More that four years after Bush triggered World War III, others are joining the fray. [See the March 20, 2006 e-ssay entitled “The (Unreal) March Madness” and the January 3, 2005 e-ssay entitled “Boycott Red America.” ] The thug in Baghdad–Hussein–maintained order but not law among the three religious/cultural factions. He served as the Tito of the country and by extension in the region. Sunnis and Shiites inside and outside Iraq knew their place. Iraq balanced Iran; Iran balanced Iraq. Bush’s Crusade destabilized the country and the region. In the last few years, Iraqis of all religious persuasions united in ousting the American aggressor. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Others came across a border even more porous than Americas southern border and joined the fight. Now the fight has been exported. A war on two great fronts appears possible. The Sunnis and Shiites can both fight the U.S. and fight each other. The enemy of my enemy is now also my enemy. The Turks and the Kurds are now free to battle for power and real estate. American military might is now dissipated and weak. America may have no option other than to pursue a diplomatic approach, but a diplomatic approach is effete without a viable military threat. America is now incapable of fighting or resolving World War III.
World War III Is Expanding (July 17, 2006)
Posted in Bush, Iraq on July 17, 2006 by e-commentary.org2006 Is A Year of Birthdays (July 10, 2006)
Posted in Society on July 10, 2006 by e-commentary.orgDuring 2006, the rosewood frame and black leather chair and ottoman designed by Charles and Ray Eames turn fifty. The National Interstate Defense Highways Act creating the Interstate Highway System also reached that milepost. One allowed us to sit in modern style, while the other allowed us to move with speed even if we did not see anything. Len Bias died twenty years ago of a cocaine dose. President Johnson reluctantly signed the Privacy Act of 1966 known as the Freedom of Information Act forty years ago on July 4. His presidential signing order stated in part “I signed this measure with a deep sense of pride that the United States is an open society,” although he privately disdained the legislation. Freedom was 230 years young on that very day last week. Thomas Jefferson, with some help from James Madison and Ben Franklin, penned the essay declaring the rationale for independence in a pamphlet captioned “The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America.” In the same year, Adam Smith published An Inquiry Into The Nature And Causes Of The Wealth Of Nations, the economic declaration of independence, interdependence, competition, choice and free trade.
The Kennedy Court Reigns In the King (July 3, 2006)
Posted in Law, Supreme Court on July 3, 2006 by e-commentary.orgA few days before the celebration of our independence from King George III, some of the Justices who appointed King George II reigned in the Emperor. In Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, the Supreme Court ruled that some of the military commissions created by Bush had been improperly constituted.
The health of the Constitution now turns substantially on the health of a Justice who is turning four score and seven years young next April. Justice Stevens grew or emerged on the job. Justice Kennedy is the lynch pin on the Court. He is the real Decider who has grown and emerged on the job. Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito are showing fealty to the one who appointed them. The Four Justices of the Apocalypse–Roberts, Scalia, Thomas and Alito–would be satisfied to recess the Court for good and let all three branches of government receive mail at and take direction from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Happy birthday to this very good Republic.
Congress Is Out Of Control (June 26, 2006)
Posted in Congress, Economics on June 26, 2006 by e-commentary.orgCongress refuses to address the most pressing problems today–a bloated and growing federal budget and the Iraqi Quagmire–and instead is trying to find more ways for the government to interfere in our lives. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid exceed 40 percent of federal spending and will increase with each birthday of the Baby Boomers. Another looming problem–unfunded or inadequately funded pensions–will require increased funding of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation or another government agency with a similar mission in the near future. The Iraqi Quagmire has now slogged on longer that America’s involvement in World War II. Continued involvement does nothing to protect American interests. The National Guards of the states need to be redeployed to their home bases to assist in protecting citizens from the ravages of hurricanes, tornados, wild fires, earthquakes and rain damage. These issues do not trouble Congress. Rather, Congress wants to define marriage, yet marriage must be defined by consenting adults. Congress wants to ban flag burning, yet free speech is an individual right. The Fall elections offer a chance to adjust priorities.
Cargo Containers to Cottages (June 19, 2006)
Posted in Housing on June 19, 2006 by e-commentary.orgCargo containers are flooding the country. China sends goods in the cargo containers which are then abandoned in America because the cost of returning them unladen with cargo is too expensive. The cargo containers should be designed and manufactured in China so that they can be converted into homes upon arrival in the United States. The resulting homes would look like trailers and be derided as such. The resulting communities might look like steel Levittowns. However, as the years passed and each house was personalized, Levittown developed its own identity and community pride. Cargotown may also develop the same charm and pride.
(The idea is admittedly a stretch. Yet something must be done with the containers.)
American English Again (June 12, 2006)
Posted in English Language, Immigration on June 12, 2006 by e-commentary.orgThe movement to declare American English to be the official language reveals America’s increasing insecurity and desperation. The movement may be harmless unless it includes some limitations on the use of other languages in law or commerce. However, why allow more government intervention into our lives? Let the markets decide. If consumers desire an owners manual written in English, Spanish and Swahili, so be it. The Chinese will respond to the demands of the market with little direction or resistance from their government. We do not need any intervention from ours. Immigrants learn English. If the populace could reflect for a few minutes, there is one less problem to keep us awake at night.
Bush’s Blood for Oil Program (BOP) Is Counterproductive (June 5, 2006)
Posted in Bush, Iraq on June 5, 2006 by e-commentary.orgThere were and are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Compressed deceased dinosaurs: Oil. Without that weapon in its arsenal, there will be mass destruction in the western world. Bush established his Blood for Oil Program (BOP) to secure that weapon. Many of those who quarrel with Bush object to his dishonesty and deception. The debate should focus on the costs and consequences of Bush’s decision to declare and continue World War III to protect sources of oil. Iraq is not even advancing the oil agenda. Iraq never was and is not about nation building. Condi Rice coddles dictator Obiang Nguema Mbasogo in Equatorial Guinea and Bush kowtows to Nursultan A. Nazarbayev in Kazakhstan. Those are nations that need to be built. Both regimes are at least as unrepresentative as the practices during the rule of Saddam Hussein. At this time, Operation Iraqi Liberation has alienated more of our allies and emboldened more of our enemies, particularly those with oil reserves, than any other recent American action. Why invade? Why stay? What is the oil policy?
Immigration: A Historical Perspective (May 29, 2006)
Posted in Immigration on May 29, 2006 by e-commentary.org“They keep coming across our borders. Each wave brings another wave of illegal immigrants flooding our shores. They demand our social services. They take our jobs. They refuse to speak our native tongue. They wave their flag. Worst of all, they undermine the rule of law. They are changing our very way of life.” Chief Esperanza of the Pax tribe in the area later know as Billy Penn’s Hunting Grounds discussing Americas first illegal immigrants (1776).
Presidential Signing Orders (May 22, 2006)
Posted in Bush, Law, Politics on May 22, 2006 by e-commentary.orgHigh school civics classes teach us that the legislature passes laws, the executive implements laws, and the courts interpret laws. Legislative bodies pass the laws and provide “legislative intent” that accompanies the actual language in the legislation itself. Presidents in recent years have been trying to create “executive intent” by appending a “presidential signing order” to the legislation when it is signed. The p.s.o. provides the Presidents spin on the legislation. The President is giving direction to executive agencies such as Health and Human Services, Environmental Protection Agency, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Labor, etc. to shape the interpretation of the legislation.
The various courts in the country employ a variety of tests to determine “legislative intent.” To date, courts do not resort to “executive intent” to construe a law. To date, law students are not taught to divine “executive intent.” In the future, courts could be induced to resort to an analysis of the presidents twist.
The likely effect of a p.s.o is much more subtle and pernicious. The p.s.o. directs an agency to undertake a different interpretation of a law than the legislature intended. As an agency administers a law over the years, the agency’s interpretation becomes a generally accepted standard. In a case, Udall v. Tallman, 360 U.S. 1, 16 (1965), the United States Supreme Court held: “When faced with a problem of statutory construction, this Court shows great deference to the interpretation given the statute by the officers or agency charged with its administration.” The same is true of the administrative regulations adopted to implement a statute. “When the construction of an administrative regulation rather than a statute is in issue, deference is even more clearly in order.” Thus, the p.s.o. exercises an indirect but nonetheless potent impact on the interpretation of a law. A president who aggressively stacks the judiciary with ideologues and then redirects the interpretation of laws via p.s.o.s will have a far greater influence for many more years than an executive who merely signs legislation without comment.
There is nothing in the Constitution to incorporate the intent of the executive at any time. Each incoming president may find it necessary to issue a series of revised presidential signing orders to reflect the current “executive intent.” An incoming president may need to assemble a transition staff charged with redirecting the practice of the bureaucracy. The first one hundred days of an administration may be marked not by new legislation but by new spin on extant legislation. An incoming president could issue a report a week for each executive agency.
[Phillip J. Cooper author of By Order of the President: the Use and Abuse of Executive Direct Action discusses presidential signing statements in more detail.]
Himno Nacional Americano – The National Anthem in Spanish (May 15, 2006)
Posted in English Language, Immigration on May 15, 2006 by e-commentary.orgThe National Anthem in Spanish? Americans should be proud that the National Anthem is translated into and sung in foreign languages. They are singing our song in their language. The song celebrates a flag. Our flag. That is an ad man’s dream.
American English should be the official language of the United States. Spanish should be the second official language. We in the Americas (North, Central and South) should do business and pleasure in both English and Spanish (and show deference to French and Portuguese along the way). All signs, owner’s manuals, bill boards and beer ads should be presented in both languages. No real man resorts to the instructions, but a real man can maintain his manhood by resorting to the instructions in another language. It may be all Greek to him, but at least his manhood is intact. “?Hey Larry, what’s a destornillador?”
Communication and transportation are key to economic growth and development. Communication requires more than a network of telegraph lines and cell phone repeater towers. A common language makes communication easier, more efficient. A thousand languages and the thousand cultures that gave rise to the languages in the Central and South Americas were vanquished by the Spanish (with the assistance of the Portuguese, Dutch and English). At this time, the Spanish language is one of legacies of the terror of colonialism. A positive and promising legacy. A common means of communication allows someone in Tierra del Fuego to communicate with someone in Bahia de Los Angeles. Those citizens living in the City of Angels should learn how to communicate with others in Bogota. Americans should be as eager to learn Spanish as most immigrants are to embrace English.
Sobre tierra de libres, la bandera sagrada!
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