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Federal Government Reform Now! The federal government has become so large and so detached from the people that it’s nothing like what the Founders intended. The Constitution was specifically written to define and limit the federal government’s powers with most power residing with the states. Yet Congress tries to control and meddle in veery aspect of our lives. Think of it this way: There are 535 representatives in Washington D.C. (House & Senate), yet there are 300 million people in the United States. Do you think 535 people should have so much power or were ever intended to have so...

The following is todays Founders' Daily Quote from the Patriot Post "[T]he present Constitution is the standard to which we are to cling. Under its banners, bona fide must we combat our political foes - rejecting all changes but through the channel itself provides for amendments." -- Alexander Hamilton (letter to James Bayard, April 1802) Reference: Selected Writings and Speeches of Alexander Hamilton,Frisch, ed. (511)

SACRAMENTO - Senate leaders on Tuesday bottled up a package of flood-protection bills for the year, claiming Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was seeking last-minute amendments they said would weaken the measures. Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata said the Legislature will wait until next year to address flood policy, saying the governor had sought to derail bills aimed at increasing flood protection from Redding to Bakersfield. "If we're going to do this, we're going to do this correctly," the Oakland Democrat said. The Senate's decision angered Assembly Democrats, who said plenty of time remained in this year's session to negotiate a...

by Mark Finkelstein June 27, 2006 Given NewsBusters' goal of exposing outrageous liberal media bias, perhaps I should switch focus from the Katie-less Today to Harry Smith & Co. at the Early Show. I rarely check in on the show, which has languished seemingly forever in last place. But, happening upon it this morning, Smith's bald-faced bias left me breathless. Smith's guest was Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report. Talk was first of the proposed flag-burning amendment. Disdain dripping, Smith observed "I'm just curious about this. Because somewhere I read in the last couple of days in the entire...

I just got a PDF in my email from John V. that has the amendments made by the USCCB (meaning, the changes to the changes, this does not include the parts of the new translation the Americans left unchanged) - it's the Newsletter of the Committee on the Liturgy. Since PDF's can be a pain, I put the relevant parts of it in regular format: (Update: welcome, readers from countless blogs, click here for the rest of today's topics) USCCB Amendments to the ICEL Translation of the Order of Mass The Latin Church members of the USCCB accepted sixty-two amendments...

Last week we were inundated with news stories about the verdict rendered in the case of two Enron executives, Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, who were found guilty on multiple charges, which included various counts of fraud and insider trading. No doubt there are many, particularly the thousands of Enron employees whose pensions and retirement accounts were tied to the performance of Enron stock, whose financial welfare suffered due to the actions of these two executives and the subsequent ruination of the corporation. But there was another story, highlighted on the front page of USA Today, which has far-reaching impact...

See for example this thread first. The Senate (and this is fact) nixed the Defense of Marriage Act Olympia Snowe's vote (and other RINOs') meant instead Marriage was ATTACKED.

HH: Pleased to welcome Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama. Senator Sessions, you are something like the skunk at the garden party that the Martinez-Hagel bill is trying to throw, and welcome. We're glad you're doing that. But I also want to begin, though, by asking you about the Sessions amendment that Senator Frist is behind, the fence and barrier amendment. Has that come to a vote yet? JS: No, as a matter of fact, it might tomorrow. They talked about doing it this afternoon, but you know, virtual fences and technology is important, but in many areas, I just don't...

The lack of comprehension of what the Founding Fathers wrought is astounding. The day after thousands took to the streets of Las Vegas demanding immigration law reform, the Review-Journal published a full page ad showing the American flag and quoting the First Amendment in its entirety, listing the five rights to religion, speech, press, assembly and petition. The ad concluded that "the Review-Journal supports everyone's First Amendment right to peaceably assemble and petition the government for a redress of their grievances." We promptly received a number of letters chiding us for our lack of constitutional erudition. We were told in...

...But for me the root cause is structural, and the structural problem is the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution. The Tenth Amendment says that if something is not explicitly in the Constitution, or a Supreme Court decision hasn't set a precedent, the issue belongs to the states. The word "education" is not in the Constitution, thus education is a "state right" not an individual citizenship right like the First Amendment's freedom of speech, religion and assembly. In reality, we don't have an American educational system. We have fifty different state educational systems further divided into county, school districts and city...

February 08, 2006, 7:54 a.m. Phyllis Schlafly Was Right Kathryn Jean Lopez, National Review, February 8, 2006The woman has earned a few “I Told You So”s. Most of America's girls typically don't get to celebrate Phyllis Schlafly during "Women's History Month," but they should. Mrs. Schlafly not only had the right idea when she fought the Equal Rights Amendment during the 70s, but predictions she made back then are still accurate today. Schlafly, of course, was head of the National Committee to Stop ERA. And stop it she did — the U.S. Constitution was not amended. She argued that...

Harriet Miers has now withdrawn as a nominee for the Supreme Court. No one of the attacks against her would have been sufficient to cause withdrawal. Instead, she suffered the death of a thousand cuts. Who will be the new nominee, and how will she answer the inevitable attacks against her? Yes, “her.” I expect the President to nominate another woman to replace Justice O’Connor, whose resignation is conditional on confirmation of her replacement. Here’s my prediction of the new nominee’s opening statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee: Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee: We have now had, in short...

How do we get attention over the Supreme Court decisions? The justices aren't elected and could careless about their mail and email. Ten thousand calls to the White-House aren't going to impact anything other than their phone bill. Our representatives, if they haven't spoken by now, are in on the rewording of our constitution (it's a whole lot easier than going through that darn amendment process). Proposing amendments or signing a petition for the impeachment of justices will have the same impact as trying to repeal the 16th and/or 17th amendments. Lots of people talk about their gun collection and...

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) released the following statement Monday after 14 senators struck a deal to avert the nuclear option and allow votes on certain judicial nominees. “There is good news for every American in this agreement. The so-called 'nuclear option' is off the table. This is a significant victory for our country, for democracy, and for all Americans. Checks and balances in our government have been preserved. “The integrity of future Supreme Courts has been protected from the undue influences of a vocal, radical faction of the right that is completely out of step with mainstream America....

The contentious debate over judicial confirmations is often portrayed as a referendum on the notion of a "living Constitution." Conservatives like U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia believe that judges should adhere to the original text of the Constitution as expressed in the meaning of the words and their understanding at the time the Constitution was ratified. Liberals respond that the Constitution must be adapted to reflect changes in society's values and attitudes. However, these viewpoints are not, in fact, mutually exclusive. In truth, no one seriously believes the Constitution is "dead." America's founding fathers provided a procedure for amending...

Position on C.S.S.B 1 Amendments TO: House Member FROM: Joe Pojman, Ph.D., Executive Director DATE: Wednesday, April 6, 2005 Dear Member, As you consider the amendments to C.S.S.B 1, the General Appropriations Bill, please consider the position of Texas Alliance for Life on several amendments. We ask that you vote to support the amendments supported by Texas Alliance for Life and that you vote to oppose those amendments opposed by Texas Alliance for Life. Article 1, General Government Page 17, Thompson, OPPOSE - This forces Texas taxpayers to fund as much as $15 million per fiscal year for embryonic stem...

Sorry for the vanity, but I've searched the internet and can't find an answer. Does anyone know if a State, meaning State legislatures, can repeal ratification of a US Constitutional Amendment? The Senate repeals ratification of treaties, I think. And if States can, what happens if more than 1/4 (13 States) repeal ratification of an Amendment? Could this be a backdoor approach to repeal of some Constitutional Amendments, namely the 16th (Income Tax) and 17th (Election of Senators)?? Just a thought...

Conservatives and other normal people can politely note all we want that the Founding Fathers quite deliberately intended a benevolent and providential Creator to be at the heart of our concept of liberty and of law, and Leftists will not budge one inch as long as compliant judges conspire with them to treat the faithful majority like the Cossacks treated the Russian people under the last Romanov. A minority, a distinct minority, of Americans believe that God should be driven out of any school or civic activity. Those who maintain that the language in the foundational document of the American...

Here's a quick question for all you Constitutional scholars: Which of the enumerated powers authorized to the federal government are described in the Bill of Rights? None, of course. Except in later amendments, regulatory powers given the federal government by the Constitution of the United States are listed in the body of the Constitution. The Second Amendment, then, is something else. When we are unsure about the exact meaning of a section of the Constitution, the Supreme Court instructs that we should look to The Federalist Papers for clarification. In Cohens v. Virginia the Court said: "Its intrinsic merit entitles...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!