The truth about the rule of law

Lou Dobbs tonight, Commentary: Why is the president ignoring our laws?
With upraised right hand and left hand on the Bible, each of our presidents, from George Washington to George W. Bush, has solemnly sworn to "preserve, protect and defend" the Constitution of the United States.
he American Bar Association claims President Bush has violated that oath by issuing hundreds of "signing statements" to disregard selected provisions of the laws that Congress passed and he signed.
A bipartisan, 11-member panel of the ABA found that President Bush is not only disregarding laws but using such signing statements far more than any president in history. In fact, Bush has used signing statements to raise constitutional objections to more than 800 provisions in more than 100 laws. All of the presidents combined before 2001 had issued only 600.
The ABA asserts that signing statements cannot be a substitute for a presidential veto and that such an assertion of presidential power amounts to a line-item veto, which the Supreme Court already has ruled unconstitutional.
The matter will likely be resolved in court. But it stands as a metaphor for a 21st century America that is no longer secure in the claim to be a nation of laws.
The federal government is failing to enforce our laws on a wide range of issues. Trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement, which is clearly a treaty, have not been approved by two-thirds of the Senate as required by the Treaty Clause of the Constitution.
That clause states the president "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 why has the Senate not been required to approve these treaties? Because the last three presidents have claimed these trade deals are executive agreements rather than treaties.
But if these so-called free-trade agreements are not to be considered treaties, then they are clearly within the power of Congress, not the president. Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution gives Congress the power to "regulate Commerce with foreign nations." But Congress has given up its exclusive constitutional authority to negotiate and regulate trade agreements by ceding "fast-track authority" to the executive branch.
The president's fast-track authority is set to expire next year, more than 30 years after its passage. It is no coincidence that the United States has now posted a trade deficit for 30 consecutive years.
The federal government is also undermining the rule of law in this country when it comes to enforcement of our immigration laws and securing borders and ports.
The Bush administration in its first four years was responsible for 318 fines against employers who hired illegal workers, an average of fewer than 80 each year. That's down from 5,587 fines against illegal employers during the eight years of the Clinton administration, according to the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus, an average of 698 each year. And the problem is getting worse; in 2004 only three employers received fines for illegal hiring.
Work site arrests have fallen even more drastically under this president. From 1995 to 1998, there were between 10,000 and 18,000 work site arrests of illegal aliens each year. But during the Bush administration, work site arrests fell to just 159 in 2004.
Apprehensions along the border averaged 1.05 million from fiscal year 2001 to 2004, according to the independent, progressive group Third Way, down from 1.52 million from 1996 to 2000. Border apprehensions have plummeted more than 30 percent, despite a doubling in the number of Border Patrol agents over the past decade and the rising number of attempted crossings.
It is not only the federal government that had diminished our claim to be a nation of laws. More than 70 U.S. cities, including New York, Los Angeles, California, and Chicago, Illinois, have set up "sanctuary" policies that offer safe haven from the law to illegal aliens and their families.
"It most certainly is a blatant violation of the law," says Rep. Tom Tancredo, a Republican from Colorado. "There is a provision of the 1996 Immigration Act that is very clear: It says states and localities can't do this. The unfortunate thing is there are no teeth in it."
As Abraham Lincoln said, if bad laws exist they should "be repealed as soon as possible, still, while they continue in force, for the sake of example they should be religiously observed." President Lincoln devoutly believed that rule of law assured that ours would continue to be a government of the people, by the people and for the people.
And that should be the first demand of every American today.

the truth about oil

Since the mid-1970s the demand for petroleum in Western Europe and Japan has been flat. In the USA the demand has doubled. The reasons are that Americans love S.U.V.s and hate Mass Transportation.
In the USA we have also failed to develop alternative fuel use, like Ethanol. Only recently did Congress even pass a Tax credit for Consumer purchase of Hy bird cars.
Demand is rising and supply can't keep up. The investment over the next decade would need to be $3.5 trillion in new sources to keep up with demand. Actual investment will be only a small fraction of that.
Exxon, BP and Chevron have been reduced to small players by the national oil companies of the major oil producing countries. They are, Saudi-Aramco, Petroleos de Venezula S.A.. Together they control 70 percent of oil production now. There are really only five countries that really matter in the world of oil, they are Saudi-Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Russia and Venezuela.
Gas is 40 cents a gallon in Iran. In Saudi Arabia they use the oil wealth and hand out massive aamounts of money to the people. Russian oil production was growing 5 to 10 percent a year in the 1990s, it's now growing at only 2 to 3 percent per year.
Japan and Europe pay $7 per gallon of gas.
Source, The Associated press, story by Rachel Beck

BP posted earnings of $22 billion last year, the economy is doing fine, for some.
BP also admitted it had been slacking off on maintenance of feeder pipelines at Prudhoe Bat field in Alaska. This is the largest producing oil filed in the USA accounts for 8 percent of all US oil output.
“Drivers will pay through the nose for this very preventable emergency, while oil companies will boast their already record profits even further”, said Judy Dugan, research director at the foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a consumer watch dog group. Predictions of $4 per gallon average in the USA are being made now.
Gas was at it's record high after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, then $3.057 per gallon.
Consumers already dealing with worries over huge debt burdens, a moderate hosing market and weak employment outlook must now crimp their spending even more.
Two thirds of the economy is driven by consumer spending and it's tight to say the least.
In the second quarter that ended June 30th. Bps profits rose by 30 percent from a year earlier to $7.3 billion. On revenues topping $73 billion. Since 2000, BP has plunged about $36 billion into stock buybacks. Many analysts on Wall Street are still recommending they the public buy BP stock.
None of them seem to be concerned about the oil spill in Prudhoe Bay Lawsuits, The explosion in Texas City, Texas that killed 15 and allegations of energy market manipulations by the BP and it's CEO, John Brown.

John Brown, now there is a person who really needs a income tax cut, he would also dearly love a inheritance cut from 7 percent to 5 percent of his wealth.
I wonder if he votes Republican or does he vote “the candidate” who is best for America?

please support a minimum wage increase.

More than 6 million workers are paid a minimum wage. The Senate has a bill now that would increase it from $5.15 to $7.25. It also gives 8200 Heirs in America $1.4 million each in Estate tax cuts. Also has some nice tax breaks for the timber industry. The Minimum wage has not been increased since 1997. Today, the $5.15 minimum is worth about $4 because of inflation. In 1997 Congress was paid $136,700 per year. Since then they have given themselves 8 pay increases. A total of 21 percent increase. Now $165,200. They are about to give themselves another raise to $ 168,700. As everyone knows most in Congress are already wealthy, many are Lawyers. Seven of the eight were called cost of living increases.
The minimum wage adds up to about $10,700 per year, which is about $6000 below the federal poverty level. In Ohio and six other states currently ballot initiatives to put the issue to a vote in November have been started by grass roots. They want a increase to $6.85 per hour.
Also 22 states have set their own minimum wage at higher than the Federal $5.15 per hour.
Washington currently has the highest at $7.63 per hour. Also 195 cities have raised the minimum wage with San Francisco having the highest at $ 8.82 per hour.
It is a bare face lie that a higher minimum wage will lead to price increases. It's just not true.
It also also not true that small business's will all close or be forced to lay off workers.
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has a bill that will increase the minimum wage to $7.25 and link future wage increase to increases in the pay in Congress.
No one can show me any creditable data or report that supports the claim that “higher minimum wage's do the economy any harm”. Republicans in Congress want to talk about “flag burning or stem cell” and other non issues, that way they are not forced to talk about their failure in office.

Ohio tax cuts (for who?)

If you are a Neocon, Conservative Republican please don't read this. I already know you are not interested at all in the truth, your not into facts that can not be disputed. You also have no wish to become informed or educated on any issue. You already know everything. I also know you want to talk about gays and lesbians, flag burning and abortion. Those are your issues.
My issues are different, I seek only the truth. I also deal in facts not fiction. I live in the real world, not one of pure fantasy. In my real world I work for a living. You of course would not know anything about the real world or real work because you will always ask others to do your work for you.
So save yourself some time to play golf or take the boat out. Skip this.
In Ohio our Republicans house wants to pass a Tax cut before election time in November, why because the current lie is the same as the old lie.
The State of Ohio has a $900 million surplus and Gov. Taft wants to “give some back to Tax payers.”
Taft who can not run again because of term limits really means “give it to his wealthy friends”. Then they give it back to the Republican party. Taft is also a Republican.
The Bill sponsored by State Rep. Chuck Calvert, a Medina Republican, would drop the maximum rate on capital gains taxes from 7 percent to 3 percent over three years.
Now never mind that in all 88 counties in Ohio our public schools are faced with bankruptcy, they don't care about that, they also don't care that the High Court in the State ruled against them and ordered them to fix the school funding issue. They just ignore that order. Ignore the Judge, do nothing to fix the problems in our schools.
Also never mind that with this tax cut they have proposed no cuts in State spending to offset the drop in income, that's a detail they have also decided to ignore. That's called being “conservative”.
Some Republicans in the State House even think Debt is a good thing to have around.
Now lets look at where the tax cut money goes. Three fourths of the cuts go to the richest one percent in Ohio, they get $7164 each of three years. Almost 20 percent of that $7164 will be taken by the Federal Government in higher Federal taxes, the feds get some of the money. Good deal for the Feds.
The 40 percent of the lowest income Ohioans, with average 2007 income of $17,900, would get nothing. Yeup, nothing, Zip, Zero. The middle 20 percent, with average incomes of $40,600 will get a average of one dollar, yes $1. But that's per year.
The tax cut would take $537 million out of the State budget the first 3 years. So who gets the money, not me. I work for a living.
Calvert is so stupid he did not agree that the lowest-income families would be Zero. According to this Financial whiz “ some of these low income families could receive stock shares as inheritance and sell them with a lower tax rate”. What? Hummmm, did he really say that? Must be “liberal” propaganda.
Are people in this world really that stupid?
Governor Bob Taft has said his cuts on state income tax will let Ohioans keep $390 million of the $900 million surplus. Hey Bob, do the math, your now $27 million in give aways over the surplus. Bob lets get real, what will you cut to pay for your $390 million election year stunt?
The last two budgets years have been short and showed deficits.

BTW, in my home town parents pay $50 per child per year for school.

Republican Effort to fix the next election in Ohio headed for court.

Dear jack,
Last Monday, the Ohio Joint Committee for Agency Rule Review (JCARR) voted to uphold the restrictive and illegal voter registration rules enacted by Secretary of State Ken Blackwell. But People For the American Way Foundation is still in the fight!
Many of you signed PFAW Foundation’s Election Protection 365 petition denouncing the burdensome regulations and urging JCARR to do the right thing and reject right-wing voter suppression tactics in Ohio. By a party-line vote, your calls for justice were turned down.
Today, People For the American Way Foundation joins several other civic organizations in filing a lawsuit to overturn recent changes to Ohio election law – including Secretary of State Blackwell’s undemocratic rules. PFAW Foundation believes the changes in Ohio law violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, and protections contained in the first and fourteenth amendments of the U.S. Constitution.
While PFAW Foundation is busy trying to protect the integrity of Ohio’s election system by fighting voter suppression tactics in court, People For the American Way is running full throttle in what has become a real battle to renew expiring provisions of the Voting Rights Act.
Our emergency petition to save the VRA has reached 50,000 signatures, and to further ratchet up the pressure on Congress, PFAW will be holding public demonstrations, conducting meetings with House staff, keeping this issue in the media, and redoubling our efforts – with your help – to get as many new signatures on our petition as possible, so we can deliver more box-loads up to Capitol Hill when Congress gets back from break!
If you have not signed the petition, please do so now at www.SaveTheVotingRightsAct.org.

This is how Neocons in Congress treat vets.

America has 2.7 million disabled veterans,half of that number receive $337 or less a month in benefits. According to the Government. All Republicans should hang their head in shame. Republicans control the money.

Six months after her return to America, she lives in a homeless shelter in Brooklyn, sharing a room with eight other women and attending a job training program. Her parents live in Jamaica and are barely making ends meet, she says.

"I'm just an ordinary person who served. I'm not embarrassed about my homelessness, because the circumstances that created it were not my fault," says Beckford, 30, who was a military-supply specialist at a U.S. base in Iraq — a sitting duck for around-the-clock attacks "where hell was your home."

It was a "hell" familiar to Noel during his eight months in Iraq. But it didn't stop when he returned home to New York last year and couldn't find a job to support his wife and three children. Without enough money to rent an apartment, he turned to the housing programs for vets, "but they were overbooked," Noel says.

While he was in Iraq, his family had lived in military housing in Georgia.

In New York, they ended up in a Bronx shelter "with people who were just out of prison, and with roaches," Noel says. "I'm a young black man from the ghetto, but this was culture shock. This is not what I fought for, what I almost died for. This is not what I was supposed to come home to."

There are about 200,000 homeless vets in the United States, according to government figures. About 10 percent are from either the 1991
Gulf War or the current one, about 40 percent are Vietnam veterans, and most of the others served when the country was not officially at war.

"In recent years, we've tried to reach out sooner to new veterans who are having problems with post-traumatic stress, depression or substance abuse, after seeing combat," says Dougherty. "These are the veterans who most often end up homeless."

All "Liberal dope should go to prison", Rush

Rush Limbaugh caught with Viagra prescribed to someone else
Associated Press

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Investigators were trying to determine Tuesday whether Rush Limbaugh violated a deal with prosecutors in a long-running prescription fraud case when authorities found he had a bottle of Viagra that was apparently prescribed to someone else.

Limbaugh, 55, was detained for more than three hours Monday at Palm Beach International Airport after he returned on his private plane from a vacation in the Dominican Republic. Customs officials found Viagra in his bag, but his name wasn't on the prescription, Palm Beach County sheriff's spokesman Paul Miller said.

Limbaugh's lawyer, Roy Black, said the prescription was written in Limbaugh's doctor's name "for privacy purposes." The conservative radio host was released without being charged and investigators confiscated the Viagra, which treats erectile dysfunction.

Limbaugh joked about the search on his radio show Tuesday, saying Customs officials didn't believe him when he said he got the pills at the Clinton Library and he was told they were blue M&Ms. He later added, chuckling: "I had a great time in the Dominican Republic. Wish I could tell you about it."