The Constitution in crisis...will Bush cancel 2008 elections?

[Guest guest]

" C Hamilton " <photoart

Fri, 4 Aug 2006 23:04:31 -0500

[bBG-Debate] The Constitution in crisis...will Bush cancel

2008 elections?

 

 

 

Bush's Plan: Ban Gay Marriage and Iraq Will Be Won! (Fiore)

http://villagevoice.com/news/0625,fiore,73563,9.html

 

Does might make right? Fiore on the middle east conflict

http://villagevoice.com/news/0632,fiore,74077,9.html

 

American Bar Association Objects to Bush's " Signing Statements "

Bush is not above the law according to recent Supreme Court decision

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/072406B.shtml

The American Bar Association said Sunday that President Bush was

flouting the Constitution and undermining the rule of law by claiming

the power to disregard selected provisions of bills that he signed. In a

comprehensive report, a bipartisan 11-member panel of the bar

association said Mr. Bush had used such " signing statements " far more

than his predecessors, raising Constitutional objections to more than

800 provisions in more than 100 laws on the ground that they infringed

on his prerogatives.

 

Bush Says He's Above the Law Again

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032406J.shtml

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.

 

Bow Down to George Bush the Decider! He is above the law.

http://villagevoice.com/news/0620,fiore,73186,9.html

Overturning 750 laws since 2000

 

WASHINGTON -- President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to

disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that

he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it

conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution. (That would be a

violation of his oath of office to uphold and enforce the Constitution

and the rule of law.)

--Boston Globe editorial, see below

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/04/30/bush_challenges_hundreds_o\

f_laws/

 

The ABA report

http://www.abanet.org/media/docs/signstatereport.pdf

 

From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You 'Axis of Evil'

By Frank Rich

July 16, 2006

Op-Ed Columnist

http://select.nytimes.com/2006/07/16/opinion/16rich.html

http://donkeyod.blogspot.com/2006/07/from-those-wonderful-folks-who-gave.html

 

===================

 

The Constitution in Crisis

By Rep. John Conyers

The Huffington Post

04 August 2006

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-conyers/the-constitution-in-crisi_b_26520.htm\

l

 

Six Years of Unchecked Abuses - Had Enough?

To view the full report:

http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/iraqrept2.html

 

Today, I am releasing the final version of my report, the " Constitution

in Crisis. " The report, which is some 350 pages in length and is

supported by more than 1,400 footnotes, compiles the accumulated

evidence that the Bush Administration has thumbed its nose at our

nation's laws, and the Constitution itself.

 

Approximately 26 laws and regulations may have been violated by this

Administration's misconduct.

 

Our Constitution established a tri-partite system of government, with

the notion that each branch of government would act as a check on the

other two. Unfortunately, for the last six years, the Republicans in

Congress have largely viewed themselves as defenders of the Bush

Administration, instead of a vital check on overreaching by the

Executive Branch. By doing so, I believe they have acted to the

detriment of our Constitutional form of government.

 

We have seen so many transgressions by this Administration that it is

easy to forget last week's scandal amid this week's new outrage. I am

hopeful that compiling all of these events of the last few years will

help wake all of us up to the gravity of these matters and the

cumulative damage to our country.

 

We have a mountain of reports that strongly indicate that this

Administration was well aware that Iraq had no weapons of mass

destruction, even as they told the Congress and the American people the

opposite in order to satisfy a predetermination to go to war. The

" smoking gun " of these reports is the Downing Street Memoranda,

contemporaneous reports from the highest reaches of the British

government recounting meetings with their American counterparts,

meetings where the facts were being fixed around the policy of going to

war.

 

We have a mountain of statements from Administration officials making

claims designed to conflate Saddam Hussein with Al Qaeda, and

corresponding mountains of reports that credible intelligence officials

in our government disputed such claims. We also have evidence showing

that government officials instituted policies which endorsed the use of

torture in violation of U.S. law and international treaties.

 

We have scores of sources indicating the Administration engaged in a

concerted effort to discredit and defame anyone who came forward to

expose these outrages, and have largely done so without consequence.

When Ambassador Joseph Wilson dared to question whether Iraq had a

nuclear weapons program, Administration officials retaliated against him

by outing his wife as an undercover C.I.A. operative. When General Eric

Shinseki and others in the military dared to dispute the

Administration's wildly optimistic assessments of what was needed to

pursue the Iraq conflict, he was summarily replaced. The pattern repeats

itself with former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and Economic Adviser

Larry Lindsey. And Cindy Sheehan. And the list goes on and on.

 

The American people have paid the price for this strategy of deception

followed by, in the words of one anonymous Republican official, " slime

and defend. " We have paid with the lives of more than

2,500 of our sons and daughters in uniform and in hundreds of billions

of dollars of our taxes.

 

The Administration also appears to have used the war on terror as an

excuse to eviscerate the basic protections afforded to us in the

Constitution. There have been warrantless wiretaps of law-abiding

Americans, in clear contravention of federal law, not to mention the

creation of a huge unchecked database of the phone records of innocent

Americans.

 

All the while, the Republican Congress sits idly by. Rather than

performing its constitutional duty as a co-equal branch, it has chosen

to stymie any and all efforts at oversight. After six long years of

deceptions, attacks and yes, outright lies, I am convinced the American

people have had enough.

--Rep. John Conyers

 

==========================

 

Bush plan: just stop doing that s**t

http://villagevoice.com/news/0630,fiore,73926,9.html

 

Meanwhile, conditions in the illegal unnecessary agressive pre-emptive

war of choice on Iraq get worse. What noble cause is being served by

those who die for Bush's folly? They do not die for their country; they

die for an illegal war of choice started for invalid reasons based on

lies. Bush knew that the UN inspectors on the ground were reporting no

WMD were being found in the four months before the inspectors were

pulled out so Bush could start his illegal unnecessary war. The UN was

not fooled by the Bush/Powell hoax and did not authorize military action

as required under international law. All of the reasons given for the

war have proven false or illegal. Pre-emptive war is illegal under

international law, as is war for regime change.

Iraq war was illegal and breached UN charter,

says Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations

September 16, 2004

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1305709,00.html

 

Iraqi Parliament Speaker: Invasion and Aftermath " Work of Butchers "

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/072406D.shtml

The speaker of the Iraqi Parliament criticized the American government's

involvement in Iraq on Saturday, likening the invasion and its

consequences to " the work of butchers " and demanding that the American

authorities disentangle themselves from Iraq's political affairs.

 

Whose fault is it? Who is responsible? Is God a Republican?

http://www.freepressed.com/images/danziger11-09-04.gif

 

Support our troops

http://img58.echo.cx/img58/7259/supporttroops8hl.gif

 

Bush policy of pre-emptive war is illegal under international law

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6917.htm

 

The failed Bush war on Iraq

It Didn't Work

by William F. Buckley Jr.

February 24, 2006

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YzU4NjA2NGUyYzdhZmQxZjZjNTRhNDExYmIxMTVkYmQ\

=

 

=======================

 

Although three Supreme Court justices actually voted against the rule of

law, they did render a decision that Bush has no authority to ignore US

and International laws. Bush is found to follow US and International

laws, UN Charter and Geneva Conventions. However he has started two

illegal wars in violation of international law. Since Congress has

abrogated it's oversight responsibility, accountability has been

lacking. Those responsible for the illegal unnecessary pre-emptive war

on Iraq gave themselves Medals of Freedom, which is the Bush

administration award for failure. The Bush administration knew the UN

inspectors on the ground reported no WMD, but Bush started an unnessary

illegal war anyway, without regard to the reality of the facts on the

ground. (With two more Bush appointees, the rule of law will be

abolished.)

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2135388

 

=======================

 

Bush Postpones 2008 Election

by Stephen Gillers

[from the August 14, 2006 issue]

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060814/gillers

 

Cites Constitutional Power to Protect Nation's Security

 

What Did 'Four Years' Mean in 1789?

 

WASHINGTON, June 21, 2008. President Bush, citing his authority as

Commander in Chief of the armed forces and his inherent constitutional

power over foreign affairs, today ordered a postponement of the 2008

presidential election in order " to protect the American people in our

war on terror. "

 

In a speech during a surprise visit to Baghdad, where he celebrated the

summer solstice with the troops, Mr. Bush told the nation that the

election will be " rescheduled as soon as a change in leadership does not

create a security threat and not a second later. When the Iraqis stand

up, we'll vote. "

 

" Elections are important, " the President acknowledged. " I know that. I

believe in elections. I'm President because of an election, sort of. But

protecting the nation from another 9/11 is more important than holding

an election precisely on time. "

 

The President noted that as Commander in Chief he had already approved

telephone wiretapping without court warrant, incarcerated alleged " enemy

combatants " indefinitely without trial and, in a February 2002 order,

now rescinded, had authorized the armed forces to ignore the Geneva

Conventions when " consistent with military necessity, " so long as

everyone was treated " humanely. "

 

" If I can do all that, I can defer an election, " the President said.

" Look, as between not voting on time and getting locked up without all

those Geneva rules and such, which is worse? "

 

In a Washington press conference following the President's speech,

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales laid out the legal basis for his

department's conclusion that the President could postpone the election.

 

" Legally, it's simple, " Mr. Gonzales said. " It depends on what the

meaning of 'four years' is. The Constitution says the President 'shall

hold his office during the term of four years.' It does not say 'only

four years' or 'four years and not a day more.' The Framers intended

'four years' to be a preference, not a rigid number. We should not take

it literally any more than the words 'hold his office' means no woman

can be President. A woman is running now.

 

" Time meant something different in 1789, " Mr. Gonzales added. " This was

before airline schedules and self-winding watches. People didn't run

their lives by the clock. Many Americans didn't have clocks. "

 

In a speech on the Senate floor, Joseph Lieberman (IND-Conn.) supported

the President's decision. " While I do not believe we should lightly

suspend the exercise of the franchise, " he said, " protection of the

nation cannot be and must not be a partisan issue. As Americans, we can

all agree that security is the most important job of a President. We can

have a country without an election, but we cannot have an election

without a country. It's as simple as that. "

 

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), the likely Democratic nominee,

had no immediate comment, but her office said she will hold a news

conference following the results of early polling. A spokesperson for

her campaign, granted anonymity because she was not authorized to speak

to the press about anything, said the senator " is absolutely opposed to

postponing the election as such, but she is amenable to rescheduling the

day designated for the actual vote. There is a difference. "

 

Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said

he was " troubled " that he had not been consulted on the President's

decision. He vowed to " hold hearings following the day that should have

been election day if I am chairman of the committee at that time.

Unfortunately, we're backlogged on judicial nominations at the moment,

and then there's the summer recess. People have plans and nonrefundable

tickets. "

 

At his press conference, Mr. Gonzales denied that the Supreme Court's

2006 rejection of military tribunals meant that the President could not

delay an election. That decision, known as Hamdan, rested on federal

statutes and the Geneva Accords. " Hamdan was about trials, not voting, "

he explained. " Geneva doesn't apply to voting. It's a mistake to confuse

the two. "

 

Asked if he expected a court challenge to the President's decision, Mr.

Gonzales said he was " resigned to the prospect that some may cynically

try to use this for their own political advantage. " But he added that he

was " confident that if the case reaches the Supreme Court, five Justices

will agree with our interpretation of 'four years.' "

 

=========================

 

NOTICE: Due to Presidential Executive Orders, the National Security

Agency (NSA) and FISA laws may have been ignored, and this email read

and placed in your file without warning, warrant, or notice. They may do

this without any judicial or legislative oversight. You have no

recourse, nor protection from this intrusion on your personal freedoms.

You may not review your file which is secret. The President reserves the

right to use " signing statements " to give himself permission to ignore

the law, as he is above accountability. As Nixon said, " If the president

does it, it is not illegal. " If you are not with us, you are for the

terrorists; be aware that dissent is considered sedition: resistance to

lawful authority. It may be considered treason to question authority; as

it is un-American and unpatriotic to criticize the actions of your

President.

 

Bush plan for liberation

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/7139/liberationsv9.gif

 

Blind faith, evidence is not relevant to belief

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/9396/blindfaithxo2.jpg

 

What noble cause is served by dying for Bush's war of choice?

http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/9523/noblecauserh7.gif

 

What noble purpose is served by those who die for Bush's folly? Do you

feel safer yet? Those responsible for 9-11 are still not held

accountable, our borders are not secure, our ports are not secure,

baggage is not inspected in the cargo holds of our airplanes.

Conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan are getting worse. Meanwhile our own

gulf coast needs rebuilding, while billions of dollars have been wasted

in Iraq for invalid reasons which have made the USA less safe.

 

C Hamilton

 

If you want to change what your government is doing,

contact those who are acting in your name:

http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/

http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/misc.html