Letters to the Editor
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@Pindenh
Make him read books. Long, big, heavy books.
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Triple Negatives
Crawford's appointment, however, did not prevent military commission judges at Guantánamo from ruling on June 4 that the commissions had no jurisdiction over enemy combatants who were not designated as "unlawful."
Does this mean that the commissions did have jurisdiction over enemy combatants who were designated as unlawful, who were not designated as lawful, or who were designated as lawful? And are these different? We are used to bafflegab in politicians, who are past masters at saying exactly nothing in as many words as they choose to iterate, but legal bafflegab takes the cake. Brevity is the soul of ess aitch one tee.
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Imperial presidency
Cheney, Bush and their neocon cohorts in crime need to be dragged out of the White House and thrown in prison as enemy combatants of the constitution and the United States. Cheney, who clearly runs the show is the most secretive, deceitful and crooked vice president we've ever had, profiting personally from the deaths and maiming of our children. Bush is the hood ornament, too stupid to know what's really going on and to make any decisions, but ignorance is no excuse.
Our country has been stolen and become unrecognizable, through the cronyism of the supreme court in 2000 and a rigged election in 2004. They are in office by political coup. We can't wait another five hundred and something days, while their rotten operation continues, at the expense of our children, our treasure and our country's standing in the world.
We need to take Kucinich seriously and get impeachment proceedings started immediately, to save our country from these greedy, lying crooks. It's going to take at least a generation to repair the damage this worst administration in our history has perpetrated. I'm sick to think of leaving this disaster to our children.
Stand up people!
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An Emerging Consensus:
Blumenthal: ”… And yet, nothing changes.”
northern bluto: ”Mr Blumenthal and countless others have been writing articles like this for years now. I can't imagine anyone who frequents this web site disagrees with any of them. And yet, nothing changes... ”
Anonymous: ”Bush is the imperial president because our country is not truly a democracy.”
sylviasays: ”No one stands up and says ‘Enough, already!’”
Goedel: ”We are in a decline towards bankruptcy from our imperial addiction to military expenditures on borrowed money. The roadback to a republic is a very difficult one, and our pork-barrel, corrupted Congress is not likey to take it unless we open our eyes as citizens and take to the streets in protest.”
timbuktom: ”Jack Bauer does not exist. The world of Jack Bauer does not exist either. Nor, maybe, does the United States of America exist anymore.”
belletiane: ”No matter how stinging the rebukes this administration [receives, it still] continues its unconstitutional actions unabated. There are no consequences for the long list of actions and plots; they just move on to the next one.”
MereMortal: ”It's nearly 6 years since 9/11, why isn't the American public suspicious that there has been no trial in Manhattan for KSM and the others? It's clear that any country that valued the rule of law would try KSM in open court in downtown Manhattan and prove to the world the evidence against him i.e show itself to be fair and open. A dictatorship or fascist state on the other hand would torture him and keep him in hiding all the time endlessly repeating incoherent threats about dirty bombs and hypocritically talk about nuking Iran.”
mark stratton: ”Meanwhile the fascist machine just rolls along … I wonder, who in the media, who with some influence, will step out of the all too profitable realm of the ‘established liberal media’ and try to get to the guy in the pick up truck. I see too many George Stephanopolous's out there and I'm sick.”
Satyagraha: ”American democracy is plainly a farce. The electorate is powerless; their options are the devil they know or the one they don't. Even Obama, the campaign's brightest star, said that no US President should hesitate to use force where America's interests are threatened.”
Jack33: ”There are laws, and then there is the will and integrity necessary to enforce those laws. Without the latter, the former declines into merely selective suggestions ... "And yet, nothing changes." … We should be quite proud of ourselves, don't you think?”
Blumenthal: ”… And yet, nothing changes.”
We're all agreed it would seem: The jig is up … and there's nothing we or anyone else can do about it. Neither Constitution nor Law, neither ethical constraints nor religious susceptibilities, can be applied as a brake as we rush over the Abyss. Adieu Great Republic!
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The Imperial Despot
Dubya is NOT simply an "imperial president."
“The Imperial Presidency” is a term coined by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr in his book of the same name published in 1973. He saw the expansion of executive power under FDR as the defining “moment” of change in the internal balance of constitutional power in the US. WWII and the "Cold War" then created a "military-industrial complex" that expanded the imperial reach and cemented the imperial ties to America's self-governing institutions. Schlesinger’s book was recently re-issued, with a new “introduction” by the author. It’s still worth reading.
But Bush is NOT simply another “imperial president” in the Schlesinger mold.
He is a radical departure: an Elected Despot, a Tyrant.
He represents the definitive end of the Great Republic.
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null & void? hogwash- bushco will continue his swagger
since impeachment is not possible, is it? the Dems show no guts for this move.
the Repubs in the Senate will mostly stand firm for their ordained Leader-Boy, and prevent a 2/3 majority from doing the deed.
so he will continuue his Royal-like stance until he finally leaves office Jan. 2009 - if he does exit.
a dark blemish on US history.