They Bear The Mark of Fascism’ Creeping Shadow

I wondered as a sat in front of my computer screen reading this article, steam and anger rising from my freshly shaved head, if Congress has had enough yet! Loyalty to Party is one thing, but how far do you take it? Isn't time for the Republican majority in the House of Representatives to start doing their jobs and call for Impeachment hearings and stop being the lap dogs for our law breaking President?

From the CNN article:

AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth telephone companies began turning over records of tens of millions of their customers' phone calls to the National Security Agency program shortly after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, USA Today reported, citing anonymous sources it said had direct knowledge of the arrangement

"It is our government, it's not one party's government. It's America's government. Those entrusted with great power have a duty to answer to Americans what they are doing," said Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

I know I, and many, many, of my friends have had enough of this Administration and its secrets and its unlawful, deceitful, and un-American behavior. The Bush Administration is continually and habitually breaking the law! And what has Congress done? Nothing! Less than nothing really, since it has ceded its authority to Bush and his horde of arrogant, smirking, law-breaking neo-conservatives who would burn the constitution on the bonfire built of Fascist logs if they through they could get a way with it.

What next? Where does this lawlessness end? What else is the Bush Administration doing? What other laws are they breaking in our name? What is happening to our Republic at the hands of these diabolical unethical immoral people? I have said it more than once and it bears repeating now more tan ever: the Nazi’s did not take power by force, they were elected by the German people and corrupted the system from within. The Bush Administration is cancer eating away at the very principles that made (I said made) this country the envy of the world. Shame on those who through short-sided ignorance and self-serving arrogance, voted for this man and his court spawned from the pages of George Orwell’ prescient 1984. War is Peace! We have to take away your constitutional rights in order to preserve them! And we have to break the law I order to preserve democracy and the rule of law!

We deserve much, much, much better! Or do we? Do we now have the government we deserve? Are those who voted for this (simple minded) man proud of their handiwork? How can you defend the indefeasible? Oh Benjamin Franklin was so right: those who give up liberty for security deserve neither.

The Quietly Deceitful Un-enlightened Despot

As if we needed further proof that Bush, and Rasputin's specter George Cheney are moving the Presidency closer and closer to that which we formed the country to vanquish, comes word that the Bush has taken to interpreting the Constitution, a duty heretofore left that other (Co-Equal) branch of government, the judiciary.

Boston Globe reporter Charlie Savage has reported that our august President who would be King, "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."

The White House in rebuttal stated that the President is doing anything former Presidents have not done, never-mind that the practice is illegal! To use the White House’s line of reasoning, if former President’s had snorted lines of cocaine in the Oval Office, Bush should be allowed to do it too. It is clear that the Bush Administration has an overly broad understanding of its own power as defined by the Constitution. And the Administration--Cheney in particular--feel as though the Office of the Presidency lost too much power as a result of the ensuing public backlash and reforms passed by Congress in the wake of Watergate.

The Constitution of the United States in its three main articles makes it quite clear that Congress has the power to craft the laws of the land, and that the President has a duty "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed."

"Bush, however, has repeatedly declared that he does not need to '"execute" a law he believes is unconstitutional." Ignorance of the law for the common citizen has never been defense against not obeying the law, and the last time I checked We The People do not have the luxury of ignoring laws we believe to be unconstitutional. We the People can not form such judgments on our own, but must present our cases before a court of law. Where then, if the President works for the American people, and ours is still a government of, for, and by the people, does the President derive the power to ignore any law duly enacted by Congressed and sign by his own hand? Most certainly this power to circumvent the law is neither implied, nor implicit in the Constitution I read.

The globe article went on the state:

Phillip Cooper, a Portland State University law professor who has studied the executive power claims Bush made during his first term, said Bush and his legal team have spent the past five years quietly working to concentrate ever more governmental power into the White House.

'There is no question that this administration has been involved in a very carefully thought-out, systematic process of expanding presidential power at the expense of the other branches of government," Cooper said. ''This is really big, very expansive, and very significant.'

Is this now a justifiable case for Impeachment? I say it is, the President has to be stopped for he in his unenlightened stupor is being manipulated into systematically destroying our Republic. The President in our system of government is not supposed to be all powerful. Just as Congress and the Courts cannot assign power to themselves not spelled out in the Constitution, neither can the President, alleged wartime or not.

It is quite clear that Bush, with his limited knowledge of constitutional doctrine and jurisprudence, governmental affairs, and the proper functioning of our Republican system, is being led down a dark and dangerous path by Cheney and like minded folk. And in the process he (Bush) is circumventing the other two branches of government and severely eroding the system of check-and-balances the Founding Fathers built into the our Republican form of governance. And it is equally as clear that Congress and the Federal Courts cannot, and should not, let this blatant illegal power grab stand.

From the Boston Globe article:

Bush is the first president in modern history who has never vetoed a bill, giving Congress no chance to override his judgments. Instead, he has signed every bill that reached his desk, often inviting the legislation's sponsors to signing ceremonies at which he lavishes praise upon their work.

Then, after the media and the lawmakers have left the White House, Bush quietly files ''signing statements" -- official documents in which a president lays out his legal interpretation of a bill for the federal bureaucracy to follow when implementing the new law. The statements are recorded in the federal register.

In his signing statements, Bush has repeatedly asserted that the Constitution gives him the right to ignore numerous sections of the bills -- sometimes including provisions that were the subject of negotiations with Congress in order to get lawmakers to pass the bill. He has appended such statements to more than one of every 10 bills he has signed.

'He agrees to a compromise with members of Congress, and all of them are there for a public bill-signing ceremony, but then he takes back those compromises -- and more often than not, without the Congress or the press or the public knowing what has happened,' said Christopher Kelley, a Miami University of Ohio political science professor who studies executive power.

Is this the kind of underhanded deceitful nonsense we want from our President? Is this kind of below the covers governance reminiscent of the worst dictatorships, really the form of Executive Branch we want going forward? Isn’t the President supposed to be the highest ranking law enforcement official in the nation? If so what kind of example is he setting by such deceitfulness? If Clinton taught a generation of children the blowjobs were no big deal, certainly Bush is teaching them that flaunting laws one does not agree with is acceptable behavior; I ask you my fellow Americans, which behavior is more detrimental the well being of Republic?

And I ask again, is the Impeachment of this President out of order? Isn’t this the kind of misconduct the Impeachment process is supposed to correct? Isn’t Impeachment the ultimate check on Presidential power? We all know the Republican led Congress will once again abdicate its responsibility to the American people, to the country and constitution that they swore to uphold, so it falls to the people to see that this Un-enlightened Despot (they) elected King is throw down from on high.

Have you had enough yet?

Confident Democrats Lay Out Agenda

Confident Democrats Lay Out Agenda

They have my vote!

The Wrath of the Republican Right, or Bush Gets a Spanking

I wonder, I muse, and I ponder as Bush's approval ratings sink to an all time low, approaching Nixon territory, whether or not those who voted for Bush in the last election are now having gross buyer's remorse? It is so very evident, despite the less then rosy just released job numbers, and Bull market, that America is heading in the wrong direction with Bush at the helm.

The list of troubles vexing the American Republic are long and growing as the Republican led Congress and Republican led (and I use the term led very loosely--I always feel the need to qualify that pronouncement) Executive branch continue to fiddle while the all America burns as a result of their staggering and criminal incompetence. The illegal immigration issue and ever-looming energy crisis are just the latest problems the Republicans have failed to address in a meaningful and intelligent manner resulting a further mortgaging of our countries future, and a further decline in America’s standing as the lone Superpower and "can-do" nation.

And now the Conservative Right is angry at Bush (and the Congress) because he has failed time and again to deliver up the nation and its laws on a silver platter fashioned from the pages of the Holy Bible. According to the Associated Press "[A]ngry conservatives are driving the approval ratings of President Bush and the GOP-led Congress to dismal new lows, according to an AP-Ipsos poll that underscores why Republicans fear an Election Day massacre."

We the American people can only hope (and pray) for such a massacre because the country cannot take much more of this mediocrity masquerading as leadership offered up by the Republican Party. Not that the Democratic Party has much more to offer in the way of leadership, but at least the Republicans with their ill-informed allegiance to the denizens of the Holy Spirit land, will be out of control of our (supposedly) free society. And then perhaps, just perhaps common sense will return to government and the people we elect to do our business, you know We The People--can get down to it and address some of the issue that threaten our nations viability.

But until that happens I am enjoying the spanking Bush is getting in the hearts and minds of those who would see most of us relegated to Hell in order to build their fantasy based utopia here in America, or is that the other way around?

Related Articles:

Confident Democrats Lay Out Agenda

Key Senate, House and Governor Races

WP: Pfizer faulted over Nigeria drug trials - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com

WP: Pfizer faulted over Nigeria drug trials - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com: "That finding is detailed in a lengthy Nigerian government report that has remained unreleased for five years, despite inquiries from the children's attorneys and from the media. "

Life imitates art, or is it art imitates life, ala The Constant Gardener last years breakout hit starting Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz in which an unnamed British drug company experimented on unsuspecting African patients and then killed to cover it all up.

The Washington Post reports that “A panel of Nigerian medical experts has concluded that Pfizer Inc. violated international law during a 1996 epidemic by testing an unapproved drug on children with brain infections at a field hospital.

That finding is detailed in a lengthy Nigerian government report that has remained unreleased for five years, despite inquiries from the children's attorneys and from the media.”

CNN.com - Powell wanted more troops?in Iraq - Apr 30, 2006

CNN.com - Powell wanted more troops?in Iraq - Apr 30, 2006

CNN.com - Hundreds seized in immigration raids - Apr 20, 2006

CNN.com - Hundreds seized in immigration raids - Apr 20, 2006

It's about time!

CNN.com - Bush: 'I'm the decider' on Rumsfeld - Apr 18, 2006

CNN.com - Bush: 'I'm the decider' on Rumsfeld - Apr 18, 2006
Eloquent as always!

Afghans selling stolen military data - South and Central Asia - MSNBC.com

Afghans selling stolen military data - South and Central Asia - MSNBC.com

CNN.com - Libby court papers: Cheney said Bush OK'd intelligence leak - Apr 6, 2006

CNN.com - Libby court papers: Cheney said Bush OK'd intelligence leak - Apr 6, 2006

CNN.com - Rice: Thousands of errors in Iraq - Mar 31, 2006

CNN.com - Rice: Thousands of errors in Iraq - Mar 31, 2006

Illegal Immigrants Are Already Felons

I can't believe I'm saying this, but this is one issue in which the Republican's and I see eye-to-eye. The illegal immigration problem in this country has been out of control for far too long and it about time Congress stepped in and did something--anything--concrete about it.

At the very base level illegal immigrants are breaking the law, so in effect they are already felons the moment they step foot in this country without the proper documentation and with benefit of a proper Customs screening, green card, Visa, passport, etc. etc. The borders of the United States are porous, but especially the Southern border, which leaks like a washer-less faucet. I am all for building a wall to keep those who would willingly break the law from doing so on U.S. soil. Yes, Mexico and Central America are hell hole’s with corrupt governments and stagnating economy’s, but we cannot continue to absorb the downtrodden masses of people that decide its better to flee their countries, then to fight to make them better places to live and raise a family. What would happen for instance of 30,000 or more people routinely took the street of Mexico City and demanded better living conditions?

And I reject the notion that illegal immigrants are essential to the U.S. economy. And I future reject the oft-repeated notion that illegal immigrants perform jobs Americans do not want. In certain sectors like agriculture where there is a long history of immigrant migrant workers performing tasks, this may be so. But this is not the case with services industry, or construction, or warehousing, or the meat-packing industry. There are plenty of Americans who could and would fill those jobs, but those companies find it far more profitable to employee easily exploitable illegal immigrants who have little recourse but to accept the long hours and low wages, and no benefit, presented to them.

And I reject the notion that illegal immigrants give back to the U.S. revenue base in the form of income taxes. If you are working here illegally with false or no documents how are you paying anything other then the occasional sales tax? If you filed a tax return using your fake SSN, you would risk getting caught, would you not? Why would I pay income tax unless I had to; if I am off the government’s income tax radar why light myself up by paying taxes?

And no, illegal immigrants should not be allowed to get drivers licenses, or get free healthcare, or other public services including education. Only those who abide the law and play by the rules should be allowed access to services my tax dollars pay for. After all I have to play by the rules; if I do otherwise I will see jail time in my future. Why should the standard be any different for a non-citizen who is in this country illegally?

Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-New York is quoting as stating, "[T]his bill would literally criminalize the Good Samaritan and probably even Jesus himself." Note to Hillary Clinton: if Jesus were breaking the law, he too would have to be held accountable. And equating what Jesus did in helping the truly down trodden with the current situation is severely disingenuous and beneath the office you currently hold: stop pandering!

And I feel no pity for thos--charity or private citizens--hat would help illegal immigrants set up shop in this country; i.e. feed them, cloth them, house them, and find them jobs. Those who engage in such behavior are in fact aiding and abetting a crime(s) by harboring and or assisting illegal immigrants, and there should be consequences for breaking the law. Would we as a society look the other way while charities aided and abetted other know felons?

The evidence is mounting that illegal immigrants are costing far more in dollars then they contribute in the form of taxes across a broad spectrum of American society. From public schools to county hospital, to social services, to housing, to law enforcement, illegal immigrants are an ever increasing drain on the dwindling coffers of American cities.

And let us not forget, if illegal immigrants can gain such easy access to our country so can terrorists!

So I welcome House Resolution 4437 as a no nonsense beginning. It is by no means the only measure we as a nation have to take to finally put and end to the fragrant and continual violations of our immigration, tax, and labor laws. American business needs to be held accountable for hiring illegal immigrants and fined to such a degree that it is cost prohibitive for them to employ illegal immigrants if they are caught doing so. Remove the number one incentive--job--for illegal border crossing and they will stop coming in such large numbers.

I understand the human need to feed, house, and cloth ones family, and I know that America with its high standard of living, easy access to decent paying jobs, and social welfare safety net, is attractive to those south of the Rio Grande. But the influx of illegal immigrants has to stop. Our society does not have unlimited resources and at some point we have to put the welfare of the nation ahead of feel good politics and misplaced moral platitudes. That point is now...

See also these stories related to this issue:

• Immigration Debate Is Shaped by '08 Election
  
• NPR Audio: Illegal Immigrants Worry States and Local Governments
  
• NPR Audio: Plan to Legalize Undocumented Immigrants Progresses
  
• Reid Threatens Filibuster of Iimmigration Bill
  

Sandra Day O’Conner Speaks Out Against the Dangers of Undermining the Judiciary

In a little covered speech last week former Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Conner opened up on the Republican Right, decrying their proclivity of late for calling the Federal courts on the carpet for doing their constitutional duty. Warning against the dangers of undermining the judicial branch, O'Conner stated that they (right wing Republicans)

challenge the independence of judges and the freedoms of all Americans.

I have long wondered what the Justices of the Supreme Court thought of the ill-informed, ignorant, and salacious attacks perpetrated by the agents of the fundamentalists’ religious right in Congress upon the federal judiciary, the third branch of government. Now I know the thoughts and feeling of at least one of the (former) members, and I share them. It's no secret that the Republican Right has little respect for the independent judiciary and would just assume see it abolished to the determent of all. Bush in his latest State of The Union address deliberately and irresponsibly snubbed the members of the Supreme Court by welcoming the members of the elected branches of government to the occasion! He didn’t even acknowledge the presence of the Supreme Court as the third branch of our federal government, and in so doing give it the respect and dignity the institution deserves.

Of course Bush failed to mention that he is the only freely elected member of the Executive Branch of government, since we do not vote for the Vice President on his or her own ticket. And of course he failed to point out that out of some 4 million plus federal workers, only 435 are directly elected by the populace and that they have a dismal record of late in representing the American people.

The Republican Right's unrelenting attack on the federal judiciary show a fundamental lack of respect and a growing distain for our system of constitutional government, and for the fundamental rights of the American people. O'Conner a moderate Republican pointed this out when she stated,

[T]he nation’s founders wrote repeatedly that without an independent judiciary to protect individual rights from the other branches of government those rights and privileges would amount to nothing. But, as the founding fathers knew statutes and constitutions don’t protect judicial independence, people do.

The court system in this country at all levels, but especially at the federal level, are seen by most (thinking) Americans as the last bulwark against the tyranny of the increasingly Republican Executive and Legislative branches of government, who if left to their own whims, would see the Bill of Rights shredded, and the Constitution (state and federal) replaced by the Holy Bible as the foundation of American governance. Perhaps I exaggerate the case, but perception is increasingly becoming reality within the hall of Congress (and increasingly state legislators) as (Republican) elected representatives in both houses openly attack the courts for doing their jobs.

Of this O'Conner stated:

[C]ourts do have the power to make presidents or the Congress or governors, really, really angry. “But, if we don’t make them mad some of the time we probably aren’t doing our jobs as judges, and our effectiveness, is premised on the notion that we won’t be subject to retaliation for our judicial acts.

I have often been drawn the ire of my readers by even hinting that there might be some similarities between fascists regimes of the past and the current Bush Administration (and it’s Republican Right champions) with its love for secrecy, open distain for the rule of law, rapid militarism, and thinly veiled adoption of religious dogma into the pages of foreign policy. But as Ms. O'Conner pointed out,

[I]t takes a lot of degeneration before a country falls into dictatorship, she said, but we should avoid these ends by avoiding these beginnings.

Like it or no, my fellow Americans the Bush Administration and it Republican Right backers are those beginnings, at least in this writers mind…

And the Fiddles Play Dixie

And now for those who still stick stubbornly to the belief that health care in America is still top-notch comes this study. I may sound like a broken record by now, but the sky is falling, the sky is falling, the sky is falling and the American Republic is being crushed under the weight of its own love affair with Capitalism and unchecked greed.

What further evidence do the doubting Thomas’s of the rural America need to finally admit that our country is going in the wrong direction and we need a serious course correction? Where is our national pride? Where is our national self-respect? The naysayer’s who stubbornly cling to the free-market mantra when it comes to every aspect of American culture are sowing the seeds of our American dismemberment.

American Institution after American Institution is failing and yet some among us refuse to address the issues at hand. Again what will it take for those who support "W" and his ilk and their failing free-market is the answer to every ill philosophy, to finally admit that like Communism, unfettered Capitalism is a failure? We need to strike a balance and we need to do it quickly! Because. Our country is burning, slowing and inexorably towards its demise and I can hear the fiddles plying Dixie in the background.

• Health care crude for many in New Orleans
  

NBC/WSJ poll: Bush ratings keep falling - Politics - MSNBC.com

NBC/WSJ poll: Bush ratings keep falling - Politics - MSNBC.com
I’m wondering if I should feel sorry for Bush; sorry fleeting thought. It’s hard to feel sorry for a man who never should have assumed the Office of the Presidency in the first place. So feel sorry for “W” I think not. As a matter of fact we can only hope his poll number drop even lower.

WP: Infighting plagues intelligence panel - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com

WP: Infighting plagues intelligence panel - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com

The evidence is mounting that the Senate is indeed a broken Institution and we the American people are the losers. And it also further evidence that our Republican form of government is breaking down, fracturing, disintegrating at the very time when we need bi-partisan cooperation.

The terrorists need not strike us again in order to bring about the demise of our Republic we are quite capable of doing the deed all on our own with this senseless and pointless partisan bickering. And in defense of a man and administration that do not deserve such loyalty. We the American people do however…We need a viable third party!!

Would eavesdropping bill snag reporters? - U.S. Security - MSNBC.com

Would eavesdropping bill snag reporters? - U.S. Security - MSNBC.com

And so it continues. In the name of national security they (Republican Congressman and Women) would systematically strip Americans of their freedoms. So begins the end of the American Republic; the Islamic Extremists have won the war after only one attack. We are doing what they predicted we would: destroying our beloved principles and hence our Republic from within…

CNN.com - South Dakota?law bans nearly all abortions - Mar 6, 2006

CNN.com - South Dakota'law bans nearly all abortions - Mar 6, 2006

As if we needed any further proof that America is slipping back into a religiously inspired dark ages, here we go again! What does the word freedom mean to the average Republican? Nothing apparently unless of course the freedom you are trying to exercise conforms to their version of morality.

Don’t Blame Me, I Voted for Kerry!

"In the long run, he understands that extremists can be defeated by freedom and democracy and prosperity and better education"...President Bush said of Pakistan's president, General Pervez Musharraf on occasion of his visit to the dictators, yes dictators homeland. Yes, our president continues his trip down Quaalude lane while the world in its fascination and amazement laugh aloud.

Is our ever dimwitted President unaware that Musharraf is a dictator, a man who came to power October 12, 1999 after a coup d'état—with the full backing of the military—and assumed the title of president of Pakistan on June 2001. Ever since then he has promised to hold elections but somehow that always falls through. Oh but he has promise to try again next year.

So Bushes claim that Musharraf “understands that extremists can be defeated by freedom and democracy and prosperity and better education,” all the things the people of Pakistan lack, is hysterical and sad bordering on the ridiculous. And it invites the question: does Bush ever, ever, ever, live in the same world as the rest of us? Is it possible to be this divorced from reality and not be on some sort of mind altering drug? And yes this is a serious question, not one designed to poke fun of our somewhat intellectually hobbled head of state.

And it begs another question: if Bush and his Neo-con infested Administration are so keen on bringing democracy to the down-trodden masses of the Asia and the Middle East, why not Pakistan a place where most able-bodied terrorists are hatched? Is it that Musharraf is seeking a small measure of legitimacy for his illegitimate regime by helping the U.S. whose power, prestige, and influence slips a little more everyday Bush is in office? Any halfwit who has been paying even the slightest attention to the world knows that Musharraf is taking only baby steps toward stamping out the terrorist assembly-line now turning out aspirant Muslim extremists at an alarming pace. But not Bush.

“Only hours before Bush's appearance, the Pakistani government cracked down on political leaders and others planning to protest the president's visit. In the city of Rawalpindi, about 10 miles from Islamabad, police arrested about 20 members of Tehrik-e-Insaaf, a small political party, as they staged a noisy but peaceful demonstration, beating some of them with bamboo sticks as foreign journalists and camera crews recorded the scene.” Sounds like democracy to me…

Whenever Bush embarrasses our country before the world—and lets face it, it’s every time he opens his mouth—I used to find solace in the fact that my votes were not cast his way in either election. But as the time wears on and our country sheds it principles one-by-one and loses its moral center, I no longer find comfort in the words: “Don’t Blame Me, I Voted for Kerry!”

• Profile: Genral Pervez Musharraf
  

WP: White House targets media leaks - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com

WP: White House targets media leaks - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com

Is there anyone left on the country that still thinks the Bush Administration is not a threat to our very way of life in this country? Nothing is off-limits to this man and his quest to morph American into a defacto dictatorship. Somehow knowing I didn’t vote for him brings me little solace…