The Constitution of the United States of America (Part 3) - Article I, Section 2

I'm sure I'm totally showing my ignorance in what I share here. I really am so politically uninvolved (shame on me, I know). I guess I've kind of lived on the idea that ignorance is bliss and don't climb out from under the rock unless you absolutely have to (just kidding). Although I've heard her name before, I honestly didn't know, until this evening, who the Speaker of the House was. I guess I'm kind of wrapped up in my own little world with the husband and kids to worry about who's running the country. I just trust them all a lot.

Article. I. - The Legislative Branch
Section 2 - The House

"The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.

"No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.

"(Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.) (The previous sentence in parentheses was modified by the 14th Amendment, Section 2.) The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five and Georgia three.

"When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.

"The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment."

Notes for myself - trying to turn this into layman's terms:

House of Reps - elected every two years. "Elections for representatives are held in every even-numbered year, on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November (see Election Day (United States)). Generally, the Republican and Democratic parties choose their candidates for each district in primary elections, which are typically held several months before. Ballot access rules for independent and third-party candidates vary greatly from state to state." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives#Elections)

"The Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature" - huh? Oh help. I just don't get this.

Requirements to serve in the House of Representatives:

• 25 years old (at least)
• 7 years U.S. citizen
• who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen - huh? This must be written strangely, or I am reading it wrong. They must be an inhabitant of the state he/she is elected by at time of election.

Number of representatives depends on population of the state (1 rep for every 30,000 people). It is updated every ten years when a census is taken.

According to Wikipedia "writ of election" is when an emergency election is called. I also learned that the limit on number of voting members of the house is 435. This limit was set in 1911.

Nancy Pelosi is the current Speaker of the House

Click the link to find a list of members of the House of Representatives. If you ever need to write to your rep, here's the site to do so from. Okay, so help me out here, again--man, am I needy! What kinds of issues would you write to him/her about?

Our rep, for the part of Oregon I live in, is David Wu. I am happy to say that we have put him to work for us in the past, and he was very quick to respond to our request when we were struggling to figure out the problems with our stimulus package check.

Wonder of Wonders. Miracle of Miracles

Thank you for all you've taught me about my choice in oil changing companies throughout this past week or so. I never got the chance to speak with anyone, nor did anyone ever write a letter, but I did receive a $10 check from Jiffy Lube today. I'm accepting it as a parting gift. It was nice to receive the money, so I know they at least they accepted my argument, but it would have been even nicer to have received some kind of explanation or apology or something. For now, I'll take the money and run....

away....

very quickly.

Just a Silly Little Game

I'd like to think that my house has been a disaster because I've been sick, but I realize that it is an ongoing battle--me against the other seven (plus the dog) in the house. It's really been a mess for quite awhile--ten years? Well, it feels like that many. Here we are back at the me that continues to be dissatisfied. So much of a perfectionist that I'm paralyzed by it.

Okay, so I came up with a very fun game that I started yesterday. My new phone is AWESOME! It's not even the new-fangled jobber like Z got, but it's wonderful for me.

You can set a reminder for anything on the calendar and then you can snooze it when it goes off. Oh how I love the snooze button! Someday I'm gonna meet the man who invented the snooze button, and I'm gonna kiss him right on the lips. I don't even care if Z's around.

Here's the sweetest part of it all. My friend Rachel introduced us to zedge.com when she was here a few months back. We had so much fun downloading ringtones. So, a few days ago, I went to zedge and started downloading for the new phone. I set it up so that when my calendar alerts go off (and the snoozes) Joey Tribiani (the character from Friends) says, "Hey, how you doin'?"

So, A left for Kindergarten yesterday and T went down for his nap. I set the alert for cleaning the house. It was set to snooze every five minutes. I had also created a job list for each room in the house. So, I'd go to the first room on the list and work on it until Joey said, "Hey, how you doin'?" Most of the time I responded to him with, "Much better than a few minutes ago." Even though I only gave each room five minutes, it was amazing what could be accomplished and I wasn't bored at all. I also worked my tail off to be sure I could clean out under my bed in five minutes, clean the front room windows and clean the toilet each in their five minute allotment.

To be honest, I got through the room lineup three times for each. My house wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it was so much better, and I was proud of myself for just getting over the overwhelmed feeling of it all and getting down to business. I woke up this morning trying to figure out when I could play the game again.

The Constitution of the United States of America (Part 2) - Article I, Section 1

Okay, so yesterday I sat down to do this and was completely overwhelmed. It was a busy day anyway, but Article I is pretty long. I couldn't figure out a way to cut it down in the middle, so I decided to just cut it section by section. At this rate, it might take forever to get through this document, but I'd rather be thorough and truly understand than rush through it and miss some important things. Plus, I want this to be enjoyable, not a chore.

Section 1 is super short, so enjoy a day of brevity. There are some long ones ahead.

Article. I. - The Legislative Branch
Section 1 - The Legislature

"All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives."

As you can see, Article I deals exclusively with the legislative branch of our government.

Legislature means the right and power to create, amend, and change laws. I learned from Wikipedia that we have what's known as a "bicameral" system--two different legislative bodies (as listed in section 1). "A bicameral legislature possesses two separate chambers, usually described as an upper house and a lower house, which often differ in duties, powers, and the methods used for the selection of members." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legislature).

These two chambers are equal in power in a presidential system.

Here's something I didn't know, "The upper house may either contain the delegates of state governments, as...was the case in the United States before 1913, or be elected according to a formula that grants equal representation to states with smaller populations, as is the case in...the modern United States" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legislature). Does anyone know why this is, or are you willing to delve into this a bit deeper for me? Wikipedia just kind of left me hanging there. I really want to know the reason for this change.

There will be more on their duties and other interesting facts as we go on into Article I.

Okay, here's a quiz for you. Who are your current representatives in Congress? Might be kind of tricky to figure out with the election that's just past. We had a very close race going on here in Oregon with our senate race. Anyway, see if you know; if you don't, take a minute and find out.

The Constitution of the United States of America (Part 1) - The Preamble

I was remembering today how Ezra Taft Benson had instructed us to study and become well-versed in the Constitution and our rights as citizens of the United States, so we could stand up for those rights in the coming days.

In an attempt to be obedient, I'm cutting this into small, bite-sized pieces. I also want to truly understand this document's implications to me as an individual. I believe the Constitution of the United States to be holy writ. Sacred documents don't change in importance over time. Therefore, this is an important record for all of us. I hope that you'll join me in my study.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Original purpose of the founding fathers:
Form a more perfect union - to unite the areas and people of the country.
Establish justice - make things fair and right with the citizens and before God.
Insure domestic tranquility - assure that all is happy and peaceful here at home.
Provide for the common defence - to take care of and protect our own citizens.
Promote the general welfare - make sure all are cared for and have what they need.
Secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity - that we and our children may be free and enjoy freedom's blessings.

If we aren't living up to these standards as a nation, which we cannot directly control, are we living them as individuals and as families? What are we doing to make unity, justice, tranquility, defense, welfare and liberty into the values that rule our homes?


Ordain is such an interesting word -- meaning: confer holy orders.

This is a holy document.

Now for something to entertain you!