Time Epic Fail
In a recent article in the so-called “news weekly” Time about the Constitution of the United States of America, the author, who is also the Managing Editor, managed to make no less than thirteen (13) factual errors.
The Constitution is written in a fairly clear and straightforward manner, and has been the subject of much scholarly research. So for a ‘veteran’ reporter like Richard Stengel to make over one dozen errors in an article on the Constitution implies that he is either massively incompetent, or intentionally promoting an agenda that is not supported by the Constitution, which would require him to misrepresent the clear intent of the document. The latter choice also implies that Mr. Stengel assumes that the majority of his readers have not read the Constitution, nor are they going to. A position also held by Rachel Maddow of the far left extremest “news” organization, MSNBC.
Aaron Worthing has an excellent article listing all thirteen (13) factual errors made by the Newsweek Managing Editor, Richard Stengel. You should read the whole thing, which details exactly what is wrong in the article, and provides the correct facts. I’m just going to list the thirteen (13) errors here.
- The Constitution does not limit the Federal Government.
- The Constitution is not law.
- The Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment emancipated the slaves.
- The Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment granted the right to vote to African Americans.
- The original Constitution declared that black people were to be counted as three-fifths of a person.
- That the original, unamended Constitution prohibited women from voting.
- Inter arma enim silent leges translates as “in time of war, the Constitution is silent.”
- The War Powers Act allows the president to unilaterally wage war for sixty days.
- We have only declared war five times.
- Alexander Hamilton wanted a king for America.
- Social Security is a debt within the meaning of Section Four of the Fourteenth Amendment.
- Naturalization depends on your birth.
- The Obamacare mandate is a tax.
You should do what Mr. Stengel clearly doesn’t want you to do, read the US Constitution. It’s not that long, and is written in clear English, unlike most legislation written today.
Update: The error count is still rising.
Quote of the Day
“The US Constitution. I read it for the Articles.”
Quote of the Day
“Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated.”
– Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States of America.
CONSTITUTION DAY!
On this day in 1789, Thirty-nine American Patriots gathered to sign the U.S. Constitution.
Get a copy to carry around and read it in your spare time. It’s not that long. Even a U.S. Congressperson could do if they wanted.
Click here for facts about the Constitution.
I can’t stress this enough, read it, learn it, understand it. Too many people in the federal government don’t want you to do that, which is reason enough to do so.
Religion and Politics
Back when my son was in Scouting, I taught multiple merit badges for the Troop, including all three Citizenship merit badge. Citizenship in the Nation required them to read and discuss the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.
I found this great shirt pocket sized book from the Cato Institute that had both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. I bought them in bulk and gave each Scout in my class a copy. Then I told there would be a quiz in the next class, and there was.
Now the Cato Institute is a Libertarian think tank, and being in the Peoples’ Commonwealth of Massachusetts, I tried to find an opposing view. So I went to the ACLU‘s website and tried to find a similar publication. What I could not find at the ACLU website was the Constitution of the United States of America, the fundamental legal document of the nation.
That is when it dawned on me, the ACLU is like the old Roman Catholic Church. They wanted the Mass in Latin and the Bible printed in Latin, with only the Priests knowing how to speak and read Latin. They didn’t want the Laity knowing what the Word of God was, the Church only wanted them to know what the Church said the word of God was.
The Libertarians are like that rabble rousing Martin Luther, who had the radical idea of printing the Bible in languages that the Laity could read. Let them read it and see what it really says.
The Libertarians feel that the US Constitution is a remarkable document, that clearly lists what the functions of Government are and just as importantly, what are not the functions of the federal government. It’s all there, written in clear English. They want the Citizens to read it, understand it and know how it is supposed to effect their daily lives.
The far left, which includes most Congressional democrats (who are not “liberals” in the classic sense), don’t want American citizens to read the Constitution. They want to tell you what it means, and don’t want you raising questions about their interpreation have nothing to do with the words written in the actual document.
Personally, I think you should read it, and ask just why the leftists are so afraid of you doing so.
Constitution in Obama’s way
By way of Hot Air is this Jack Tapper story about our Dear Leader wanting to ignore the Rule of Law and bypass the Constitution.
With the clock running out on a new US-Russian arms treaty before the previous Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, expires on December 5, a senior White House official said Sunday said that the difficulty of the task might mean temporarily bypassing the Senate’s constitutional role in ratifying treaties by enforcing certain aspects of a new deal on an executive levels and a “provisional basis” until the Senate ratifies the treaty.
Bypass the Constitution? Well, Team Lightgiver doesn’t like the thing anyway, with it’s pesky concepts like limiting the power of government and ensuring the rights of individuals.
As Ed Morrissey points out, the democrats hold sixty seats in the Senate. Getting this passed should be no problem. Unless our Dear Leader thinks he can’t get a majority of his own party to approve this Charlie Fox of a treaty, which is why he is considering violating the Rule of Law. Not that he’s losing much sleep over that, probably because the MSM, with the exception of ABC’s Jake Tapper, not covering the story about the President of the United States, who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution, is publicly discussing violating Article 2, Section 2, of the Constitution.
Attorney General ignores the Constitution
The Washington Post reports that US Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr is ignoring an unpublished opinion written by Justice Department lawyers earlier this year that the federal District of Columbia voting rights bill pending in Congress is unconstitutional.
Color me not surprised at Holder’s actions.