Term Limits for Supreme Court Justices?

Legal Experts Propose Limiting Justices' Powers, Terms

If we had it to do all over again, would we appoint Supreme Court justices for life? Allow the chief justice to keep the job forever? Let the court have the final word on which cases it hears and those it declines?

A group of prominent law professors and jurists thinks not, and the group says in a letter to congressional leaders that there is no reason Congress should consider the operation of the high court sacrosanct.

For starters, the group proposes a form of term limits, moving justices to senior status after 18 years on the court. The proposal says that justices now linger so long that it diminishes the likelihood that the court's decisions "will reflect the moral and political values of the contemporary citizens they govern."

To get around the Constitution's prescription that justices serve for life, the group would let justices stay on the court in a senior role -- filling in on a case, perhaps, or dispatched to lower courts -- or lure them into retirement with promises of hefty bonuses.

It would set up a regular rotation on the court by providing for the nomination of a new justice by the president with each new two-year term of Congress. If that results in more than the current nine justices, only the nine most junior would hear cases.
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Source: Washington Post

Note: When so-called "Legal Experts" start questioning whether Judiciary practices should be held sancrosanct, and they openly ponder ways to "get around" the Constitution, I have to wonder how we are measuring legal expertise these days?

Putting our most experienced justices "out-to-pasture" after 18 years, just for the sake of maintaining cultural relativism, is lunacy. Limiting the Chief Justice to a 7 year term would be tragic.

Anyone who doubts that our Constitution is in grave danger right now had better sit up an take notice. Wake up, America!

Removing Presidential Term Limits

111th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. J. RES. 5

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the twenty-second article of amendment, thereby removing the limitation on the number of terms an individual may serve as President.
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Source: Thomas Library of Congress

Note: Introduced by Congressman José Serrano (D-NY) on January 6, 2009. This was attempted back in 2005 during the second term of George W. Bush, but at that time it would not have gone into effect until after the Bush presidency. Similar bills have been introduced many times over the years. Still, it's one to keep an eye on.

Urban Renewal

Guardsmen to Conduct Urban Training at Arcadia in April

The Carroll National Guard unit will train on urban military operations by holding a four-day exercise at Arcadia.

The purpose of the April 2-5 drill will be to gather intelligence, then search for and apprehend a suspected weapons dealer, according to Sgt. Mike Kots, readiness NCO for Alpha Company.

Citizens, law enforcement, media and other supporters will participate.

Troops will spend Thursday, April 2, staging at a forward operations base at Carroll. The next day company leaders will conduct reconnaissance and begin patrolling the streets of Arcadia to identify possible locations of the weapons dealer.
Read more...

Source: Daily Times Herald, Carroll, Iowa

Note: Carroll, Iowa - this defines "Urban America"? What sort of training is going on in your community? Wake up, America.

At Last! Urbanites Have Hope!

Executive Order: Establishment of the White House Office of Urban Affairs

Section 1. Policy. About 80 percent of Americans live in urban areas, and the economic health and social vitality of our urban communities are critically important to the prosperity and quality of life for Americans. Vibrant cities spawn innovation, economic growth, and cultural enrichment through the businesses, universities, and civic, cultural, religious, and nonprofit institutions they attract. Forward-looking policies that encourage wise investment and development in our urban areas will create employment and housing opportunities and make our country more competitive, prosperous, and strong. In the past, insufficient attention has been paid to the problems faced by urban areas and to coordinating the many Federal programs that affect our cities. A more comprehensive approach is needed, both to develop an effective strategy for urban America and to coordinate the actions of the many executive departments and agencies whose actions impact urban life.
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Source: The White House web site

Note: That's odd. I thought innovation, economic growth, and cultural enrichment spawned vibrant cities...not the other way around. So, we haven't paid "sufficient attention" to the needs and wants of cities...we've ignored 80% of the American population? Strange, we've heard no outcry on this, no 60 Minutes specials on the un-met needs of urban America, particularly the urbanites of Manhatten, Beverly Hills, and the condo rows of Miami Beach.

Perhaps these are not the urbanites that the Office of Urban Affairs will concern itself with. I suspect this new office should be re-named the Office of Inner-City Slum Affairs. But of course, "urban" has such a more classy ring to it.

Keeping an Eye on Recovery

There is a new web site available for us to monitor the economic recovery. Here is the link to the main page:

http://www.recovery.gov/

At this point in time, there is a bar graph, showing where our money is going. Please note the asterisks preceding "Tax Relief" and "State and Local Fiscal Relief", which are annotated with the link labeled "Learn More". If you click on that link and scroll down to the small print, you will see:

"* Tax Relief - includes $15 B for Infrastructure and Science, $61 B for Protecting the Vulnerable, $25 B for Education and Training and $22 B for Energy, so total funds are $126 B for Infrastructure and Science, $142 B for Protecting the Vulnerable, $78 B for Education and Training, and $65 B for Energy.

State and Local Fiscal Relief - Prevents state and local cuts to health and education programs and state and local tax increases."

If you subtract the $15B for Infrastructure and Science, the $61B for Protecting the Vulnerable, $25B for Education and Training, and $22B for Energy, we are left with $165B in Tax Relief, am I right?

So why did they include these amounts under "Tax Relief", other than to make the illustration look like tax relief is the lion's share of the stimulus plan?

Actually, by this illustration, tax relief is only 37% of the plan, while spending is 43% of the plan, if you add up all the other categories. Yet the bar graph makes it look like tax relief is by far the greatest benefit. If you consider the items in the footnote, then tax relief is only 21% of the stimulus plan.

The pretty bubble break-down...with footnotes.

Money as Debt

This is an eye-opener. It's 47 minutes long, but WELL worth it, if you'd like to better understand where money comes from, and how our economy works. It's animated, with clear narration, and impressive graphics. Enjoy, and please comment.
More information...

1,071 Pages...less than 48 hours

"It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws are so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man, who knows what the law is today, can guess what it will be tomorrow. Law is defined to be a rule of action, but how can that be a rule, which is little known, and less fixed?"
James Madison, 4th President of the United States (1751-1836)

Source: Federalist Papers, No. 62, Page 381

Note: The Founding Fathers did not regard "the people" as a mass of brain-dead, American-Idol worshippers. They respected "the people", and sought to protect the rights and power of "the people." We should live up to the respect they had for us, and the duty they entrusted to us.

Bon Voyage, Madam Speaker!

US House Speaker Pelosi to Rome

(ANSA) - Rome, February 12 - The speaker of the United
States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, will be in
Rome next week for talks with top Italian officials focusing
in the global economic crisis and other leading issues.

The first woman to hold the third-highest position in
the American government, Pelosi has played a key role in
pushing through the economic policies drawn up by the
administration of President Barack Obama to combat the global
recession.
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Source: LifeInItaly.com

Note: So now President Obama is addressing the "global" recession, not just the financial woes of Henrietta Hughes in Ft. Myers , Florida. My, my. I wonder if Henrietta is now singing, "He's got the whole world - in his hands; the whole wor-r-r-rld, in his hands."

I'm also impressed with Speaker Pelosi's incredible luck in the timing of the vote of the stimulus bill. How very fortunate that there was no delay in the vote, which might have interfered with her travel plans. Thank goodness no one insisted on actually reading all 1,071 pages of the bill before voting on it.

Lobbyists? What Lobbyists...?

Lobbyists Pull All-Nighters
By Jim Snyder

For lobbyists, the cost of a $789 billion economic recovery package can be measured in sore thumbs, lack of sleep and delayed vacations.

Rarely, if ever, has a bill consumed the influence industry as much as the stimulus package, the largest government intervention in the market since the New Deal.

Automakers, arts advocates, coal companies, film producers, drug makers, construction workers, college presidents, airlines, oil refiners and even duck hunters are tracking the bill. What’s duck hunting have to do with a bad economy? Nothing, really. But Ducks Unlimited urged its membership to call Senate and House offices to support the bill for its money to pay for wetland restoration.

After a tough 2008 in which revenues at top firms fell, the stimulus package has been a boon to K Street’s economy. Hundreds of firms, companies and trade groups registered to lobby on the recovery package this January, usually a sleepy month in Washington.
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Source: The Hill

Note: I'm just curious...of course, we're being told that there are NO (ahem) earmarks in the stimulus bill. Well, maybe a few, but not many. Not enough to shake a stick at. Yet, the lobbyists are congregating at the boon docks in Washington. Next thing you know, we'll be seeing fleas congregating where there is no dog.

Undercover at Wal-Mart

Fly on the Wall - Undercover at Wal-Mart
By Charles Platt

Some people, usually community activists, loath Wal-Mart. Others, like the family of four struggling to make ends meet, are in love with the chain. I, meanwhile, am in awe of it.

With more than 7,000 facilities worldwide, coordinating more than 2 million employees in its fanatical mission to maintain an inventory from more than 60,000 American suppliers, it has become a system containing more components than the Space Shuttle - yet it runs as reliably as a Timex watch.
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Source: New York Post

Note: It's interesting to see the entrails of Wal-Mart. The devotion to customer service is so diabolical. The empowerment of employees is so non-unionizing. Of course, we have to keep in mind that a former senior writer for Wired magazine may have some degree of bias.

CSPAN Rep Paul Kanjorski Reviews the Bailout Situation

Economists Agree - NOT!

With All Due Respect, Mr. President

Notwithstanding reports that all economists are now Keynesians and that we all support a big increase in the burden of government, we do not believe that more government spending is a way to improve economic performance. More government spending by Hoover and Roosevelt did not pull the United States economy out of the Great Depression in the 1930s. More government spending did not solve Japan's "lost decade" in the 1990s. As such, it is a triumph of hope over experience to believe that more government spending will help the U.S. today. To improve the economy, policy makers should focus on reforms that remove impediments to work, saving, investment and production. Lower tax rates and a reduction in the burden of government are the best ways of using fiscal policy to boost growth.
View the list of economists who signed this message...

Source: CATO Institute

Note: Why... WHY?... are we being spoon-fed propaganda; why are we being mislead? We (the people) should have access to all sides of this issue. Investigate the sources of information you receive, listen to all sides. Look both ways before crossing the street.

Travel Rationing - Could It Happen Here?

UK environment czar looking at limiting holiday trips to save CO2

The UK's so-called "environment czar" last week raised the possibility of rationing air travel, limiting UK citizens to just a few vacation trips abroad by air per year in order to reduce the impact of carbon dioxide emissions.

Adair Turner, chairman of the independent Committee on Climate Change that advises UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, made the proposal before Parliament's Environmental Audit Select Committee on Feb. 5. In remarks widely reported by UK media, Turner said, "We will have to constrain demand in an absolute sense with people not allowed to make as many journeys as they could in an unconstrained manner."
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Source: ATW (Air Transport World)

Note: I don't know what effect such restrictions would have on business travel, maybe it wouldn't apply at all. The scary thing is living in a world where the government can tell you if, when, and where you may travel.

Stimulus Projects By State

This is embarrassing, at least for the state of Florida. Take a look at the various projects, from state to state, that are anticipating hand-outs from the stimulus plan:

http://www.stimuluswatch.org/project/by_state

Simulus Plan Bars Funds to Schools Hosting Faith Forums

Republican Senator Proposes Amendment to Overturn Ban on Cash for Schools Hosting Faith Forums

Republican Sen. Jim DeMint proposed an amendment Thursday to overturn a provision in the stimulus bill that prohibits renovation funding for schools that allow religious worship in their facilities.

DeMint and others who object to the provision say Democrats in Congress have declared war against prayer in the stimulus bill, which currently prohibits funds from being used for the "modernization, renovation, or repair" of facilities that allow "sectarian instruction, religious worship or a school or department of divinity."
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Source: Senator Jim DeMint's (R-SC) Blog

Note: Did you know this was part of the Stimulus Plan? Where do the "jobs" get created here? Some young bureaucrat hired to patrol campuses, making sure there's no praying going on?

Heath Care Issues in the Stimulus Plan

The bill’s health rules will affect “every individual in the United States” ([pages] 445, 454, 479). Your medical treatments will be tracked electronically by a federal system. Having electronic medical records at your fingertips, easily transferred to a hospital, is beneficial. It will help avoid duplicate tests and errors.

But the bill goes further. One new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and “guide” your doctor’s decisions (442, 446). These provisions in the stimulus bill are virtually identical to what Daschle prescribed in his 2008 book, “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.” According to Daschle, doctors have to give up autonomy and “learn to operate less like solo practitioners.”

Daschle says health-care reform “will not be pain free.” Seniors should be more accepting of the conditions that come with age instead of treating them. That means the elderly will bear the brunt.
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Source: Bloomberg

Note: Did you know such things have been included in the "emergency" stimulus package? All we hear about is "jobs, jobs, jobs". What jobs are created by this section? A job for a young bureaucrat to write letters to senior citizens, telling them to "grin and bear it"?

Legislative Challenge

Here's a challenge for you. From the brief descriptions of newly introduced bills (since February 1, 2009) provided below, try to determine the party affiliation of the legislator introducing the bill:

1. S. 392: A bill to protect consumers, and especially young consumers, from skyrocketing credit card debt, unfair credit card practices, and deceptive credit offers.

2. S. 385: A bill to reaffirm and clarify the authority of the Comptroller General to audit and evaluate the programs, activities, and financial transactions of the intelligence community, and for other purposes.

3. S. 386: A bill to improve enforcement of mortgage fraud, securities fraud, financial institution fraud, and other frauds related to federal assistance and relief programs, for the recovery of funds lost to these frauds, and for other purposes.

4. S. 384: A bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal years 2010 through 2014 to provide assistance to foreign countries to promote food security, to stimulate rural economies, and to improve emergency response to food crises, to amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, and for other purposes.

5. S. 391: A bill to provide affordable, guaranteed private health coverage that will make Americans healthier and can never be taken away.

6. H.Res. 116: Expressing support for the designation of February 8, 2010, as "Boy Scouts of America Day", in celebration of the Nation's largest youth scouting organization's 100th anniversary.

7. H.R. 849: To require the Secretary of Labor to issue interim and final occupational safety and health standards regarding worker exposure to combustible dust, and for other purposes.

8. H.R. 853: To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit the use of interstate commerce for suicide promotion.

9. H.R. 866: To provide an exception to certain mandatory minimum sentence requirements for a law enforcement officer who uses, carries, or possesses a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence committed while pursuing or apprehending a suspect.

10. H.R. 892: To deny certain Federal funds to any institution of higher education that admits as students aliens who are unlawfully present in the United States.

Answer key: http://www.govtrack.us/users/events.xpd?monitors=misc:introducedbills