As many are aware, president Bush during his five and one-half years in office has eliminated the need to veto a bill passed by congress. Wow! That's quite an accomplishment. Vetoes are, like, so passe they've become antiquated curiosities assigned to the dustbin of history. That's all thanks to Bush's creative use of those little signing statements he adds to bills he's signed--after everyone leaves the room! (Examples follow.)
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Dec. 30, 2005: US interrogators cannot torture prisoners or otherwise subject them to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.
Bush's signing statement: The president, as commander in chief, can waive the torture ban if he decides that harsh interrogation techniques will assist in preventing terrorist attacks.
Dec. 30: When requested, scientific information ''prepared by government researchers and scientists shall be transmitted [to Congress] uncensored and without delay."
Bush's signing statement: The president can tell researchers to withhold any information from Congress if he decides its disclosure could impair foreign relations, national security, or the workings of the executive branch.
Dec. 23, 2004: Forbids US troops in Colombia from participating in any combat against rebels, except in cases of self-defense. Caps the number of US troops allowed in Colombia at 800.
Bush's signing statement: Only the president, as commander in chief, can place restrictions on the use of US armed forces, so the executive branch will construe the law ''as advisory in nature."*
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Not only has Bush eliminated the need for the messy veto, congressional mano a mano of confrontation, haggling and compromise, Bush has taken on the role of the nation's judiciary by deciding what is and isn't within his powers. And so increasingly unnecessary has it become, look for the total abolition of congress within the next year or two.
In Bush's own words, "it would be much easier if this was a dictatorship, as long as I get to be the dictator," wasn't just hyperbole, it was Bush's subtle way of hinting to us all what's gone down. We just thought he was kidding--in his usual "affable" way.
I'm amazed that the Founding Fathers didn't see how easy the potential for the total gutting of their supreme achievement, the Constitution, was. But perhaps what surprises me more is the fact a small band of pyschopathic renegade extremists like the Bush clowns didn't seize the power two hundred years ago.
Perhaps back then we could have survived the despotism and evolved beyond the police state from which we now reap the "benefits." Maybe, if this had happened sooner, we would now be closer to the true democracy we all claim to be, but in truth only covet in fantasy as we run away from it, light speed.
But today, Bush has cultivated a world that pretty much hates America universally and some of those nation states have nuclear weapons. It's gonna be a little trickier getting beyond this case of fascism than if we'd gotten this all behind us, say, back in the early 19th Century when the weapon of the day was the musket.
*Attribute: The Beast, "Top Ten Signs of the Impending U.S. Police State"
7 comments:
as you point out, his signing stmnts all have the common theme of Nat'l Security, so that little 9-11 thing certainly has worked out well for bush. Born with an unprecedented sense of entitlement, he must have read or somehow heard about Orwell & his damn prophesy of "all-war-all-the-time" allowing a total power grab. Throw in religious zeal & omg, you're right, how did the founding fathers not see this coming?
yes, the world hasn't bought our BS (so far). I can still travel outside the US by pretending to be Canadian. I see that leading to having to pretend to be from a red state when traveling in a red state, slapping W'08 stickers on at the border checkpoints. But eventually that little dilemma will be solved when all states are red, one-party 100% support for the current administration. To take care of any residual feelings that something's not quite right, that in fact something smells like Stalin, we'll be encouraged to vent like hell during the daily Two-Minute Hate.
Doesn't it seem like we've been dancing around this WWIII nuclear nightmare our whole lives? Dancing a little closer to event horizon with each power-push. But who really thought the US would be the instigators. D.K.
DK...first of all, I want to apologize for things being a little hectic the past few days such that I haven't had the time I'd like to respond to some of the great comments being made here.
Translation of DK's assessment of our president...
"born with an unprecedented sense of entitlement"
= "born with a silver fork up his ass"
But, you know, you're right. I don't think (no, I KNOW) a day's gone by in my freakin' lifetime I haven't been living under the threat of a nukular cloud. Of course, the point is REALLY driven home when we realize it's the sick bastards with their fingers on the buttons! Holy shit.
But....BUT....wait...."I've got a secret".....I think I'll go blog just a hint of it.....and then I'll work towards responding to some of these comments.
hahaha, whether silver, gold, or depleted uranium, he's certainly got something up his ass!
i had a late-night thought about those pesky little signing stmnts ... why is it just because he makes them, everyone feels they mean something? why do they carry any weight at all? he's not a legislator, but his signing stmnts make legislation. he's not judicial, but his signing stmnts make judicial interpretations. there must be some precedent I'm not aware of, something somewhere that gives his stmnts some kind of weight. or is this just more GOP razzle-dazzle that somehow slides down the collective american throat so smoothly? cuz i just don't see it ... far as i'm concerned, any stmnt he makes, signing, singing or stinging, should be treated as an inept joke.
and yeah, this guy's got his finger on the nuke-button ... though I'm thinking he'll let condi actually do the pushing just to give her the thrill she so obviously desperately needs. D.K.
Hi DK....oh, alas, isn't it because anything this inept president does, we let him do?
We let him and his thugs steal 2 elections, lie us into war, violate int'l treaties, trample our constitutional rights, bankrupt the nation and attach his personal overrides to acts he signs into laws, etc. etc., because dumb-assed Americans LET HIM?
Wow....makes you wish for the good ol' days of the French Revolution. (grin)
ah yes, the original "The Terror", Madame La Guillotine! You know I have some old knitting needles around, but was always so inept with them, I'd probably end up harming myself like the Madame DeFarge-ish character in Mel Brooks History of the World. (vee are soooh puuer, vee dahn't ayven have fransh, just dees stoopit fransh awkscents) -- D.K.
D.K.
Before you even mentioned Orwell, I began having visions of America as it GWB would like to have it. He could be the dictator, and posters of his monkey face would festoon every window, wall, and bus stop. We would spend the Two-Minutes Hate watching slideshows of Al-Quida leaders marching triumphantly through Baghdad, holding the blackened corpses of American soldiers high above their heads.
Sorry if that was a mite gruesome, but I think perhaps I'm getting a little cynical.
nina, NO--cynicism is healthy, keep cultivating it! if anything, we need to be more cynical regarding most, if not all, the BS being floated by the govt and disseminated by our own press.
It's funny, I had a 10-yr old niece ask me recently to define "cynical". naturally I flubbed it; I hate being put on the spot like that. All I could come up with were examples of critical thinking. The end result was my niece saying by the way I described it, it sounded desireable (not negative) & should be taught in school. In the future, I think I'll send similar questioners to you, you've got it down! D.K.
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