Month: March 2006

Operation Swarmer Begins – Iraqi Parliament Seated – Reconciliation Act

Timing is everything

I started reading The National Security Strategy of The United States of American 03/06. The very first line, really the first line of before the table of contents:

My Fellow Americans,
American is at war. This is a wartime national security strategy required by the grave challenge we face. …

As I have stated before, we are not at war,
To be considered “wartime” a declared state of war would have to exist.
The Constitution gives only Congress the authority to declare war.
Congress has declared no war (a resolution to use force is not a declaration of war).

Then we have this jewel:

Administration Oversight

President May Have Known of Constitutional Defect Before Bill Signing
Wednesday, March 15, 2006 — Rep. Waxman asks the White House to respond to information that the Speaker of the House called President Bush to alert him that the version of the Reconciliation Act he was about to sign differed from the version that passed the U.S. House of Representatives. Rep. Waxman writes: “If the President signed the Reconciliation Act knowing its constitutional infirmity, he would in effect be placing himself above the Constitution.”

Experts Agree: Budget Bill Not Valid Law (pdf)
Letter to the White House (pdf)

It appears that once again our President has decided the Constitution does not apply to him.

“The Presentment Clause of the U.S. Constitution states that before a bill can become law, it must be passed by both Houses of Congress. When the President took the oath of office, he swore to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States,” which includes the Presentment Clause. .”

-excerpt from letter

If the President was informed by Hastert that he was signing an incorrect version of the bill and Bush unconstitutionally signed it anyway it is just one more stike against the separations of powers. Bush, once again ignoring the Constitution. Article I, Section 7

I now ask why ” Operation Swarmer” — aimed to clear ”a suspected insurgent operating area” was launched now.

“The name Swarmer was derived from the name given to the largest peacetime airborne maneuvers ever conducted, in spring 1950 in North Carolina. Soon after this exercise, the 187th Infantry was selected to deploy to Korea as an Airborne Regimental Combat Team to provide General MacArthur with an airborne capability.”

COMBINED PRESS INFORMATION CENTER BAGHDAD , Iraq
 703.270.0320 / 0299
March 16, 2006
Release A060316c
Iraqi Security Forces, Coalition launch Operation Swarmer

Point to ponder:
The launch of Operation Swarms timing with:

  • the announcement of the new security strategy that reaffirms the pre-emptive strike policy
  • the first session of Iraq’s new Parliament

As the anniversary of the invasion of Iraq nears I wait for the next chapter.

Black Bean Soup – 1909 Recipe

I have beans on the brain as of late – a real bean brain thing going on. So here is another old recipe for …. BEANS!

Black Bean Soup

Soak one pint of black beans over night, in the morning wash and drain them, put in a kettle with two quarts of cold water. In one and one-half tablespoons of butter fry one small onion delicately brown and add to the beans with two stalks of celery broken in pieces. Simmer gently until the beans are quite soft, adding more water if the liquor cooks away. Rub through a sieve, obtaining all the pulp possible; reheat to the boiling point and season with half a teaspoon of salt, one-eighth teaspoon of pepper, a fourth of a teaspoon

of mustard and a dash of cayenne. Make a binding from one and a half tablespoons each of flour and butter cooked together, and stir into the soup. Cut two hard-boiled eggs and one lemon in thin slices, put them in the tureen, then strain the soup over it and serve.–Stella A. Downing.

Cover of The Good HouseKeeping 1909 Womans Home Cook Book

Pgs. 281-282
By Isabel Gordon Curtis
Chicago: Reilly & Britton, c1909