[Gumption]

Congressman Billybob said : You've outdone yourself in stupidity -- a stunning achievement -- to say the Constitution gives no power to Congress to regulate, tax or prohibit any form of international trade.

Demidog said : I didn't say that. Hope that helps. And even the most dense of people in our government understand that interstate means trade between the states.

The Constitution says (Article 1, section 8) :

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

I say : What's the problem here?

[Demidog]

The problem is that CB can't read or is purposefully mangling my words. He claims to be a lawyer and so should easily grasp what I originally said which was the the Congress was never given the power to prohibit me from trading with anyone. Regulation cannot be construed to mean prohibit. If so, then the regulation of that activity comes to a halt.

[Congressman Billybob]

The interesting thing here, my friend, is that Demidog not only doesn't read other people's posts, apparently he doesn't read his own. (That's probably a wise policy across the board.)

Anyway, he claimed on this thread in front of God and everybody that Congress had "no power" under Article I to bar US trade with Cuba. There are a lot of dumb statements that get by me, because I only know a few subjects cold. But the Constitution is one of them. (It's a trade hazard of practicing in the Supreme Court.)

When someone misstates the plain language of the Constitution, that pushes all my buttons. I have no problem. Demidog has a lot of them.

Anytime I see a flat-out misstatement of the Constitution on any thread on FR, I try to clear it up on the spot. Usually I am most polite. But some folks neither understand polite, nor warrant it. The thread readers, however, still deserve a clarification re: the Constitution.

Thanks for putting up the quote from that document. I didn't have the document on my desk as I wrote, and I'm careful not to misquote the Constitution by typing from memory.

Cheers,

Congressman Billybob

New column up: "The Un-Music Man." You'll like this one a bunch.

[Toddsterpatriot]

The Constitution says (Article 1, section 8) :

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

I say : What's the problem here?

Don't confuse doggie with logic. He's like that character on Saturday Night Live. The tobacco lawyer played by Martin Short. "I never said that, why would you think I said that?"