Posted on 04/30/2015 1:39:29 PM PDT by Kaslin
Thomas Cromwell was the principal behind-the-scenes fixer for much of the reign of King Henry VIII. He engineered the interrogations, convictions and executions of many whom Henry needed out of the way, including his two predecessors as fixer and even the king's second wife, Queen Anne.
When Cromwell's son, Gregory, who became sickened as he watched his father devolving from counselor to monster, learned that an executioner for the queen had been sent for from France a week before her conviction, he asked his father what the purpose of her trial was if the king had preordained the queen's guilt and prepaid the executioner. Cromwell replied that the king needed a jury to give legitimacy to her conviction and prevent the public perception of "the tyranny of one man's opinion."
In America, we have a Constitution not only to prevent the perception but also to prevent the reality of the tyranny of one man's opinion. The Constitution's Fifth Amendment makes clear that if the government wants life, liberty or property, it cannot take it by legislation or executive command; it can do so only by due process -- a fair jury trial and all its constitutional protections.
The constitutional insistence upon due process was the result of not only the Colonial revulsion at the behavior of Henry and his successors but also the recognition of the natural individual right to fairness from the government. If one man in the government becomes prosecutor, judge and jury, there can be no fairness, no matter who that man is or what his intentions may be. That is at least the theory underlying the requirements for due process.
President Barack Obama has rejected not only the theory but also the practice of due process by his use of drones launched by the CIA to kill Americans and others overseas. The use of the CIA to do the killing is particularly troubling and has aroused the criticism of senators as disparate in their views as Rand Paul and John McCain, both of whom have argued that the CIA's job is to steal and keep secrets and the military's job is to further national security by using force; and their roles should not be confused or conflated, because the laws governing each are different.
Theirs is not an academic argument. The president's use of the CIA is essentially unlimited as long as he receives the secret consent of a majority of the members of the House and Senate intelligence committees. The secret use of these 37 senators and representatives constituting the two committees as a Congress-within-the Congress is profoundly unconstitutional because Congress cannot delegate its war-making powers to any committee or group without effectively disenfranchising the voters whose congressional representatives are not in the group.
Moreover, the War Powers Resolution regulates the president's use of the military and essentially precludes secret wars. It requires the public consent of a majority of the full Congress for all offensive military action greater than 90 days. That, in turn, brings about transparency and requires a national political will to use military force.
President Obama has formulated rules -- agreed to by a majority of the 37, but not by a majority in Congress -- that permit him to kill Americans and others overseas when he believes they are engaging in acts that pose an imminent threat to our national security, when their arrest would be impracticable and when personally authorized by the president. This is not federal law, just rules Obama wrote for himself. Yet none of the Americans he has killed fits any of those rules.
Last week, the White House revealed that in January, the government launched its 446th drone into a foreign land, and this one killed three Americans and an Italian, none of whom had been targeted or posed a threat to national security at the time of his murder. The drone, which was dispatched by a computer in Virginia, was aimed at a house in Pakistan and was sent on its lethal way without the approval of the Pakistani government or the knowledge of President Obama.
The use of drones is not only constitutionally impermissible but also contraindicated by the rules of war. Drones pose no threat and little danger to those doing the killing. Except when the intelligence is bad -- as it was in the January case revealed last week -- deploying drones is a low-risk endeavor for the country doing so. But Obama's wars by robots produce more killing than is necessary. War should be dangerous for all sides so as to limit its lethality to only those venues that are worth the risk -- those that are vital for national security.
If war is not dangerous, it will become commonplace. By one measure -- the absence of personal involvement by decision-makers -- it has become commonplace already. A mere three years after his self-written rules for the deployment of drones were promulgated, the president has delegated the authority to order drone killings to his staff, and the members of the congressional intelligence committees have delegated their authority to consent to their staffs.
Obama apparently doesn't care about the Constitution he swore to uphold, but he should care about the deaths of innocents. Obama's drones have killed more non-targeted innocents in foreign lands than were targeted and killed in the U.S. on 9/11.
And the world is vastly less stable now than it was on 9/11. The president's flying robots of death have spawned the Islamic State group -- a monstrosity far exceeding even Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell in barbarity.
There..fixed it..
remember that Star Trek where people got killed in fake battles and had to report to death tubes? Good episode. Cute gal.
I want war to be as safe as possible for our side. But I guess if i were Pakistan i wouldn't be happy. Looking forward to other freeper comments as always. So informative
The tyranny of narcissism
Caliph O -and the islamonazi forces behind the Caliph- in - Chief’s throne - is the most dangerous usurpation of power since Herr Hitler himself. Note too that he’s arming dozens of civilian federal agencies plus providing drones and military assault vehicles/ tanks and all sorts of spy shipment and master computer control center gear etc to local police departments all across America
secret consent of a majority of the members of the House and Senate intelligence committees
ANd now you know why Trey Gowdy will do and has done everything he can to COVER UP THE TREASON IN BENGHAZI.
It leads DIRECTLY to the Leadership of BOTH Parties.
Crawl back under your rock, troll. Trey Gowdy has done no such thing of what you accuse him of, and you know it
Maybe you are right, I just can’t seem to remember how many people have GONE TO JAIL OVER BENGHAZI.
Congress has ALL the power in washington, the executive and judicial branch operate according to the whims of CONGRESS!
Congress can Remove the President
Congress can remove the head of every executive agency Congress can remove ALL of their employees
Congress can Abolish every agency they so choose
Congress can remove EVERY JUDGE IN AMERICA, including every supreme court justice.
Congress can abolish every federal court except the supreme Court
Congress can decide which cases the Judicial Branch can hear and decide
CONGRESS can Imprison ANYONE they want for any reason they so desire for as long as they wish.
Congress can declare WAR
No other governing body has even 10% of the power CONGRESS has!!
CONGRESS IS ALLOWING ALL OF IT!!!
Congress has the authority to arrest and imprison those found in Contempt. The power extends throughout the United States and is an inherent power (does not depend upon legislated act)
If found in Contempt the person can be arrested under a warrant of the Speaker of the House of Representatives or President of the Senate, by the respective Sergeant at Arms.
Statutory criminal contempt is an alternative to inherent contempt.
Under the inherent contempt power Congress may imprison a person for a specific period of time or an indefinite period of time, except a person imprisoned by the House of Representatives may not be imprisoned beyond adjournment of a session of Congress.
Imprisonment may be coercive or punitive.
Some references
[1] Joseph Story’s Commentaries on the Constitution, Volume 2, § 842 http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/print_documents/a1_5s21.html
[2] Anderson v. Dunn - 19 U.S. 204 - “And, as to the distance to which the process might reach, it is very clear that there exists no reason for confining its operation to the limits of the District of Columbia; after passing those limits, we know no bounds that can be prescribed to its range but those of the United States.” http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/19/204/case.html
[3] Jurney v. MacCracken, 294 U.S. 125 http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/294/125/case.html 73rd Cong., 78 Cong. Rec. 2410 (1934) https://archive.org/details/congressionalrec78aunit
[4] McGrain v. Daugherty, 273 U.S. 135 - Under a warrant issued by the President of the Senate the Deputy to the Senate Sergeant at Arms arrested at Cincinnati, Ohio, Mally S. Daugherty, who had been twice subpoenaed by the Senate and twice failed to appear. http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/273/135/case.html
[5] Rules of the House of Representatives, Rule IV Duties of the Sergeant at Arms - [] execute the commands of the House, and all processes issued by authority thereof, directed to him by the Speaker. http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/HMAN-105/pdf/HMAN-105-pg348.pdf
[6] An analysis of Congressional inquiry, subpoena, and enforcement http://www.constitutionproject.org/documents/when-congress-comes-calling-a-primer-on-the-principles-practices-and-pragmatics-of-legislative-inquiry/
Well, this only shows us how important the grand and petite juries are. In fact, they're so important I'd be for a Constitutional amendment saying something to the effect of:
| Grand Jury Amendment |
|---|
| Section I The Grand Jury is hereby recognized as an independent, self-directing body of inquisitors comprised of citizens with power to pursue any unlawful conduct to its source, including the government itself. Section II All government agents, officers, judges, justices, employees, representatives, or congressmen may be held to account for obstructing a Grand Jury — upon conviction in a jury trial they shall be fined up to six month’s pay (but not less than one) and may be jailed for an equal term. Section III Any judge or prosecutor refusing to act upon a Presentment shall immediately be evicted from office. Section IV No member of a Grand Jury shall be involuntarily removed for any cause except conviction of a felony or Treason. Section V The local Sheriff of each county shall appoint the members of the federal Grand Jury for that county within two months after his election and their term shall be of the same length of time as the Sheriff but starting six month after the start of his tenure. |
Congress has ALL the power in Washington
That they do. But what Congress lacks is the ability and will to use its power. If one has power but refuses to use it then it is useless. Congress is divided and therefore impotent.
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