March 23, 2006
Through the Cracks
I selected this picture last night as a celebration of the first sign of spring. So much for that.
This morning the headline read Bush Shuns Patriot Act Requirement and I quote because, in two hours, the damn Boston Globe will lock it in the safe and ban you from seeing it.
"When President Bush signed the reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act this month, he included an addendum saying that he did not feel obliged to obey requirements that he inform Congress about how the FBI was using the act's expanded police powers.
The bill contained several oversight provisions intended to make sure the FBI did not abuse the special terrorism-related powers to search homes and secretly seize papers. The provisions require Justice Department officials to keep closer track of how often the FBI uses the new powers and in what type of situations. Under the law, the administration would have to provide the information to Congress by certain dates.
Bush signed the bill with fanfare at a White House ceremony March 9, calling it ''a piece of legislation that's vital to win the war on terror and to protect the American people.' 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.
In the statement, Bush said that he did not consider himself bound to tell Congress how the Patriot Act powers were being used and that, despite the law's requirements, he could withhold the information if he decided that disclosure would ''impair foreign relations, national security, the deliberative process of the executive, or the performance of the executive's constitutional duties."
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 . . . '
The statement represented the latest in a string of high-profile instances in which Bush has cited his constitutional authority to bypass a law."
That was when I knew I had a metaphorphoto.
To enhance the theme of popping up through the cracks, was yesterday's Fox News Rovian slip, "It's probably too late, we're already at war with Iran". Sadly, it's one thing on Fox that's probably the truth.
W's certainly been out there like a real trooper, glorifying the war in Iraq like a used car saleman, and pumping up the masses for yet another invasion. Ever the down home optimist, W. cannot be stopped by the mere fact that we have no money left in the treasury, and no troops left to create another hideous mess.
Actually, he really doesn't need folks to get behind him at all anymore, since he has arranged to have so much executive power, he can do anything he damn well pleases. With his two year old mentality, he can poop in any corner he likes, with full confidence that the next president will clean up his mess.
So on to the next. Like that two year old, W. doesn't recognize that sometimes there are messes that are so large they can never be straightened out. Oh, well
Down Maureen, down!.
Photo note: Happy spring!
Posted by Dakota at March 23, 2006 08:25 PM