Rip Snorter's Blog

Hi blogsters:

Over the T-day feasting someone was telling me about a movie they said I'd enjoy.  The name almost turned me aside, being "A Christmas Story", which sounded a lot like a class of movie a lady-friend of the past used to insist I endure with her every Xmas season.

But this one, I'm told, is about a boy with a BB gun.

Brought to mind my first BB gun.

I was living on that small farm in the picture above....must have been 5-6 years old.  I was fairly sure I should get, and that they owed it to themselves to get me a .22 calibre rifle for Christmas.

Turned out it was a Daisy Pump BB gun, instead.  A PUMP!  Now anyone with any savvy knows the only BB gun an in-the-know kid would own is a Daisy Red Ryder lever-action.  Kids our size could take that Red Ryder and lock the butt behind their knee strain upward stopping short of a hernia, and get that thing ready for action in a New York minute.

But a pump was a different matter.  You had to put the butt on the ground, grab the pump with both hands tight, lift your feet off the ground and it would slide down far enough to pinch a blood blister on each of your little fingers, but it would be ready to go.

But it beat not having one.  Wasn't any time after that Christmas we were all over creation having BB gun fights.  They'd usually last until someone chipped off a piece of tooth or went home crying.

My mama went through a ritual with that Daisy pump taking it away from me and giving it back after a while, always with the admonishment:

"You aren't really going to be happy until you put someone's eye out with that BB gun."

I never put anyone's eye out with it, but I never was really happy, either.

Jack

 

 

 

A few days ago, maybe a week, I decided to put the Platinum Membership features through the paces on the Predictions feature.  I was curious whether anyone with a Platinum Membership could use the tools there to actually win more money on the pick 5 and pick 6 games than the same person poured into those games buying tickets.

I must have gotten lucky.  I noticed because of one of the threads that one of my predictions had hit something and shot me out of my well-earned oblivion into imaginary fame and fortune.

So, blogsters, don't make any erroneous assumptions.  I don't have any particular system that's not available to any Platinum Member.  Everything I do is available to paying members.

I plan to continue posting predictions time-to-time and all that imaginary money I've won will gurgle, swirl and vanish down into the porcelain.  The lotteries know how to make a turtle disappear.

If that doesn't happen as I make more predictions I'd suggest you pay up and start using the Platinum Features to make some real money.

Have a good Thanksgiving.  Give some thanks.

Jack

Morning blogsters:

I see 'Happy Thanksgiving' signs all over the place, so I know you've already been given your marching orders on that part of the equation.  You already know you'd best hunker down and be happy on this day, or else.

But I hope in the midst of all the distractions, the driving down the pavement, packing down all manner of foodstuffs, watching ballgames, tolerating family members who'd prefer to fight or get their hackles up about something, you'll pause a moment during the day, occasionally.

I hope you'll pull your awareness away from the immediacy of all that's going on and just spend a few minutes reflecting on why you have any reason to be happy.  Separate out the particles of all the things you have to be grateful for and run the fingers of your mind over them, savor them, be grateful.

We've sort of lost track of that aspect of Thanksgiving, even though it's the only day I'm aware of officially dedicated to that single purpose above all others by tradition.  We haven't found a Santy Claus hidden in any of the turkeys we could put into it to take away the meaning, haven't put any turkey bunnies out there for us to hunt.

So it ought to be okay, nobody to offend or feel guilty you didn't buy them a gift.  No song you've come to hate from hearing it so many times about pilgrims and ears of corn.  No merchants heckling you to dig out the credit card and buy plastic stuff and ruin it for them if you don't.

It's okay to spend a little time just being thankful.

Jack

 

 

Evening blogsters:

I'm going to insist on believing there's someone out there interested in this stuff, even though there's reason for thinking so, other than my own enthusiasm for such things.  That's sufficient to make up for profound disinterest in the multitudes.

Tonight I feel moved to ramble on about fetishes.  Rock art religious objects usually depicting animals, establishing a connection between the owner of the fetish and the traits or spirit of the animal being depicted.  There's a lot of rock art out there these days made by the tribes, particularly the Zunis, but it differs between itself and a fetish because there's no spiritual connection.

If you wished to change the modern rock art piece you happen to own into a fetish there are ways to do it, but most don't know, or don't choose to do so.  You could begin by holding the object in your hand, studying it with an internal intensity, and muttering the words, "Thank you Ulysses Mat'e, (or whomever the artist was) for freeing this (lion, dream sheep mother, badger, bear, whatever) from the dumbness of stone."  A beginning.

Animal fetishes have been around for an awfully long time among Native Americans.  Probably elsewhere, also.  The puma fetish pictured above is almost a thousand years old.  A friend found it at a ruin on my Y2K land that's well dated.  The dwelling was among those destroyed during the civil war of about 1125 AD.  More about that later.

However, look closely at the crude work.  You'll see a line, an arrow of sorts running from the head/mouth of the lion to the right ending about the abdomen.  That's the heart-line, and it's another characteristic you often find in fetishes.

This is another old one, also crude.  It represents a bird.  Maybe a roadrunner, maybe a quail, maybe a vulture or predatory bird.  You can see the chips were taken out to bring the shape of the head into the lower left and depicting the beak in the curvature of the red area.

One of the fascinating aspects of this fetish lies in the fact that someone, maybe generations of someones a long time ago, carried this fetish in his medicine bag.  The chip edges are all worn until theres no edge to them, rounded by wear in a way that would require an awfully long while in a rock tumbler to duplicate.

As it happens, I wear a medicine bag around my neck with a number of objects inside that have been with me for years.  This fetish rides with them.

Safe Thanksgiving to all of you, and joy.

Jack

 

Hi blogsters:

Hope you're getting yourselves all primed up to eat a lot of flour, sugar, poultry, pumpkin innards and yams in various stages of decomposition.

On the way out to the boonies the other day I picked up a Gallup Independent newspaper off the shelf at the Acoma Pueblo gas and flour shop.  The headlines grabbed me.

Seems we New Mexicans are only forth in the nation as the US distributor of sexually transmitted diseases, but we're struggling and elbowing our way upward.  Evidently a lot of us aren't yet doing our fair share, are shirking our statistical duties and obligations to make it unanimous.

I'll admit I've been remiss and can only say I've been sort of busy working on the numbers and haven't had seen myself as having time to get out to Gallup or Farmington to try to contract a case.  Syphillis appears to be the most romantically appealing out there.  Seems there are almost as many secondary cases floating around as there are primary cases.  Which means there are plenty of New Mexicans who have the good sense to hang on tight to it, once they've got it, and not take any chances on losing it by going to some sawbones who might be able to rob us of it.

Makes sense. 

If a person goes to all the trouble and risk to hang around the places you have to go in order to pick that stuff up, most likely you're better off keeping the one you've got, rather than having to go back and try to get it again because of some nosy interfering medico.

All the rest of you states, eat your hearts out.  Eat our dust.  New Mexico is going to be number one, same as we are on alcohol related automotive deaths.  You'll never catch us.

Jack

 

Hi blogsters:

After a person's toted enough tonnage of neat rocks out of remote places there comes a time when the item has to make a strong argument for itself to pay the cabfare out.  Mostly they just don't have the moxie.

If I'd found something interesting enough to carry home from those sites yesterday, which I certainly didn't, because of the restrictions on doing so, one such item would have been this.  If I'd found it there.  Which I didn't.

The backside is fitted perfectly to fit inside the left hand.  The front, or top side is notched with three well-used cavities about a quarter-inch in diameter, each with an ocher residue inside.  The tool was obviously used for applying paint with some delicately-made brush or small stick, or cactus tine or thorn.  Might have been for tattoos, war paint, painting pottery designs, or for pictographs.

I've never seen one of these prior to having found it.  I've heard of them, but they're rare.

If I'd found it yesterday I'd have been convinced that piece was worth a ride out without measuring the size and weight in my mind.

Jack

 

Hi blogsters:

Driving back to Albuquerque last night we kicked around the possibilities for the next day trip. 

One involved a ghost town in the Jemez, but the mountains are full of elk hunters.  Season won't end until the year ends.  Having an elk hunter tell you he's been watching you through his scope sight all morning, wondering what you're doing isn't something to make a man want to go into the mountains when they're there.

Another possibility is that black mesa pictured in an entry a couple of months ago, scene of the Valverde battle.  The guy with me located an artillery position on the mesa that might be worth some poking around with.  But we'd have to get in there by catching the Rio Grande when it isn't flowing much and cross with chest waders, then brave whatever security measures Ted Turner has set up on the mesa.  It's the sort of thing a person wants to ponder before deciding to do.

There's a petroglyph site we all want to see, or see again, depicting some Spaniards getting killed the hard way.... maybe during the retreat following the revolt of 1680... the person who did the glyphing was fairly excited about it and filled an area of cliff overhang 40-50 yards long.  That site's in the desert east of the Rio Grande and Socorro.  It's a for sure sometime, but for now, back burner.

The ambush site above is unanimous for next.

Mel and I found this place several years ago.  We always intended to go back and try to learn more about it, but one thing led to another and we never did.  Now that Mel's dead I'm the only one who knows about it, so there's no obligation for secrecy.

The picture's taken from beside an unmarked grave that's been there an awfully long while.  There are three, maybe four carefully prepared firing positions surrounding the grave site, all similar to that one.  Behind each firing position there's a low wall of rocks surrounding a hollow that could contain two or three shooters, evidently to keep the wind off during a long wait.  It's a crossfire heaven.

Could be Canby's troops ambushing retreating Sibley Texans.  Could be Texans ambushing US Regulars.  Could be Apaches ambushing almost anyone.  Could be a posse ambushing a non-posse, or fugitives ambushing a posse.  Could be one of the several range wars in that area.

So next trip we're going to be looking for cartridge cases, projectiles, just about anything that will give a hint.

Jack

 

 

 

Hi blogsters:

Here's what was hot on pick 5s and pick 6s yesterday by hit frequency:

1--1-----13--5-----25--4-----37--5-----51--1
2--3-----14--7-----26--3-----38--3-----52--0
3--5-----15--4-----27--8-----39--4-------
4--6-----16--7-----28--7-----40--3
5--8-----17--3-----29--10-----41--0
6--5-----18--2-----30--7-----42--1
7--7-----19--5-----31--6-----43--0
8--3-----20--7-----32--4-----44--1
9--6-----21--5-----33--4-----45--0
10--8-----22--7-----34--1-----46--1
11--5-----23--6-----35--6-----49--0
12--5-----24--3-----36--3-----50--0

I'm tempted to trust 5, 10, 14, 20 and 27.  But I think the coincidence coordinators might be getting a bit sneaky with 34, 41, 45, 48, 49 and 50.  If I were wheeling something for MM tonight I believe I'd have to include them.  45 looks particularly suspicious, and 29 carries a bit of strangeness.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now I've gotten that out of the way, I thought I'd tell you a bit more about those undocumented ruins we found yesterday, and other matters.

The horse-thief dwelling was evidently located just beside one of the outlets of the several springs coming out of cliff wall made up of ancient river bed delta/sea shore deposition.  There's cause to believe the vigilantes dug a hole and burned most of his possessions after killing him, not anticipating the erosion factor. 

An arroyo now cuts through the ashes and debris exposing the remains of what he had that the vigilantes didn't want, along with a lot of spent .45 Long Colt hulls, metal objects severely corroded because of the alkaline ash, and not a lot else unless he's buried back in there further, which didn't interest us enough to try to find out.

The ruin sites are a lot more interesting.  That hilltop has been intermittently occupied throughout the known history of human beings in the southwest.  One of the people with me found a partially finished axe head, the workmanship having all the traits of the Clovis, or Folsum-Midland period, while hundreds of potsherds scattered across the terrain ranged in age from the earliest pottery makers to late enough to put a glaze on the pots.  Clovis stone work is 10,000 to 12,000 years old and marks a time when men really demonstrated some surprising skills in the rock tool making profession.

But the site also had a lot of evidence of youngsters during the times since squatting here and there chipping away, learning to make stones look like arrowheads, scrapers and other tools.

The site's been walked over by cattle for a century or more, so everything's fairly well destroyed on the surface.  In a few years there'll be nothing left to see there.  However, sites of that sort are protected by Federal Statutes against being bothered by anything but cattle, so that part's okay.

You don't want to get caught doing more than walking around over those kinds of sites unless they're on private land.  The archiology religion demands they be left completely alone, except by cows and archies.  But there's no money for scholarly diggings these days, and the archies figure they've learned about all they're going to about our ancients, so legal destruction of the sites are left almost entirely to hooves. 

However, it was an interesting, revealing, exhuberant day full of fun and the energy of discovery.

Jack

 

Evening blogsters:

Had a serious case of cabin fever recently.  This morning around five I went down to Albuquerque, joined friends and headed out west, almost to Arizona.

There's a hidden spring about fifteen miles off the pavement, an adobe ruin where vigilantes from Quemado killed a horsethief in the 1880s I'd been threatening to take them all to for a long time.  We tromped around hills pecking on rocks... brought home a lot more weight in quartz, worked flint, etc, than we went out there with.  Found a couple of ancient ruin sites I'd missed on previous trips.

Long, tiring trip, but worth every minute of it.  The fever went down about sunset as we headed back east.

Jack

I know. It’s not ‘natural’.

But if you’re planning to cook a frozen turkey you’ll be well advised to heed this word of advice learned by trial and error.

Before you pop that bird in the oven, reach inside from the opposite direction you’d figure and feel around a bit. There’s a better than even chance you’ll discover a plastic bag full of stuff they thought was too good to throw away, but not good enough to keep and sell, down at the turkey factory.

Leaving that bag of goodies inside when it goes into the oven will give you an interesting, scorched plastic flavor that’s definitely an acquired taste you mightn’t have cultivated yet unless you do a lot of your own cooking.

Once you have that bag of giblets in your hand there’s a lot you can do with them. Most of those options are the kinds of things your granny used to do, such as chopping them up and giving them a bath in grease or putting them in the dressing.

I don’t recommend trying it unless you are a veteran at such things. The crunched bread you were going to use for dressing makes pretty good croutons on salad. Non-discerning cats are a good target for the rest.

Jack

Those number frequencies that hit on Pick 5s and Pick 6s probably don't carry a lot of intrensic value.  Some involved such freaks of coincidence as to probably render them totally worthless, if they weren't already.

But here are the Jackpots won over the past couple of days and the numbers that hit.

Jackpot fl
Sat, Nov 19, 2005  05- 10- 27- 44- 45- 50
CA 6/49
Sat, Nov 19, 2005  01- 06- 08- 11- 23- 46 13
PA Match 6
Fri, Nov 18, 2005  09- 15- 17- 20- 34- 38
Illinois Little Lotto
Sat, Nov 19, 2005  08- 18- 22- 24- 28
MS wild card
Sat, Nov 19, 2005  02- 04- 07- 23- 31
PA Cash 5
Sat, Nov 19, 2005  01- 16- 22- 29- 36
CA Fan 5
Sat, Nov 19, 2005  02- 16- 25- 28- 32
NJ Cash 5
Sat, Nov 19, 2005  02- 04- 34- 35- 40

Here are the frequencies those numbers in the earlier entry involved themselves romantically with actual jackpot wins during the same time period:

1--2----------13--1----------25--1----------37------------51
2--3----------14------------26------------38--1----------52
3------------15--1----------27--1----------39------------
4--2----------16--2----------28--2----------40--1----------
5--1----------17--1----------29--1----------41------------
6--1----------18--1----------30------------42------------
7--1----------19------------31--1----------43------------
8--2----------20--1----------32--1----------44--1----------
9--1----------21------------33------------45--1----------
10--1----------22--2----------34--2----------46--1----------
11--1----------23--2----------35--1----------49------------
12------------24--1----------36--1----------50--1----------

Maybe just a piece of esoterica, but both sets of figures give an idea of how widespread the attention span can get when it comes to numbers hitting and not hitting, under what circumstances.

Those freak counts on the 1, 4, 8, 38, 40, 44 and 46 really just didn't become overly conspicuous in the draws that won jackpots. 

Jack

 

 

Hi blogsters:

If you happen to live in an area where all your neighbors had a bumper-crop of butternut squash, or if your own garden overflowed with them, here's a solution. 

Chop the top off, pull out the seeds, throw a bit of butter, cinnamon and brown sugar into the cavity and cover it with a square of plastic.  Microwave it seven or eight minutes and you have a snack that tastes a bit like pumpkin pie.

You can eat it repeatedly until you turn purple in the face whenever there's a prospect of ever seeing one again.

Incidently, that microwave over was actually invented for a different reason, though it's handy for food.  This time of year you can fill an athletic sock with milo maize, wheat, rice, whatever you can get cheapest in your locality.  Put that sock in the microwave for seven or eight minutes and when it comes out, drape it around your neck or down at your feet.  Best foot and neck warmer in all Christiandom and it stays hot for a couple of hours.

Jack

Here are the numbers that have hit on pick 5s and pick 6s the last two days and the frequency of hits.  Keep in mind any number higher than, say, 34 has a lot fewer draws to hit on, to it takes fewer appearances to represent a heat frequency as they go higher:

 

November 19 Pick 5s and Pick 6s

1-14-----------13-6-----------25-7-----------37-6-----------51-2
2-8-----------14-3-----------26-7-----------38-9-----------52-1
3-9-----------15-5-----------27-6-----------39-4------------
4-16-----------16-10-----------28-5-----------40-6------------
5-10-----------17-9-----------29-7-----------41-4------------
6-5-----------18-8-----------30-5-----------42-2------------
7-5-----------19-10-----------31-6-----------43-2------------
8-15-----------20-7-----------32-9-----------44-6------------
9-5-----------21-7-----------33-5-----------45-3------------
10-9-----------22-8-----------34-8-----------46-7------------
11-8-----------23-7-----------35-6-----------49-2------------
12-6-----------24-5-----------36-3-----------50-1------------

November 18 Pick 5s and Pick 6s

1-3-----------13-3-----------25-7-----------37-1-----------51
2-4-----------14-2-----------26-3-----------38-3-----------52
3-7-----------15-5-----------27-6-----------39-2-----------
4-7-----------16-4-----------28-6-----------40-1-----------
5-4-----------17-4-----------29-2-----------41-2-----------
6-6-----------18-3-----------30-3-----------42-2-----------
7-6-----------19-7-----------31-6-----------43-1-----------
8-8-----------20-7-----------32-4-----------44------------
9-8-----------21-3-----------33-7-----------45------------
10-5-----------22-6-----------34-5-----------46------------
11-4-----------23-7-----------35-5-----------49------------
12-8-----------24-6-----------36-2-----------50-

Jack

Morning blogsters:

Not owning a television and generallly avoiding reading newspapers leaves me a bit behind the curve when it comes to keeping up with news that's none of my business.  However, sometimes I encounter stories on other blogs that cause me to do some web digging to find out what's happening lately and how Americans are thinking about things.

Here's a story I found interesting because it seems to demonstrate things are beginning to fall apart for this unlucky president. 

If the 'loyal' opposition actually begins to realize there's a winning position in simply separating themselves from the web of lies, of ceasing to be a part of it, things could actually begin to change.

Seems unlikely to happen, but someone's planting the seeds and articulating the possibility, anyway:

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/28203/

 

Dems: Looking for Love in the Wrong Places

By Bob Burnett, AlterNet. Posted November 14, 2005.

To form a coherent position on Iraq, Democrats should focus on three principles that differentiate them from the GOP: telling the truth, defending the U.S., and restoring national honor. Tools

In 1980, Johnny Lee had a crossover hit with "Lookin' for Love (in all the wrong places)."

Democrats would do well to remember the first verse:

"I've spent a lifetime looking for you/Playing a fool's game, hoping to win/Telling those sweet lies and losing again."

For many of us, it has been a lifetime since the Dems presented voters with a solid alternative to the Republicans. Heading for 2006, the party of FDR needs to take a clear position on Iraq, to quit "playing a fool's game, hoping to win."

The latest CNN polls carried encouraging news for the Party. Fifty-four percent of responders indicated that they would support any Congressional candidate that opposes President Bush. The problem, of course, is that it's not always clear that a particular Democrat opposes Bush, particularly when the subject is Iraq. Because of the Dems' ambivalence about the occupation, the electorate remains wary of the Party. The public seems to understand what the GOP stands for -- strong defense, free markets, lower taxes, small government, and family values -- but are confused about the core principles of the Democrats.

In the 2004 Presidential election, the electorate didn't see much difference between the Iraq policy of George Bush and that of John Kerry. In January, Time columnist Joe Klein observed that Kerry didn't bring up Bush's authorization of the torture seen at Abu Ghraib because he was afraid that if he did, the Republicans would paint him as being weak on the war on terrorism. For similar reasons, Kerry didn't take advantage of obvious problems with Bush's war: failure to find WMDs, manipulation of intelligence data before the Congressional authorization, loss of focus on Al Qaeda, to name only a few.

The timidity of the Democrats' presidential candidate is symptomatic of a deeper problem in the Party: the obsession with short-term results. In this sense, the Dems adopted the Republican morality that winning justifies the means. Beginning in the Clinton era, democratic leaders focused on tactics rather than elaboration of the Party's unifying principles. The "Clintonista" wing of the Party continues to exert great influence and, as a result, the Dems lack a distinct morality and a clear strategy.

To form a coherent position on Iraq, Democrats would do well to ponder principles that differentiate them from the GOP. Three come to mind: telling the truth, defending the U.S., and restoring national honor.

One of the most obvious problems with the war in Iraq is that its justification relied upon misrepresentations and outright lies by President Bush and his representatives. The Administration manufactured a case for the invasion so that Republicans would have a winning issue in the 2002 Congressional elections. While this stands as a particularly egregious example of GOP immorality, it also signals their vulnerability: the electorate no longer trusts them because they are seen as liars -- a recent Washington Post poll indicates that Americans feel the level of honesty and ethics in the government has declined under the Bush Administration.

Therefore, one principle that Democrats can use to differentiate themselves is honesty. They should cease their doubletalk about fighting a smarter war in Iraq, "establishing milestones," and begin telling the truth: the occupation is a quagmire, a moral black hole. We should withdraw our troops.

The public clings to the perception that Republicans are better on defense. The irony is that the Bush Administration has based our homeland security on a devil's bargain, betting everything on a flawed strategy -- "We are fighting these terrorists in Iraq so we don't have to face them in our own cities." The October 26th report "Combating Catastrophic Terror" repudiates this notion and argues that Bush has systematically weakened America. The report asserts that Democrats actually have the best principles and ideas for defending the homeland -- for example, serious preparation for an attack.

Finally, there is the honor of the United States. A few months ago, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told a French reporter that America was "the most hated nation" in the Middle East. As a result of the Bush strategy for the war on terror, the worldwide esteem of the U.S. has been ravished. During the war in Iraq, America has used banned weapons, torture, and death squads; all of these actions have defiled our reputation, sullied our image as the "shining beacon on the hill."

Democrats should take the position that to regain our national honor we must end the bloody occupation, and rethink the war on terror. It's hard to represent honor, truth, and real security until you convince voters that you value integrity, an adherence to a strict code of ethics. The Democratic leadership must represent integrity. This is what attracted voters to the Dean campaign in 2004; Howard may be rough around the edges but he has integrity. Observing a well-defined morality means that Democrats quit being wishy-washy about Iraq and separate themselves from Clinton-era ethics where winning was all that mattered.

Dems must cease "playing a fool's game, hoping to win, telling those sweet lies and losing again." To distinguish themselves from Republicans, Democrats have to adopt a set of moral principles, and then apply them to Iraq and America's other problems.

Bob Burnett is a writer and activist in Berkeley, Calif.

 

There's a supreme law of the land in the US. 

It's called the US Constitution

Section. 8.

Clause 1: The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

Clause 10: To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;

Clause 11: To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

Clause 12: To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

Clause 13: To provide and maintain a Navy;

Clause 14: To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

Clause 15: To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

Clause 16: To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

Clause 17: To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;--And

Clause 18: To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

There's no such thing as a Democratic, not Republican war mentioned in that Constitution.  There's no such thing, no such power granted in that document to the President of the US to wage war.

Wars are declared by Congress. 

CONGRESS:  To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;

CONGRESS:  To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

Like it or not, that is the supreme law of the land.

THE PRESIDENT:  Clause 8: Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:--"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

 That is what the US Constitution says about the war in Iraq.  It's what the US Constitution says about this president of the US.

That is what the US Constitution says about who conducts wars and punishes pirates, et al.

That is what the US Constitution says about whether this president is fulfilling his oath of office.