May 01, 2006

• "The Constitution grants Congress the power to create armies, to declare war, to make rules for captured enemies, and 'to make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces.' But, citing his role as commander in chief, Bush says he can ignore any act of Congress that seeks to regulate the military. On at least four occasions while Bush has been president, Congress has passed laws forbidding US troops from engaging in combat in Colombia, where the US military is advising the government in its struggle against narcotics-funded Marxist rebels. After signing each bill, Bush declared in his signing statement that he did not have to obey any of the Colombia restrictions because he is commander in chief. Bush has also said he can bypass laws requiring him to tell Congress before diverting money from an authorized program in order to start a secret operation, such as the ''black sites" where suspected terrorists are secretly imprisoned."
• Arise ye starvelings from your slumbers Arise ye prisoners of want For reason in revolt now thunders and at last ends the age of cant. Now away with all your superstitions Servile masses arise, arise! We'll change forthwith the old conditions And spurn the dust to win the prize.
• Something has to happen, democrats are not going to fix this mess.
• Alex Ander, nobody is going to fix this mess. Our Congress is too frightened/cowed/spineless to take any action, and anything short of a full revolution by the general public will fail. Since that's simply not going to happen, Bush has the power to do whatever the hell he wants. Pitiful, isn't it?
• Impeach! Impeach! Impeach! What..that hasn't worked yet... Rebel! Rebel! Rebel!
• democrats are not going to fix this mess. Dimmycraps are part of this mess. Almost as much as Repuglinutz.
• I sure have not researched this issue, but 750 sounds like an awful lot of laws. Using the same definition of disobeying laws, how many laws did previous presidents break? How many did Clinton break? The number reminds me of attacks on politicians for raising taxes 8,000 times or whatever they claim. Their definition for what consitutes voting for a tax increase is enough to boggle the mind. I think that whatever point is trying to be made here about Bush would be better demonstrated by specific lawbreaking that has been done in a way that is inconsistent with previous presidents.
• Hope this is somewhat on topic. Has anyone posted this yet? It's not fear of crabby Chy snapping that holds me back, just fear of repetition.
• Hmmm, so the question is whether or not Bush really did have sex with that woman might have broken at least one eeensy-teeensy-weeensy law, and that's why we're all upset here?
• Rome, same thing.
• *braves repetition fears and curmudgeonophobia*
• ♪♬"We've been trodding on the wine press, much too long..."
• I dare him to not pay his income tax or tamper with a mailbox.
• wingnut: Reagan used 75, Bush I less than that and Clinton somewhere in between. 247 total for all three predecessors to The Great Fuckup. And yet somehow I blame those who voted for Bush. and society. Charge them, too.
• Yes, Indeed 'Merica is F**KED
• Malignant egophrenia, you say?
• ABA Investigates Signing Statements
• "During the presidency of George W. Bush, the White House has made an unprecedented reach for power. It has systematically attempted to defy, control, or threaten the institutions that could challenge it: Congress, the courts, and the press. It has attempted to upset the balance of power among the three branches of government provided for in the Constitution; but its most aggressive and consistent assaults have been against the legislative branch: Bush has time and again said that he feels free to carry out a law as he sees fit, not as Congress wrote it. Through secrecy and contemptuous treatment of Congress, the Bush White House has made the executive branch less accountable than at any time in modern American history. And because of the complaisance of Congress, it has largely succeeded in its efforts."
• Wow, so is that related to a book? Nice article, I'll have to get my readin' boots on and dig in there.
• I don't think it's from a book, I think it's just the article.
• Arlen Specter and a CIA torture victim know: Only the Oval Office decides what the law is
• Of Laws and Men, and Would Be Monarchs
• Happy Birthday!
• Crowning Our Napoleon in Rags
• Wow, ann coulter really does look like riff raff.
• ‘The President Is Always Right’
• The Real Agenda
• Hey! Maybe he'll declare himself Pope!
• Dobbs: Why is the president ignoring our laws? Huh. I wonder if . . . naahhh.
• The pilot and Vietnam POW -- a staunch Republican -- who pushed through the War Crimes Act of 1996 is appalled that the Bush administration, facing possible prosecution for war crimes, is devising a legal escape hatch.
• Is it wishful thinking on my part, or are we edging closer and closer to the point where the Republican party is going to realize that throwing behind the leadership whether they're right or wrong is a bad idea? Or am I being confused by election-year strategy?
• The Bush Power-Grab Scorecard
• Happy Constitution Day! Remember the Constitution?
• Bush says he can edit security reports
• WASHINGTON - President Bush, again defying Congress, says he has the power to edit the Homeland Security Department's reports about whether it obeys privacy rules while handling background checks, ID cards and watchlists. In the law Bush signed Wednesday, Congress stated no one but the privacy officer could alter, delay or prohibit the mandatory annual report on Homeland Security department activities that affect privacy, including complaints. But Bush, in a signing statement attached to the agency's 2007 spending bill, said he will interpret that section "in a manner consistent with the President's constitutional authority to supervise the unitary executive branch." Fuck!
• Also, in the same bill: Bush's signing statement Wednesday challenges several other provisions in the Homeland Security spending bill. Bush, for example, said he'd disregard a requirement that the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency must have at least five years experience and "demonstrated ability in and knowledge of emergency management and homeland security." His rationale was that it "rules out a large portion of those persons best qualified by experience and knowledge to fill the office." Future prison bitch.
• Olbermann's Latest. It's amazing to me he hasn't been "disappeared" yet.
• It is the failure and the incompetence within your own memory, Mr. Bush, that leads you to demonize those who might merely quote to you the pleadings of Oliver Cromwell: "I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken." I wish he was on later so I could catch it. Another grand one...
• Bush 41 apparently said this to scare Republicans into voting next month. I don't know what effect it had on them, but hearing about a "ghastly future" for Bush 43, Specter, and Santorum if the Dems take the congress just makes me giddy. I can't wait to vote. I wonder how many Republicans are going to be too fucking embarrassed to even get out of bed on election day to go vote for their assorted criminals and child molesters.
• I dunno sb, I hope all goes well but don't underestimate the power of groupthink and fear mongering. Republicans will be fine. In the face of all that indicates they shouldn't be. The election and democratic politics has less to do with representation and voting than it does with who controls the media content. Which is why it's incredibly fucking broken. As Rove knows, and delights in. The Republicans will re-elect themselves in just fine.
• I wonder how many Republicans are going to be too fucking embarrassed to even get out of bed on election day to go vote for their assorted criminals and child molesters. It's a nice fantasy, but I don't see it happening any time soon. Likewise, what pete just said above. While the Republicans are sure to lose some ground, I don't expect to see a massive wave of support for the Democrats. Ignorance is ripe and teeming amongst the lands of the great nation.
• *fondles smt's and pete's children*
• *slaps the dirty little paw*
• The election and democratic politics has less to do with representation and voting than it does with who controls the media content. Have you seen the media in the past few days? (Not this.) It's all Foley and "Iraq is a disaster." Ignorance is ripe Ignorance stops people from caring about signing statements or outing undercover agents, but not child molestation. Midters are about base vs base. Dems have loads of reasons to get up early on Nov 7 to vote. We need a majority to stop all this madness. What motivates the GOP base to stand in line to vote? The religious right part of the base wants to ban the gay, but their majority hasn't done that in the first 6 years- in fact, they've spent most of them covering for a gay sexual predator. These people aren't voting Dem anytime soon, but why vote at all? It depends on the voter, and depends on the politician, but many won't. For others, the issues will a failure to get rid of social security and out-of-control spending. Dems will waste all your tax money, but apparently so will republicans, so why vote? Dems are weak on terror and lousy on defense, but it'd be hard to fuck Iraq up more than the GOP has. And, case I didn't mention it, Republicans protected a known child molester, and got him re-elected twice. That's inescapable, and it will be on every parent's mind in the election booth. "Did my congressman know?"
• T.O. becoming children's book author !!! What motivates the GOP base to stand in line to vote? Teh ghey, as you mention, as well as enormously long lines of trucks filled to the brim with fear. Fear of terrorism, fear of taxes, fear of their husbands who are big Conservatives, fear for their children, fear for gas prices . . . Republicans protected a known child molester, Nuh uh. They only found out this week when the story broke. Plus the Democrats planted a gay man in the Congress. Plus, also? President Bush is good. I think you're making the classic mistake of using what some people call "logic" in critiquing these elections. Logic is out. Fear is the new black. Fear is great because it only works one way: vote conservative. Plus we have, what three more weeks to forget this unfortunate misunderstanding and freak people out about something. Did you hear the airlines stopped, um, letting people carry things? Dude, it's totally true. Terr'ism y'know. 9/11.
• My understanding was that Foley was hitting on kids that were above the age of consent (~16yr). Was I misinformed?
• After reading this dKos post I have a few things to add. The GOP doesn't just magically win. Rove doesn't just send his tentacles out into American bedrooms and brainwash everyone into voting Republican. They've won because they have campaign mechanisms that are more effective than the Dems' and some of those mechanisms are coming undone thanks to this scandal. Reynolds, head of the NRCC (which is in charge of getting GOP congressman elected) is too busy strapping babies to his head and dodging awkward questions and surviving his own election (he won't) to help get others elected. Most GOP house leaders won't be making public appearances at fundraisers and to support other candidates. This will cut into their campaign funds, and that's bad news for them in a year when they've actually had to spend money defending seats in places like Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.
• How's that kool-aid taste? Mmmm...tastes good. Rove doesn't have to say anything. Dems have already convinced themselves that they're going to lose to a bunch of criminals and sexual predators.
• I'm out. No more posting in these political threads for me. Try not to let Karl Rove's shadow scare you away on the way to the voting booth next month.
• Hey if it happens, great. But Bush being elected in 2004 (as opposed to the first time) really put the boot in my belief that the American voter knows his ass from a hole in the ground. I'll be voting. And I'll be watching all the old folks and suburbanites and, fuck, gay Republicans and everybody go ahead and vote for fear and loathing. That's what they do. Apparently. And fwiw, the majority of respondents to a web cartoon on CNN think the Republicans will lose the House in November.
• Ignorance stops people from caring about signing statements or outing undercover agents, but not child molestation. You are right. But I think what's happening is that the magical Republican spin can turn this so-called "child molestation" around and dump it on, say, the Democrats for example! When I said that ignorance is ripe, I was just making a generalization that I think a lot of people in the US just don't care enough to put this all together. Yeah, they'll freak out about a politician "molesting" an underage individual -- but they'll just go along with the false info that is fed to them without even giving it thought (e.g., Foley is a Democrat). And smallish bear, I happen to like your comments in most of these so-called political threads. Honestly, I think we could use some more of it. I will sure as hell be voting in November. Not out of fear, but out of the last quickly-fading drop of patriotism that resides within myself. Fuck Karl Rove.
• Fear is the new black. So, is "Stay the course" the new "Duck and cover?"
• "Cut and run" is the new "commie pinko"
• This is a thread where a little Godwin would make a lot of sense.
• Fascinating, et tu, Sports Illustrated? As those of you with access to the Internet, television, radio, a newspaper or watercooler may have gathered -- that is, when you haven't been distracted by former Republican congressman Mark Foley and his little instant-message problem -- Terrell Owens makes his turbulent return to Philadelphia on Sunday. Note the spin and the recurrence of T.O. Coincidence? I think fnord!
• Backup contingency plan #6002-b-az.23: "Media Fury" a)Wake sleeper columbine cells b)Wake plan "RHO TO DELTA" on basis of homosexuality c)Wake sleeper sports ID 099-725-924 (or backup) - authorized to induce coma only d)Wake sleeper celeb ID 228-778-8921 (or backup) - authorized to X the mark with barbiturates e)Adjust market accordingly (+/- crude)
• See also.
• Bush cites authority to bypass FEMA law. Signing statement is employed again.
• Federal appeals court judges nominated by President Bush are threatening and undermining Americans’ rights and liberties, and working to reduce congressional authority to protect those rights and liberties, according to a legal analysis published today by People For the American Way Foundation.
• Fortunately the framers set in place an oversight functionality of Congress. UNfortunately Congress are all a bunch of rubber-stamp Republican Fuckerists. Or so some people say.
• But those people hate America! They're not even people, really. Vermin traitors!
• A message for the framers.
• A letter of congratulations from Terry Jones
• "Of course, your unstinting efforts to make torture an internationally accepted aspect of human life have surpassed everything we could have ever hoped for. I don't think there is a single member of the league who could have imagined, six short years ago, that our activities in tormenting our fellow creatures would once again be recognised as acceptable, civilised behaviour, as it once was in the middle ages. Despite these achievements, we had, until now, felt unable to extend our invitation to you because you had been unable to fulfil one of our basic requirements: the ability to carry out arbitrary arrests, imprisonment without trial, secret torture and executions at will. We approved of your attempts to establish the principles of arbitrary arrest under the Homeland Security Act of 2002, but unfortunately it was still restricted to terror suspects. We appreciate that you were hampered by the US constitution, but the restrictions this imposed on your arbitrary powers kept you below the threshold requirements for qualification as a despot." Yowch. Thanks Koko. Your H-doggery is quality. And sorta hot.
• "They did a really good job this time" -- No MCA Signing Statement
• I just can't get over the signage attached to the front of the table where chimpy signed this treasonous piece-of-a-bill. Next to the Presidential Seal: PROTECTING AMERICA. I mean, what next? Bush should have that baby emblazoned across the front of his chest; the superhero to save every last American in a single bound! Goebbels couldn't have played this better.
• Confronting The Rogue President
• Yow. That was scary.
• The real reason the Bush administration won't back down on Guantanamo.
• well goddamn.
• Crippling Our Civil Service
• The White House will thus have a gatekeeper in each agency to analyze the costs and the benefits of new rules and to make sure the agencies carry out the president's priorities...This strengthens the hand of the White House in shaping rules that have, in the past, often been generated by civil servants and scientific experts. That's right! Who do those scientific experts think they are, trying to subvert the president's priorities? Get a rope.
• Bush Is Not Above the Law
• White House Advisers Searching for Ways to ‘Bypass Congress Altogether’
• U.S. News reports that conservatives have seen the writing on the wall and are now advising Bush to “jump start” his final two years by pushing through as much as he can by executive fiat: Well sure, why not. It's Same S* Different Day right? 9/11. Freedom. Amer'cn People. Heh heh heh.
• Oooh, WE are not amused!
• What happens when the grandiose fantasies of a megalomaniacal, emotionally palsied fraud finally come crashing through the plate glass window of reality? I dunno . . . what?
• If George Were King!
• Weekly Standard: Bush has "near dictatorial power"
• Amazing. Great link, H-Dawg.
• Profiles in Journalism
• H Dawg for prezident.
• *votes, early and often*
• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is threatening to take President Bush to court if he issues a signing statement as a way of sidestepping a carefully crafted compromise Iraq war spending bill.
• Bush Anoints Himself as the Insurer of Constitutional Government in Emergency
• Dammit, take him to court and IMPEACH him already!
• In the interest of quick response to some emergencies, I can see why we'd want a competent leader to get response flowing, but that's a momentary thing, and assumes that the president is competent and that the response should be turred over to whichever experts very quickly. This president hasn't been able to show that he's good at responding to anything, and I'm not sure any future one will be. As I've pointed out in the past, there's no longer an email address for president.gov. There is one for whitehouse.gov (which I think they don't read.) and one for vicepresident.gov. But, this strikes me as an issue that a bombardment of nay-sayers need to respond to. I plan to.
• OOPS, I didn't say that you shold get in touch will every senator or representive you can. But, maybe, you know that. Email addesses are availalble on-line.
• Aaaaaaaannnd we're done! Monarchy established. That's a wrap people! Wouldn't it be "Ensurer" though?
• It might be Lord Protector.
• First Lord of the Treasury, Lord Chief Justice, Commander-in-Chief, Lord High Admiral, Master of the Buckhounds, Groom of the Back Stairs, Archbishop of Titipu, and Lord Mayor, both acting and elect, all rolled into one?
• Report: Bush "Signing Statements" May Have Affected Implementation of Laws
• The fact that there is a Government Accountability Office makes me giggle.
• Don’t Veto, Don’t Obey
• Bush claims oversight exemption too: The White House says the president's own order on classified data does not apply to his office or the vice president's.
• There is no government accountability, just oversight and exemption for King Bush
• GOP Senator seeks to limit presidential signing statements
• Groups on left, right ask candidates to reject Bush's wider powers
• Signing statement is president's first since 2006
• Bush trying to sidestep Congress on permanent bases question: 'Signing statement' attached to new defence bill seeks to reserve the right to build bases in Iraq
• Obama Memo Limits Use Of Signing Statements
• Ex-Bush Admin Official: Many at Gitmo Are Innocent Well duh.
• Wow! Never say the Bush Administration was slow on the uptake. /sarcasm