There has been some talk that the President can act unilaterally to raise the nation debt limit based on Section 4 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which provides in pertinent part that "The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law . . . shall not be questioned". The argument has been made that since Congress has ALREADY authorized BY LAW each obligation represented in the national debt, by appropriating the funds for various expenditures, any overall "debt limit" is artificially redundant. It would be like writing a bunch of checks and then refusing to deposit the funds in your account to cover them. While a constitutional challenge of the debt limit law may be a defensible argument in the spirit of the 14th Amendment it is not unequivocally compelling, as the 14th Amendment does not expressly authorize what proponents are asking the President to do.

With this context, it is astonishing that apparently nobody has bothered to read the text of Public Debt Law of 1941 itself, embodied in 31 USC 3101, which is what codifies a national debt limit. That law states that

"The face amount of obligations issued under this chapter and the face amount of obligations whose principal and interest are guaranteed by the United States Government (except guaranteed obligations held by the Secretary of the Treasury) may not be more than . . . "

Please take careful note of the words "EXCEPT guaranteed obligations held by the Secretary of The Treasury". By undeniably clear law as passed by Congress, such obligations are NOT constrained by any so-called debt limit. Now all you have to do is run your finger down to the very next section 31 USC 3102 and you will read

"With the approval of the President, the Secretary of the Treasury may borrow on the credit of the United States Government amounts necessary for expenditures authorized by law . . . "

By this section Congress gives the President the EXPRESS, inherent and unilateral authority to direct the Secretary of the Treasury to incur obligations to cover all expenditures authorized by law, which is to say the sum of the appropriations bills Congress has already passed. And as we have just so clearly demonstrated such obligations are immune from any so-called debt ceiling limitation. Surely there is some White House attorney smart enough to figure this all out as we have.

More and take action here:

http://www.peaceteam.net/action/pnum1082.p...

That is all.

I don't know how to link to a facebook note, so I'm posting this in its entirety.

We've had 3 suicides in 3 weeks of gay men in Utah conflicted with their faith and sexuality. I thought this was a beautiful writing in response to that.

Isaac Higham: Loud and Clear

When I was a little boy, my beautiful mother would take me in her arms and together we would sing the words of the LDS primary song:

I am a Child of God
And he has sent me here
Has given me an earthly home
With parents kind and dear.

There was no qualifier of “unless I grow up to be gay.”

And yet nearly twenty years later things seemed to come full circle as I sat sobbing on the bathroom floor of a dirty missionary apartment where, after taking a knife from my hands and calling for help, my mission companion took me in his arms and began singing in a soft trembling voice “I am a Child of God”.

I had struggled since childhood to combat what I felt was my true nature in favor of what my church taught was the plan of God. Weary, beaten, and worn I couldn’t fight anymore.

I was lucky. I failed.

But sadly there are those we love who do not fail. Tearfully we learn of and mourn those who we cannot judge for being weary of the fight and succumbing to the constant barrage of lashes coming from Utah’s predominant religion and dominant political party; their invariable actions declaring that we are not worthy of the same treatment as everyone else—that we are less than.

When will we learn that this is not a game?

The harsh rhetoric is not something to be used to score political points or to climb the rungs on the ladder of piety.

When the stripping of legal status and protections from gay relationships is celebrated like a Super Bowl victory, what does the gay person feel? When a state senator tells gay adolescents they shouldn’t come together to talk about their struggles in accepting their sexuality, what message does that send? When a bishop stands at the pulpit and preaches that loving committed gay relationships will destroy their family and asks for time and money to ‘defeat’ them, what unimaginable fear shakes the soul of the gay child in the pews?

We MUST normalize gay relationships. Every day that passes where being gay is viewed as undesirable and gay relations viewed as abnormal, is one more day that pushes our loved ones one step closer to the edge—to the point of no return.

I’ve said it before and I reaffirm it now: This is a fight for life!

As an LDS missionary I was taught that my purpose was to “Invite others to come unto Christ.” The LDS Church has admittedly done much good and provided legitimate hope and peace to many, but my dear Latter-Day Saints, your actions as members and the actions of your church organization when it comes to your LGBT children, brothers, sisters, and friends has done anything but invite me to come unto Christ.

Gandhi put it beautifully: “I like your Christ; I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

Your message on LGBT related issues is a message of intolerance, of hatred (both external and internal self loathing), torment, and of death.

And regrettably, too many children of God are hearing that message loud and clear.

Please refer to this post:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...

I accepted donations last go around. I'm on vacation, but I can get my butt in gear if someone else hasn't already done so. What say you, DU?

http://www.organicbouquet.com/images/pages...

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=helen...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...




http://www.humanflowerproject.com/index.ph... /

when disputes come up, rather than sending thousands of young people to die, they should simply play Halo until someone wins and call it good. That or a food fight.

As an American and a resident of Weber County, I salute President Obama, Sen. Harry Reid, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi for pushing the health care reform bill through the legislative process. Until the administration of George W. Bush, I was an avid Republican and served in the Reagan and Bush (senior) administrations as a political appointee. But I will not allow Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh to define conservatism for me, nor will I accept the half-truths and invectives with which they pollute the airways.

Those who listen to these hate-mongers should realize that they have become millionaires by peddling the views they do. I recall Limbaugh frequently stating that he hoped Obama would fail. That is tantamount to wishing America would fail for Obama is our freely elected president.

What has happened to civility in this country? I did not vote for Obama but we, the American people, did. I consider myself an American, not a Utahn. I served 23 years in the United States Air Force and repeat the Pledge of Allegiance to one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

For as long as he is president, I will respect the office of president and the person who occupies it. It is pure hypocrisy or worse for those who legislate (many, if not most of whom are millionaires) to try to deny basic insurance coverage to middle- and lower-class Americans. We must understand that each member of the House of Representatives and each senator -- Republican and Democrat -- has health insurance with the major portion of their premiums being paid by the taxpayer. I know because I having worked in the government also have such a policy. Where is the "justice for all" in this?

<snip>

More here >>>

http://www.standard.net/topics/opinion/201...


West Haven resident Lynn M. Hansen received a B.A. from Utah State University and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Utah. Appointed ambassador by President Reagan, he served as head of the U.S. Delegation to the Geneva Conference on Disarmament and later with the CIA as vice-chairman of the National Intelligence Council. He recently returned from Hamburg, Germany, where he served as LDS mission president.