Obama asks Congress for $500m for Syrian rebels

aseth

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Thursday June 26, 2014 · 1:17 PM PDT

2014/06/26 · 13:17

According to the BBC, Obama has requested $500m 'to train and equip members of the "moderate Syrian armed opposition".'

My well-thought out and nuanced thoughts below.

aseth

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday October 06, 2013 · 8:27 PM PDT

2013/10/06 · 20:27

At the dawn of the country, the Founding Fathers proposed twelve amendments to the Constitution. Ten of them became the Bill of Rights, one became the 27th Amendment in 1992, and the other - about Congressional representation in the House - wasn't ratified. Or was it? Recently uncovered documents suggest it might have been.

aseth

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Tuesday October 01, 2013 · 5:17 AM PDT

2013/10/01 · 05:17

The Constitution gives the President the ability to convene one or both Houses of Congress on extraordinary occasions. This should count.

Poll

17 votes Show Results

Should the President force a special session?

17 votes Vote Now!

Should the President force a special session?

Yes

14 votes

2 votes

Other

0 votes

Pie

1 vote

Making good use of Well Regulated Militias

aseth

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Saturday January 19, 2013 · 7:35 AM PST

2013/01/19 · 07:35

It suddenly occurred to me that perhaps we should be fully supporting the Well Regulated Militia of gun owners, and that we've been failing to do so.

Currently "the militia" is defined as:

10 USC § 311 - Militia: composition and classes
(a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.
(b) The classes of the militia are—
(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and
(2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.

We should be letting the patriotic volunteers that have joined the militia assist the National Guard, helping out in states of emergency. Read More

Filibuster Reform: Reversing the Burden

aseth

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Sunday September 23, 2012 · 6:30 AM PDT

2012/09/23 · 06:30

We have seen unprecedented Republican obstruction in the Senate to the last few years, where minority abuse of the filibuster has slowed the wheels of government to the detriment of America. Uninterested in good government, the Republicans have slowed or prevented passage of many worthwhile bills - sometimes even voting for the bills they attempted to block if cloture was achieved.

It's clear that filibuster reform is needed, but what can we do while preserving it for truly important tasks? We reverse the burden.

aseth

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday September 03, 2012 · 12:48 PM PDT

2012/09/03 · 12:48

I've been worried about the MA-Sen race. It's way closer than it should be, and I'm frightened that the average Mass voter buys Brown's schtick.

But not today. I'm pretty ecstatic right now, after going to the Marlborough Labor Day Parade.

Scott Brown walked past with his entourage of maybe a dozen, in relative silence.

When Elizabeth Warren's army came marching through, everyone was on their feet, flags were waving, and the intensity was THERE. And they kept going and going and going.

If it was any indicator about voter enthusiasm, we're doing well.

aseth

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday August 17, 2007 · 8:00 AM PDT

2007/08/17 · 08:00

Linda Bilmes and Joseph E. Stiglitz, in a report issued in December 2006, a revision to their earlier cost study wrote:

"In January, we estimated that the true cost of the Iraq war could reach $2 trillion, a figure that seemed shockingly high. But since that time, the cost of the war – in both blood and money – has risen even faster than our projections anticipated...

The total costs of the war, including the budgetary, social and macroeconomic costs, are likely to exceed $2 trillion. As large as these costs are, an equally large set of costs have been omitted. We have not included the costs borne by other countries, either directly (as a result of military expenditures) or indirectly (as a result of the increase in the price of oil.)"

What would you have done with two trillion dollars and four years? Surely we could have thought of something better to do with that money. After the fold, I've got some ideas.

aseth

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday July 08, 2007 · 5:35 PM PDT

2007/07/08 · 17:35

There's one thing I never understand about global warming deniers. "Demand debate!" they say, as the plane over the NJ LiveEarth concert did. "It's natural!" they say.

Okay. Let's assume for one minute that they're completely, entirely, 100% correct. Al Gore and 90%+ of climate scientists are wrong, but we're all suckered into believing their wild and crazy "science".

We go out, and conserve energy. We create energy efficient appliances and reduce our dependence on oil. We invest a ton of money creating new technologies and jobs related to cleaning the air. Improving the health and quality of life of all of us, our children, and the generations to come, even if all of our efforts didn't affect the climate one bit...

But how is this a bad thing, even if it wasn't a matter of life and death?

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Obama asks Congress for $500m for Syrian rebels

We're Going to Need a Bigger Box...

This is an 'Extraordinary Occasion'.

Making good use of Well Regulated Militias

Filibuster Reform: Reversing the Burden

Elizabeth Warren vs Scott Brown, parade edition

What could you do with two trillion dollars?

Why so much hate for environmentalism?