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San Francisco, 4:42 PM
Mon Nov 9
21 posts in the last 24 hours
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06/03/09
06/04/09
06/03/09
Tyler's cabinet didn't abondon him over his "illegitimacy," rather his refusal to recharter the National Bank and his refusal to push Whig economic programs. He became a Whig because he hated Jackson, and the Whigs picked him to balance the ticket nationally (he was a Virginian and slaveowner). He was also a rabid expansionists which bothered Henry Clay and others.
Second, the Depression was unavoidable, and the market crash was simply the final push. The Depression was caused by massive overproduction of food and manufactured goods and the major economic shock to the countries of the world caused by World War One. All the regulation in the world wouldn't have prevented the Depression.
The time between Jackson and Lincoln is awesome. A Congressman almost beat a Senator to death in the Senate chamber for chrissakes!
06/03/09
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I'm sure we'll be reading your work somewhere else soon.
06/03/09
By the way, it's Paul McGann. Even if it was a wig.
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06/03/09
Well, you'd end up with a situation where one person is presumed the President and some other yahoos, who are not the President, sue to challenge legitimacy. These suits don't go anywhere. All the suits to challenge Obama as technically not a naturalized citizen didn't go anywhere because, well, Obama is the President and you're not. It is a kind of paradox but...
In the realm of fiction and hypothetical, I think all the juicy points Alasdair raises come into play if there is some major disaster where you're deep into the line of succession. At which point, it really becomes a question of who controls the military, I think.
06/03/09
06/03/09
I'm not sure what you're referring to. There was almost a constitutional crisis in 2000, for example, as it was not clear what would happen if the election results were not resolved in time for the new Presidential term. It appeared Congress would then had to choose a President anyway. Likely, though, there would have been great debate about this and further lawsuits.
It's kind of similar to what's going on with the Minnesota Senate Seat. Minnesota refuses to issue a certificate declaring the winner. The Senate isn't quite sure they need one, but have deferred to Minnesota. The judges in the case a few days ago said they don't know what authority what they have. They can declare Al Franken the winner, but that doesn't the Senate has to seat him.
Can the Senate refuse someone with a certificate from their state? No one knows really. There has to be a certain amount of grease in the joints of our system. And when it gets down to uber technicalities... with significant implications... well ultimately the Supreme Court is usually the final arbiter.
Unless they don't want to be.
06/03/09
...Or, they went no where because Obama was actually born in Hawaii. Dozens of independant groups have investigated this, including quite a few Right Wing magazines and other groups hoping to prove that he wasn't a naturalized citizen of the United States. All of them found that, yes, he was really born in Hawaii.
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06/03/09
I don't believe that rumor!!! It was just an example.
But note that the suits were not dismissed because of any factual reason as you point out. They were dismissed for reasons of standing and other legal gobbledygook.
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06/03/09
I like to think that Jesus' lost paintings were mostly Impressionist headshots of himself.
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06/03/09
Cthulhu 2012!