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	Nuclear option (filibuster) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		The nuclear option, sometimes called the "constitutional option," or the "Byrd" option, is a method by which changes can be made to the standard parliamentary procedure of the United States Senate by a simple majority vote, contrary to the requirements of the written rules.
		The parliamentary maneuver now dubbed the "nuclear option" has been used in the past, most notably by then-Democratic majority leader Robert Byrd in 1977, 1979, 1980, and 1987[1], when he employed it to end various dilatory tactics which Republican minorities were using to block legislation.
		Supporters of the nuclear option claim that Democrats are obstructing the approval of the president's nominees in violation of the intent of the U.S. Constitution.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Nuclear_option (5001 words)

	The Nuclear Option (The Anthropik Network)
		Nuclear power has, ironically enough, become the new panacea touted by environmentalists and the Bush administration--two groups one rarely finds on the same side of any issue.
		First, it is worth noting that nuclear power belongs under the broader heading of a "techno-fix," and thus inherits all the drawbacks shared by all members of that class, as discussed in thesis #16, including unintended consequences and susceptibility to Jevons Paradox.
		Nuclear energy would be a terrible idea, with long-ranging consequences for the human species and all life on earth; fortunately for us, it will be impossible to achieve on the scale required to result in such terrible ends.
	anthropik.com /2006/02/the-nuclear-option (3726 words)

	If You Can't Beat 'Em, Nuke 'Em
		For most of the nuclear age, it was the "international communist conspiracy." Though the nuclear option was created on the Democrats' watch in the post-Hiroshima world of the 1940s, it was conservative icons like General Douglas MacArthur and Strategic Air Command head Curtis LeMay who were most eager to reach for it.
		The "nuclear option," then, is the perfect metaphor for a GOP dominated by a coalition of the religious right and the neocons, urged on by and funded by the military-industrial complex.
		Although it's only coincidence that the "nuclear option" showdown in the Senate is coming in the same month as the NPT review, there's poetic justice in it.
	www.motherjones.com /commentary/columns/2005/05/nuclear_option.html (2475 words)

	More David Podvin 5/10/05
		The unspoken truth of the nuclear option charade is that the few Bush nominees whom the Democrats have bothered to filibuster are less circumspect, not more reactionary, than the goose steppers who have been confirmed.
		Polls show the nuclear option is unpopular with the electorate, a factor that would motivate the Democrats to drop any gambit immediately.
		Should the nuclear option somehow blow up in its face, the GOP can quickly regain the initiative by labeling the Democrats traitors while invoking the haunting specters of terrorism and gay marriage that render so many voters hysterical.
	makethemaccountable.com /podvin/more/050510_NuclearOption.htm (1421 words)

	Everything you wanted to know about the "nuclear option" - Salon
		With the nuclear option, Frist and his supporters would effectively change that rule so that filibusters on judicial nominees could be cut off by a simple majority vote.
		Media Matters has noted, reporters now frequently say that the "nuclear option" is what "Democrats call" the attempt to kill off the filibuster.
		Frist spins things a different way still: He says the "nuclear option" is what the Democrats "did to me last year when they changed the precedent" on the handling of judicial nominees.
	dir.salon.com /story/news/feature/2005/05/12/nuclear_option_primer/index.html (1070 words)

	The Nuclear Option
		Nuclear power accounts for 20 percent of U.S. electricity, and President George W. Bush included it as a viable energy alternative in his State of the Union address.
		Although Axelrod’s recent report included the facts that nuclear power is an attractive emissions-free alternative to much-maligned fossil fuels, and that plants are fortified to withstand all sorts of external disasters, most media accounts have centered on the scary unknowns – which will remain scary as long as the media leave so many questions unanswered.
		Though that was Stark’s impression, it turns out that the vast majority of people who live near nuclear plants aren’t so afraid, according to an August 2005 survey of more than 1,000 adults living within 10 miles of each of the 64 U.S. plants.
	www.freemarketproject.org /news/2006/news20060208b.asp (1009 words)

	Frist finger on 'nuclear' button=The Hill.com= (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-12)
		To do so, Senate GOP leaders are considering resorting to what they call the “constitutional option” and what Democrats deride as the “nuclear option” because they charge it would amount to a Republican declaration of all-out war against them.
		The constitutional option would require only a simple majority of senators to change the rules, but it would necessitate delving into the arcana of the Senate rules and employing an obscure parliamentary tactic.
		A third option would be for Republicans to raise constitutional point of order, whereby a lawmaker would assert that the filibuster of judicial nominees or conferees is unconstitutional.
	www.hillnews.com /news/051304/frist.aspx (1094 words)

	The Nuclear Option, by Katherine Brengle - Democratic Underground
		The nuclear option refers to "a seldom-used, complicated and highly controversial parliamentary maneuver in which Republicans could seek a ruling from the chamber's presiding officer, presumably Vice President Cheney, that filibusters against judicial nominees are unconstitutional" (Washington Post, 12/13/04).
		In short, the current Republican majority could force the "nuclear option" ruling, and then uphold it themselves, and then abuse the unlimited power it guarantees them (at least until 2006) to do, more or less, whatever they want until the tides shift and they no longer have a majority.
		They are couching the nuclear option in complicated language and trying to keep you away by making it all sound as boring as possible.
	www.democraticunderground.com /articles/05/03/30_nuclear.html (813 words)

	Climate: The Nuclear Option
		A 2001 report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration found that a single 1,000 megawatt nuclear powerplant could displace the equivalent of about 2.1 million tons of carbon from a coal-fired powerplant, 1.6 million tons from an oil-fired plant and 1.0 million tons from a natural-gas plant.
		Iran, for instance, claims it is trying to increase its nuclear power-generation industry, for the same reasons the Bush administration wants the United States nuclear industry to revive.
		Greenhouse warming is a global issue, but most new nuclear powerplants would have to be built in countries such as India and China, which might complicate the non-proliferation issue.
	www.terradaily.com /news/nuclear-civil-05zd.html (1050 words)

	The Next Hurrah: Nuclear Option
		Careening down the highway aboard the Nuclear Option Express, heedless of the possibility of a disastrous collision, it seems certain Republicans have just hit upon the idea that it might be a good idea to take a glance up at the road ahead.
		Thus, the Nuclear Option was not launched, and Democrats retain the option to filibuster a Supreme Court nominee.
		Footnotes on the Nuclear Option -- Part IX The other day, Daily Kos diarist eafredel pointed out the lengths to which Manny Miranda is going to prevent the courts from deciding once and for all whether what he did was theft or not.
	thenexthurrah.typepad.com /the_next_hurrah/nuclear_option (10636 words)

	In The Fight - Moving Ideas
		However, the "gang of 14" met on November 3 and agreed to stick together to avoid the nuclear option from happening.
		The "nuclear option" would side-step: Senate rules; the minority's Constitutional responsibility to advise and consent on judicial nominations; and 200 years of Senate tradition of using the filibuster to give the minority a voice on legislation and nominees.
		Republicans have claimed that such a drastic step as the "nuclear option" is necessary because Democrats are impeding the process of appointing federal judges to the point that the federal judiciary now has a vacancy crisis.
	www.movingideas.org /content/en/in_the_fight/nuclear_option.htm (831 words)

	t r u t h o u t - Senate GOP Set to Go 'Nuclear' Over Judges
		The nuclear option would be a last resort if other measures fail, said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who will likely play a central role in the debate as a member of the Judiciary Committee and chairman of the Constitution subcommittee.
		The nuclear option would begin with Frist taking the Senate floor to seek a ruling from the presiding officer, likely to be Vice President Dick Cheney in his role as Senate president, to determine whether judicial filibusters violate the Constitution.
		It's too early to tell whether Republicans are trotting out the nuclear option as a bargaining tactic, perhaps to persuade Democrats to release several nominees from their filibuster.
	www.truthout.org /docs_04/112904Z.shtml (1437 words)

	AlterNet: EnviroHealth: The Other Nuclear Option (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-12)
		His vehement resistance to storing nuclear waste in his state is just one example of an ongoing headache faced by the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission: everyone wants to find a "safe" place to store the nation's 77,000 tons of radioactive nuclear waste.
		The DOE examined several options for dealing with nuclear waste and finally decided on storing the stuff deep underground, where it would ideally be safe for at least 10,000 years, even though scientists estimate it will be at least 170,000 years before the waste is no longer dangerous.
		While the nuclear industry would like to downplay just how much of this stuff needs a safe place to hide, there are at least 40,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste in the United States awaiting disposal, and thousands more tons are produced each year.
	www.alternet.org /envirohealth/31686 (5142 words)

	BBC NEWS \| Europe \| France's nuclear option
		"It is 10% cheaper compared with current nuclear power plants, so it will allow for a decrease of the price of electricity," she said, during the unveiling in parliament of a report by MP Jean Bresson.
		The country's 58 nuclear plants are run by the state-owned Electricite de France company (EdF), and have an average age of 18 years.
		Government sources say about a third of the country's nuclear plants will have been in use for 40 years by 2025 and it is not certain their life can be further prolonged.
	news.bbc.co.uk /2/hi/europe/3177360.stm (654 words)

	BBC NEWS \| Politics \| Blair opens new nuclear options (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-12)
		The prime minister is believed to be convinced of the case for nuclear.
		Mr Blair said nuclear power was a difficult issue but should be settled by open debate, not protests to stop free speech.
		BBC political editor Nick Robinson says the prime minister has been convinced that building more nuclear power stations is the only way to meet energy needs and stick to the targets on climate change.
	news.bbc.co.uk /1/hi/uk_politics/4481242.stm (683 words)

	The US Nuclear Option and the "War on Terrorism"
		Nuclear weapons are no longer a weapon of last resort as during the Cold War era.
		The Nuclear weapons industry, which includes the production of nuclear devices as well as the missile delivery systems, etc. is controlled by a handful of defense contractors with Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Northrop, Raytheon and Boeing in the lead.
		The development of America’s nuclear arsenal including the pre-emptive use of nuclear weapons in conventional war theaters is an integral part of this process.
	www.globalresearch.ca /articles/CHO405A.html (2845 words)

	Nuclear option creep \| csmonitor.com (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-12)
		Even the leaked version of the Pentagon's "nuclear posture review," which was sharply criticized last spring for listing seven nations against which the US should be prepared to use nuclear weapons, did not authorize nuclear preemption against non-nuclear-weapon states.
		More states with nuclear weapons means more states that can threaten US cities and more chances that terrorists could get their hands on a nuclear weapon.
		But, in considering a preemptive nuclear strike against Iraq as an option, the Bush administration threatens to invalidate these past promises, effectively arguing that nuclear weapons are no different from conventional weapons and therefore do not need to be governed by separate rules.
	www.csmonitor.com /2003/0210/p09s01-coop.html (949 words)

	The Next Hurrah: Your Nuclear Option Resource Center: Monday Edition
		On Bolton, the Nuclear Option, and the Perception of Power--Part III
		On Bolton, the Nuclear Option, and the Perception of Power--Part II
		On Bolton, the Nuclear Option, and the Perception of Power--Part I
	thenexthurrah.typepad.com /the_next_hurrah/2005/05/your_nuclear_op.html (1842 words)

	Fristing at the Mouth
		Under the "nuclear option," Republicans would ask the chamber's presiding officer, who happens to be Vice President Dick Cheney, whether Democratic filibusters are unconstitutional.
		After Cheney rewrites history by declaring them so, only a simple majority of 51 votes is needed to uphold the ruling, as opposed to the 60 votes required to break a filibuster or the 67 votes required to change the rules under normal procedures.
		Maybe that's why Frist now calls the "nuclear option" the "constitutional option." Cloaking radical ideas in comforting language is a strategy that long precedes the GOP's recent filibuster flip-flop.
	www.thenation.com /blogs/outrage?bid=13&pid=2194 (628 words)

	Swing State Project: Nuclear Option: GOP Lie to Perpetuate a Fraud (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-12)
		Nuclear Option: GOP Lie to Perpetuate a Fraud
		Everyone knows that the entire premise behind the "nuclear option" is a lie.
		But the most dangerous implication of the GOP lying to push their power grab is that this is a lie designed to perpetuate a fraud.
	www.swingstateproject.com /2005/05/nuclear_option_5.php (123 words)

	WorldNetDaily: Nuclear option in Iraq?
		The White House is considering the use of tactical nuclear weapons and planning the break-up of Iraq as an objective in a broad military campaign set now for April, according to the military and intelligence sources of DEBKA-Net-Weekly.
		As a result of the serious threat of nuclear terrorism, the U.S., DEBKA reports, is weighing its own nuclear options.
		Whereas their initial instructions were to prepare a contingency plan for an American nuclear attack on the Iraqi leadership's underground towns, including the complexes occupied by Hussein and his military, political and economic teams, they have now been told to draft a second-strike nuclear blueprint.
	www.worldnetdaily.com /news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=26924 (730 words)

	Nuclear option
		When it came time to design the last nuclear power plant in the United States, most Americans were still watching fl-and-white TV sets — also designed and built in America.
		That is where, on March 28, 1979, a generator powered by a nuclear reactor went kaput, causing the Pennsylvania plant to suffer a partial meltdown.
		Now, for both geopolitical and financial reasons, the nuclear option is back on the table.
	www.thehill.com /thehill/export/TheHill/Comment/AndrewGlass/071205.html (584 words)

	Dangerous Dan » Nuclear Option
		One of the Republican talking points in support of the "nuclear option" that would take away the Democrats' ability to filibuster judicial nominees is that there's nothing in the Constitution that requires a 3/5 majority to achieve cloture.
		I'm not in favor of the nuclear option and Frist should resist the political pressure to go that route.
		Since the nuclear option is in fact a change of Senate precedent, there are other precedent changes that could be implemented instead.
	dangerousdan.us /?p=1005 (1041 words)

	AlterNet: The "Nuclear Option" (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-12)
		But this has not dampened Republicans' enthusiasm for the "nuclear option," which refers to a narrow majority of the Senate circumventing the Senate's rules and declaring that a simple majority can cut off debate on a judicial nominee.
		Instead, by threatening use of the "nuclear option" on the opening day of the 109th Congress in his "welcome" remarks on the Senate floor, Frist launched a deliberate and pre-emptive assault on bipartisanship.
		Further, as Minority Leader Reid warned over the past months, use of the nuclear option itself will rightly spark a conflagration of protest by Senate Democrats in the form of objection to routine business and to traditional means of expediting the Senate's work.
	www.alternet.org /story/21212 (1807 words)

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