2nd Term Part X - A link to a fore gone conclusion

[5mn_Major]

Re: 2nd Term Part X - A link to a fore gone conclusion

Guys

It's not the gun control, which may be a good thing, it is the usurpation of the powers of the legislative branch by the executive branch.

It's not a recent thing, either. Congress is too often delegating what the effect of a law is by letting the executive branch make rules to explain/enforce the law.

If this keeps up, the effectiveess of Congress will me marginalized to zero. Then we have a mess.

This is a concern...extremely big concern.

But my hair trigger response to this is...the bar must be extremely high. Here is a case (maybe the one in a thousand case) where the ends justify the means. A case where many lives and an implicit acceptance of a violent society is at stake. And based on polling numbers, this is the belief of the vast majority of Americans.

The problem is that the next GOP president will probably use it as an excuse to impose an executive order national ban on pot (because they believe in small government).

[joecct]

Re: 2nd Term Part X - A link to a fore gone conclusion

This is a concern...extremely big concern.

But my hair trigger response to this is...the bar must be extremely high. Here is a case (maybe the one in a thousand case) where the ends justify the means. A case where many lives and an implicit acceptance of a violent society is at stake. And based on polling numbers, this is the belief of the vast majority of Americans.

The problem is that the next GOP president will probably use it as an excuse to impose an executive order national ban on pot (because they believe in small government).

It did. I'm just saying that it isn't so much the executive and the legislature locked in a tug of war and the executive winning than it is the originally conceived balance of power getting pulled out of shape because Congress has a perverse incentive to relinquish their responsibilities, not only because they duck criticism, but also because they can then hypocritically double back and blame it on "executive overreach."

My fear is that it becomes commonplace which will lead to a dictator who runs the government by executive fiat. Congress has to regrow a set and the Executive has to realize that He/She too is mortal.

[5mn_Major]

Re: 2nd Term Part X - A link to a fore gone conclusion

My fear is that it becomes commonplace which will lead to a dictator who runs the government by executive fiat. Congress has to regrow a set and the Executive has to realize that He/She too is mortal.

Agree. I'd just make a pledge that this is the one and only order I as a chief executive would ever make. And then I'd do it.

Last night I watched a Johnny Carson show stand up with a first year Eddie Murphy from '82. Murphy did a skit as the first black president where he was dodging bullets as he was giving his national address. He may have been more correct than he may have guessed.

[busterman62]

Re: 2nd Term Part X - A link to a fore gone conclusion

This is so frustrating.

I may have mentioned in the past that Seinfeld sucks. And Seinfeld does, indeed, suck. But that's fantastic.

Is it a bad thing that I thought the only saving grace of the entire video was the car? I'm not a big car geek but DAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMNNNNNNNNNNN!!!! that's a sweet ride.

[busterman62]

Re: 2nd Term Part X - A link to a fore gone conclusion

My fear is that it becomes commonplace which will lead to a dictator who runs the government by executive fiat. Congress has to regrow a set and the Executive has to realize that He/She too is mortal.

Thank God that the poll leaders in the upcoming election aren't power-hungry egomaniacs who would further advance the current trend.

[Kepler]

Re: 2nd Term Part X - A link to a fore gone conclusion

Is it a bad thing that I thought the only saving grace of the entire video was the car? I'm not a big car geek but DAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMNNNNNNNNNNN!!!! that's a sweet ride.

It's not a bad thing. I could not care less about cars, and I had exactly your reaction.

But it's a great video. To see how good a job he did, just imagine Bush Senior or Junior doing it. Or Hillary.

OTOH, Slick Willie would have been even better. And there'd have been girls in the car.

[walrus]

Is it a bad thing that I thought the only saving grace of the entire video was the car? I'm not a big car geek but DAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMNNNNNNNNNNN!!!! that's a sweet ride.

Yeah, it's a 63 split window, very nice.

[Kepler]

Re: 2nd Term Part X - A link to a fore gone conclusion

Very good piece on the substantive effect on taxes of Obama's re-election. It's much better news than I would have thought, and makes me raise the grade of the Obama presidency -- say, from a B+ to an A-.

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Re: 2nd Term Part X - A link to a fore gone conclusion

I only give him a B-, so maybe hold off on planning the brie and Chablis party . On the domestic front, Obama was above average in the face of an incompetent, dysfunctional Congress populated by a bunch of fundies and headed (for the majority of his two terms) by an old wino who was incapable of mediating the discussion amongst the adults and the infants of the Republican faction. On the international front, he got off to a good start, then things got muddled. Yes, Duyba left him quite a mess to cleanup, but with the exception of getting OBL, a lot of half-measures and "junior varsity" ISIS will haunt Obama's legacy abroad.

[Rover]

Re: 2nd Term Part X - A link to a fore gone conclusion

Very good piece on the substantive effect on taxes of Obama's re-election. It's much better news than I would have thought, and makes me raise the grade of the Obama presidency -- say, from a B+ to an A-.

Glad to see someone cutting through the nonsense. I never understood my fellow lefties who bleat about Clinton (Bill) and Obama being Wall St sellouts, when they both raised taxes on the wealthiest earners, who in turn have in fact had to pay a higher bill. No, they haven't been taxed back into the Stone Age, but reality is they've been paying up a lot more than they had been, or would have if we'd like Mittens or McSame serve out GWB's 3rd term.

[Kepler]

Re: 2nd Term Part X - A link to a fore gone conclusion

Glad to see someone cutting through the nonsense. I never understood my fellow lefties who bleat about Clinton (Bill) and Obama being Wall St sellouts, when they both raised taxes on the wealthiest earners, who in turn have in fact had to pay a higher bill. No, they haven't been taxed back into the Stone Age, but reality is they've been paying up a lot more than they had been, or would have if we'd like Mittens or McSame serve out GWB's 3rd term.

You get more flies with honey than vinegar. Maybe if you didn't use words like "bleat" or "Nader idiots" every time you mention people from the liberal wing of the party you'd be taken a little more seriously. Part of consensus-building is respecting allies who don't share all of your aims.

Obviously nobody who has given it any thought thinks the parties are exactly the same, however I'll admit I'm surprised and heartened to see that Obama's centrist policies did allow us to claw back a bit of the 1%'s ill-gotten gains from gaming the system since 1980. I'd be more convinced if Hillary did not have such close ties to Wall Street, and of course I'd prefer a more substantial liberal approach like Bernie's, but since we're going to have Hillary as a nominee it is good to see we're getting a little bit more than just keeping the white walkers at bay.

[Rover]

Re: 2nd Term Part X - A link to a fore gone conclusion

You get more flies with honey than vinegar. Maybe if you didn't use words like "bleat" or "Nader idiots" every time you mention people from the liberal wing of the party you'd be taken a little more seriously. Part of consensus-building is respecting allies who don't share all of your aims.

Obviously nobody who has given it any thought thinks the parties are exactly the same, however I'll admit I'm surprised and heartened to see that Obama's centrist policies did allow us to claw back a bit of the 1%'s ill-gotten gains from gaming the system since 1980. I'd be more convinced if Hillary did not have such close ties to Wall Street, and of course I'd prefer a more substantial liberal approach like Bernie's, but since we're going to have Hillary as a nominee it is good to see we're getting a little bit more than just keeping the white walkers at bay.

You're forgetting I'm a liberal myself Kep! While I will take your advice under consideration also take mine when I say Bernie supporters are starting to develop a martyr complex to rival most conservatives, and you should be aware if that sensation starts affecting you as well...

[Kepler]

Re: 2nd Term Part X - A link to a fore gone conclusion

You're forgetting I'm a liberal myself Kep! While I will take your advice under consideration also take mine when I say Bernie supporters are starting to develop a martyr complex to rival most conservatives, and you should be aware if that sensation starts affecting you as well...

Based on your opinions lo these many years I would call you a centrist. That of course makes you far left compared to the dementia that has taken over the GOP, but these guys would call Bob Dole a communist. I suspect in the 1970s it would have made you a Rockefeller Republican. But... that's OK by me. Everybody's invited into the tent! We just need to stop pretending that actually standing up for liberal principles would hurt us. On the vast majority of issues, the liberals are right at the center of public opinion. It's merely the influence of our own 1% donors that continually drags us back to the center and away from significant liberal policy action.

It's not a surprise that liberal social policies, which are perhaps 60/40 popular, get enacted, while liberal economic policies, which are 70/30 or 80/20 popular, are rebuffed. That was the deal the "New Democrats" cut, and the Democratic party has stuck to it except for those few years in which Howard Dean ran the show (and the Democrats were spectacularly successful).

The descent of the GOP into full lunacy is an opportunity to move forward with a truly left-leaning economic agenda. Fears of criticism by the right are pointless, as they scream like stuck pigs that everything proposed by any Democratic president is Radical Marxism. So, let's show them some actual Radical Marxism, and then settle for a comfortably left-wing compromise. That's the game the right played for decades, and it's delivered to them a complete victory on tax policy despite a 50/50 national split and a significant lack of popularity of their programs. Think of what we could do considering (1) we're correct, (2) our way works, and (3) we're on the correct side of small 'd' democratic opinion.

[mookie1995]

Based on your opinions lo these many years I would call you a centrist..

Ummm
Rover is a lib
Mookie is a centrist
You, ahem, are a commie/socialist

[Kepler]

Re: 2nd Term Part X - A link to a fore gone conclusion

Ummm
Rover is a lib
Mookie is a centrist
You, ahem, are a commie/socialist

I wouldn't call you a centrist. I would call you are a Perverse Contrarian.