Can't Dismantle 217 Years of Contstitutional Government Fast Enough

Before the ink was dry on Bush's signature the DOJ rushed over to rub the torture bill in the Judiciary's face. Habeas who?

Moving quickly to implement the bill signed by President Bush this week that authorizes military trials of enemy combatants, the administration has formally notified the U.S. District Court here that it no longer has jurisdiction to consider hundreds of habeas corpus petitions filed by inmates at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.

How long before this is used on a US citizen?

Beyond those already imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay or elsewhere, the law applies
to all non-U.S. citizens, including permanent U.S. residents.

I think that sentence is a little to certain - the bill does leave the door open for US citizens to be classified as enemy combatants, and thus, to fall under this statute.

And even if you aren't a US citizen, certain basic human rights are guaranteed. That's what a "society of laws" means. Yes, there are some very bad people down at Gitmo, but that doesn't justify the US government's abandonment of moral and legal principal.

We don't have to piss our pants just because these very bad people want to attack us and kill a lot of people - we don't need to suspend or repeal the Constitution to protect this nation. Anyone who thinks this is a coward and a fascist. They are probably also a republican.

And the first set of electrodes goes to...

I see we already have several new candidates for the first "terrorists" to be "detained" under King George's new torture law.

A coalition of religious groups staged a protest against the bill outside the White House, shouting "Bush is the terrorist" and "Torture is a crime." About 15 of the protesters, standing in a light rain, refused orders to move. Police arrested them one by one.

Tyrant

Is there a way to shit on the Constitution that the Bush Administration hasn't tried?

President Bush, again defying Congress, says he has the power to edit the Homeland Security Department reports about whether it obeys privacy rules while handling background checks, ID cards and watchlists.

In the law Bush signed Wednesday Congress stated no one but the privacy officer could alter, delay or prohibit the mandatory annual report on Homeland Security department activities that affect privacy, including complaints.

But Bush, in a signing statement attached to the agency's 2007 spending bill, said he will interpret that section "in a manner consistent with the President's constitutional authority to supervise the unitary executive branch."

If the Congress passes a law, the President has to obey that law. It's pretty simple. He can't exempt himself from whatever law he chooses.

These are very bad people and they endanger all of us with their tyrannical actions.

There's more of them?

You have got to be kidding me...

"People are very, very concerned," Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Ill., said Tuesday night. "I think there are going to be more disclosures." "We have heard rumors that other, similar activity has occurred involving additional congressmen and will be released prior to the November elections," said the Arlington Group, a coalition of 70 pro-family conservative
groups.

Had Enough?

How much more of this are we going to have to take?

At least 17 US soldiers have been killed around Iraq since Saturday, including eight in a single day in Baghdad, the US military announced, saying the toll had brought "a tragic day". The toll represents a dramatic spike for US casualties in Iraq which generally average no more than a couple of wounded a day, especially for the Baghdad-based forces.

Very Bad People

The Los Angeles Times reports that Foley's interest in nubile pages was well-known to both pages and congressman.

In interviews with the Los Angeles Times, several current and former congressional employees and others said they recalled Foley approaching young male pages, aides and interns at parties and other venues.

It also reports that Foley's former aide, now the aide to Tom Reynolds, was basically Foley's chaperone.

Another former staffer said it was an oft-repeated story around Capitol Hill that Foley's former chief of staff, Kirk Fordham, would sometimes accompany the congressman to keep him out of trouble.

These people are sick and disgusting...

Who's the Boss?

Representative Tom Reynolds, chair of the House Republican election campaign made this statement:

Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-NY), head of the House GOP's political arm, the National Republican Congressional Committee, has also implicated Hastert. "I did what most people would do in a workplace," Reynolds said at a press conference last night, “I heard something, I took it to my supervisor.” (emphasis added)

Uh, don't members of Congress work for the people who live in their congressional district?

Maybe he needs a new supervisor. Or better, his supervisors need a new employee...