The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 vs. The Nondelegation Doctrine of the Constitution

George Will, in his article "The Bailing Out of the Constitution", discusses how the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA) is unconstitutional. Why is it unconstitutional? Because in the EESA, Congress delegated its vested powers to the Executive Branch, which it's prohibited from doing so under Article I of the U.S. Constitution. Why does this matter? Because a sovereign branch of government cannot subordinate itself to another sovereign branch of government, even if the subordination is willful. In other words, due to separation of powers, the legislative branch cannot delegate the power to legislate to the executive branch, even it wants to. The EESA does this and Congress should be rebuked for doing so. The Executive Branch should also be rebuked for assuming these duties. It is up to the Courts to issue the rebuke. It would be a welcome rebuke since the courts have done little to police this willful subordination since the FDR era, and it has led to the existence of a massive administrative state where due process is often dubious. Think: IRS, SEC, EPA, etc.

Another School Meeting

The Profile School Meeting was held on Monday March, 23, 2009 in the school gym. 65-75 people were there. Jim Payette was thanked for his many years on the school committee. Julie Seeley was elected to fill his seat. There was no candidate on the ballot for moderator. Al MacBain got the most write-in votes, but he says that he will not serve another year and it is up to the school committee to decide who will be the moderator for next year. All other write-ins only got one or at most two votes.

The school budget was passed and was for less than published as the teacher benefits were about $35,000 less than anticipated. The school will be purchasing a generator for emergencies.
There were paper ballots for each question as a petition was presented for paper voting. Apparently a petition has to be signed by only 5 voters to have yes or no ballots. It made the meeting considerably longer. The votes ran about 60 to 8 or so on each vote.

In Case You Missed It

Here are some points to note from this past week:

• This week, Federal Reserve has initiated it's new program of Quantitative Easing by buying U.S. Treasury Bonds with money that comes from ... er, thin air. They do this, even as Great Britian's efforts to do the same, aren't going smoothly. They also do it while assuring us that inflation won't be a problem. Well, they aren't fooling this guy.
  
• Our new Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geinther, has yet another new plan to bailout the banks. Why is he so confident that this will work to clear the toxic assets off the banks books? Here's the plan explained for us average folk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-arbfLTCtI. It must be nice being in a business where the government hands you a can't lose hand.
  
• Charles Murray contends that the european mentality is poised to rob Americans of a flourishing life of deep satisfaction, as intended by our Founders. He calls it the: European Syndrome, a syndrome where taking the trouble out of life is trouble. He hopes for a Great Awakening among the political elites.
• The First Amendment may get a breath of fresh air.
• There is a movement at the State level to hedge against the dollar-devaluing activities of the Federal Reserve. So far, the following bills are under consideration: Montana's H.R. 639, Indiana's S.B. 453, Colorado's H.B. 09-1206, Missouri's H.B. 0561, Georgia's H.B. 430 and Maryland's H.J.R. 5 are among the gold currency bills introduced just this year in various legislatures. Looks like NH was ahead of it's time in 2005. Of course, who would ever support a pesky gold standard?
• Hey, no worries on the U.S. Dollar. Our new Treasury Secretary will champion the U.S. Dollar. Right?
• Wait, what did you just say Tim? Did I just hear you say that parts of the system are overwhelmed by administrative regulation?
• I'm wondering where the American version of this guy is?
  

How Can One Win?

How do you combat lies? When mailings come out and tell lies about candidates, how do you get the truth out? I believe that a very negative mailing about Brad Presby said that he did not attend meetings 25 % of the time (My husband threw it out before I could actually see it). Brad says that information in the mailing was untrue. But many people believed it. How does one get the truth out ? Taking the high road is an excellent policy but allowing lies and distortions to go unchallenged is another matter.

Village District Annual Meeting

A good crowd turned out on March 13, just days after our town election, for the annual Village District Meeting. This year the meeting was uneventful . Russ Mardin was re-elected as commissioner without discussion or opposition. It seemed like everyone was waiting for the other shoe to fall but the meeting was without acrimony. Lon Weston video-taped the proceedings

Elementary School Meeting

The new school Committee and officers were chosen March 16. Everyone ran unopposed and several positions were blank and were elected by write-ins. 31 people cast votes. Bill Brown suggested that $5000 (to be used to pay moving expenses) be added to the $110,000 package for a new principal. The superintendent agreed that that would give them more flexability, but the motion was defeated.

It was motioned that the oil budget be cut by $7,000 because the price of oil is down. The school committee was concerned that a cut would give them no wiggle room. The motion was defeated.
The committee is trying to lock into an oil price for next school year very soon.

In the budget, over $300,000 is put into special education (I know it is mandated) with only $19,000 for the gifted and talented. What does that say about the future of our country ?

What's going on???

Let's find out what is happening in Bethlehem, NH.