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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
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I assume that the ruling can itself be appealed, right? Seems crazy to let the DC court decide a national issue for once and all.
Well, that is one of the pieces of logic used to justify seeking out nuclear weapons, but you also need a delivery system. I think that possession of a handful of undeliverable weapons wouldn't deter us all that much.
edited 25th Jan '13 9:54:09 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"...The thing is, while it's true this is bad for Obama, what happens when we have a Republican crazy in the White House and uses Recess appointments to get through absolutely horrible people who will do horrible things. This sets a precedent that's very good. One person shouldn't have too much power, and recess appointments seem to be just that: too much power.
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It would probably deter us from invading if a dictator informed us that he had his finger on a nuclear device hidden somewhere in his capital city. An invading army gets too close, city goes kaboom.
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I doubt that the founders had this sort of dirty boxing in mind when they gave the Senate the power to "advise and consent". Although considering the ruling and the precedent this sets, I'm actually surprised in retrospect that Obama was able to get a cabinet appointed.
edited 25th Jan '13 10:00:22 AM by Lawyerdude
What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly.@Fighteer: It can be appealed, yeah, but my understanding of the legal situation is that this ruling stands until it's heard by a higher court... and the only higher court is the SCOTUS. Oh boy.
edited 25th Jan '13 10:03:07 AM by darksidevoid
GM: AGOG S4 & F/WC RP; Co-GM: TABA, SOTR, UUA RP; Sub-GM: TTS RP. I have brought peace, freedom, justice, and security to my new Empire.With the Iran thing. Would you guys need a full scale invasion? If you just wanted to make a massive hole in Iran's nuclear program could it not be done via air power and CIA/Mossad? Now there would obviously be clashes over the Gulf due to the need to keep the oil flowing, plus an air only campaign would still have a wide variety of risks, but would an actual ground invasion be necessary if you're just looking to keep Iran's nuclear program from advancing?
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranDo you really think Iran wouldn't start a ground and naval war in the Gulf if it finds itself under military attack?
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.Yeah, but it also mean the one department Republicans fear most has had all of its work for the last entire year stripped away. This is the bureau meant to stop another banking crisis.
In the longer run this is good, but fucking... I'm hoping this goes back to haunt the Republicans if this cause things to go off the rails. :/ We did not need this garbage.
Well, whose bright idea was it to suborn the President's power to make recess appointments by having a single Senator show up on the floor once every couple of days?
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Back in the days before easy travel, members of Congress would stay in Washington and would only go home during the summer recess. These days they can flit back and forth across the country every weekend. Only in Congress do you get a six-figure income plus benefits for a three-day work week.
Congress should just go back to staying in DC, doing their stupid jobs, then go home when they're done screwing the rest of us.
What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly.
Actually people are saying they should spent more time in their constituent states instead of hogging time in DC. It's not because they're not in the capital enough that they're not getting enough done.
@deathpigeon: The problem with the ruling is that recess appointments are explicitly allowed in the constitution. I'll have to double-check on the article, though.
@Fighteer: I'm not entirely sure when the practice started, or whose idea it was in the 112th Congress. I know at least that Reid held pro forma sessions back in '07 or '08 in an effort to block some recess appointments by Bush, but I'm pretty sure Bush just went ahead and appointed them anyway, and the whole idea of using pro forma sessions to block appointments started earlier than that.
The Justice Department
wrote a legal opinion (PDF)
supporting the constitutionality of the appointments in question last year, although apparently that's now been shredded by the D.C. Appeals Circuit...
Article II, Section 2:
To the "they need to stay in their constituent states more" thing, I'd say yes and no. They need to be more in touch with their constituents, true, but they also need to spend more time legislating and less time fundraising. I mean, just take a look at the House of Representatives calendar (PDF again)
for the previous session as an exemplar of the problem. The number of days they're actually allocating for lawmaking is shamefully low ("constituent work week" is mostly code for "fundraising from wealthy donors and lobbyists, and maybe assign one of my staffers to help my actual constituents").
edited 25th Jan '13 12:02:05 PM by darksidevoid
GM: AGOG S4 & F/WC RP; Co-GM: TABA, SOTR, UUA RP; Sub-GM: TTS RP. I have brought peace, freedom, justice, and security to my new Empire.![]()
Yes- the idea is that "technically", they weren't in recess.
edited 25th Jan '13 11:51:32 AM by Hodor
Edit, edit, edit, edit the wikiObama picked his newest Chief of Staff - Denis McDonough.
You might recognize him in that White House meeting when they oversaw the operation to kill Osama Bin Laden. He's wearing the light blue shirt, right behind Hillary
◊.
Obama's serious face is so serious that it loops around into being funny for me.
Hugging a Vanillite will give you frostbite.The new Iraqi government is fairly stable (by Middle Eastern standards).
And while I have many qualms with Karzi; progress is (slowly)happening in Afghanistan.
He still needs a new Secretary of Labor, Secretary of Interior, Secretary of Energy, and a new Director for the EPA.
Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) to retire
That was unexpected.
Mitt Romney: ‘I’m not going away’
edited 25th Jan '13 1:20:52 PM by DeviantBraeburn
Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016Is the Wal-Mart Foundation related to the Wal-Mart corporation that runs the retail stores? Because, if so, I don't really want anyone affiliated with that clusterfuck of impoverishment anywhere near government.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"

I don't think that much of anybody wants Iran to have a nuclear weapon, including Russia & China. Paradoxically, one reason for wanting to obtain a nuclear weapon is probably to deter an invasion by the United States. We wouldn't have invaded Iraq if Saddam had his finger on a nuclear retaliation button. All we did in Iraq was create an incentive for every tinpot dictator to get his hands on a deterrent.
edited 25th Jan '13 9:52:19 AM by Lawyerdude
What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly.