Friday, March 24, 2006

Lawless and Dangerous

The man and his advisors are demented and definitely not playing with all the cards in the deck. When Bush signed the Patriot Act reauthorization a few weeks ago he basically issued a "signing statement" saying that he wasn't bound by the law. I shit you not.
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."
If I am not mistaken this whole deal is illegal. It's unconstitutional and otherwise bad form. The President can't just say he's going to ignore the law! When is someone going to call him on this shit?

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