set Libya to rights, establish an International Brigade of like-minded persons, all so truly concerned about that country's fate, and so sure of which side is in the right, that you are prepared to be maimed or rendered limbless and disfigured in that cause, Off you go. Fly to Egypt, slip across the border and offer your services to the heroes of Benghazi.
I won't stop you. But I pay for armed forces to defend me, not to go off on righteous adventures, and soldiers likewise sign up to defend their own country, not mess around with other people's.
My case is that 'democracies' whatever they are, have enough to do at home keeping the weak from being robbed and attacked by the strong. And that war is so wicked that the only real justification for it is to defend yourself against those who would destroy, rob or subjugate you.
In the meantime, OS gets some face-time tomorrow night with his House member. He hopes he'll have his thoughts in order by that time, so he can calmly take it up with the one person locally who can actually do something about this tragic blow to Constitutional government.
The US is making war on Libya. Obama is making war on the Constitution.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
A Quick Memo To TheWinnerOfTheNobelPeacePrize: If'n Yuh Gunnah Startcherself A War Bubbah
...check to make sure the other guy don't have over 140 tons of gold in his vaults in Libya.
From FT:
The international community has hit Muammer Gaddafi with a raft of sanctions and asset freezes aimed at cutting off his funding. But the embattled Libyan leader is sitting on a pot of gold.
The Libyan central bank – which is under Colonel Gaddafi’s control – holds 143.8 tonnes of gold, according to the latest data from the International Monetary Fund, although some suspect the true amount could be several tonnes higher.
That's upwards of $6.5 billion USD, which can buy your boy Gadafi boatloads of weapons, ammo, intelligence, and Black African mercenaries quite willing to slaughter people wholesale.
Add a bunch of cash from all that oil money stuffed under the proverbial mattress, and plenty of time to get everything out of sight and reach of the West, and you, Bubbah, have gotcherself a big-ass mess on your hands.
And a really really really pissed-off Congress and a bunch of former friends to boot.
Hell'sBells, Bubbah! Yo' home-boy Kucinich be raking yo ass ovah the coals with yo' own damn words! Didjew evah stop to think that all that verbiage you spouted just to get yo scurvy self elected might someday be quoted?
Enjoy Latin America--wolf down a few extra burritos while you can, MissahPrezident.
To quote that great Cuban intellectual, Ricky Ricardo: 'You gots some 'splainin' to do, Lucy!'.
From FT:
The international community has hit Muammer Gaddafi with a raft of sanctions and asset freezes aimed at cutting off his funding. But the embattled Libyan leader is sitting on a pot of gold.
The Libyan central bank – which is under Colonel Gaddafi’s control – holds 143.8 tonnes of gold, according to the latest data from the International Monetary Fund, although some suspect the true amount could be several tonnes higher.
That's upwards of $6.5 billion USD, which can buy your boy Gadafi boatloads of weapons, ammo, intelligence, and Black African mercenaries quite willing to slaughter people wholesale.
Add a bunch of cash from all that oil money stuffed under the proverbial mattress, and plenty of time to get everything out of sight and reach of the West, and you, Bubbah, have gotcherself a big-ass mess on your hands.
And a really really really pissed-off Congress and a bunch of former friends to boot.
Hell'sBells, Bubbah! Yo' home-boy Kucinich be raking yo ass ovah the coals with yo' own damn words! Didjew evah stop to think that all that verbiage you spouted just to get yo scurvy self elected might someday be quoted?
Enjoy Latin America--wolf down a few extra burritos while you can, MissahPrezident.
To quote that great Cuban intellectual, Ricky Ricardo: 'You gots some 'splainin' to do, Lucy!'.
Monday, March 21, 2011
The Libyan Intervention: The Ground Shifts Under Our Feet
The Huff Post headline says it well: This could take awhile. No kidding? Really?
There's a good live blog stream running there, for those who wish to follow.
The announcement of the beginning of hostilities came during Saturday afternoon during one of the NCAA basketball tournament games. The WinnerOfThe2010NobelPeacePrize just started hisself a war, without consulting Congress. TheOne ordered our Navy and Air Force to bomb the bejeezus out of a country that has not attacked us, just because its leader is a murderous thug, and the UN sez it's OK.
He then boarded the plane to Brazil. Sweet.
This is patently in contravention of the US Constitution and the War Powers Act of 1973. Congress never never never ever ceded to the President the power to make war in our name, just because it suits him.
The ground has shifted under our feet. We're now at war with Libya, 'cuz staging air raids and missile attacks on a sovereign nation, even if the leader is a thug, is an Act of War.
Kucinich and his posse and the Tea Party GOP freshmen now have common cause--it is now time to introduce and debate a resolution to impeach Barack Obama.
It's also time for the GOP freshmen to stage a ComeToJeeeeezus meeting with John Boehner, to see if he thinks the Constitution is a good idea or not.
OS has a question: If it's OK to bomb the bejeezus out of countries we disapprove of, howz-about we flatten the bits of Havana that Castro hangs out in? How about a cruise missle or two, fired from Florida, at Chavez's pad outside Caracas? Or a B-2 raid from Missouri on Zimbabwe? Or Mynamar? Or North Korea? If we don't need to check in with Congress, or declare war, or need any other reason than our own disapproval of a particular regime at a particular moment, why not?
Moral Hazard/Shmoral Hazard!! We know better than them, so let's get to it, ya'll.
Or, perhaps, the framers of the Constitution had a better idea, to constrain the actions of a President posessing unlimited ego and no conscience.
There's a good live blog stream running there, for those who wish to follow.
The announcement of the beginning of hostilities came during Saturday afternoon during one of the NCAA basketball tournament games. The WinnerOfThe2010NobelPeacePrize just started hisself a war, without consulting Congress. TheOne ordered our Navy and Air Force to bomb the bejeezus out of a country that has not attacked us, just because its leader is a murderous thug, and the UN sez it's OK.
He then boarded the plane to Brazil. Sweet.
This is patently in contravention of the US Constitution and the War Powers Act of 1973. Congress never never never ever ceded to the President the power to make war in our name, just because it suits him.
The ground has shifted under our feet. We're now at war with Libya, 'cuz staging air raids and missile attacks on a sovereign nation, even if the leader is a thug, is an Act of War.
Kucinich and his posse and the Tea Party GOP freshmen now have common cause--it is now time to introduce and debate a resolution to impeach Barack Obama.
It's also time for the GOP freshmen to stage a ComeToJeeeeezus meeting with John Boehner, to see if he thinks the Constitution is a good idea or not.
OS has a question: If it's OK to bomb the bejeezus out of countries we disapprove of, howz-about we flatten the bits of Havana that Castro hangs out in? How about a cruise missle or two, fired from Florida, at Chavez's pad outside Caracas? Or a B-2 raid from Missouri on Zimbabwe? Or Mynamar? Or North Korea? If we don't need to check in with Congress, or declare war, or need any other reason than our own disapproval of a particular regime at a particular moment, why not?
Moral Hazard/Shmoral Hazard!! We know better than them, so let's get to it, ya'll.
Or, perhaps, the framers of the Constitution had a better idea, to constrain the actions of a President posessing unlimited ego and no conscience.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Shoe-Throwers Index From The Economist: Black Humor Award Of Q1 2011
Someone at the Economist has both a nimble mind and a very dark sense of humor.
The result was The Shoe-Throwers Index, an interactive feature in which the reader gets to weight the importance of a number of social factors (length of tenure of the local despot, internet usage, % of population under 25, etc.). Move the sliders around, weight the factors, and see which Middle Eastern country will most likely blow up under the circumstances.
Notice which one's missing? (Hint: it's the only one with a free press, parliamentary democracy, high literacy levels, a productive economy, some of the best universities in the world, etc. etc. Second hint: It's the one Obama despises.)
The result was The Shoe-Throwers Index, an interactive feature in which the reader gets to weight the importance of a number of social factors (length of tenure of the local despot, internet usage, % of population under 25, etc.). Move the sliders around, weight the factors, and see which Middle Eastern country will most likely blow up under the circumstances.
Notice which one's missing? (Hint: it's the only one with a free press, parliamentary democracy, high literacy levels, a productive economy, some of the best universities in the world, etc. etc. Second hint: It's the one Obama despises.)
Thursday, March 17, 2011
7K Layoff Notices Sent To Los Angeles Teachers
In the end, not every notice will lead to a job loss, but given the circumstances, the school district felt obligated to give fair warning.
The news rippled across the campus Friday morning, and students were falling apart. They texted their parents and sought out one another to see if it could all be true.
"I saw kids crying in the quad," said Portia Amofa, student body president at Hamilton High School in West Los Angeles.
The students were finding out that some of their favorite teachers were among roughly 7,000 in L.A. Unified who had gotten layoff notices. In addition, the directors of two enormously popular and successful Hamilton programs, the humanities magnet and the music magnet, had been told by L.A. Unified that their positions were being eliminated.
It is a cruel reality, and OS does sympathize mightily with the students.
The parents, teacher's union, legislature in Sacramento, the last six governors or so, the Federal government (which has swamped the system with unfunded mandates, and refused refused refused to enforce the border with Mexico for the past several decades--this is during administrations of both parties, ya'll--not just the Dems) need all to be sat in the corner of the classroom with the old 'Dunce' hat perched on their heads.
It isn't like this sad day was not forseen, years ago. It is a mathematical inevitability that this day would come. And everyone just pretended it would never come in their term of office/lifetime.
OS hopes the kids remember this day well, and resolve amongst themselves to never, ever let governments get so out of control as to rob their children of their futures.
This sort of thing is the imposition of a cruel tax upon those completely incapable of paying it.
The news rippled across the campus Friday morning, and students were falling apart. They texted their parents and sought out one another to see if it could all be true.
"I saw kids crying in the quad," said Portia Amofa, student body president at Hamilton High School in West Los Angeles.
The students were finding out that some of their favorite teachers were among roughly 7,000 in L.A. Unified who had gotten layoff notices. In addition, the directors of two enormously popular and successful Hamilton programs, the humanities magnet and the music magnet, had been told by L.A. Unified that their positions were being eliminated.
It is a cruel reality, and OS does sympathize mightily with the students.
The parents, teacher's union, legislature in Sacramento, the last six governors or so, the Federal government (which has swamped the system with unfunded mandates, and refused refused refused to enforce the border with Mexico for the past several decades--this is during administrations of both parties, ya'll--not just the Dems) need all to be sat in the corner of the classroom with the old 'Dunce' hat perched on their heads.
It isn't like this sad day was not forseen, years ago. It is a mathematical inevitability that this day would come. And everyone just pretended it would never come in their term of office/lifetime.
OS hopes the kids remember this day well, and resolve amongst themselves to never, ever let governments get so out of control as to rob their children of their futures.
This sort of thing is the imposition of a cruel tax upon those completely incapable of paying it.
OldSouth's One Irish Joke For The Day: Paddy And Mick Go Hunting
Great jokes often are great parables, which is why they survive the years. This one has been around quite a while, in different guises.
Paddy and Mick flew to Canada on a hunting trip. They chartered a small plane to take them into the Rockies for a week of hunting moose.
They managed to bag six moose. As they were loading the plane to return, the pilot said the plane could take only four moose.
The two lads objected strongly. "Last year we shot six. The pilot let us take them all and he had the same plane as yours."
Reluctantly, the pilot gave in and all six were loaded. The plane took off.
However, while attempting to cross some mountains even on full power the little plane couldn't handle the load and went down.
Somehow, surrounded by the moose bodies, only Paddy and Mick survived the crash.
After climbing out of the wreckage, Paddy asks Mick, "Any idea where we are, lad?"
Mick replied, "I think we're pretty close to where we crashed last year."
U.S. Federal Deficit for February 2011 is $223 billion.
The annual Federal deficit was $248 billion in 2006.
Paddy-n-Mick, ya'll.
Paddy and Mick flew to Canada on a hunting trip. They chartered a small plane to take them into the Rockies for a week of hunting moose.
They managed to bag six moose. As they were loading the plane to return, the pilot said the plane could take only four moose.
The two lads objected strongly. "Last year we shot six. The pilot let us take them all and he had the same plane as yours."
Reluctantly, the pilot gave in and all six were loaded. The plane took off.
However, while attempting to cross some mountains even on full power the little plane couldn't handle the load and went down.
Somehow, surrounded by the moose bodies, only Paddy and Mick survived the crash.
After climbing out of the wreckage, Paddy asks Mick, "Any idea where we are, lad?"
Mick replied, "I think we're pretty close to where we crashed last year."
U.S. Federal Deficit for February 2011 is $223 billion.
The annual Federal deficit was $248 billion in 2006.
Paddy-n-Mick, ya'll.
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