Straight From The Hart

  If you value your free and open Internet, then I urge you to read this column and take appropriate action with regard to contacting your representatives in Congress. I don’t usually begin my columns with a warning, but in this case it is justified, because in less than ten days from today, our president will be fulfilling and finalizing a promise he made early on in his presidency to turn over the control of the Internet as we know it to a multinational corporation which includes the countries of Russia, China, and Iran, and which do not have a First Amendment right to free speech. If you do not trust these countries to always provide free and unrestricted access to your use of the internet, including your confidential information, and your expression of freedom of speech, then you have one week to contact your senator and representative and as many other members of Congress as you can, to express your opposition. The Internet was started by the United States, in particular the Depa

  September 20, 2019    ·  Here's the modern, updated, version: (author unknown) The ant works hard In the withering heat and the rain all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant Is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while he is cold and starving. CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant In his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so? Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green.' ACORN stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film

    There has been some discussion in the news recently, to put it mildly, about the power and authority of the President to appoint Supreme Court judges. Article II of the Constitution, dealing with the Executive, provides for the appointment of justices: The President “shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint…Judges of the Supreme Court.” But in the Constitutional Convention of 1787, there was little discussion on the subject. Henry Steele Commager, an American historian, writes in The New Republic in May 1970 that “The Founding Fathers...gave relatively little attention (to the matter) and had only a hazy notion of the vital role the judiciary was to play in umpiring the federal system or in limiting the powers of government.” When it was mentioned, it was usually in a jesting manner. Ben Franklin said during one debate on the subject that there had been only two methods mentioned - to either let the legislature make the appointments

  All this modern technology has it’s good side, we can see Computers, Email, tablets digital cameras, smart TV But more and more I miss the things that made good sense to me Oh, how I miss those good ole days. Remember when you brought your items up to the check out clerk Who rang up the old cash register, which never failed to work It didn’t spit your check back out, never made you feel like a jerk Oh, how I miss those good ole days. If you bought 10 cans of cat food, all at fifteen cents a can The old cash register just multiplied and came up with a total grand Didn’t matter if tuna or chicken, didn’t even care about the brand Oh, how I miss those good ole days. Nowadays, these bar codes have to put in every detail The big computer in the warehouse so easily gets derailed But why is it that its database can’t remember what’s on sale Oh, how I miss those good ole days. Remember when you could go to your bank and get your cancelled checks When customer service was more than a slogan,

  “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, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.  (Article VI)” Almost every week we hear news reports about controversies, misinterpretations, and alleged violations of some part of the U.S. Constitution.  The current issue is the Supremacy clause set forth above, and the context of the discussions has to do with so-called sanctuary cities. The pre-eminent federal law in the above case is the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, including section 8 U.S.C. 1373, passed by Congress in 1996.  This Act  provides that no state or local entity can in any way restrict its law-enforcement officials from communicating with federal immigration authorities regardi