Comments on The Belmont Club,"The constipation of power"

In the Canoe Club they taught us the official doctrine called “Control by Negation.” There is even an acronym for it that is used in both verbal communications and message traffic. It is called UNODIR and it stands for “UNless Otherwise DIRected.” You tell your boss what you intend to do and then go ahead and do it unless you hear an order to the contrary. The Captain can send a signal, “UNODIR will precede to Freemantle OZ for 3 days R&R before reporting to contingency Operations in the Horn of Africa.” The Department Head might say to the Captain “UNODIR I’m going to submit a CASREP for gun mount 52 so that we don’t have to use the parts stored for mount 51.” The Division Officer could say to the Department Head, “UNODIR I’m going to have the Gunner’s Mates conduct security drills in Marine Officers berthing during the dinner hour. In each of the above cases it is highly likely that you might then see a hand reach through the message traffic or the shipboad telephone or simply the air to grab respectively the Captain, the Lieutenant Commander and the Ensign by their throats while a voice said “No you will not.” Since people quickly learn only to formulate and then inform their seniors of planned orders unlikely to be countermanded the system works rather well.

If Congress was functioning correctly it would set up structures and guidelines and limits for the agencies and states and courts to fill in. When a court makes a ruling that needed correction Congress has the explicit power in the Constitution to limit the Appellate authority of the Judiciary by issuing Exceptions and Regulations. (Art. III sec. 2 para. 2)

We need an Amendment specifying that no Act may become a Law unless it’s text has been published and read in public at least 48 hours before enactment, with the exception of a Declaration of War and Acts pursuant thereof. Even in that case the actual text of a law, as opposed to an enabling regulation, should be a matter of public record. To vote for something without being on oath as to understanding the text being presented should constitute Fraud.

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maineman,
(who wants to do objectionable things to Congress)
The Members of the legislature are not subject to impeachment. They can expel one of their own members by other procedures. No member however can be charged in a State or Federal court for anything they say while attending a session.

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bob,
(who trotted out the "birther" line)
The definition of Natural Born standard does not include two citizen parents. It is an expression of jus soli not jus sanguinis. Citizenship can be conferred either by being born under the sun (on the soil) or by the blood. We have had Presidents before who had a parent who was not a citizen. Winston Churchill was born in England, that is why he was ineligible. Aside from the very unlikely possibility that BHO was not born in Hawaii is the possibility that he gave up his Natural Born status by claiming foreign citizenship after his 18th birthday. That possible loss of the special Natural Born status is not the same as saying he is not a citizen. He would not have lost his US citizenship when he was taken overseas as a child and the US would not deny him his citizenship just because he claimed a foreign nationality when traveling or applying for financial aide. You only lose your US citizenship if you formally renounce it as an adult or if you take a foreign citizenship to avoid paying US taxes.