the Bush power grab

[drewkitty]

I've put together a list of sources and links for the power grab perpetuated by the Executive Branch in the last twenty years or so. While the junior and elder Bush did a lot of this, some was done under Clinton as well.

Remember that one boils a frog by cooking it slowly.

I've also learned -- the hard way -- my lesson about discussions with conservatives. When I put in the time and energy to provide citations, they are dismissed out of hand. When I don't, I am accused of making up facts.

It's far easier to simply not argue with them at all. I choose to invest my energy where it is most productive. Conservatives have convincingly persuaded me that talking to them is like wrestling with pigs -- one only gets dirty, and the pig enjoys it.

So from now on, I simply treat conservatives as dangerously deluded at best and actively psychotic and opposed to my existence at worst. No point to talking politics with them.



>> Bush has laid all of the legalistic (note that I did *not* say legal) groundwork to do exactly that, stay in office past 2008.

Expansion of FEMA emergency powers -- many coming after Hurricane Katrina, a double slap in the face. "Signing statements" in which the President instructs executive agencies to ignore acts of Congress (i.e. break the law). Executive orders on a wide plethora of subjects once reserved to legislation, some involving extrajudicial confiscation of property. A quiet and chilling expansion of Federal powers to investigate, detain, arrest and hold American citizens under "emergency" conditions. Wholesale abandonment of "posse comitatus."

The upshot is that if a national emergency were to take place immediately before or during a Presidential election, all of the legal and operational frameworks are in place to "temporarily" assume control of the United States. About as effectively as FEMA took control of New Orleans post-Katrina. Add "bird flu" and stir vigorously.

Citations:

"FEMA emergency powers":

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_emergency
* http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Federal_Emergency_Management_Agency
* http://sonic.net/sentinel/gvcon6.html (pre-Bush introduction)
* http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/07/27/1027497418339.html (2002)
* http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/10/06/bush_cites_authority_to_bypass_fema_law/
* http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7986.shtml

* http://www.vdare.com/roberts/050911_federal_failure.htm
* http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig5/samples7.html

"Signing statements":

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signing_statement_%28United_States%29
* http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/signingstatements.php
* http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/04/30/bush_challenges_hundreds_of_laws/
* http://www.slate.com/id/2134919/
* http://www.abanet.org/media/docs/signstatereport.pdf
* http://www.usdoj.gov/olc/signing.htm

"Executive Orders"

* http://www.iahf.com/bonfire1.html (an OK general explanation)

* http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=6377 ("The Executive Order entitled "Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq" provides the President with the authority to confiscate the assets of whoever opposes the US led war.")

* http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/08/20070802-1.html (asset seizure in USA)
* http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/26/AR2006062601304.html (order to upgrade EAS)
* http://www.lawandfreedom.com/site/executive/index.html
* http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20051800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2005/pdf/05-3385.pdf
(a sample order)
* http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/eo/eo-13382.htm (an EO targeted against distributors of WMD precursors)

"new powers against American citizens" (loss of habeus corpus)

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habeas_corpus
* http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15220450/
* http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/rightsandfreedoms/a/habeuscorpus.htm
* http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Military_Commissions_Act_of_2006
* http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0928-20.htm
* http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4329839.stm (UK history)
* http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/restorehabeas/default.asp

"Posse comitatus"

* http://www.homelandsecurity.org/journal/articles/Trebilcock.htm (watering down between 1980 and 2000)
* http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/comrel/factfile/Factcards/PosseComitatus.html
* http://www.au.af.mil/au/aul/bibs/posse/posse.htm (many useful links)
* http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/09/26/bush.military/ 'Bush eyes bigger military role in disasters'

* http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Posse_Comitatus_Act
* http://www.towardfreedom.com/home/content/view/911/
* http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/10/18/211033/23

Comments

[jordan179.livejournal.com]

So from now on, I simply treat conservatives as dangerously deluded at best and actively psychotic and opposed to my existence at worst. No point to talking politics with them.

There you go ... everyone who disagrees with you must be crazy! Now you've successfully insulated your mind against the intrusion of any heretical thoughts. I congratulate you!

[drewkitty.livejournal.com]

Wrong on all counts.

Conservatives <> (does not equal) everyone.

Go take a basic logic course and then come back and play with the adults. Oh, and take an etiquette course so you learn some elements of civility.

[jordan179.livejournal.com]

Conservatives <> (does not equal) everyone.

It allows you to dismiss any argument for any position you deem "conservative" by labelling it "crazy," no debate against it required.

Go take a basic logic course and then come back and play with the adults.

Basic logic courses teach that simply labelling a whole class of arguments "crazy" and thus automatically false is illogical.

Oh, and take an etiquette course so you learn some elements of civility.

You imagine your behavior, in dismissing all conservatives as "deluded," to be civil? Or do you hold yourself, for some ineffable reason, to be immune from the requirements of civility which you demand from others?

[drewkitty.livejournal.com]

My LJ, my bat and ball and court. Deal with it or stop posting. If you can't handle the concept of property rights, somehow I'm not surprised.

I am willing to debate with people who debate in good faith. That means a search for truth, the willingness to cite and accept evidence, and shun falsehoods and evasions.

You are specifically not one of those people. Neither are most self-identified "conservatives" who are in fact dangerous radicals. Radical in that they wish to make major changes in American society. Dangerous in that those changes would materially harm many people who are my friends and fellow travelers.

I am no longer interested in paying you, or any conservative numbskull, any respect which you have not yet earned. Because my experience is that such respect will be abused.

I am speaking specifically about your comments regarding Normandy.

The next step is to ban you from this journal. Consider your next comments carefully, as they may be your last here.

[drewkitty.livejournal.com]

Given further insults including the statement that I am a "loon," Jordan179 has now been banned from my LJ. Life is too short to spend any time on an a--h--- like him.