Fever Dream: Fast Foward to the End of Democracy

[Guest guest]

rom: A

Sun, 29 Jan 2006 03:09:40 EST

Fever Dream: Fast Foward to the End of Democracy

 

(Satire)

 

http://www.chris-floyd.com/index.php?option=com_content & task=view & id=435 & Itemid=\

1

 

 

Fever Dream: Fast Foward to the End of Democracy

Friday, 27 January 2006

 

A version of this column appears in the Jan. 27th edition of The

Moscow Times.

 

WASHINGTON, April 17, 2006 – Heralding a " bold new era of unity and

reform " in Washington, President George W. Bush quelled a series of

controversies over the limits of executive power today by signing a

sweeping new measure, the Extending the Boundaries of Legality Act

(EBOLA), in a gala ceremony at the White House.

 

The measure, passed overwhelmingly by Congress last week, acknowledges

" the inherent authority of the Commander-in-Chief to take all

necessary measures to preserve the security of the United States

without fear of penalty or undue constraint by existing statutes,

judicial rulings, foreign jurisdictions or international treaties. "

This immunized authority is to be exercised " at the discretion of the

president, " and can be " devolved upon any and all designated agents,

public and private, of the executive. " The act also relieves the

president of the " onerous and inefficient bureaucratic requirement " of

informing Congress of his actions.

 

EBOLA puts an end to a number of debates, investigations and court

cases concerning such issues as warrantless wiretapping, domestic

surveillance by the Pentagon, aggressive interrogation techniques,

indefinite detention, incarceration without charges, " ghost

prisoners, " covert abduction, rendition of suspects to

torture-practicing states, extrajudicial termination of arbitrarily

designated " enemy combatants, " no-bid contracts to

politically-connected firms, unmasking covert agents for partisan

purposes and waging unprovoked war on the basis of manipulated and

manufactured intelligence.

 

All of these matters have now been rendered moot by EBOLA, which

formally extends " the sanctity of law to all actions, past, present

and future, ordered by the president in the exercise of his full

plenary powers. "

 

The measure is an outgrowth of Senate hearings that began in early

February. First launched as a probe into " serious charges " that Bush's

personally-ordered surveillance of American citizens without a warrant

was illegal – a charge upheld by the non-partisan Congressional

Research Office – the hearing quickly evolved into a ringing

endorsement of unchecked presidential power by the Republican

majority, joined by Democratic moderates such as Joe Lieberman, Joe

Biden and Hillary Clinton.

 

Indeed, Clinton served as co-sponsor of EBOLA, which was introduced by

Republican Senator George Allen. Many observers said Allen signaled

the wiretap hearings' true direction in a CNN interview on January 22,

when, citing the timely appearance of a taped message allegedly from

former CIA ally Osama bin Laden, the conservative senator suddenly

embraced the idea of hearings – a notion previously resisted by many

on the Right.

 

" I find nothing wrong with having a hearing, " Allen told CNN. " This

maybe ought to be something that you would ratify – 'Yes, the

president has this authority.' "

 

Once that door was open, Republican senators, working closely with top

Justice Department officials and deputy White House chief of staff

Karl Rove, moved quickly to extend their ratification of presidential

authority. " How far should we go, Karl? " joked committee chairman

Arlen Specter during one of many light-hearted moments of playful

raillery at the hearings. " To infinity – and beyond! " replied Rove

with a chuckle, quoting a line from " Toy Story, " said to be one of Mr.

Bush's favorite films.

 

Administration officials lauded EBOLA as a " great leap forward for

America, " ending a " dangerous era when we had to battle a 21st-century

threat with 18th-century tools, " said White House spokesman Scott

McClellan. " The Founding Fathers would never have encumbered us with

all these 'checks and balances' and the Bill of Rights had they known

that the smoking gun of terrorism could be a mushroom cloud. "

 

But the Act is not just a victory for George W. Bush, it's also a

" triumph of the human spirit, " McClellan said. " Just as this president

has brought freedom and democracy to benighted areas of the world

where these blessings were never known before, so he is now bringing

the light of legality to entire realms of human behavior that have

long been considered beyond the reach of law. Murder, torture,

kidnapping, corruption, despotism – it's time to bring these orphans

in from the cold, and make a place for them at the American family table. "

 

Yet even as he lauded the Act's innovations, McClellan also brushed

aside suggestions from some critics that EBOLA represented a " radical "

departure from traditional conservatism. " On the contrary, the measure

is firmly rooted in the historical tradition, " he said. " The notion of

the 'unitary executive' – or the Leader-Principle as it is sometimes

called – was actually pioneered in north-central Europe in the first

half of the 20th century. It was a proven method that allowed the head

of state to act with efficiency and dispatch in exercising his

inherent authority to protect the public from national enemies. We are

simply building upon this solid foundation as we carry the banner of

civilization across new frontiers. "

 

Democratic opposition to the bill, which effectively ends

constitutional democracy in the United States, was muted in the end.

Party leaders said they were " saving their ammunition for the big

battles up ahead " – echoing earlier rhetoric following their equally

muted responses to Mr. Bush's tax cuts for the rich, his deceitful

invasion of Iraq, his environmental rapine, his worldwide gulag, his

torture programs and his appointment of two Supreme Court justices

clearly committed to presidential tyranny, corporate hegemony,

financial corruption and the subjugation of women's bodies to state

control.

 

Having meekly countenanced the destruction of the republic and the

repression of its people, Democratic leaders were asked exactly what

" battle " they were " saving their ammunition " for. " School lunches, "

said Senator Biden. " Our children are our future, and we will fight to

the death the Bush Administration's unconscionable proposal to

substitute baked beans for broccoli in the federal guidelines for

dinnertime vegetables. "

 

Links and annotations:

 

Lawmakers Say They Will Press Bush on Spying

 

Associated Press, Jan. 22, 2006

 

http://usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-01-22-spying-program_x.htm

 

 

 

Hillary Clinton, War Goddess

 

Antiwar.com, Jan. 23, 2006

 

http://antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=8428

 

 

 

The Other Big Brother: The Pentagon's Own Domestic Spying Program

 

Newsweek, Jan. 30, 2006 issue

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10965509/site/newsweek/

 

 

 

Republicans Gone Wild

 

Salon.com, Jan. 19, 2006

 

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011906Z.shtml

 

 

 

Molly Ivins: I will not support Hillary Clinton for president

 

The Free Press, Jan. 20, 2006

 

http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/1/2006/1304

 

 

 

Top Ten Mistakes of the Bush Administration in Reacting to Al-Qaeda

 

Informed Comment, Jan. 24, 2006

 

http://www.juancole.com/2006/01/top-ten-mistakes-of-bush.html

 

 

 

White House Got Early Warning on Katrina

 

The Washington Post, Jan. 24, 2006

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/23/AR2006012301711_\

pf.html

 

 

 

The End of 'Unalienable Rights'

 

Consortiumnews.com, Jan. 24, 2006

 

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/012406.html

 

 

 

On NSA Spying: A Letter to Congress

 

New York Review of Books, Feb. 9, 2006 edition

 

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/18650

 

 

 

The moneyed scales of justice?

 

Salon.com, Sept. 13, 2005

 

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/09/13/roberts_recusal/print.html

 

 

 

U.S. accused of spying on those who disagree with Bush policies

 

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Jan. 20, 2006

 

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/politics/13675006.htm?template=conte\

ntModules/printstory.jsp

 

 

 

CIA Vet: Proof Bush Deceived America on War

 

TomPaine.com, Jan. 13, 2006

 

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20060113/proof_bush_deceived_america.php

 

 

 

Some Iraq Rebuilding Funds Go Untraced

 

The Wall Street Journal, Jan. 17, 2006

 

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB113746003186348100-MVb_vrVbUBR8bYsizm1ZB9\

YuqiA_20070117.html?mod=blogs

 

 

 

Iraq Rebuilding Badly Hobbled, US Report Finds

 

New York Times, Jan. 24, 2006

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/24/international/middleeast/24reconstruct.html?em\

c=eta1

 

 

 

See You at the Bottom of the Rabbit Hole

 

King of Zembla, Jan. 18, 2006

 

http://simbaud.blogspot.com/2006/01/see-you-at-bottom-of-rabbit-hole.html

 

 

 

Truthiness 101: From Frey to Alito

 

New York Times, Jan. 22, 2006

 

http://www.topplebush.com/oped2486.shtml

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

Written by mcjoyous on 2006-01-28 09:48:47...It's not satir.

It's scary!

Like some kind of sick insiders joke.

Who thought up this name??

Extending the Boundaries of Legality Act

Did they decide on EBOLA - then pick the title?

This is a " triumph of the human spirit " ?

A " great leap forward for America " .

A great leap into the fires of hell perhaps.

 

 

I'd Say Brilliant Satire, but

Written by BostonGemini on 2006-01-28 03:55:38...

It's not satir.

Written by mcjoyous on 2006-01-27 19:49:47EBOLA: Bushco style

 

A mostly fatal infectious disease (now officially a pandemic) is

likely carried by fruit bats. The associated fever is caused by the

hemorrhaging of rights and freedoms and severely destroys the

underpinnings of democracy. It has a 50% to 90% mortality rate.

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola)

 

Ebola hemorrhagic fever (alternatively Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever, EHF,

or just Ebola) is a very rare, but severe, mostly fatal infectious

disease occurring in humans and other primates, caused by the Ebola

virus, which is possibly carried by fruit bats.

The Ebola virus was first discovered in 1976. Epidemics with 50% to

90% mortality have occurred in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,

Gabon, Uganda and Sudan.

A protein on the surface of the virus is responsible for the internal

bleeding in humans. The protein severely destroys the lining of the

blood vessels, which then precedes into leaking and blood.

 

 

Write Comment

Name: Guest

Title:

 

 

" There is nothing worse than gangrene of the soul. "

Mike Malloy ~ 1/20/05

 

HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS!

HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS!!

HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS!!!

 

NOTICE: Due to Presidential Executive Orders, the National Security

Agency may have read this email without warning, warrant, or notice.

They may do this without any judicial or legislative oversight. You

have no recourse nor protection save to call for the impeachment of

the current President.