Recently I was discussing with my wife how the schools don’t spend much time on teaching the US Constitution.  Kids are taught to memorize a bunch of facts and then they take a multiple-choice test.  No time is spent on the reasoning and intent behind the document.  No time spent on the Articles of Confederation or the Federalist Papers.

Even with that watered-down knowledge, at least SOME info sinks into the kids’ heads.  Wait until they get older and find out how little they know about the REAL government.  Up until maybe 3 years ago I still thought that it was as simple as this description from the US Constitution Online:

The general process for making a bill into a law is described in the Constitution. As with many things, however, the Constitution leaves most of the details to the people of the day, dictating just the overall picture. Before we delve into those details, however, a look at the general process is useful.

First, a bill must pass both houses of Congress by a majority vote. After it has passed out of Congress, it is sent along to the President. If the President signs the bill, it becomes law.

The President might not sign the bill, however. If he specifically rejects the bill, called a veto, the bill returns to Congress. There it is voted on again, and if both houses of Congress pass the bill again, but this time by a two-thirds majority, then the bill becomes law without the President’s signature. This is called “overriding a veto,” and is difficult to do because of the two-thirds majority requirement.

Alternately, the President can sit on the bill, taking no action on it at all. If the President takes no action at all, and ten days passes (not including Sundays), the bill becomes law without the President’s signature. However, if the Congress has adjourned before the ten days passes and without a Presidential signature, the bill fails. This is known as a pocket veto.

Then they go on to elaborate about Committees and sub-committees, etc… , explaining about where bills are originated and how they proceed to vote.

Simple, huh?  Well, here’s what they don’t mention.  They don’t mention that the US Constitution says the bill must pass both houses, but it does not define “pass”.  They don’t explain things like “filibuster” and “cloture”.  People are wandering around talking about how the Senate needs 60 votes to pass the Obamacare bill.  In reality, they only need 51, a majority.  It’s just that the Republicans can filibuster (stall) the bill, and the Democrats need 60 votes to kill the filibuster (cloture).  Reconciliation is something that was created as a way to force a vote on bills that affect the budget – ONLY.  So if the reconciliation rule were to be used, anything in the bill that sets policy would have to be removed.

If that whole thing isn’t complicated enough, Congress comes up with things like the Slaughter Solution.   Apparently whoever runs the Rules committee thinks they can write up anything they want and try to get a vote on the rule.  So Slaughter writes a rule that says the if the House passes a corrections bill, they will assume the original Senate bill to be passed.

The only problem with this is that the Constitution doesn’t say you can “deem” a bill to be passed.  So the Slaughter Solution may be unconstitutional.  But when has that ever stopped the Progressives before?

All of this is a glass of cold water in the face.  If you were blissfully ignorant of all of this craziness, now is the time to start educating yourself.  Educate a friend or a relative.  Support candidates that love America, not those that want to change it.  Support Conservative bloggers by reading and commenting on their websites.  Write to your government representatives and let them know how you feel.  If you have kids, educate them as well.

It’s the only way we’re going to keep the Progressives from destroying America.

Bookmark To

Check him out – is he less scary, more scary, or just as scary as before?

Bookmark To

Didn’t get moving to early this morning, but once we did, we managed to get a few things done.  Got the yard mowed, mostly with the push-mower, cause I wanted to bag it and mulch the tomatos and peppers.  I hate weeding, and a healthy mulching makes things so much easier.  We re-planted the green pole beans that never seemed to take off when it was wet and cold early in the season.  Hopefully we’re not too late on those.  I tried planting broccoli early in the little greenhouse boxes, but although some sprouted, many didn’t, and they didn’t do much after that.  I planned to pick up sets at one of the local places, but one week they didn’t have them yet, and a few weeks later they were already gone.  Anyway, when trying to start my own from seed, I suspect I may be over-watering them.  Alaine got some more – maybe she’ll have better luck that I did.  She also trimmed the rosebush and planted some flowers in a planter in front of the house.

Bookmark To

Felt a lot better today – not nearly so much sniffling and coughing as the last few days.  I was actually pretty clear-headed and got a lot of programming done on my new project, which makes me and a lot of management types above me happy.

Going to bed now to try and get some good sleep in – hopefully I’ll feel even better tomorrow.

Bookmark To

I’m about 90% of normal, I’d guess.  Sinuses just keep on aggravating me, making me cough.  Hopefully by Monday I’ll be 100% again.  Being sick has definitely put a damper on my blogging.

Bookmark To