Sunday, June 19, 2011

A WAR POWERS ACT DIALOGUE WITH MORE THAN A FB FRIEND!

Make Love Not War "All We Are Saying Is Give Peace A Chance" Said
John Winston Ono Lennon and Yoko Lennon Ono During Their Bed-In's For Peace
He, Himself Assassinated Of All Things By Handgun, Mr. Peace. Go Figure.

A Victim Of War
War Results In Rape, Killing, Torture And Maiming Of Adults, Men, Women, Children
And Needs To Stop
As Unpleasant As This Picture Is, Imagine Being This Person Or His Lover or Son Or
His Daughter
WAR IS REAL!!!
AND THE UNITED STATES IS A PRIMARY CULPRIT NOW FOR DECADES!
Happy Father's Day?
OMG
:(

ON THE WAR POWERS ACT: A DIALOGUE WITH A FRIEND



by Steve Alexander on Sunday, June 19, 2011 at 2:15pm.


From my friend Ed (Ed's from CT, and has become an awesome friend who is not afraid to disagree very agreeably, is also a Weather Fan from CT and keeps the power on in bad weather as a utility employee) via FB Private Message Thursday June 16th, 2011:



ED:I am soooooo tempted to raze you answering the poll that right now Obama is the best Republican in the field!!!!! after the notion that the war powers act do not apply in the case of Libya.
I personally think they do,but that is another thing.
My question to you ,though,since I was not really paying attention at the time is this: Did Reagan go to Congress before Grenada or Bush '41 before Panama? That would go a long way toward establishing precedent. I am hoping you were into politics enough during those days that you might have noticed.
Maybe sometimes I am too harsh on Obama but sometimes I feel very betrayed that I voted for him because I thought he really would "have the courage to stand up to special interests" like he said he would,but really doesn't seem to.
That brings me to the conclusion that if he is the one person I trusted and he wouldn't, then there really is no one that ever will,and that makes for a very sad vision of the future for the average working joe.
Sometime I need to write more about my thinking a few years ago that the American economy is in a bind it can not get out of and a lot of fighting will take place for those that have something to preserve it. I see a lot of it today in many places.again more on that another day.
I start 12 hour night shifts to night so may not be near the computer as much, but I will look at it from time to time.
Thanks for giving my mind an outlet. I know even when you do not agree you will listen...


To which I replied on Fathers Day, June 19th, 2011:

I'm sorry, I'm gonna make you look at him again. OMG! How horrible!


UNABASHED LEFT: OK, here goes Ed. I did NOT want to short shrift your comments about the War Powers Act and Libya. I personally believe that the War Powers Act is unconstitutional in and of itself. It's simple. The Constitution is the Supreme Law of the Land and amending the Constitution or changing any aspect of it requires 2/3's vote in Congress and approval by 2/3's of the States' legislatures. Article 1, section 8 reads as it gives EXCLUSIVE power to CONGRESS, without Presidential involvement whatsoever: "Clause 11: To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water." The War Powers Act, passed in 1973 over Nixon's veto grants specific war powers to the President, via a 2/3 vote, because a veto had to be overridden, however a Constitutional Amendment was never proposed and NO State Legislature has ever had the right to vote on changing this usurpation of power by the politicians in DC, both in Congress and in the White House. Every president, Dem or Rep winds up wanting to exercise more power than allotted constitutionally. Wikipedia describes the War Powers Act: "The War Powers Act requires the President to notify Congress within 48 hours of committing armed forces to military action and forbids armed forces from remaining for more than 60 days, with a further 30 day withdrawal period, without an authorization of the use of military force or a declaration of war. The resolution was passed by two-thirds of Congress, overriding a presidential veto." Clearly in violation of the Constitution's reservation of all dispatches of U.S. troops and military hardware to Congress, and Congress alone. As Commander in Chief the President's job is to implement the declarations of war that ORIGINATE with the US Congress. I agree that the President needs to have some flexibility beyond that granted by the Constitution, but the only legal way to do it is to amend the constitution. Anything else is actually treason, to be honest, it's just been 'acceptable' since the last officially declared war in 1941. We've only declared war 5 times in US history, the 1812 war against Britain, WWI, the Mexican/American War, and Japan and Germany in WWII. As far as George HW Bush, his use of the War Powers Act was summarized by Wikipedia as follows: "Congress invoked the War Powers Act in the Multinational Force in Lebanon Act(P.L. 98-119), which authorized the Marines to remain in Lebanon for 18 months. In addition, P.L. 102-1, authorizing the use of U.S. armed forces concerning the Iraqi aggression against Kuwait, stated that it constituted specific statutory authorization within the meaning of the War Powers Act." His son, Dubya, on the other hand violated US Treaties by launching his Iraq misadventure in violation of UN Resolutions, and, like it or not, we have treaties in place compelling us to abide by UN Resolutions, and international Treaties, which necessitate 2/3 votes in the US Senate, supersede "Acts" by Congress, so the entire Iraq mess since 2002 has been illegal. Regarding Ray-Gun and HW in Panama and in Grenada, I think it's all irrelevant, with regards to whether these usurpers sought Congressional approval after the fact, and illegal as well as treasonous in actuality. In addition the Dubya administration provided false info to Congress on the presence of weapons of mass destruction to Congress. I oppose American militarism. Politics is the art of compromise. Barack Obama and the Democratic Party itself, are a compromise for me my friend. Thanks for the comment, and I hope for your response, I value your opinions, indeed! Happy Dad's day! Peace pleeeeeze, Steve

Yoko Ono, John Lennon's Widow
Has Carried On Much Of John's Work And
Has Instituted The Lennon Peace Prize
Worth Reading About:

6 comments:

Steve Alexander aka Unabashed Left said...

Anybody who does not EXACTLY reflect my own views is a compromise. By definition. Therefore Politics, as taught in Pol Sci 101 is, for ALL, the art of compromise. BARACK OBAMA is the best American President of my lifespan on Earth which stems back to the founder and warner of the "Military Industrial Complex" General President Dwight D. Eisenhower's first term. Barack is awesome and we NEED TO REELECT THIS AMAZING MAN! Peace pleeeeze... Steve

Madam Z said...

I wish that every single person who supports our involvement in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya would be forced to look at that gruesome photo several times every day. Then they should see the man's grieving mother, father, wife, children and friends as they weep for him. These recent wars have been so sanitized that most U.S. citizens can't really identify with the casualties. They are just numbers - "3 soldiers killed in Kandahar"...5 troops die in bomb blast"... etc ad nauseum. Show us the pictures! Show the ghastly wounds, record their agonized screams, as they lie dying. These are some of America's finest young men, strong, brave and dedicated. And they are being thrown into hell. And for what?? Old men start wars, young men fight them.

I no longer regard Barack Obama as "awesome and amazing." It just feels like same old, same old. I believe that he does not want to be seen as the president that "lost" the wars. So let him and all the other warmongers in Washington go do the fighting.

Steve Alexander said...

Madame Z, thanks for commenting, but note that Barack is amazing in many different ways. He's far more effective at far more than I am. Today DOD Sec Gates had to admit that negotiations with the Taliban have been happening. Below the radar much IS happening in these wars he inherited. I'm NOT 100% happy with all that happens in his Administration, but he's better than every President in my lifetime by leaps and bounds, and this is speaking of all "possible worlds." Perhaps a John Lennon Administrations with a Vice President Steve Alexander would work better for me, but not possible. I appreciate your post, and am following two of your blogs now. I <3 101 Things About U! Peace.... Steve

Madam Z said...

Sigh...I'd vote for John and Steve for sure, if only...

Thanks for reading my moribund blogs and promising to follow them. I'd better get busy and post something new!

Madam Z said...

Hey Steve, I'm probably being presumptious here, but I'm going to ask you for some help, if you can. Tonight I wrote a new post for my blog, but when I hit the "Publish" command, nothing happens! I've fooled with it for an hour, trying different doofusy tactics, but nothing works. I looked in the "help" section and there were no answers, only similar requests (e.g. "I can't get my blog to post. Help!").

Does your blog expertise cover such a problem?

Steve Alexander aka Unabashed Left said...

Hi, I'm definitely a tech toddler, but one thing which has worked for me is to take what I've posted and paste it to something else,like Microsoft Word, the entire text. Then just delete the blog altogether, draft and all. Then sign out of Blogger, do a quick clean up of my hard drive by doing a scan with my virus scanner, restart my computer and then sign back in to Blogger and then paste the saved text to the blank blogpage. Sounds like a lot, but only takes a few minutes. None of this will do any harm, and can only do some good and might get your article posted. Let me know. And NOT presumptuous at all.
Sometimes it is a Blogger glitch, last time I posted was yesterday and I had no problems then, haven't tried today. Thanks for the participation, a new type--and I luvit! It's awesome. Do you do Facebook? I have three pages: Unabashed Left and Steve Alexander are typical FB friend pages, and I have an Unabashed Left "fanpage" which you just click the 'like' button to join. I'm also on Twitter as Unabashed Left, but do little there. Request and identify yourself, and I'd accept in a heartbeat. Like I said, on the UL FB fanpage my approval isn't necessary but I'll see you join if I can recognize your handle. My email is also a google product, unabashedleft@gmail.com. Peace... and delighted... Steve