[lentulusgracchus]

Lumberjack has a legitimate issue, and instead of throwing spitwads at him to show you're the coolest kid in class, you might engage the issue. Nobody is edified by a micturition contest, and that goes for both of you.

It wasn't Lumberjack who was mumbling about underground conspiracies and posting pictures of people dressed up as Morlocks. He raised the question, okay, if "the government" is going to be 150 people from the executive agencies, how does this preserve the republican form of government guaranteed by the Constitution?

If the numbers cited here don't allow a Congressional quorum to be convened in order, then what is the purpose of summoning a rump Congress, and who has the right to say who gets invited, and who gets left to burn up in the firestorms? Do RiNO's get invited, and congressmen from large, urban districts? Will the Black Caucus be invited, or do they get to take their chances? Who's on the list -- is it Pamela Harriman's old "A" list? Names drawn by lot?

And where is the President? Presumably, flying around in "Kneecap", he would remain in communication with this group. But would it really be a constitutional government, or an emergency junta? And if there is a constitutional arrangement to be made for contingencies, what harm is there in our knowing it, at least to the extent of a sanitized public Plan? Why all the hugger-mugger, unless it is to conceal the settled opinion of knowledgable and responsible people, that constitutional government simply couldn't continue under general thermonuclear attack?

As far as I can remember from documentaries, magazine articles, and newsreel items propagated in the Fifties and Sixties, government planners always told the public that constitutional government would continue, and that the Congress and the Supreme Court would be preserved to continue governing. I think Lumberjack is confronting the possibility that we may only have been told that, while something more.....modest......that didn't meet constitutional scratch, may have been planned for instead. It wouldn't be the first time an Administration planned a switcheroo: Abraham Lincoln did it, and his pretext was another emergency.

It's a fair question. Care to have a go?

[Hoosier Patriot]

It's a fair question.

Fair question, hell, it's the question. You've summed up the gist of this thread quite nicely. You've also provided the very reason why I question actions like this by the government, and, quite honestly, don't believe the sons 'o bitches for a minute.

It wouldn't be the first time an Administration planned a switcheroo: Abraham Lincoln did it, and his pretext was another emergency.

Bingo. It wouldn't be the first time. To blindly believe that every action done by the government is for the good of the people is to me pure idiocy. Lie to me once and your a lier. Simple as that. Lie to me and your a lier. History is rife with instances of governmental lying. But, they're not discovered until much later of course, and they're not called lies, and we're told that things had to be done that way for "the good of the people." Now, it seems we've come full circle. The governments actions are done for the good of the people, the government occasionally lies to accomplish these actions, time passes, down the road we find out that these actions didn't benefit the people after all, and the people were lied to while getting their government provided screwing.

Lie to me, and you're a lier. Simple as that.

[Lumberjack]

Thank you for addressing the issue. You're right, it was getting a bit like kicking a wounded dog anyway. I generally try to avoid these kinds of things, but something about doing it to sinkspur just engages the evil little imp on my shoulder.

I applaud your understanding of the sitution. I wonder if anybody will take up the gauntlet you've thrown down?

[BJClinton]

It's a fair question. Care to have a go?

I'm not so much having a go at it, but I like the points you brought up.

Before I could support or condemn this "Shadow Government", I would need to know if they plan on superceding any Constitutional instructions. If some of the Legislature is intact, it would seem to me that they would still complete their elected responsibilities. One of those would be to appoint a new speaker who would then assume presidential responsibilities until a new election could be held.

If this SG is just to maintain functions like communications, infrastructure, intelligence etc. in support of the Constitutional Gov't, then I'd be okay about it. Regardless, I don't have enough information to pass judgement yet.