tagged w/ constitutional law
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Australia's indigenous people are still not recognised under the Australian Constitution.
The Labour party has finally moved on this issue after recommendation by an expert panel, though the conservative party The Australian Liberals have an issue with recognising indigenous Australians under the constitution and suggested only a mention in the Pre-Amble. Australia, although is a multi-party system, though the smaller parties often give preferences to one of the big two parties, the Australian Labour Party or the Australian Liberal Party. There has been some debate that if put before referendum the motion may not pass.
"HISTORIC changes to the commonwealth Constitution to acknowledge indigenous Australians face almost certain defeat unless significantly amended, after a 300-page proposal presented to Julia Gillard yesterday prompted a chorus of concerns from some indigenous leaders and legal experts.
Chief among their worries is the recommended insertion of a clause to prohibit racial discrimination, which Tony Abbott suggests may amount to a "one clause bill of rights".
The report, produced by an expert panel, recommends that the nation's guiding document be altered to remove racist sections and create a section to legislate for the "advancement" of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders and the protection of their language and culture."
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/indigenous/historic-constitution-vote-over-indigenous-recognition-facing-hurdles/story-fn9hm1pm-1226248879375
Australia does not have a Bill of Rights I should point out. Free-hold land is
very rare, many of those land titles are now subject to a 99 year lease arrangement, pastoral lease, mining lease or other agreement. Given an exploration right exists, a mining company can come onto your land and make a claim then mine it, leaving the land owner entitled to nothing unless an agreement takes place. The state government receives royalties and there are some arrangements where people with land rights are entitled to payment. However a state government can decide that people are entitled to nothing in some cases and remove them if it wants. Just recently a group of Aboriginal people from Western Australia were moved from their homes and their entire town was shut down by the state government. Too expensive to maintain services was the given reason, despite the mining boom in Western Australia taking place on what was once land communally shared by indigenous peoples. Ownership and commercial exploitation of land was not part of indigenous society or traditions, instead you are part of the land, you belong to it.
Native Title claims are subject to a legally proven unbroken cultural link to the land, a rather difficult task at times when you consider that until recently Indigenous people were not recorded by the Australian Census and were subject to being forcibly moved to different locations and their children taken from them.
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2012/s3412674.htm
http://www.dfat.gov.au/facts/indigenous_land_rights.htmlAustralia's indigenous people are still not recognised under the Australian... more
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The cover of this week's Time refers to an article by Richard Stengel titled "Does It Still Matter?". Very significantly the first page of Mr Stengel's article lists 14 things that are essential parts of our daily lives which the framers of the Constitution did not know about or could not have imagined, like DNA and Television. And there are literally thousands of others that are so foreign to their daily lives that are accepted as part of ours. How about assault rifles, spacecraft, lasers, subatomic particles, or a global economy?
Is it time to update the Constitution to make it more relevant to current events? It is often asked, what would the "founding fathers" think about .......? Does it really matter what a group of wealthy, white males gathered together in 1789 might think about abortion? In their original document women were not even granted the right to vote. What is so magical about their thoughts about current issues? Were they smarter than today's citizens? I don't think so and I invite others to express their thoughts, pro and con, here.The cover of this week's Time refers to an article by Richard Stengel titled... more
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Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has just inadvertently made the case for President Obama's impeachment. On ABC's This Week, Jake Tapper asked Gates, "Do you think Libya posed an actual or imminent threat to the United States?" Gates responded, "No, no. It was not, it was not a vital national interest to the United States."
Now let us recall what Obama said back in 2007, when he was running for president: "The president does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation." Obama's words in 2007 and his actions in 2011 seem rather contradictory, don't they? And in fact, noted constitutional scholar Barack Obama was correct back in 2007. The War Powers Resolution of 1973 states that the president can only send the armed forces into military action abroad when the Congress has authorized it or if the United States is under attack, or at serious threat of attack.
Libya was not attacking us, and was not threatening to attack us. The Congress has not declared war on Libya, nor authorized military action against Libya. Therefore, this is an illegal and unconstitutional war. Violating the Constitution by launching an illegal war surely rises to the level of "high crimes and misdemeanors," which is an impeachable offense.
QED.
Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul are right. This isn't a Republican issue or a Democrat issue. It isn't a conservative issue or a liberal issue. This is a constitutional issue.
Continued:
http://blogcritics.org/politics/article/war-against-libya-constitutionally-illegal-obama1/Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has just inadvertently made the case for President... more
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Dagum
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11 months ago
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Latest News Updates The role of Background of the 15th Amendment in the history of the United States of America.This post-Civil War amendment, like its predecessor the 14th, was designed to prevent ....Latest News Updates The role of Background of the 15th Amendment in the history of the... more
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Missouri (Reuters) - Missouri voters on Tuesday rejected the new U.S. healthcare bill, approving a measure that would forbid the federal government from penalizing people who do not buy health insurance.
With 78 percent of precincts reporting, 72.6 percent of voters supported the Health Care Freedom Act, also known as Proposition C, while 27.4 percent rejected it.
In approving the measure, Missouri won a victory in a series of planned assaults around the country against the sweeping reform, which was a major part of President Barack Obama's domestic agenda and became law in March.
The fight over the healthcare law -- and the individual mandate that requires individuals to have healthcare insurance -- is expected to be a major issue in the November congressional elections as Republicans plan to make repeal a major campaign theme against Democrats.
"Proposition C will be a boon to other states that are trying to repeal the individual mandate," said American Legislative Exchange Council task force director Christie Herrera. "Having that grassroots groundswell will give political courage to lawmakers."
The council helped draft the legislation in Missouri and in many other states.
The Missouri measure states that no rule or law can compel an individual or business to participate in any healthcare system, and prohibits laws that level penalties against people who do not buy health insurance.
Arizona and Oklahoma will have similar constitutional amendments on their November ballots to opt out of part or all of federal healthcare reforms.
MORE ACTION IN OTHER STATES
Similar initiatives are being pushed in several U.S. states by Republicans and groups who say the new healthcare law marks an unprecedented seizure of power by the federal government.
The effort was invigorated on Monday when a federal judge ruled that Virginia could proceed with a lawsuit that argues the federal requirement that its residents have health insurance is unconstitutional. Some 20 other states have made a similar legal challenge.
Experts said because federal law typically supersedes state laws, the state efforts could ultimately be largely symbolic, although it is likely the debate will make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Ethan Rome, executive director of Health Care for America Now, which backs U.S. reform, said the measure in Missouri is more about Republicans trying to regain power than about healthcare.
"The Missouri vote is nothing more than a Republican straw poll with no legal force and it certainly isn't about healthcare," Rome said.
The federal penalty provision of the healthcare reform law does not take effect until 2014, and the Obama administration has said tax credits, subsidies and other measures will help those who cannot afford to buy insurance.
The passage of the Missouri measure angered the Missouri Hospital Association, which spent about $400,000 to try to defeat the act. The group warned voters that not requiring health insurance for all would continue to push healthcare costs higher as uninsured people tap resources.
"It will certainly be a matter for the courts to decide," said Missouri Hospital Association spokesman Dave Dillon. " But the message they send by their vote could be one that is costly to them."
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67308Y20100804Missouri (Reuters) - Missouri voters on Tuesday rejected the new U.S. healthcare bill,... more
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Barack Hussein Obama had served 14-State Governors in the United States, National Security Letters (NSLs) warning that the Governor’s actions in attempting to form “State Defense Forces” needs to be halted “immediately” or they will face arrest for the crime of treason. The employment of NSLs was authorized by the Patriot Act introduced by George W. Bush. Contained within the section related to these letters, it is forbidden for anyone receiving a NSL warning to even acknowledge the existence of said communication.
Obama is angered by the several State Governors who have reestablished “State Defense Forces.” These forces are described as: “State Defense Forces (also known as State Guards, State Military Reserves, State Militias) in the United States are military units that operate under the sole authority of a state government; they are not regulated by the National Guard Bureau nor are they part of the Army National Guard of the United States. State Defense Forces are authorized by state and federal law and are under the command of the governor of each state. State Defense Forces are distinct from their state’s National Guard in that they cannot become federal entities.”
Mr. Obama is fearful of these State Defense Forces, in that he does not have control of said forces, and with the U.S. Military stretched to near breaking from multiple deployments and theatre actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, these State military forces would be under the direct command and authority of the Governors in which states have said forces. In essence, the Governors would have “de facto control” of the United States.Barack Hussein Obama had served 14-State Governors in the United States, National... more
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Researcher Lorianne Updike Toler was intrigued by the centuries-old document at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
On the back of a treasured draft of the U.S. Constitution was a truncated version of the same document, starting with the familiar words: "We The People. . . ."
They had been scribbled upside down by one of the Constitution's framers, James Wilson, in the summer of 1787. The cursive continued, then abruptly stopped, as if pages were missing.
A mystery, Toler thought, until she examined other Wilson papers from the Historical Society's vault in Philadelphia and found what appeared to be the rest of the draft, titled "The Continuation of the Scheme."
The document - one of 21 million in the Historical Society's collection - was known to scholars, but probably should have been placed with the other drafts, said constitutional scholar John P. Kaminski, director of the Center for the Study of the American Constitution in the history department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
"This was the kind of moment historians dream about," said Toler, 30, a lawyer and founding president of the Constitutional Sources Project (www.ConSource.org), a nonprofit organization, based in Washington, that promotes an understanding of and access to U.S. Constitution documents.
"This was national scripture, a piece of our Constitution's history," she said of her find in November. "It was difficult to keep my hands from trembling."
As other researchers "realized what was happening, there was a sort of hushed awe that settled over the reading room," Toler said. "One of them said the hair on her arms stood on end."
Two drafts of the Constitution in Wilson's hand had been separated from his papers long ago. One of them included the beginning of still another draft and was apparently seen as part of a single working version, instead of a separate draft.
Toler said "The Continuation of the Scheme," including its provisions about the executive and judiciary branches, completes that draft, making it a third.
She "found a document that was sort of buried in its right place, but not taken out by an archivist for special treatment," said Kaminski, the constitutional scholar. "This is a valuable document. It is in Wilson's hand, and it was in Wilson's papers, where it should have been."
With so many historical documents "going online, you don't have that kind of discovery in an archives," he added. "I can understand why [Toler] would be excited."
For Nathan Raab, a member of the Board of Councilors of the Historical Society, the documents are reminders "of the great depth of the archives there and the emotional power of holding a piece of history in your hand."
"The Continuation of the Scheme" and countless other documents had been evaluated by scholars decades ago before being carefully filed away at the Historical Society at 13th and Locust Streets.
"Perhaps this one should have been placed with the other drafts," said Lee Arnold, senior director of the library and collections at the Historical Society. "We may do that, but no decision has been made.
"We want to look at it more thoroughly," he said. "In the end, though, [the document] is perfectly fine."
The drafts of the Constitution in Wilson's hand were removed from his other papers and placed in Mylar and acid-free folios and have been occasionally displayed.
Cick link to continue: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/20100202_Early_draft_of_the_Constitution_found_in_Phila_.htmlResearcher Lorianne Updike Toler was intrigued by the centuries-old document at the... more
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xiola
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2 years ago
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Major Nidal Hasan, accused of killing 13 people at Fort Hood Army base, has been described by former colleagues as "psychotic." As more details emerge about Hasan's troubled state, gun safety advocates are launching fresh attacks on a Senate bill they say would make it easier for mentally unstable veterans to buy firearms.
Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) says his "Veterans 2nd Amendment Protection Act" will protect veterans' gun rights. But the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence calls it a "dangerous" proposal that could allow "over 100,000 mentally incapacitated or incompetent persons" to buy guns—people who would previously have been barred from doing so by the Veterans Administration (VA).
(click on the link for the full story and for the in-text links)Major Nidal Hasan, accused of killing 13 people at Fort Hood Army base, has been... more
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Almost every time a gun is used in a homicide, a chorus of special interests calls for gun control. These calls happened after the shootings at University of Texas in 1966 and in Columbine, Colo., in 1999 and more recently at Virginia Tech University where a student rampaged through the campus killing 33.
There was an organized outcry at Virginia Tech for banning guns. This was farcical since Virginia Tech, like most college campuses, was already a gun-free zone.
On March 22, a prison parolee and felon, 26-year-old Lovelle Mixon, shot and killed four police officers in Oakland, Calif. The officers were upstanding citizens leaving behind families. The incident was predictably followed by a call for banning guns. Even if California had total gun control laws, it would not have prevented the killing of the four officers. Felons already are banned from acquiring weapons.
Felons are antisocial beings who do not follow laws. Not surprisingly, when they want a gun they obtain it illegally. Criminals use the underworld, not legitimate businesses to obtain guns. The Cato Institute has noted that since 1978, when the Washington, D.C., gun ban went into effect, violent crimes rose 55 percent. The same phenomenon has been reported in Australia in 1996, in England in 1997 and the Canadian 2003 gun bans. Preventing citizens from having guns increased violent incidents.
Please read article at link and discuss-Almost every time a gun is used in a homicide, a chorus of special interests calls for... more
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While the media obsesses over ACORN and Tea Baggers, corporations are on the precipice of drowning out your Freedom of Speech in elections ...While the media obsesses over ACORN and Tea Baggers, corporations are on the precipice... more
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Earlier this month, football star Steve McNair was shot dead by his girlfriend in an apparent murder-suicide. In a recent article for The Baltimore Sun, co-author Ned Holstein points out that many news sources failed to mention that this was a tragic case of domestic violence, in which the male was the victim. Holstein talks about his article, "The Violence We Ignore," and why cases of men victimized by their wives and girlfriends are often overlooked.Earlier this month, football star Steve McNair was shot dead by his girlfriend in an... more
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Do you have the constitutional right to have a sex party in the privacy of your own home?
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bcuban
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3 years ago
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