To quote Justice Thurgood Marshall:
""I do not believe the meaning of the Constitution was forever "fixed"
at the Philadelphia Convention. Nor do I find the wisdom, foresight,
and sense of justice exhibited by the Framers particularly profound.
To the contrary, the government they devised was defective from the
start, requiring several amendments, a civil war, and momentous social
transformation to attain the system of constitutional government, and
its respect for the individual freedoms and human rights, we hold as
fundamental today. When contemporary Americans cite "The
Constitution,” they invoke a concept that is vastly different from
what the Framers barely began to construct two centuries ago.
further than the first three words of the document's preamble: “We the
People.” When the Founding Fathers used this phrase in 1787, they did
not have in mind the majority of America's citizens. "We the People"
included, in the words of the Framers, "the whole Number of free
Persons." On a matter so basic as the right to vote, for example,
Negro slaves were excluded, although they were counted for
representational purposes at three-fifths each. Women did not gain the
right to vote for over 130 years. These omissions were intentional.
6:30 pm - 9:30 pm: The Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America's
"Toast to Congress" gets a bunch of people already drunk on power
completely hammered [101 Constitution Ave, NW Rooftop].
"Crews have also been spraying the area with chemical dispersments of
unknown toxicity." Unknown toxicity because the company who makes the
poison refused to tell us what is in it because it's a secret formula
like the recipe for Coca Cola. Our government is allowing these
people to spray our oceans with this stuff without demanding to know
what is in it. The fact that it is a 'trade secret' is almost proof
positive that it is deadly to ocean life. Furthermore, disbursing the
oil means turning it into smaller droplets so that it seems to
disappear, much like sweeping the dirt under the rug. Destroying the
oil or moping it up in some way is the only way to actually repair the
damage. There are bacteria that turn the oil into relatively harmless
chemical compounds that are being used, but not enough yet. The
crucial problem is caused by the refusal of BP to pay for the remote
shutoff valve that is law in many oil-producing countries, and a
preferred method here. Bush and cohorts allowed BP to ignore that
safety feature. If the valve had been in place, a push of a button
would have prevented the whole disaster. We should sue BP for all
they're worth and force them to close down all their platforms here
and anywhere else we have jurisdiction including Alaska. We should not
be intimidated by their wealth and power.
