US Agencies don't need a Constitutional Amendment to come into existence - the usual method is simply a law that Congress passes that the President then signs. E.g. Dept of Energy, Dept of Education, Dept of Homeland Security, Dept of Housing and Urban Development, etc. going way back to the Dept of Foreign Affairs (precursor to Dept of State).
Obamacare (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) was also created by Congress - bill passed in both houses, signed by the President, upheld by the Supreme Court. That's basically a textbook example of how the system is supposed to work.
I'm not sure why the EPA (and others, like FEMA) were created by Executive Order instead.
As far as why Congress hasn't declared war since WW2, they've basically rolled up their say into the War Powers Act and the War Powers Resolution which provides for them being informed and issuing continuing approvals. They can then support the President (as Commander in Chief) but not officially declare war.
My understanding was that the IRS was directed to enact Obamacare by Executive Order, because they (the Federal Government) have no Constitutional mandate in that area. Same with the EPA.
I think GP was talking about the historical (1600s) perspective, in which stock was literally created for both raising capital and reducing risk in maritime stuff (specifically East India company).
There probably are beneficial areas to reduce grocery plastic, but some of that plastic packaging is how/why food stays fresh on shelves longer. Cutting that back means increasing preservatives, throwing stuff out more often, shopping more often, etc.
Getting rid of plastic bags and other low hanging fruit (like straws) might not make a huge difference. On the other hand part of the battle is changing human behavior so starting with low hanging fruit is a good way to get people used to looking for plastic alternatives.
They could always start with the non food related products. Why does every piece of tech seem to come in a ton of plastic packaging anyway? Not so much the computers, but mice, printers, cartridges, etc...
Reduce or ban plastic from being used to package tech products, toys, media and random non food consumables and you'd probably cut down on a lot of plastic usage now.
Yeah, I know that logic. But I think the same still applies; the environmental impact matters more than a company's bottom line does, and I feel governments should start taking that into account.
Someone with a masters in education may or may not have the knowledge required for a particular subject, say a math or science. Or another way, just because someone has a masters in education doesn’t mean they can teach any specific class. Their background could be in counseling, administration, school psychology, or education methodology... not, for instance, typical high school subjects.
A degree in anything but the subjects they teach? Does that mean that a high school physics teacher knows nothing more about physics than high school physics?
> Does that mean that a high school physics teacher knows nothing more about physics than high school physics?
Probably not; the state policies adopted under the pressure of NCLB and it's successors put strong pressure on districts to hire teachers with at least a bachelor's degree in the field taught for secondary schools, and even teachers that don't will often have additional coursework as part of college breadth requirements.
Well, the more difficult/specialized the subject, the fewer available teachers. Plus, someone that knows calculus well enough to teach it likely has other job prospects (competitive pay).
>The 17th amendment[1] is another, which allowed for the direct election (and thus hyper politicization) of Senators.
The time before the 17th Amendment wasn't exactly all roses, that was the age of outright bribery of state legislatures for Senate seats. William Clark's famous quote "I never bought a man who wasn't for sale" was about this and the surrounding corruption of his election brought the 17th Amendment around.[0]
Listen to the 6th episode of the Constitutional podcast for some extra background, it is very interesting. Some states really wanted this because they were unable to even elect Senators due to political parties of the time simply not agreeing on anybody.[1]
I switched from UE to ST entirely because of UE's licensing/activation model.
Maybe it is different now, but UE used to require an internet connection for the registration... or you had to email your info for offline codes.
I have a bunch of isolated machines at work, physical and virtual, and got tired of dealing with UE and its registration requirements. Especially when ST gave a license key file I could copy around as needed.
So I switched. But yeah, I remember UE was a really good editor. Now I'm happy with ST.
Years ago, a club I was in was using Yahoo Groups, and over time more and more events were posted to Facebook. People complained, and eventually the organizer wrote back "I've been using Facebook because it lets me schedule an event, track RVSP's, link to the location/map, add members, post pics, and help advertise/recruit for more members. Anybody that wants to help or takeover any or all of this, let me know".
Total silence for a day or two before about 50 of us joined Facebook.
That was 8 years ago. I moved away but now I'm in at least 4 clubs that actively use Facebook for events... now it's typical for friends to schedule birthday parties, housewarmings, plain old get-togethers via Facebook private events. Also alumni groups, community events and so on that keep in touch or advertise things to do that way.
The only thing I'm tired of is people that constantly mention how they quit Facebook. I don't care. It serves a useful purpose for me. It's like that Onion article about the guy who doesn't own a TV and mentions that as often as possible - Onion should do an update starring Facebook quitters.
And before anybody suggests it, Meetup isn't a good alternative. (I'm an organizer of a Meetup group as well; I like Meetup but fills a different niche.)
> And before anybody suggests it, Meetup isn't a good alternative.
I agree. And Meetup in general is starting to go downhill here in Seattle. More and more, I'm seeing more "meetups" that are actually more on the lines of suburban "mortgage seminars" but for tech.
Example: Company XYZ launches a new API, so they host a "meetup" with free beer at their HQ where 2/3 of the time is spent by a "developer relations manager" advertising the new API. In the other 1/3 of the meetup, the atmosphere is noticeably awkward and nobody really talks to anyone beyond a friendly hello.
Their budget is sizeable but less than the annual profits of Google, Microsoft, Apple, etc. And NSA pays for tons of stuff that those corporations don't have to deal with like having thousands of linguists.
Where is the responsibility of corporations in all of this? They have a cash pile that dwarfs the entire intel budget and ought to be the FIRST entities that invest in fixing their OWN products, right?
> Where is the responsibility of corporations in all of this?
Somewhere around here :-
> "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!"
Sorry shareholders, you'll be getting a tiny dividend this year because we are spending a huge part of our 'profit' on backfixing all the shit we let slide said no CEO ever.
Obamacare (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) was also created by Congress - bill passed in both houses, signed by the President, upheld by the Supreme Court. That's basically a textbook example of how the system is supposed to work.
I'm not sure why the EPA (and others, like FEMA) were created by Executive Order instead.
As far as why Congress hasn't declared war since WW2, they've basically rolled up their say into the War Powers Act and the War Powers Resolution which provides for them being informed and issuing continuing approvals. They can then support the President (as Commander in Chief) but not officially declare war.