Don't We Have a Constitution, Not a King?

It seems only sane to have an emergency powers program. Had the USSR sent a few missiles to America it would have been imperative to have a central command of the nation.

Bush has issued a directive that would place all governmental powers in his hands in the case of a catastrophic emergency. If a terrorist attack happens before the 2008 election, could Bush and Cheney use this to avoid relinquishing power to a successor administration?

But in Bush's hands, such an authority is fucking chilling. Press Iran. Force them to retaliate. Take dictatorial control of the government.

Do you feel the ice water in your veins?

Since March 9, 1933, the United States has been in a state of declared national emergency. In fact, there are now in effect four presidentially proclaimed states of national emergency: In addition to the national emergency declared by President Roosevelt in 1933, there are also the national emergency proclaimed by President Truman on December 16, 1950, during the Korean conflict, and the states of national emergency declared by President Nixon on March 23, 1970, and August 15, 1971.

These proclamations give force to 470 provisions of federal law. These hundreds of statutes delegate to the president extraordinary powers, ordinarily exercised by the Congress, which affect the lives of American citizens in a host of all-encompassing ways. This vast range of powers, taken together, confers enough authority to rule the country without reference to normal constitutional processes.

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US to take in more Iraqi refugees

File under big fat fucking deal.

The Bush administration will allow 7,000 Iraqi refugees into the United States and says it will pay more to help Iraq's Arab neighbours cope with the human tide fleeing the violence and economic hardship.

The move comes after the US came under heavy criticism for taking in only 202 Iraqi refugees in 2006.

The State Department also said on Wednesday that it would offer $18 million to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to help displaced Iraqis.

It is estimated around four million Iraqis have fled their homes and their country as violence continues.

Bush's decision to invade and occupy a sovereign (why isn't it spelled sovren so I don't have to always look it up?) nation has driven 4,000,000 (count the zeros) Iraqis to leave and he's willing to accept 7,000 (count the zeros) refugees into the US? What a wonderful king.

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Must Read IMHO

I'll let this little snippet speak for me.

If we do not impeach Bush, we will have established that it is acceptable for presidents to lie us into wars, to spy without warrants, to detain without charge, to torture, to reverse laws with signing statements, etc. For similar reasons, we must impeach Cheney too. These reasons go to the survival of our democracy, a matter of far greater significance than the person who next sits in the office of the presidency – or the office of the king if that is what it is to become.

That's the gist of it, folks. We are, without an impeachment, setting a precedent which will allow future world dictators to break any law they want to with impunity.

Personally I don't want to see such dictatorial powers in the hands of a Republican or a Democrat. What's the point of having a great Constitution and Bill of Rights if we allow anyone domain over US?

Sometime soon I hope the Democrats will "fix" signing statements. They have to be limited to a narrow interpretation of a bill and open to revision by Congress. This "oh well, its out of our hands because he issued a signing statement" shit is ridiculous. The president has no right to make a binding commitment that isn't subject to review.

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