BayouVixen's Blog

For your consideration: A new Constitution

----------------------------------------------------
-----

The Constitution of the Republic

Of the United States of America

PREAMBLE

            We, the Responsible Citizens of the United States, do hereby ordain and establish this Constitution of the Republic in order to establish responsible government, to provide for a common defense, to ensure the establishment of dependable and accountable justice, to create a framework for fair trade, and to provide that the freedoms and liberties which are the basic rights of all human beings are protected.

ARTICLE I – Supreme Authority

            All power in these reconstituted United States shall come from and reside with its Electors, people who have demonstrated by their actions that they are willing to assume responsibility for the defense of the liberties and freedoms of all residents of the United States.

            Section 1 – Definition of Electorship

An Elector shall be defined as any legal resident of the United States who has honorably completed at least two years’ service with the defined Armed Forces of the United States, or as defined below.

            Upon ratification of this Constitution, those defined as Electors shall include all residents of the United States who have received honorable discharges from the Armed Forces of the former United States (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard); those who have attained at least 10 years’ service in or have retired from the official Militias of the States; and those who have attained at least 10 years’ service in or have honorably retired from law enforcement agencies of the former Federal government, State government or local government; all provided those persons shall not have been convicted of any felony crime and are currently not in active service.

            No person who, upon the ratification of this Constitution, shall have served as an elected representative of the former United States or as an appointed Cabinet-level or judicial position, to include the executive, legislative and judicial branches, may be eligible for Electorship.

            Section 2 – Rights of Electors

            As residents of the United States who have demonstrated their personal commitment to the defense of the welfare of others, Electors shall have certain privileges not available to other Residents, as defined below:

            The voting franchise shall be limited exclusively to Electors.

            No person shall hold elected or appointed public office at any level who is not an Elector, and no person may be considered eligible for employment by the executive branch of the government of the Republic of the United States who is not an Elector.

            Electors shall be given preference when considered for civilian jobs created by the government of the States or local governments within the States, and Congress may define certain jobs to be filled only by Electors.

            Section 3 – Qualifications for Electorship

            Any legal Citizen of the Republic of the United States who has achieved the age of at least sixteen years but not more than 70 years has the right to attain Electorship through qualified service without regard to physical condition, handicap or infirmity save mental incapacity. Those unqualified for direct military service shall instead comprise administrative and service components of the Armed Forces, will receive the same compensation as military members, and may be assigned to hazardous duties as determined by the needs of the Armed Forces. All persons entering the Armed Forces must be unmarried and without dependents for at least their first two years of service.

            Section 4 – Citizenship

            All residents of the Republic of the United States who are not Electors shall be considered Citizens, and shall have all the same rights, privileges and immunities of Electors save where certain authority and privilege is herein granted to Electors. A Citizen is defined as any person born in the Republic of the United States to parents who are also citizens, or who has undertaken to seek citizenship under rules and regulations as defined by Congress.

ARTICLE II – Legislative Authority

            Legislative authority granted by this Constitution shall reside in a Congress of the Republic of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

            Section 1 – The House of Representatives

            The House of Representatives of the Republic of the United States shall be composed of members elected every third year by the Electors of the States, who shall be apportioned on the basis of one elected Representative for every one million residents, but each State must have at least one Representative. Reapportionment of the members shall occur once each decade upon the taking of a Census of the States by the government of the Republic. Districts shall be defined by the Legislatures of the several States provided that said Districts must be geographically contiguous and based solely on total population density.

            No person shall be eligible to be elected as a Representative who is not an Elector, who has not attained the age of twenty-five years, who has not been seven years a Citizen of the United States, and who, when elected, is not a resident of the State which that Elector is elected to represent. When vacancies occur within the House of Representatives, the Executive Authority of the State affected shall issue a writ of election to fill such vacancies.

            The House of Representatives shall establish its own officers and rules, and shall have the sole authority of impeachment of any federal official and the introduction of any legislation involving the raising of taxes.

            Section 2 – The Senate

            The Senate of the Republic of the United States shall be comprised of two Senators from each State elected by the Electors thereof for six years. Upon the ratification of this Constitution, one-third of the Senate shall serve a term of two years, one-third shall serve a term of four years, and one-third shall serve a term of six years, as chosen by random lot.

            No person shall be eligible to be elected as Senator who is not an Elector, who has not attained the age of thirty-five years, who has not been ten years a Citizen of the United States, and who, when elected, is not a resident for at least five years of the State which that Citizen is elected to represent. When vacancies occur within the Senate, the Legislature of the State affected shall select one of its members to serve the remaining term.

            The Vice President of the Republic of the United States shall serve as President of the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided. The Senate shall choose its own officers and rules and shall select its own president pro tempore, in the absence of the Vice President or when that Elector is acting as the President of the Republic of the United States.

            The Senate shall have the sole power to try all Impeached federal officers, and when sitting in judgement of the President or Vice President of the Republic of the United States, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall preside. Senators may vote to remove the impeached official from office, and upon such vote said official may be subject to other prosecution by civil authority.

            Section 3 – Meetings, Adjournment, Protections and Compensation

            Members of Congress shall meet in session at least once per year, or when called into Special Session by the President of the Republic of the United States for a period not to exceed thirty days. Members of each House shall otherwise set their own rules for times and places of meetings and of adjournment. Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings and shall publish such records in a manner accessible to all Residents, recording all votes.

            Members of Congress shall determine compensation for all elected and appointed offices of the Republic of the United States, with the proviso that the pay of elected officials of the United States shall not exceed that offered to senior officers of the Armed Forces of the United States. Members of Congress shall in all cases save treason, felony and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective houses and in going to and returning from the same. No Senator or Representative shall be appointed or elected to any other public office during the time for which he or she was elected, and no person holding any other office may be a member of either House during his continuance in office.

            Section 4 – The Legislative Process

All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur as on other Bills. Each bill authorizing the expenditure of public funds or raising of tax moniesshall be considered strictly upon its own merits and may not be amended with additional funding or taxing proposals.

Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States. If the President approves he or she shall sign the bill and it will become law, but if not, the President shall Veto the bill and return it to the House in which it originated with an accounting of the President’s objections. If after reconsideration of the bill that House shall pass it by a two-thirds majority, it shall be sent, along with the objections, to the other House, by which it will be likewise considered, and if approved by two-thirds of that House it shall become law over the President’s objections. If any bill shall not be returned by the President within ten days after it shall have been presented, it shall become law as if the President had signed it, unless Congress has adjourned in the interim.

Every order, resolution or vote to which the concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary save on a question of adjournment shall be presented to the President of the Republic of the United States, or being disapproved by him or her, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill.

            Section 5 – Powers of Congress

            Congress shall have the power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense of the Republic, but in all instances must maintain uniform taxes and tariffs throughout the several States.

            Congress shall have the authority to borrow money on the credit of the United States.

            Congress shall have the authority to regulate commerce with foreign Nations and among the States, and to establish rules for commerce which regulate the power of corporations to ensure that no corporation shall have legal rights exceeding that of Residents and Citizens.

            Congress shall have the authority to establish uniform rules of naturalization and to regulate the entry of foreign nationals seeking status as Citizens of the United States.

            Congress shall have the authority to create uniform laws on bankruptcies, to coin money and regulate the value thereof based upon the gold standard, to fix a standard of weights and measures which is uniform throughout the States, and to provide for the punishment of those who would counterfeit the coin and currency of the United States.

            Congress shall have the authority to establish uniform regulations for copyright and patent.

            Congress shall have the authority to establish Post Offices and Post Roads.

            Congress shall have the authority to constitute tribunals inferior to that of the Supreme Court.

            Congress shall have the authority to Declare War, to provide for the maintenance of the Armed Forces, to provide uniform regulations for the maintenance and conduct of all Residents serving in the Armed Forces, and to provide a means for the joint operation between the Armed Forces of the Republic of the United States and the Militias of the several States.

            Congress shall have the authority to make all laws concerning the governance of the District of Columbia, or other such capitol district as ceded by any State.

            Congress shall have the authority to make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the Republic of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

            Section 6 – Limitations on Congress

            Congress may not cede to the President of the United States, in his role as Commander-in-Chief, the authority to wage War, but may provide for emergency powers to repel a foreign invasion or attack, such powers not to exceed thirty days without a Declaration of War by Congress.

            Congress may make no law suspending the right of Habeas Corpus to any Citizen or Elector.

            Congress may not raise revenues to gift monies from the public treasury to support governments or individuals of foreign nations, nor to provide solvency for any business or corporation, nor to provide financial solvency for any individual person.

            Congress may pass no Bill of Attainder or Ex Post Facto law.

            Congress may give no preference in regulation of commerce to ports or businesses in any State, and no traffic from any State shall pay any duty when moving to another State. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State.

            Congress shall pass no law taxing individual productivity based upon income.

            Congress shall grant no title of nobility, nor may any Citizen or Elector of the Republic of the United States accept any such title, gift or emolument from any foreign government except by consent of Congress.

Congress may not grant any pension paid out of the public monies to any person save those who have performed at least twenty years of active service in the Armed Forces or who have been physically incapacitated as a result of such service.

Congress shall pass no law dispensing public monies for charity, but may authorize expenditures to establish emergency loans for Citizens affected by natural disasters or war, such monies to be available at no interest, and to provide for repayment of such loans over a period not to exceed twenty years.

            No money shall be paid out of the public treasury save it has been authorized by an appropriation approved into law; and such appropriations and expenditures shall be published from time to time and accessible to all Citizens and Electors.

            Section 7 – Limitations on the States

            No State shall pass any Bill of Attainder or Ex Post Facto law; raise public monies to gift to any foreign government or individual, nor to provide solvency for any commercial interest, nor to provide solvency for any individual.

            No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance or confederation with any foreign nation or individual, nor with any other State.

            No State may create any Duty or Tax on the goods and services produced by any other State.

Article III – Executive Branch

            Section 1 – The Presidency

            The executive power of the Republic of the United States shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. This Citizen shall hold office for a term of four years and shall, along with a Vice-President, be elected by a majority vote of the Electors of the Republic, but both offices shall be elected separately. No person may be elected to the office of the Presidency more than twice.

            No person shall be eligible to serve as President or Vice-President who is not a natural born Citizen of the United States, or was a Citizen of the former United States at the time of the ratification of this Constitution, and who is en elector as defined in Article I above. No person shall be elected President or Vice-President who has not attained the age of thirty-five years.

            Congress shall have the authority to create rules to provide for succession to the Presidency in the case of death, disability or removal from office of the President or Vice-President.

            The President and Vice-President shall receive compensation at the same rate paid the highest-ranking members of the Armed Forces of the Republic of the United States.

            Before he or she shall enter office, the President or Vice President shall take the following Oath of Affirmation: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the Republic of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Republic of the United States."

            The terms of office of all elected and appointed officials of the United States shall begin at noon on the first day of January, or upon election or appointment to said office.

            Section 2 – Powers of the President

            The President shall serve as the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic of the United States, and of the Militias of the States when those Militias are called into service.

            The President shall select, upon approval of the Senate, each of the department heads of the executive branch and the heads of the various branches of the Armed Forces of the Republic of the United States for  terms not to exceed four years.

            The President shall have the power to grant Pardons and Reprieves for all offenses against the Republic of the United States save treason and impeachment.

The President shall have Power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.

The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.

The President may not abrogate governmental power to any private person, firm or agency to perform functions of the Executive Branch, to include the regulation of commerce and currency, save where those persons have been appointed as heads or members of departments of the Executive Branch.

            Section 3 – State of the Union, Convening Congress

            The President shall, from time to time, give information to the Congress regarding the State of the Union, and recommend for their consideration such measures as he or she shall deem expedient and necessary. He or she may, in extraordinary instances, convene both Houses to consider critical matters and may call either House into special session not to exceed thirty days for consideration of legislation urgently needed to repel foreign invasion, declare War or to provide emergency funding to maintain the government of the Republic.

            The President shall receive the Ambassadors and other public ministers of other nations.

            The President shall serve as the chief law enforcement officer of the Republic of the United States and shall take care to see that all laws are faithfully executed.

            The President shall have the sole authority to Commission all officers of the Armed Forces of the Republic of the United States.

            Section 4 – Removal from Office or Disqualification

            The President or Vice President and all civil officers of the Republic of the United States may be removed from office upon impeachment and conviction for the offenses of treason, bribery or other high crimes or misdemeanors.

Article IV – The Judicial Branch

            The Judicial power of the Republic of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court and in such inferior courts as Congress shall from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges of the Supreme Court and of its inferior courts shall hold their offices for life, unless impeached and convicted by the Congress in the same manner as for members of the Executive Branch. All persons nominated by the Executive Branch to serve as federal judges must be at least forty years old, Electors, and twenty years a Citizen of the United States.

            Section 1 – Jurisdiction

            The Judicial power of the Court and its inferior courts shall extend to all cases in law and equity arising under this Constitution; the laws of the Republic of the United States and treaties accepted by the same; to all cases affecting Ambassadors, public ministers or other consuls; to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; to controversies between two or more States; to all controversies to which the United States shall be a party; and between any foreign government, citizen or entity and the United States.

            Section 2 – Trial by Jury, Original Jurisdiction

            In all cases involving Ambassadors, other public officers or in which a State shall be a party, the Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction. In all other cases the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction both as to law and fact, with such exceptions and under such regulations as Congress shall make.

            The Trial by Law of all cases, save impeachment, shall be by jury of Electors; and such trial shall be held in the State where such crimes were committed, but when not committed in any State, shall be held in such place and time as established by Congress.

            Section 3 – Treason

            Treason against the Republic of the United States shall be defined as any citizen waging war against the Republic or in adhering to its enemies by giving them aid and comfort, providing materiel to wage war upon the United States or in accepting monies from foreign governments or individuals for the purpose of waging war against the United States. No citizen shall be convicted of Treason save on the testimony of at least two witnesses to the same overt act or on confession in open court.

            The punishment of Treason shall be death by hanging, or such lesser term of imprisonment as Congress shall provide.

Article V – The States

            Section 1 – Each State to honor all others

            Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public Acts, Records and judicial proceedings of every other State. Congress may by law prescribe the manner in which such proceedings shall be available to the citizens of all States.

            Section 2 – States, Citizenship and Extraditions

            The citizens of every State shall be privileged to all rights and immunities available to citizens of every other State. A person charged in any State with treason or any felony or other crime who has fled to any other State to avoid justice shall, upon demand of the Executive Authority of the State from which he or she fled, be returned to the State from which he or she fled to face justice.

            Section 3 – New States; Secession

            New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new States shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the junction of two or more States, or parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.

The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State. Congress shall guarantee every State a Republican form of government and shall protect each of them against Invasion, whether by foreign military or paramilitary operations or by intentional demographic shift of population.

            States have the right to leave this Union upon the vote of two-thirds of the Legislature of such State, and with the agreement of the Executive Authority of that State. No State which has exercised its right to leave the Union may apply to re-join the Union before the period of ten years shall have expired.

Article VI – The Rights of All Citizens

            Section 1 – Religious Freedom

            Congress shall make no law establishing any religion as pre-eminent over any other, nor prohibiting the observation or exercise of religion in any public place, nor prohibiting the recognition of any religion by any public office, officer, entity or branch.

            Section 2 – Freedom of Speech

            Congress shall make no law abridging the right to freedom of speech and expression, save to establish standards regarding vulgarity and decency which may be prohibited in government places and buildings.

            Section 3 – Freedom of the News Media

            Congress shall make no law regarding the freedom of the News Media save to establish standards for slander and libel for the publication of false information.

            Section 4 – Right to Assemble

            Congress shall make no law abridging the right of citizens to peaceably assemble and to petition government for the redress of grievances.

            Section 5 – Ownership of Firearms, Housing Troops

            Congress shall make no law regulating or prohibiting private ownership of firearms or other weapons of personal defense. No citizen shall be forced to house or quarter troops of the Armed Forces save in a manner prescribed by Congress for use during time of war.

Section 6 – Marriage and the Definition of Family

            Because marriage is a religious institution, neither Congress nor the States may make any law regulating, prohibiting or licensing marriage, but that power is reserved exclusively to religious institutions. Congress and the States shall provide regulations enabling all citizens to arrange for the transfer of their assets, pensions, benefits or property to any other person upon their death.

            Section 7 – Right Against Unreasonable Search

            The right of citizens to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated; no Warrant shall be issued save upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched or the person or things to be siezed.

            Section 8 – Trial and Punishment

            No person shall be held to answer for any felony save following an indictment by a Grand Jury of Electors, except in the cases arising from the conduct of the Armed Forces or the Militias when in actual service during time of war or other public emergency. No person may be compelled to be a witness against himself, nor may any family member be forced to testify against another family member. No person may be subjected to prosecution for the same offense twice, and no person may be deprived of life, liberty or property without the due process of law, nor may private property be taken for public use without fair and just compensation.   

            Section 9 – Right to Speedy Trial, Confrontation of Witnesses; Capital Punishment

            In all criminal trials, the accused shall have the right to a speedy and public trial within 30 days from the time such person shall be arrested, by a jury of Electors resident of the State or District wherein the crime occurred; and to be informed of the naturea nd cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him or her; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses  in hir or her favor; and to have the assistance of counsel in his defense. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor non-traditional punishments imposed; in capital cases, traditional punishments shall include lethal injection, lethal poisoning by gas, electrocution, hanging or death by firing squad.

            Section 10 – Right to Speedy Trial of Lawsuit; Loser Pays

            In suits at common law, the right of trial by a jury of Electors shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury shall be re-examined by the Court of the United States other than according to the rules of common law. In all suits at common law, the side losing the lawsuit shall be responsible for all costs associated with the trial.

            Section 11 – Powers of the States and of the People

            The powers not delegated specifically by this Constitution to the national government, nor prohibited to the States by it, are reserved exclusively to the States, or to the People.

Article VII – Amendment, Ratification, Debt and Transition

            Section 1 – Amendment

            This Constitution may be amended upon action by the vote of two-thirds of each House; or by the introduction and passage of amendment by three-fourths of the States, provided that no amendment may pre-date the ratification of this Constitution.

            Section 2 – Ratification

            The Legislatures of the various States, elected under the Constitution of 1788, shall convene to consider ratification of this Constitution. This Constitution shall be considered to be ratified and in force upon the vote of 35 of the 50 States.

            Section 3 – Debts and Transition of Government

            All Debts contracted and engagements entered into, before the adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the Republic of the United States under this Constitution, as under the Constitution of 1788.

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.

In my new role as a department manager over lumber and building materials for (one of the largest home-improvement retailers), I've been juuuuuuust a little busy for the past couple of weeks. In the wake of Hurricane Ike, I'd like to pass along my thanks to the hundreds of associates of our chain (The Home Depot) who came from stores in other states to help out in the first couple of weeks after the storm. We had associates from Florida, Mississippi, Alabama and other states who have experienced this before -- including two busloads full of hard-working New Orleans associates who have forever changed my perception of "Katrina People" -- as well as associates from states which have NEVER experienced anything like this -- Minnesota, Tennessee, even Alaska! These folks have been our godsend, because we would never have been able to keep up if it were not for them, and let me tell you, they taught a lot of us a thing or two about keeping things running!

I'd also like to thank the thousands of customers who besieged our store in those first few days after the storm for their extreme patience and courtesy. Since we had so few associates to run the store with (we were open the day after the storm with just 11 people on hand), we were forced to limit access to the store for a time, creating some huge lines both to get into the store and to check out. Often people would wait a long time in line only to find out that what they were looking for was no longer available. Yet throughout that ordeal, we saw very few cases of real ugliness ... our fellow Texans showed their true character.

Just about the time the English colonies formed a new government in North America independent of the mother empire, Alexander Tyler observed that the world's great civilizations typically follow a pattern and that no government based upon democracy could last much more than 200 years. It would appear his theory now holds true with the United States.

The expected action by the federal government to bail out Wall Street with a $700 billion package -- over the objection of what most polls indicate are 80 percent of the public -- pretty much sums up the distance between Washington and Main Street. Our political leaders have become the lackeys of big business, and no longer consider the public able to make decisions and form opinions which are sound. Unfortunately, on the latter point, they may be right.  Our population is no longer capable of the same kinds of deep thoughts that Davy Crockett once got from a farmer in Tennessee about the proper role of government.

At this point, it becomes incumbent upon those of us who do care about the future of our people to begin considering an option we would never have considered before, even in the nation's darkest hours: revolution. We need a completely new system of government, one with a built-in immunity to the corruption which has derailed our current system by expressly prohibiting the two things which have led to the fall of the United States: corporate personhood and the electorate being able to vote themselves gifts from the public treasury.

When the concept of corporations first emerged in the 19th century, they were designed as grouping funds of individuals for specific purposes for a limited duration -- such as a village or town incorporating to build better roads and bridges. A decision by the Supreme Court in the 1870s broadened that definition and granted to corporations the same rights enjoyed by individuals -- and, thanks to the power of money that corporations are able to exercise, they eventually rode roughshod over individuals.

Tyler's theory holds that any democracy begins to decline once the electorate realizes it can vote itself gifts from the public treasury. The U.S. Constitution provides that Congress should "promote" the General Welfare, but nowhere does it give Congress the authority to PROVIDE for it -- and for the last 50 years, our government has been dominated by people who have become dependent on government largesse. The politicians have bred them by federalizing education and dumbing-down curriculums with wave after wave of "education reform" -- reform that has done no reforming and only served to make a few corporations and educational administrators wealthy.

It remains to be seen whether or not our military leaders have the ability to act independently, because they are the wild card. If they hold true to their oaths to uphold the Constitution, they will act to initiate this revolution on their own, or will at least hold their hands while we the people regain control of our country.

(I originally wrote this back in 2000, but since I got a call very similar to this one again tonight, I thought I'd re-edit it a tad and present it again for your amusement):

***************************************************
*******************************************

Okay, I’ll admit it. I can be mean.

The nice young man who called Sunday evening, representing one of the national polling services, interrupted a well-planned nap I’d scheduled between the time I finished watching the Texans self-destruct and the time I woke up to start getting ready for work. His apology was sincere, I’ll give him that credit. So rather than growl at him in anger, I did my best to answer his questions.

Of course, since he’d interrupted my nap, I answered them as truthfully as Bill Clinton would have.

“Are you a Republican, Democrat or an Independent?”

“I’m a member of the Texas Independence Party.”

“Uhm ... okay, so you’re an independent.”

“No, I said I’m a member of the Texas Independence Party. It’s a real party (not true) -- look it up!”

“Oh.” That got him for a moment. “So, uhm ... would you describe yourself as a supporter of Obama or McCain?”

“Neither,” I snapped. “I’m supporting MY party’s nominee for president, Chester Moore Jr. (Also not true, although I’d trust Chester with planning my fishing trip.)

Silence. Then: “But if you had to vote for either Obama or McCain, which would you choose?”

“But I don’t HAVE to vote for either Obama or McCain now, do I? In addition to Chester Moore -- a fine Texan, by the way -- I could vote for Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party, Cynthia McKinney of the Green Party, Bob Barr of the Libertarian Party, Frank McEnulty of the New American Independent Party, Gloria La Riva of the Party for Liberation and Socialism, Ted Weill of the Reform Party, Brian Moore of the Socialist Party, Roger Calero of the Socialist Workers Party, or any of several other candidates who have announced they’re seeking the job such as Alan Keyes or Ralph Nader (True). Why don’t you guys ever ask if we’re voting for one of THEM? Why is it always only Democrats or Republicans?”

There was a moment of silence. I could visualize him rolling his eyes in exasperation.

“Well, sir, I’m just asking the questions they told me to ask, we’re totally non-partisan ...”

“Seems to me if you were ‘non-partisan’ you’d be asking people whether they’re going to vote for Obama, McCain, Barr, McKinney, Baldwin, Keyes, Nader, , LaRiva, Moore or one of the others now, doesn’t it? And let’s not forget Lyndon LaRouche – he’s an idiot, but he's probably on the ballot somewhere, he is every four years. Why don’t you ask me about them, huh? Are you afraid of how I’d answer?”

“Well, sir, we’re just trying to get a feel about what the majority of the people in the country think about ...”

“How can you hope to get a feel about what the ‘majority’ of the people think if you’re limiting the questions in such a partisan, narrow-minded fashion? Makes it real easy to paint some of these other candidates as ‘fringe’ candidates when you purposely exclude them, doesn’t it? So who pays your salary, anyway, Pew Charitable Trust?”

Oops. I think I struck a nerve there. I heard a gasp.

“Are you aware that, aside from the Democrats and Republicans, the Pew Charitable Trust has been one of the biggest backers of socialism in this country in this century? (Okay, that’s only partially true, but I had the guy sweating, so why not?)”

“Well, again sir, we’re non-partisan, we’re just ...”

“So what you’re really asking me by asking me whether I support Obama or McCain is whether or not I am a socialist, isn’t it? Don’t you love America, son? Was your Daddy a scum-sucking draft-dodger? Are you a vegetarian or something?”

“Sir, I just wanted to know ...”

“Hey – I’M asking the questions here! Who are YOU going to vote for? What gives you the right to ask me how I plan to vote?”

The phone went dead at that point. I assume I’m now listed as ‘undecided.’

Keep 'em guessing, that’s my motto.

While making my rounds the other day on the job, I noticed that the bank located inside the Wal-Mart I was servicing had a sign in front of it. It seems First Convenience Bank is now accepting Mexican consular matricula cards as valid ID for opening accounts and transacting business.

So, banks which routinely reject you and I for credit now accept cards which even the FBI has warned is extremely vulnerable to fraud and forgery and whose use virtually guarantees tha the holder is a criminal guilty of violating the laws of the United States.

American business has sold us out, my fellow Texans. Corporate greed has overridden citizenship.

During my run into Houston last week, I passed a number of those large Dr. Pepper billboards -- you know, the one talking about 23 flavors and enjoying it slowly?  Every single one of the billboards I saw was in Spanish -- a language I happen to read moderetely well. The wife and I have been determined Dr. Pepper drinkers for years ...but no more.

I love beer. Guess who helps fund all those "pro-amnesty" rallies around the country, rallies which have been organized by Mexican communist, separatist and racist groups like La Raza, MeCHA and Nation of Aztlan? Miller Brewing Co.

I have been a faithful State Farm Insurance customer since I was 16 -- that's like 34 years' worth of money I've paid for insurance I've only used once. Apparently they don;t like my money any more, since they're now actively recruiting illegal aliens -- who can't even get a driver's license! -- as customers.

I was offered a donut the other day and although I was famished, I refused it. It came from Shipley's -- that's the company which got rid of its American workers and hired illegal aliens. Lawrence W. Shipley III pleaded guilty in Houston to a misdemeanor charge of continuing to employ unauthorized workers and was placed on probation. Shipley Do-Nuts pleaded guilty to a felony charge of knowingly hiring illegal immigrants and must forfeit $1.3 million (I noticed that story wasn't a big news item here, I wonder why?).

I applied for a Bank of America Visa card a few years back. They rejected me. Now they're targeting their marketing specifically to illegal aliens. They might ought to change the name of the bank, it seems to me.

There are almost as many Spanish-language TV and radio stations in Houston now as there are those which broadcast in Texas English. I can't stand the music and can only understand part of what the DJs are saying, but I can fully understand the advertising and I'm fully aware that many of the same advertisers who fund my favorite English-language shows are also helping to fund the tidal wave of illegal immigrants who are overwhelming my culture.

The list of greedy corporations who are selling out their country is legion, and it grows every day. Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Washington Mutual, Lowe's, Allstate ... they're all in on it.

Most of these corporations have this idea that helping the Mexicans and others who are breaking American laws is simply a way to make more money. They don't seem to understand what's going to happen when the illegals become numerous enough to take over -- which, since neither Obama nor McCain supports regulating our borders, isn't going to be much longer. These corporations do not understand that civil war WILL happen -- and that they will lose billions of dollars when that happens.

There are some people who are trying to fight back. They are reporting those who hire illegal aliens at WeHireAliens.com and they're organizing boycotts of these traitor corporations at AmericaFirstBoycott.com. I urge everyone to visit those sites and support them.

Immigration made our country great, and like everyone else I welcome new LEGAL immigrants from any land. But when we allow people to openly ignore or break our laws and then reward them, the United States we revered, fought for and helped to build will collapse upon itself.

Back in 2001, I got fired by Community Newspaper Holdings Inc., the owners of the Orange Leader newspaper. For about six months after that, I stubbornly tried to find another job in the business but met nothing but dead ends -- no one ever said so, but I have little doubt that my pay grade had a little to do with it and the fact that I was, shall we say, not a "team" player had a LOT to do with it. But for six months afterward I stubbornly tried to hold on to the house we'd bought in Orange, sucking down every dime of the 401K I'd built up before we finally had to call it quits and lose the house to foreclosure.

So for the last 7 years I've struggled with the stigma of a foreclosure on my credit report, living in apartments and rent houses ... when all along all I had to do was simply to tell my mortgage company they just needed to run to Congress to get the money?

I think Homer Simpson probably says it best: "DOH!"

The Senate's vote on a second bailout of mortgage lenders -- I'm glad to see that Sens. Cornyn and Hutchison voted against the measure, my respect for them has risen -- has moved the federal government into an all-new realm. The Nanny State has become the Rich Uncle State -- don't worry about your irresponsibility, the government will bail you out if you get into trouble.

That'd be kind of cool if my new Rich Uncle were just someone who is independenly wealthy -- but see, my Rich Uncle's money comes out of MY pocket. And he's not authorized to use it that way.

It was a Scotsman, Alexander Tyler, who observed in 1770 that Democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government because once the electorate figures out it can vote itself gifts from the public treasury, fiscal failure is the inevitable result. We've been seeing that kind of irresponsibility at work since the 1960s, and it's getting worse.

Thanks to the unbridled spending of Congress and the Bush Administration, we are hopelessly in debt. I've heard one estimate that were this debt spread out evenly across the country, every single one of us would owe $500,000 to balance the government's books.

That debt is owed in huge measure to Communist China. Yes, Communist China. All the Chinese would have to do to destroy the United States would be to call in that debt and sell off all their American holdings -- the stock market would crash worse than it did in 1929 and we would enter a depression from which our weak, selfish, ignorant people would never recover.

Yes, a lot of Americans face home foreclosure. They took out loans they couldn't pay for. A lot of investors stood to lose a lot of money. They made loans they shouldn't have made. Call me cold, but having been in their shoes myself, I know what it's like. For seven years I've paid the price that these people don't want to pay.

I have a question for Congress and President Bush, one that was asked of Davy Crockett in the early 1830s. He related that he was out campaigning for his Congressional seat when he was admonished by a farmer for voting a $20,000 expenditure to help victims of a fire in Georgetown. Why, Crockett asked, would the farmer object to helping people out?

"Well, Colonel," the farmer asked Crockett, "where do you find in the Constitution any authority to give away the public money in charity?"

Just about the time we got to thinking that Justice in Texas was indeed dead, he climbs out of the grave and screws this state again.

U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice -- who last time I remember reading about him had "retired" -- issued a ruling Friday that Texas has until the end of January to "fix" its bilingual education program.

I'm not a fan of bilingual education. It is self-defeating and wasteful because students never learn English, the unofficial official langauge of the United States of America and of Texas. It has become a prop for schools to suck up extra funding by providing a free education to illegal aliens in their own language, simple as that. It is a key factor in the "reconquista" being practiced by the Government of Mexico, creating a distinct, separate Mexican culture that competes with American culture and is in the process of overwhelming it by sheer numbers because of unchecked birth rates.

And Lord knows, I'm no fan of the Texas Education Agency. I've been fighting them since 1995 or so after discovering that the "new standards" they were implementing in this state were, in fact, the same ones Hillary Clinton implemented in Arkansas -- standards that have provided similar results, such as skyrocketing dropout rates and honor graduates who have to take remedial classes before attempting college coursework.

But I'll side with the TEA here. Given the choice between spending money on a harmful program (which it's doing now) and spending even more money on a harmful program to create more votes for Justice's chosen political party, I'd urge the TEA to fight this thing tooth and nail as long as they can.

Or better yet, eliminate bilingual education altogether in favor of immersion. Duh.

"Immersion" is dropping kids straight into English-speaking classrooms, especially in the early grades. Believe it or not, it works.

Unlike bilingual education. In California, Hispanic parents fueled a drive to demand the state end bilingual education in favor of immersion because they were afraid their children would not be able to compete if they spent years getting things in a confusion bilingual way; one poll showed 84 percent favored immersion.The idea of bilingual education, or "facilitation theory," is in fact based on a 1976 study of kids emigrating from FINLAND to SWEDEN. Ja.

Of more than 300 "studies" done supporting the idea of bilingual education, only 72 actually used methodologically-sound research, and 83 percent of those favored immersion.

Judge Justice for years held Texas taxpayers hostage with his legislation from the bench requiring luxuries for Texas prisoners. We shouldn't allow him to do it with our schools; many taxpayers around the state are already at the maximum on property taxes, and in these uncertain economic times that LAST thing we need is higher taxes.  The best way to flick our collective middle fingers at William Wayne Justice is to end bilingual education altogether, immediately.

By nature, I avoid watching most TV news. Having been in the print media for so long myself, I'm aware at how much the broadcasters simply can't give the public. The flip side of that, of course, is the fact that most Americans these days won't read past the first three paragraphs of a real news story, so us guys in print can't claim we actually inform anyone any better. People just don't want the whole story.

But every now and then I see some TV news coverage that makes the steam rise out of my ears, my blood boil and enrages me to the point I want to take that idiot box and chunk it. The case in point would be the coverage of the recent immigration raid at Action Rags USA in Houston.

The wife happened to have the TV tuned to the station which runs her nonsense "swap" shows, so the report in question was not on Fox, but I have little doubt that some manager at the local Fox affiliate had his hands full trying to convince a reporter that no, we don't need another "families broken apart" story. Or maybe they did it and just haven't run it yet, in which case I'll get mad at Fox, too.

Now, here's the situation: the undocumented workers who were "rounded up," who are in this country illegally, are criminals. The people at Action Rags who hired them are criminals. People who make and sell meth are criminals, as are people who murder other people.

Yet of course the sappy reporter for this (other) station had to interview "family members" of those being carted off in the raid to learn how this was "breaking up their families," like maybe Immigration and Customs Enforcement was doing something other than its job -- and God knows, I've been howling at them to do THAT!

But I have to ask: where is this reporter when a bunch of gang members gets rounded up for selling crack? Why is there no story about how these arrests are tearing apart THOSE families? Where is the human interest piece about how our cruel drunk-driving laws tear apart the families of the mindless sots who insist on breaking the law?

What this TV reporter, and the station she works for, are doing is betraying their bias. By supporting those who have invaded our country and are trying to replace our American culture with their own, they are affirming that the very concept of the "United States of America" is completely meaningless to them -- they're fully supportive of the reconquista of the American Southwest by Mexico.

The time is coming, folks, when we're going to have to choose sides.

I went to the dentist today and got one of the bigger disappointments of my life. Which is unusual, since I've spent most of my half-century avoiding dentists like the plague because they are harbingers or excruciating pain.

But a few weeks back I finally decided that hey, it was time I finally broke down and did somthing about my teeth. My family has a history of bad teeth and I knew this was coming, but I figured what the heck, I have dental insurance now and I need a nice smile to show the public. So I went to the place that's advertised on TV, because I'm a coward.

My first three visits were extremely productive. We got rid of several teeth that were unsavable. We got things cleaned up and the gum disease endemic to my family tree under control. Today was the day we were to talk about final solutions to give me some bright smileys to share with the world.

I was fine until they got to the $10,000 price. And the fact that my dental insurance had a $2,000 limit. So now I'm stuck with five gaping holes in my mouth and my diet is limited to variations of mashed potatoes.

A thousand years from now some archaeologist will unearth my bones in the cemetery for veterans of the Second Mexican-American War and wonder what kind of a low-life slug I must have been, since I was missing so many teeth in an age when dental care was so readily available.

Some of the lefties out there will be quick to sing that well, this wouldn't be happening to me if we had national health insurance, everything would be taken care of. Maybe that's true. But what that would mean is that all you other idiots out there would be paying for my familial trait and lack of poor dental hygeine -- and that's simply not fair. I shouldn't have to pay for your abortion nor your lung cancer treatments, and I damned well don't expect you to pay for my dental work.

We need to wake up to the fact that health care costs in the U.S. are out of control, and the only way to get them under control is to put a cap on tort -- because that is what is driving everything. Universal insurance won't improve care, it won't improve access, all it will do is institutionalize the greed of trial lawyers at the expense of taxpayers.

I watched o'Reilly last night and was surprised to learn that nearly one-third of the citizens of Mexico consider the United States to be an "enemy," according to new research from the Pew Foundation.

Here's a little tip for y'all, Presidente Calderon and buddies: we consider you guys to be an enemy, too.

The Pew Global Attitudes Survey tapped opinion in 24 countries and revealed that only 47 percent of Mexicans hold a favorable opinion of the U.S., down from 61 percent a decade ago. Most of them also doubt that either Democratic nominee Barack Obama nor Republican candidate John McCain will make a big difference in relations between our two countries, even though both candidates favor amnesty for the 40 million criminals who are here illegally.

Apparently our having given up more than 100,000 American manufacturing jobs through NAFTA, and the billions of dollars in food stamps, free health care, free education and even free housing given to Mexican invaders that American citizens can't get isn't friendly enough for Mexican citizens.

Mexican citizens kill 24 Americans every day in this country -- that's more than die on the battlefields of the Middle East. There is evidence that the government of Mexico is complicit in the human trafficking which funnels thousands of people across the border in violation of our laws every day. There is mounting evidence that Mexican government officials serving in consular capacities in this country are helping their citizens continue to evade our laws by providing fake identification.

Yet Mexico continues to make pronouncements that the backlash of average Americans to the illegal immigration problem is mean-spirited and a cause for concern, and we need to fix that.

Our government's reaction to all this? Well, according to Dubya, they're just trying to make a better life for themselves. Let's see -- they have our jobs, they're sucking up our tax money, they're replacing our culture .... and they think WE'RE mean???

Barring a major announcement by either of the two major-party candidates about a radical toughening of immigration policy in a future administration, word is that the scattered bands of patriots and minutemen around this country are planning some radical action of their own at some point this summer: closing the border by force of arms. I would assume that would make even more Mexicans consider us an "enemy," since that's pretty much an act of war.

Perhaps Mexico should consider a couple of numbers significant in its own history: 1836 and 1848. When they're ready to try for best-of-five, I'm sure we can oblige.

Has Mexico’s plan for the reconquista (“reconquest”)  of lands lost to Texas and the U.S. in 1836 and 1848 been put on a fast track and changed from waging demographic warfare to an actual consideration of armed conflict?

The increasing frequency and size of incursions by Mexican military personnel into the U.S. would appear to verify that assessment, and it would appear the Mexicans have become emboldened because of the Bush Administration’s lack of response.

The El Paso Times reported on Jan. 29 of this year that records obtained by Judicial Watch showed 25 incursions by Mexican military and police into the US in 2007, and 278 incursions since 1996: The Border Patrol documents obtained by Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group in Washington, D.C., said that 21 of the 2007 incidents involved Mexican police officials and four incidents involved Mexican military personnel.

The most egregious of the incidents took place in January, 2006, when Mexican soldiers aided drug smugglers who had run into a group of 30 American law enforcement officials, including Texas policemen and the FBI. According to a report in The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin of Ontario, Calif., Mexican troops established fighting positions several hundred yards across the Rio Grande at Neely’s Crossing, about 30 miles east of El Paso. 

Hudspeth County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Mike Doyal told the paper that Mexican Army Humvees were towing what appeared to be thousands of pounds of marijuana across the border. 

"It's been so bred into everyone not to start an international incident with Mexico that it's been going on for years. When you're up against mounted machine guns, what can you do? Who wants to pull the trigger first? Certainly not us," Doyal told the paper.

FBI spokesperson Andrea Simmons confirmed the report, telling the Daily Bulletin: "Bad guys in three vehicles ended up on the border. People with Humvees, who appeared to be with the Mexican Army, were involved with the three vehicles in getting them back across."

Deputies captured one vehicle and found 1,477 pounds of marijuana inside, according to Doyal, who added Mexican soldiers set fire to one of the Humvees stuck in the river.

Only a week later, a news crew from El Paso television station KFOX-TV witnessed a second incursion. In the company of a Sheriff’s deputy, they had gone to the scene of the previous incident when several Mexican soldiers emerged. The deputy then spotted a number of other Mexican soldiers making a flanking movement against him and the news crew and chose to withdraw because he was heavily outnumbered and outgunned.

Video of that incident is available at the KFOX-TV website.

Mexican officials have said their military is forbidden from traveling within three miles of the border.

Officials within the Bush Administration, including Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff, have downplayed the incidents in spite of the clear evidence for reasons which remain unfathomable.

“This is reconnaissance,” retired Col. Steve Duncan told this writer. “This is a pattern similar to what I’ve seen throughout a lot of modern conflicts – they want to see how fast we react, what we react with, and whether or not we take it seriously. What the Bush Administration is telling them is that we’re not going to react to a military incursion with military force, that the only thing they’ll have to deal with is law enforcement armed primarily with handguns.”

At the same time, Mexican officials have been vocal about the far fewer instances when U.S. law enforcement personnel have strayed into their country while attempting to apprehend drug smugglers. In one instance, U.S. law enforcement officials strayed all of 40 feet into Mexico near Fabens, N.M., while chasing smugglers.

“We’re seeing a network developing, using the smugglers of both drugs and other goods,” Duncan said. “Down in the Rio Grande Valley, for example, there are hundreds of rings of thieves who shoplift items from Wal-Mart, Target and other big stores, take it into Mexico, then smuggle it back across the border and sell it as wholesalers – sometimes they’re selling it back to the very people they stole it from.

“The reason we’re seeing so many Mexican military involved in the smuggling is pretty simple -- they’re scouting out easy crossings across the border so they can flank where you would expect the strongest resistance to be – in the larger border cities,” Duncan added. 

Last fall, Mexican president Felipe Calderon made it clear that he now considers the southwestern U.S. to be part of his country, not American soil. In a speech at the National Palace, he said: “Wherever there is a Mexican, there is Mexico.”

Calderon was sharply critical of U.S. efforts to curtail illegal immigration, including stepped-up raids on factories and farms suspected of hiring illegals, as well as the “harsh treatment” endured by illegal immigrants who have run afoul of U.S. law by murdering, raping, robbing or otherwise harming U.S. citizens.

“In the name of the government of Mexico, I again issue an energetic protest against the unilateral measures taken by the Congress and the United States government that exacerbate the persecution and the vexing treatment against undocumented Mexican workers,” Calderon said.

The speech was roundly praised in Mexico and in the Hispanic community in the U.S. and timed to coincide with Mexican Independence Day, Sept. 16.

“What we see there is the start of the build-up of political will,” Duncan analyzed. “Watch closely as we continue through the election season and you’ll start to hear harsher and harsher rhetoric coming both from Mexico and the Mexican radical movement in the U.S. They’re building their case for more profound incursions.”

Duncan said that despite the bluster, the Mexican military is under no delusions about its ability to actually win a war with the U.S.

“We could take out everything they’ve got with one National Guard division,” he said. “They’re not stupid -- they would never actively engage our military forces, even our most inactive reserves. But they know they have a ready-made fifth column already entrenched in every major American city that could do a lot of damage if it got down to that. But I honestly think they will still stick to trying to take control politically first.

“If Mexico is serious about trying to take the border states back, then they’re going to get a fight one way or the other,” Duncan concluded.

In 1934, Smedley D. Butler – a two-time Medal of Honor winner who was arguably the most popular military figure of his time – stunned the nation by anno