Maine's two senators have offered to cross party lines to help end a baffling Senate practice which deserves to go the way of the spittoon and smoke-filled back room — the secret hold.
Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins have, along with 63 colleagues, signed a petition to ban the practice, which allows a single senator to secretly stall appointments and legislation.
This issue came to a head earlier this year when it was revealed that Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Alabama, was secretly holding up 70 Obama administration appointees because a company in his state was denied a military contract.
The appointees in question had already received support — sometimes overwhelming bipartisan support — from Senate committees.
Yet, they had been delayed 90 days or longer to satisfy one angry senator.
The original intent of the hold was to allow a senator to slow things down until he or she had time to read the legislation or do more research.
That's a worthy goal, but senators can do the same thing and still attach their name to the hold.
The secret hold is simply undemocratic and an open invitation to abuse.
editorialboard@sunjournal.com
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arguments
Reading some these "interactions" is like listening to a bunch of 10 yr olds fight.
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Besides the fact that the GOP is blocking Obama appointees because of all the controversial ones already approved, I believe that they are also rebelling with the administration because they have been shut out at every given chance.
Obama keeps saying he wants bipartisan government yet he turns a deaf ear to the GOP. He makes legislative goals and priorities behind closed doors with just Democratic leaders.
In other words, if Obama wanys cooperation, then he needs to start cooperating.
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Want to see my birth certificate? It says I am "mulatto".
My white gggf owned slaves. He had my black gggf with one of them.
So yeah, I think I can prove I am not a member of the KKK. LOL
Try again Tron
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would you kindly provide proof that you are of the human race? that oughta keep you busy....
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.AJ - actually its much more
AJ - actually its much more simple - he gets more attention by arguing with people and taking a contrarian view....he likes the attention, thats all. he's afraid the world will neverremember him if not for this blog.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.AJ, and thinkingman, please provide proof
that you are NOT members of the KKK. Should be simple enough, right?
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Kudos AwardedDisagree (1)
Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Knock it off, guys.
Knock it off, guys.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Yes I'll do that just as soon
Yes I'll do that just as soon as you can prove you're not a member of NAMBLA....simple to do right?
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.A serious question for Tron
As I read your posts it occured to me that you might not be mentally stable.
I dont mean this to be mean or demeaning, but, are you mentally handicapped?
I dont want to argue with or demean anyone with mental issues, it would make me feel terrible. So please let me know. If you are indeed mentally handicapped it would explain alot.
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I realize that different sources claim he is a member of NAMBLA while others claim he is not. But every source tie him closely to Hay and NAMBLA. To me the argument is splitting hairs. With his active support of Hay and NAMBLA he might as well be a member. Frankly, I find it hard to believe he is not a member. But even if he is not a card carrying member, he is for sure a strong supporter. Either way doesnt matter to me, he still has no business being the Safe School Czar.
So, Tron, you can provide sources that claim Jennings is not a member of NAMBLA, and I can find some sources that claim he is. Either way, Jennings is still a sexual deviant and doesnt have any business being a part of our school system. He shouldnt be allowed within 1000 yds of a school.
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No one can claim the high ground in this argument - Jennings refuses to say if he is a member of NAMBLA, nor has he denied it...but the organization refuses to release membership information, thus we simply don't know if he is a member or not. We do know that he supports PEOPLE who are members of NAMBLA (see Hay) and we know that he once refused to report to authorities a male minor student in his school who admitted having sexual relations with an adult male - given the facts know would be considered statutory rape in that state. This is all public record information folks - the only thing we can;t find is what NAMBLA is hiding...thus people like tron are thankful they keep their records secret.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Interesting innuendo from someone who
frequently goes "camping" on weekends with teenage boys.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.No innuendo, I simply pointed
No innuendo, I simply pointed out that you were supportive of these folks based on your comments here - people can then infer what they want, because we are rleated by marriage I respect your wishes for privacy and would not divulge anything I am aware of. As to my camping, yes I do enjoy the outdoors and sharing my knowledge with the boys who appreciate that some adults want to be involved in their leadership and character development in scouting. I am not the one here who supports pedolphilia and homosexuality. Funny how you can one day make an argument that scouting should not be allowed to have rules keeping gay adult makes out and the next day make inferences like this. I guess it all depends on what lame argument you're trying out.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.You cannot find where I support NAMBLA, I was just defending
someone against an unfair accusation, which you and your clan do all the time. The only reason you're "respecting" my privacy is you're hoping everyone makes the wrong assumption. What a lame-ass why to conduct an arguement. So, now days, it is called "character developement?", it was really called something else when I was younger, so go ahead and delude yourself. Oh, I don't think scouts should be making out with adults, male or females, but then that's not my thing.
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and agreed to. I am afraid for this country.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Skeletons?
The sad thing is this, they are not hiding anything. Obama and his administration beleive that it is perfectly ok for man that promotes homosexuality and gay pedophilia to be in charge of making our public schools safe. Obama seems to think this is normal, and therefore there is no need to hide it or defend it.
Obama is promoting his cultural agenda through his appointees, and somehow we need to make a stand. Hopefully in November.
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Obama needs to be slowed down, and his nominees need to be closely, carefully scrutinized. The Jennings thing is so disturbing, who knows what his other nominees have as skeletons.....
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Democracy?
A democracy is simple, the majority rules, even if by just one vote. But are a Republic. In a Republic the rights of individuals come before a majority vote, and it takes special rules to accomplish that.
As far as blocking Obama nominees, look at ones he has already got it and it becomes obvious that someone needs to slow him down.
For instance, the "Safe School Czar", Kevin Jennings, is the founder of GLSEN which is an organization that promotes homosexuality in public schools. He is also an active member of NAMBLA, the National American Man/Boy Love Association.
Secetary of Labor Hilda Solis is of Hispanic decent, believes that illegal workers should be paid at lest minimum wage, and she is gauanteeing Illegal aliens that her department will prosecute any American employer that does not pay them minimum wage. Excuse me, but they should be prosecuting them the employer for hiring them, not for not paying them.
Yeah, there is something wrong with some of Obama's appointees, and this is why they have this rule.
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Do you have even one single legitimate source for your assertions? Of course not, there aren't any.
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Mr. Jennings is NOT a member of NAMBLA, and you cannot show proof that he ever was. You misrepresent GLSEN, it is not an organization that promotes anything but tolerance, something you appear to know nothing about. It's too bad you're not worth the effort of suing, because Mr. Jennings could make a mint off of you.
So you believe illegals should be paid less than minimum wage? One of the incentives for employers to hire illegals is that they pay them less then the going rate. If caught, employers frequently say they didn't know someone was an illegal, and they get away with it, but if they paid them less then minimum wage, their goose is cooked, if prosecuted. They can't weasel out of having paid them less. It's just another tool to help prevent people like you from hiring illegals.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Tron, you are the one who is intolerate
I have read your posts and it seems that you viciously attack anyone that doesnt agree with your left-wing views.
How can you say someone else is intolerate when you attack others because of their beliefs?
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Jennings is a strong supporter of Hay and NAMBLA, whether officially a member or not And GLSEN does promote homosexuality. They have distributed literature in schools that give instructions on very graphic gay sex.
And, no, I dont believe illegals should be paid anything, much less a gauranteed minimum wage, the employers should be jailed for hiring them in the first place, not for underpaying them.
I dont appreciate being called a twisted liar. There are plenty of sources online to back this up.
I take it from your extreme reaction that you must be a homosexual.
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If they have distributed the literature that you claim they have, then your anger should be directed equally at the educators and administrators that allowed it to be distributed, and the uninvolved parents who didn't take them to task. And Tron does make some interesting points in his 9:33 post. If you want to stop the practice of companies hiring illegals, then we should make it so that it isn't such a lucrative practice. Having some CEO's spend a little time in jail, preferably a Mexican one, wouldn't be a bad idea either.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.you accuse me of being nasty or intolerant?
well. let's see where YOU went today. First you accuse Mr. Jennings of being an ACTIVE member of NAMBLA to being a strong supporter. Big leap AND you haven't proved he's a "supporter", all we have is your unsubstantiated rumor. And the literature that was distributed concern SAFE sex, which I think is a good thing, but you could have a reasonable disagreement about teaching any sex in school, but teaching SAFE sex is not promoting sex, it is for an adolescence's protection.
I totally agree employers should be jailed for employing illegals. All the way from the CEO of a company to a housewife hiring day laborers. But getting fake work visas is extremely easy and some employers can legitimately claim they didn't know. BUT, if they pay them less than minimum, there's no wiggle room on that.
I love how you give what YOU consider to be the ultimate insult, that I'm gay. That is really none of your business, but I will tell you one thing, I am nasty and intolerant to three types of people, liars, bigots and fools. You're two out of three, so keep talking you'll soon hit the trifecta.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.So I take it you're nasty and
So I take it you're nasty and intolerant to yourself...
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He must be. He's three for three!
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.WOW, what a witty repartee,
took you only six whole hours to think that up?
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Kudos AwardedDisagree (2)
Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.No, you idiot! Some of us
No, you idiot! Some of us WORK for a living!
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work and think at the same time. i get it. I hope your job doesn't entail something important.
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These undemocratic Senate rules need to end.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Yeah, I agree tron, regardess
Yeah, I agree tron, regardess of which party they belong too...it was happening for years under the Bush administration and before that.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.How about eliminating
the stupid 60 vote rule for cloture? Nothing impedes democracy more than a few hatefill senators blocking every piece of legislation.
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