HispanicVista Columnists
Lunatics running the asylum?
-
By
Raoul Lowery Contreras/HispanicVista.com - April 10, 2007
- Lunatics running the asylum?
- By Raoul Lowery Contreras
- Contreras' books, THE ILLEGAL ALIEN: A DAGGER INTO THE HEART OF AMERICA and A HISPANIC VIEW OF AMERICAN POLITICS AND THE POLITICS OF IMMIGRATION are available at www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com
What’s wrong with these two pictures and what do they
have in common:
1. The House of Representatives passed a bill to withdraw our troops from
Iraq by a date certain in September 2008; and,
2. Senators Schumer of New York and Dianne Feinstein of California
demanding that Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez resign because eight
United States Attorneys were ordered to resign.
The commonality is that both of these items are unconstitutional. It seems
that the Democratic leadership hasn’t read the Constitution of the United
States. If it has, it hasn’t understood the document’s meaning.
Item 1: Article II, Section 2----The President shall be Commander in Chief
of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the
several states when called into the actual service of the United States…”
Now, where in these words does anyone find the ability of Congress to
manage war or troop assignments, invasions or attacks against other
nations or groups such as Al Qaeda. Where? A Declaration of War is their
only function, but that is unnecessary as the President can and does order
troops anywhere under conditions he deems necessary.
Certainly, Congress must confirm American military officers, but they can
function without Congressional-confirmation until Congress actually votes
against confirmation.
Nonetheless, the President can appoint anyone he wishes to be a military
officer as outlined in Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution. To wit:
“He shall have the power, by and with the consent of the Senate to…
nominate…and…appoint all other Officers of the United States, whose
appointments are not herein otherwise provided for and which shall be
established by Law…”
Which leads us to the Attorney General situation. The President and the
President only nominates and appoints the Attorney General. And, it is the
President and the President only who appoints United States Attorneys as
outlined in the previously mentioned Section 2.
Certainly these appointments must be confirmed, but there is no mention of
Congress having anything to say about their being fired. These appointees
serve at the pleasure of the President. He need not have any reason for
firing them.
There is a current brouhaha about what did Attorney General Alberto
Gonzalez know and when did he know it about the firing of eight U.S.
Attorneys, including Carol Lam in my city.
Let’s see, the Attorney General stated on March 7 that he had nothing to
do with what led up to their firings. An e-mail released on March 23rd
states that a meeting was called a few days before the firings that might
have included the Attorney General. Is there a contradiction here?
No, there is no e-mail or witnessed statement that the Attorney General
knew anything about what led up to the firings. If he attended the meeting
noted in the e-mail, the decision to fire the attorneys was already made
by his assistants and all he did was approve their decision. That fits his
statement that he had nothing to do with what led up to the decision to
fire the eight attorneys.
But, more importantly, it is none of Congress’ business why these eight
were fired or how. There is a separation of powers and these were
political appointees not civil servants protected by law.
Congress should butt out of trying to run the government. The Constitution
is clear. The first sentence of Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution
states: “The Executive Power (to run the government) shall be vested in a
President of the United States.”
Congress people are shooting off their mouths that the firings might have
been political, DUH! Like when President Bill Clinton fired all 93 United
States Attorneys in one day, an act unprecedented in our history, like
that wasn’t political, DUH!
Specifically, Republican congress people have been named who called the
Department of Justice to complain that Carol Lam wasn’t doing the job by
prosecuting people smugglers and gun smugglers and because she prosecuted
my Republican Congressman, Duke Cunningham.
Wrong, Carol Lam and her office knew nothing about Congressman Cunningham
taking over two million dollars in bribes.
The San Diego Union Tribune exposed the graft and corruption of
Congressman Cunningham in its newspaper (for which it was awarded a
Pulitzer Prize). Carol Lam knew nothing more than what she read in the
newspapers. Once the newspaper broke the story, a first year law student
could have secured a guilty plea from Cunningham. Carol Lam had nothing to
do with the case. The FBI led the way, after they read the newspaper.
The two presented pictures merge because they involve a runaway Democratic
Congress and the Constitution that overrides those who call themselves
Congress people, who in reality are anti-Constitutionalists, one and all.
Contreras’s books, THE ILLEGAL ALIEN: A DAGGER INTO THE HEART OF AMERICA?? and A HISPANIC VIEW OF AMERICAN POLITICS AND THE POLITICS OF IMMIGRATION are available at www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com.