Advice and concent on appointments

If this linked article can be trusted, the fiasco of President Obama's illegal recess appointments illustrates exactly why advice and consent is so critical a function of the Senate.  Among the decisions of his crack team (as in "smoking crack") for labor relations:

1.  That sandwich-makers have the right to (falsely it appears) post fliers suggesting that Jimmy-Johns will serve them a sandwich laced with influenza.  (in the middle of a union organizing campaign)

2.  That those who report workplace violations (like medical personnel sleeping on the job) can have their names reported to their union.

3.  That an employer rule requiring courtesy on the part of employees was illegal.

4.  Requiring employers to pay the income tax on back pay.

It's worth noting, by the way, that cases 1 and 2 tell you all you need to know about unions--the truth is all too often optional, and they don't care whether their lies get you fired. 

Also, #1 and #3 hit on a central part of most severance agreements, which is that the employee leaving not bad-mouth the company.   It's a very good thing that the courts stopped Obama on this, because otherwise the precedent being set is that one can insult one's employer at will--truly or falsely--and the govenrment will protect that behavior.

Good luck running a company with that precedent!  And as I noted earlier today, now more than ever, we need leaders who understand how business works.