On May 9th, with the stoke of a pen, President Bush granted the office of the President nearly dictatorial powers, apparently with out the check of Congress, in the event of an national emergency. And who decides that such an emergency exists? The President, of course. This directive was signed without fanfare or battleship backdrops. This unprecedented power grab by the President did not even merit a press release. And, the Language Czar who coined phrases like "The Patriot Act" and "Islamofascist" must be on talk show circuit, because the directive is simply known as NSPD-51/HSPD-20.
Under the existing National Emergency Act, the President may declare such an emergency, but he or she is required to transmit that declaration immediately to Congress and publish the same in the Federal Register. Congress is empowered to "modify, rescind or render dormant such delegated emergency authority." This new directive appears to supersede the National Emergency Act, and creates a new "National Continuity Coordinator" under the office of president. Read more at WorldNetDaily.
This makes George Orwell look like an optimist.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
We Don't Need This Fascist Groove Thing
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3 comments:
This thing is either a waste of paper or it is pretty scary. It is interesting that the first "National Essential Function (NEF)" that is mentioned is - Ensuring the continued functioning of our form of government under the Constitution, including the functioning of the three separate branches of government! !
Whether or not it has the force of law and whether or not it actually supersedes the National Emergency Act, this directive expresses the vision of this President for the executive branch. I honestly believe that he thinks he was hand picked by God for this task and is therefore a "divine right" ruler. Congress and the courts are just a bother to be managed.
In order to educate myself better on international affairs and relations between countries in today's world, I have been listening to an audio course of 8 lectures by Prof. Joseph Nye Jr. of Harvard University. Prof. Nye was formerly with the US State Department. The course was actually prepared before 9-11. It has been a real eye-opener for me. Prof. Nye says that violent overthrow of faraway smaller countries by larger advanced countries (cf Vietnam) is now a very EXPENSIVE and iffy undertaking. Actions routinely taken in the nineteenth century might have worked then,and worked cheaply, but they don't work now. The reason(s) these actions don't work today: (1)the fervor nationalistic movements in small countries; (2) the availablity in this century of better communication and technology in small countries. In short, what worked in colonial days doesn't necessarily work today. Now here is the question raised by an ole lady in a small Southern town....if Prof. Nye at Harvard knows this, then surely our state department knows it --- so why aren't they acting in accordance with the best thinking and information available? There's something irrational in the Bush administration that I find very frightening. They are in a position of power and they are ignoring facts of history that even an ole retired schoolteacher has no problem comprehending.
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