the Bush power grab
Aug. 26th, 2007 01:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drewkittyI'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
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
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Re: That Bet?
Date: 2007-08-28 04:14 pm (UTC)I'm quite aware of history, which is why I know that it is very unlikely that Bush would attempt a coup from above. America has no tradition of submitting to successful coups, a tradition that could only be broken by someone popular and victorious (a "Marius" -- look up the reference if you don't know what I'm talking about).
It is amazing to realize that Bush is in fact stupider than you are.
LOL!!!
You assert that Bush is plotting a coup, then chide him for his stupidity in so attempting!
Well, I think you're an idiot for planning to rob that bank. Don't you know that bank robbers almost never get away with it?
"No," you cry, "I'm not planning to rob a bank."
Ah, but I have asserted that you are, and thus by your logic it is now presumed that you are ...
Re: That Bet?
Date: 2007-08-29 12:27 am (UTC)Despite the fact that it's happened several times in American history? Go read your Civil War history again a few more times, with particular attention to the relationship between Lincoln and the Supreme Court. You might also try reading about FDR, but I can't expect a psuedo-conservative to be objective about our first truly socialist president.
>> America has no tradition of submitting to successful coups, a tradition that could only be broken by someone popular and victorious (a "Marius" -- look up the reference if you don't know what I'm talking about).
Bush is deluded enough to think that he's popular, and keeps grasping at straws in the vain hope of short-term victory in Iraq.
We haven't had an unpopular coup attempt before. One benefit of frequent elections -- when there is a sea change in politics, the winners unseat the losers with a minimum of drama and almost no bloodshed.
>> It is amazing to realize that Bush is in fact stupider than you are.
> LOL!!!
Seriously. You know at least a little about ancient Rome. I'm not clear that Bush knows much about modern Washington D.C.
>> You assert that Bush is plotting a coup, then chide him for his stupidity in so attempting!
I haven't asserted that Bush is plotting a coup. That would require discussion of who is the power behind the puppet, which is unhealthy to discuss in a public forum.
>> Well, I think you're an idiot for planning to rob that bank.
I agree completely. People who rob banks are idiots. You are an idiot. It does not follow that you are planning to rob a bank. However, it would not surprise me.