Daily Topics - Tuesday November 18th, 2014

Join Thom in our chatroom during the program!
Be sure to check out our new videos: CARBON, LAST HOURS & GREEN WORLD RISING - narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio
Hour One: Amnesty by executive order - Sheriff Richard Mack, The Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association
Hour Two: What's new with Obamacare? Wendell Potter, Deadly Spin / Obamacare: What's In It For Me? / PLUS, what's next for the Keystone Pipeline? Tyson Slocum, Public Citizen
Comments


Thanks to your influence, Thom, I just fixed the Wikipedia article on Alexander Hamilton to refer to the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans as parties, rather than as factions.

A caller brought up something interesting. I couldn't figure out what he was trying to say, but he mentioned the requirements for impeachment and removal of the President, and for overriding a veto.
It is odd that the requirement for removing the President from office is only 1/2 of the House and 2/3 of the Senate, while merely overriding a veto requires 2/3 of both houses. I'll have to think about that one.



It's eminent domain, not imminent domain.
It's one of those things that was written into the Constitution, but not by name, which I find to be the smarter way. Things mentioned by name but not by definition are impeachment, "questioning" of Congress members, imposts, duties, excises, naturalization, securities, felony, letter of marque, militia, writ of habeas corpus, bill of attainder, ex post facto law, natural-born citizen, "the" recess of the Senate, misdemeanor, good behavior, equity, corruption of blood, republican form of government, convention (for proposing amendments), common law, and, worst of all, war.
Without a definition included, there's a danger that either the meaning can change (as indeed habeas corpus did over the course of a few centuries before the Constitution), or that a provision can be circumvented by changing a name, such as by calling a war a police action.