Defying laws, Constitution

Why do we need laws? It’s obvious that elected leaders of the majority party conveniently forget the law, even the Constitution, when it gets in the way.

Article I, Section 2 (1) of the Constitution says that “The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen... by the people of the several states....” The District of Columbia is not a state and, although the 23rd Amendment provides for citizens of the district to vote in presidential elections, it does not permit a vote for a member of Congress.

Yet this Congress pushed the Constitution aside and authorized the election of a congressman for the district.

The White House has just fired an independent inspector general investigating AmeriCorps. Congress gave inspectors general special protection, a law passed last year with the support of then-Sen. Barack Obama, requiring a 30-day notice prior to firing one of these inspectors general for cause. This was to remove political pressure from the position and keep them truly independent.

However, Inspector General Gerald Walpin conducted an investigation into misuse of federal funds by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, a friend of the president. His investigation found the allegations to be true and, upon filing his report, he received a phone call from the White House telling him to resign within an hour or he would be fired.  He refused to resign. The action is ongoing.

These are just two examples of those in power believing they’re above the law.

Carroll Cawyer

Stephenville

EDITOR’S NOTE: U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has asked for all records, memos and other evidence in Walpin’s firing.

No way for the Nuge

Ted Nugent rates himself the perfect candidate for drug czar because “hippies, dopeheads, corrupt politicos and various forms of human debris hate me.” [“We could be winning the war on drugs,” June 14.]

The reason Nugent won’t be made drug czar is because his detractors also include regular folks who don’t suffer fools gladly.

Mett Ausley Jr.

Lake Waccamaw, N.C.

Gratitude, anyone?

I’m getting tired of the president or anybody else apologizing for this country. As long as we have thousands of young men buried in cemeteries across Europe, we have no reason to apologize. If anybody thinks we do, I would like to hear why.

Should we also apologize about being the first country to help other countries, even though they never reciprocate or give us thanks? We really don’t want their thanks, but they need to think back sometimes at where they would be now if not for this country.

I’m proud of my country and could never repay those who have given their lives. We need to remember this — and not just on Memorial Day.

Jerry Willett

Lorena

Feeling your pain

Of the millions of words that will be written and spoken about Sonia Sotomayor’s Supreme Court nomination and confirmation, none will be more insightful or satirically descriptive than the title of an Ann Coulter’s column I read: “I feel your pain. Not theirs. Yours.”

Coulter struck gold, the mother lode, with that title. It perfectly and succinctly characterizes the Obama Doctrine of New Age Progressive International Jurisprudence.

In it, Obama proposes a radical new criterion as the basis for future court decisions: empathy. When lovingly applied, it can benefit only one party in a court action. Isn’t that the point? “Equal justice under the law” be damned!

Lady Justice should be depicted wearing one eye patch instead of a blindfold and with her thumb on the scales.

Sammy McLarty

Waco

America in the world

Regarding Kyle Fallon’s June 16 letter, it’s doubtful President Obama is auditioning for the fourth Dixie Chick spot. He’s functioning like the statesman-diplomatic leader the international community desperately needs from the United States.

His message to our allies is that his administration is making genuine efforts to repair the harm caused by the previous Laurel and Hardy team.

After six years of war, thousands of lives lost, major nation-building, tens of billions of dollars in wasteful defense contracts, lack of oversight, poor planning and serious political costs, the intrinsic reason for invading Iraq is still perplexing.

If the United States is unable to accurately pinpoint justification for its invasion, imagine how incredulous and comedic our allies must consider us.

Nancy Glasscock

Temple

Mills up for parole

With former civic leader Margaret Mills up for parole after serving only a year of a nine-year sentence, we see how we may all be born equal, but we don’t all end up that way.

I’m willing to bet there are people serving longer time in Texas prisons for shoplifting a steak or six-pack of beer from H-E-B. Stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars and doing a year in prison is a slap in the face of every honest Texan.

Texas justice is not blind or fair. It never has been. It never will be. What we have here is a game of Texas hold-’em, and Margaret Mills was all in.

David Orosz

Waco