Congress has Trashed the Constitution

While I do not here defend AIG’s actions, or the plan to pay out large bonuses, I am most concerned about the suspension of the rule of law that HR. 1578 proposes. By taxing a group of people without benefit of trial and after the fact; Congress is in conflict with the Constitution it has sworn to uphold and protect. The sections of the Constitution that are in question lie in Article 1 and deals with ‘Ex post Facto’ law and ‘Bills of Attainder’.

A bill of attainder is an act of legislature declaring a person or group of persons guilty of some crime and punishing them without benefit of a trial. Bills of attainder are forbidden by Article I, section 9, clause 3 of the United States Constitution. H.R. 1578 does punish a group of people without benefit of trial and it is in conflict with the laws of our nation.

An ex post facto law or retroactive law is a law that retroactively changes the legal consequences of acts committed or the legal status of facts and relationships that existed prior to the enactment of the law. H.R. 1578 seeks to punish a group of people after the fact and it is in conflict with the laws of our nation.

Passage of this bill or any other aimed at punishing people for making income is very bad for our country and not in keeping with the legacy of the United States of America. Please stop and think on the repercussions of these actions.

Who will the next group to be targeted for punishment through taxes? Who will decide what amount of income is egregious and worthy of punishment? How low will the next income bracket be that is offensive? It is a slippery slope we stand on. We as a people must watch our step.

Celebrate Freedom

The Texas Independence Day Celebration

Texas is the only state in the Union that was ever an independent country. We Texans have hung on to that Independence. We've always been loud and we've always been proud of who we are: Texans! Therefore we celebrate!

March 2, 1836 dawned, frigid and gray; cutting winds blew through glassless windows. Texians - as they styled themselves - huddled close, pulled blankets tight, and gave birth to a dream. At the Town of Washington, fifty-nine representatives voted into existence a sovereign nation: the Republic of Texas. Tennessean George C. Childress had drafted the independence document. In word and spirit it borrowed heavily from Thomas Jefferson'' original 1776 declaration. No matter.

Anglo-Celtic Texians proudly embraced the values and traditions of their founding fathers. "The same blood that animated the hearts of our ancestors in '76 still flows in our veins," one frontier preacher affirmed. Still, not all the delegates were of that blood. Four Mexican residents signed the declaration on behalf of their Tejano constituents.

The delegates could not have picked a worse time to declare independence. To many contemporary observers, such confidence appeared reckless.

As delegates brazenly declared Texas independent, the artillery of Mexican dictator Antonio López de Santa Anna hammered the walls of the Alamo. Just four days later his troops would assault the crumbling fort and wipe out every rebel defender. At the same time, General José Urrea's division swept northward through the coastal prairies. He would subsequently capture the entire rebel command of Colonel James W. Fannin, Jr. following the Battle of Coleto on March 19. Acting upon Santa Anna's orders, Mexican troops executed Fannin and the majority of his Goliad garrison, some 342 men. The twin defeats at San Antonio and Goliad generated panic among Texian settlers who fled toward the Louisiana border. The "Runaway Scrape" they called it. To declare independence amid all this chaos seemed more than unduly hopeful. Indeed, to most it resembled a fool's errand.

On April 21, General Sam Houston's vengeful army swept the Mexican camp at San Jacinto and the skeptics recanted. On that momentous afternoon, enraged Texians slaughtered 650 Mexican soldados and took another 700 prisoner. Most important, the following day Texians captured President-General Santa Anna. At San Jacinto Texians won a great victory, but only with the capture of the Mexican dictator did the battle become decisive.

The date is not a state holiday; public schools do not let out; newscasters rarely recall the event. Those who love Texas remember. Always.

Now, would you now join me in the Pledge of Allegiance and the Pledge to the Texas Flag.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America; and to the Republic for which it stands one Nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Honor the Texas Flag. I pledge allegiance to thee: Texas, one and indivisible.