Kickin' It Old School

I'm beginning to think that there are many in this country that think post 9/11 mindset means that 1776 is highly irrelevant. Just in case you can't remember 3rd grade or were checkin out that person in the desk next to you in high school civics....Here's the rules.

Now, here's what's happening with the patriot act:

Under the law, the administration would have to provide the information to Congress by certain dates.........But after the reporters and guests had left, the White House quietly issued a ''signing statement," an official document in which a president lays out his interpretation of a new law....Bush wrote: ''The executive branch shall construe the provisions . . . that call for furnishing information to entities outside the executive branch . . . in a manner consistent with the president's constitutional authority to supervise the unitary executive branch and to withhold information . . . "

You know, some of this I understand as to national security and all but it should be a very little amount of information and not reams. It needs to be that way so ONE person does not have too much power. The very essence of our nation and why it was formed the way it was.

The statement represented the latest in a string of high-profile instances in which Bush has cited his constitutional authority to bypass a law.
After The New York Times disclosed in December that Bush had authorized the military to conduct electronic surveillance of Americans' international phone calls and e-mails without obtaining warrants, as required by law, Bush said his wartime powers gave him the right to ignore the warrant law.
And when Congress passed a law forbidding the torture of any detainee in US custody, Bush signed the bill but issued a signing statement declaring that he could bypass the law if he believed using harsh interrogation techniques was necessary to protect national security.
Past presidents occasionally used such signing statements to describe their interpretations of laws, but Bush has expanded the practice. He has also been more assertive in claiming the authority to override provisions he thinks intrude on his power, legal scholars said.....One Democrat, Senator Russell Feingold of Wisconsin, has gone so far as to propose censuring Bush, saying he has broken the wiretapping law.

Wow! I bet he got an 'A' in history and civics. He knows his stuff.

''The signing statement makes clear that the president will faithfully execute the law in a manner that is consistent with the Constitution," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. ''The president has welcomed at least seven Inspector General reports on the Patriot Act since it was first passed, and there has not been one verified abuse of civil liberties using the Patriot Act."

Actually.....it doesn't. It says the president will decide who gets to know what and if the president does it it's not against the law. How will we find any abuses under those conditions?

''On the one hand, they deny that Congress even has the authority to pass laws on these subjects like torture and eavesdropping, and in addition to that, they say that Congress is not even entitled to get information about anything to do with the war on terrorism," Golove said.

Here's more with some interesting comments at the end of the piece.

The Republicans and Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee submitted detailed questions to the Bush Administration regarding the NSA program....... There are numerous noteworthy items, but the most significant, by far, is that the DoJ made clear to Congress that even if Congress passes some sort of newly amended FISA of the type which Sen. DeWine introduced, and even if the President "agrees" to it and signs it into law, the President still has the power to violate that law if he wants to. Put another way, the Administration is telling the Congress -- again -- that they can go and pass all the laws they want which purport to liberalize or restrict the President's powers, and it does not matter, because the President has and intends to preserve the power to do whatever he wants regardless of what those laws provide.

I am shocked that the righties are so boldly hypocritical. When a judge(who arguably has the power) "interprets" the law it is "judicial activism". When the president "interprets" the law it is well within his constitutional powers. How ignorant of the facts does one have to be to buy this malarkey. There is a power grab in this country that is jaw dropping and totally subversive to what this country is all about. Yes, that's right. I have just called them subversives and I think it not hard to imagine.
Regardless, for the people that spew that bush hater, just so consumed with hatred for Bush crap, maybe this will help you understand the bad feelings.
I have little respect for the democrats who fail to stand up and beat the living hell out of this issue. This is about our Republic for Gods sake! Please DC stand up and lead or get out of the way for someone who will give us our country back like it is suppose to be.