Don’t know if you have read the “Tenth Amendment Center” web site posting on how to “Resist DC: A Step-by Step pan for Freedom“. In case you’ve forgotten it, the 10th Amendment says:
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
Unfortunately, the enforcement of such laws is left to the politically appointed (and federalist leaning) Supreme Court. Which is something akin to appointing foxes to count the chickens, but the Center’s step-by-step plan seems doable, at least on the surface. Something to consider, anyway.
Thinks like setting of national speed limits – things like that just bother me. Don’t know of a state in the Union (or former Confederacy for that matter) that gave speed limit setting powers to Washington. I’ve always held that if things like speed limits were designed to save energy, then vehicle fuel economy should have been the limit so that a high fuel efficiency car could go whatever speed it wanted, while a guzzler would be held to it’s most efficient speed as its top end.
Similarly, on matters like drug laws, the central government merely assumed authority for regulation and (Harrison Act) taxation of drugs. But the fundamental question which damn few bother to ask is this: Where is the delegation of State power to the central government, since that’s supposed to be reserved to the states and the people unless specifically delegated?
I may have missed something in the constitutions of the various states I’ve lived in, Washington, California, Florida, and Texas, but I don’t recall speed limits or federal drug enforcement being ceded by either the state constitution or an appropriate amendment thereto.
Come to think of it, I’d have to look up and see where states actually ceded a national tax-collecting power to the central government. Not sure as I recall seeing that one, either.
Curiously, when people look at Constitutional Law, they often seem to worry about the top-down perspective. Can the central government do this, or that. Instead, a different way to look at it would be to ask “Where’s this ceding of powers” that – just to throw out an example here – makes owning a machine gun a ceded power?
Not to say that central control of things like Air Traffic and such isn’t cool and neat; it’s just a matter of is it technically traceable in law as a permitted federal activity, or should air traffic control – to name another area – be formed as a non-profit agency run by the participating states?
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Part of me – the patriotic ‘letter-of-the-law part – wants to object to the centrist control. But the hardcore business student says “No, much of this works…why fight it?” About here, a barroom brawl of thoughts storms along and I find more deception in how people’s framing of governmental authority than I can shake a stick at.
“You can’t fight City Hall” is one that comes to mind. It’s BS: I’ve seen it done and very successfully. During the Civil rights days of the 50′s & 60′s and the anti-war days of the 70′s.
Anyway, something to ponder. I’m not going to be agitating too much: The 2010 edition TurboTax comes in today and the saying “He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day” goes off in the back of my mind. Some dragons have tails I just don’t care to step on, since I have other things to do in my life than fight fiery serpents, constitutional or otherwise. Governments all change over time. One of the few enduring values I can think of is a glass of wine at sunset with one’s main squeeze, and stepping on dragon’s tails messes that up, fo sho’.
On Watch
“Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura” makes its debut tomorrow. TruTV at 10 PM. Actually heard about Jesse’s tour a while back – should be quite good what he’s dug up out of the public limelight, the Variety review aside.
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Too damn serious this morning – I will try to lighten up a bit in tomorrow’s report…
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Send your comments to george@ure.net
The UrbanSurvival Mall:
Peoplenomics This Week
Fingerprints of the PTB
Don’t know if you have noticed the same disturbing trend I have, but when one sits back on a cool morning with no work to think about and reflect over a hot cuppa joe, I get a growing sense that less and less of what’s being ‘piped’ into human melodramatic consciousness can be trusted. It starts as a feeling, but when I started start to add up all the Big Lies of the past few years, the number became impressive; 9/11, the supposed naturally occurring flu, the ‘need to war’, and more recently, climategate. This week, we review a few of these Big Lies and ask an almost impossible question: “Why?” The answers are few, but we can at least begin framing a large and potentially life-altering answer set.
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Maxa-Cookie Manager
Been a while since I’ve updated you on how many cookies and web bugs have been removed from my main computer by the Maxa Cookie Manager from Maxa Tools: 1,602 web bugs and 54,131 cookies so far. It’s amazing.
Take it for a free test drive by downloading it. To upgrade to full functionality will set you back $35 bucks, but Christmas is coming… Is your privacy worth it?
Once you try it out, click the upgrade button (!) on the upper right hand side for the $35 unlock to get it to remove even those nasty and highly intrusive ‘non-browser specific’ cookies. Bonus: You computer may run faster.
Attn: Mac Drivers: MCM does support the Safari Browser, but that does not mean it is compatible with Mac OS. Maxa-Tools only support the Windows world….so far. Given Jens and the other engineers time…
“Live on $10,000″ A Year
With another round of layoffs due to start later this month…a round which will start to axe many of the middle managers who have managed to avoid the HR grenades…might I suggest a preemptive tactical move? Voluntarily dropping your lifestyle back a bit, since we’re all being marched down that road by either circumstances or some out-of-control-PTB types who write checks to Washington lobby and to anti-reformers in California! A good starting point, at least if you’ve still got $10-bucks is my e-book “How to Live on #10,000 a Year…or less!”
It’s an automatic download. It’s written in an information dense style: The whole thing runs about 65 pages, but it gives you a vision of how to not only live on the cheap, but also how to migrate up the economic foodchain if you have a little hustle left… Click here for the index and details.
MyGroPonics
My commodity broker JB Slear and I have written a simple book to get you started on high density hydroponics. It’s an example of how someone with a little creativity, access to a few ‘dollar stores’ and willing to try out some new farming techniques can grow an amazing amount of produce sin a very small space – like even an apartment balcony (if it gets some sunlight). Sound interesting? It’s just $10 bucks here…
Pass It On
The business model of this website is base Simply click here and send a link to this site to everyone on your distro list…Nothing more dangerous than sharp, clear-thinking upstarts who ask a lot of questions, eh? Unless you believe WTC-7 fell over on its own, of course….
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Last week’s report is here. For back issues of this site, click here. (Goes back to 1997!)
