There 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?
Bush’s Blood for Oil Program (BOP) Is Counterproductive (June 5, 2006)
Posted in Bush, Iraq on June 5, 2006 by e-commentary.orgImmigration: 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!
The Housing Anti-Terrorist Act 0f 2006 (HAT Act) (May 8, 2006)
Posted in Foreign Policy, Housing on May 8, 2006 by e-commentary.orgThe housing stock for the next half century is under construction today. Americans are building Taj Mahals they will not be able to own or heat or cool. Today’s McMansions are typically constructed with 2 inch by 4 inch wood studs rather than 2 inch by 6 inch wood studs. A 2 by 4 house is insulated with R-11 insulation whereas a 2 by 6 house is insulated with much warmer R-19 insulation. The higher the R value, the greater the insulation value. In addition, a 2 by 6 house with a generous nailing pattern is more likely to resist earthquakes which are predicted to surface in unexpected places in the near future.
The country is acquiring much of its energy from unfriendly regimes. We as a country must reduce the funding of our enemies. Proper house construction practices should be part of the war on terrorism. The market should be the starting point of every economic debate. The market is failing. Government involvement, the ending point of every economic debate, is necessary. In the past, housing construction companies were local enterprises. National companies such as Pulte Homes and Tull Brothers are among the larger builders. They should be enlisted in this campaign. One builder may be reluctant to take the lead because there is an added cost with benefits that may not be immediately apparent to the consumer. All of the builders may be willing to follow one set practice. This single simple practice would produce tremendous positive long term consequences for the country.
[Next consideration – Converting cargo containers into cottages]
May Day (May 1, 2006)
Posted in Law, Society on May 1, 2006 by e-commentary.orgMay 1 is May Day. This is Law Day, a day to reflect on our heritage of liberty, justice and equality under the law and to celebrate the rule of law in a democracy. Hundreds of years ago in England, a homeowner behind on his (not her) mortgage could pay the arrears on May 1 and avoid a foreclosure. This is also International Workers Day. Workingmen of the world unite and celebrate their rights. This is also Labor Day in Mexico. Hispanics are laboring this day by boycotting work and business in support of the first National Day Without Immigrants. Today is also “Mission Impossible” Day in the United States, a day of mourning to decry Emperor Bush’s proclamation: “Mission Accomplished.” That it isn’t. Busy day.
McMansions and the (Extended) Family of Tomorrow (April 24, 2006)
Posted in Economics, Housing, Society on April 24, 2006 by e-commentary.orgMcMansions are littering the landscape. Monoliths that consume space and resources. Some McStructures are not even finished on the inside because the goal is to loom large when viewed from the outside. “Potemkin Estates.” The larger structures demand increasingly expensive hvac systems (heating ventilation and air conditioning systems).
Kids are returning home, with and without jobs, and flopping in their former bedroom or on the couch in the basement. They are “failing to launch.” The kids can’t afford a home even if they can find a job. Some parents charge rent or require contributions for food and utilities. This relationship may develop into a permanent and positive lifestyle. Extended families may pool their talents and grow old together in one mega-structure. One sibling may be a single parent; the others can help raise the kids/grandkids. One sibling may go and come at unusual times to juggle two part-time jobs in the craven new economy. There will be no retirement, no social security, and no long-term health care, so the kids will be expected to take care of their parents in this assisted-living situation. The home theater room will be remodeled into another bedroom. Situation comedies (tragedies?) on the tv relocated to its traditional home in the den will chronicle the exploits of the new mega-nuclear family. The McMansion could bring families together in unexpected ways.
The Virtues of an Iraqi Civil War (April 17, 2006)
Posted in Bush, Iraq, Military on April 17, 2006 by e-commentary.orgThe United States was not required to engage in a domestic dispute war in 1860. The Union forces could have prevented the expansion of slavery in the West by establishing garrisons along the border between the slave-holding states and the frontier. The Navy could have embargoed trade with the South on the seas to the east and in the area now known as the Gulf of Mexico while also protecting other legitimate commerce and asserting the young nation’s sovereignty. The South would have withered in a dozen years rather than being obliterated in four. However, a President really only has the four-year term to resolve the matter. The Union elected to “destroy the village in order to save it.” A civil war defines a people. The War Between the States or the War of Northern Aggression or however it is described is one of the major events that defined America and its people. There are some who are still fighting the conflict.
“Over values men will fight.” This rallying cry was shouted not by Ernesto “Che” Guevara but by Milton “Free Market” Friedman, the great contemporary conservative economist and philosopher. The peoples in the present country of Iraq may elect to fight to determine their borders, their identities and their values. There may be many deaths. Men fighting over values often kill. The killing is often unfair, random, ruthless, and indiscriminate. The men kill far too many women and children. The tumult is spreading over the region. The Shiites in Iraq may ally with the Shiites in Iran. Others may join the fray. The United States can only make the situation worse.
The Iraqi peoples need to determine their destiny without American involvement and meddling. The United States should not play policeman or baby sitter. The Iraqi people must determine their fate. Support our troops . . . return . . . now.
“A Man’s Home Is His Gated Community” (April 10, 2006)
Posted in Housing, Law, Society, Supreme Court on April 10, 2006 by e-commentary.org“A man’s home is his castle.” This maxim reflects a fundamental social and economic compact in Anglo-American law. All of us agree to treat each other’s home as if it were a castle which frees each of us to do something more productive than to defend one’s home 24/7/365. A land of fortified castles is far less efficient and creative than a land of homes and businesses respected by all of us.
The recent Supreme Court case of Georgia v. Randolph, 547 U.S. ___ (2006), threatened to depart in a small way from this cornerstone of the Constitution. The Court addressed whether the police can search a home without a warrant when one occupant gives consent but another objects. The wife allowed the police to enter and search the home despite the objection of her husband who co-inhabited the residence. Other prior cases had allowed the police to enter if consent was given by the one inhabitant who was present. By a 5 to 3 decision, the Supreme Court rejected the search as unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment and invalid as to him. A man’s and a woman’s home is their castle not just his or her castle.
Some of those who are concerned about crime seek to expand the “castle doctrine,” a corollary to the “castle rule” that allows a person to use force including deadly force to protect oneself and others from attack. There is a countervailing “duty to retreat” under some circumstances. The “castle doctrine” has been expanding in recent years to allow one to pursue a possible assailant. The legislatures and courts must balance these concerns with care.
Gated communities are expanding in many regions of the Republic. The communities represent a rejection of the “castle compact” and a return to castles with gates and guards rather than draw bridges and moats. The denizens have their own private McFortress within the larger compound. They send their kids to private schools in equally guarded enclaves detached from the public. Their shelters shelter them from ordinary activities. The reaction is not entirely surprising in the face of criminal activity. However, the moated communities are changing the landscape and lifestyle of America.
The Arithmetic of Hope (April 3, 2006)
Posted in Economics, PATRIOT Act, Politics, USA PATRIOT Act on April 3, 2006 by e-commentary.org1 Senator voted against the UnPatriot Act when it was initially passed.
36 Senators voted against the nomination of Alberto Gonzales.
44 senators voted against the nomination of Samuel Alito.
48 Senators voted against increasing the debt ceiling to nine (9) Trillion dollars.
(On August 7, 1964, 2 Senators voted against the “Gulf of Tonkin Resolution,” Ernest Gruening of Alaska and Wayne Morse of Oregon.)
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