John Conyers and the Bush Dictatorship

[babylonsister]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/7982

John Conyers and the Bush Dictatorship
by Margaret Kimberley | Jun 8 2007


From Black Agenda Report

"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator." - George W. Bush

snip//

The president announced that he is crowning himself king and thereby making his sick wishes come true. What should be a headline in every major newspaper in the nation has been covered only by the Boston Globe. None of the television networks have said a word nor has a peep been heard from Congress.

This announcement is consistent with other Bush administration actions. In 2006 the federal government awarded a contract to KBR, a subsidiary of Cheney's Halliburton, to build "detention centers" in case of a national immigration emergency. Homeland Security has already established an immigrant detention facility in Texas, the T. Don Hutto center, that has incarcerated entire families, including children. When U.N. human rights investigator Jorge Bustamante showed up for a pre-arranged visit he was refused entry and turned away.

Congress has also been silent about this blatant power grab and usurpation of its authority. The National Emergencies Act gives Congress the right to prevent open ended declarations of states of emergency, but that act's existence is not very comforting. If Congress won't even speak up about the National Continuity Policy, why would they speak up if Bush declared an emergency and told them to go to hell? Congressional Democratic leaders Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi would once again go along to get along as the Bushites began a reign of terror against democracy.

Reid and Pelosi have their own little reign of terror in Washington. They have cracked the whip and told progressives to shut up and toe the party line. John Conyers is one of their victims. He has been in Congress longer than all but a few of his colleagues and has been called the conscience of the Congressional Black Caucus. He now serves as Chairman of the House Judiciary committee. Ever since the Republican victory in 1994, progressives have hoped for a return to Democratic control and with it the return of stalwarts like John Conyers to committee chairmanships.

While Democrats were in the wilderness, Conyers spoke often about impeachment and unequivocally stated that he intended to hold hearings as soon as he had the opportunity. In 2005 Judiciary Committee staff issued a report recommending that Congress establish a select committee to investigate whether or not the President Bush and Vice President Cheney had committed impeachable offenses.

snip//

The next round of demonstrations in Washington should be directed at the Democrats, including members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Democratic timidity only encourages the Republicans. When a hurricane, terror plot or bird flu pandemic begins, we may as well pack our bags and join immigrants at the Hutto detention center. Immigrants were just used for practice. Bush is preparing for the real thing and there isn't anyone in a position to stop him who is willing to do it.

[ixion]

1. ever see "the Handmaid's Tale"?

If not, you should. It's exactly where we're heading. :scared:

[man4allcats]

2. I just finished reading this myself at SmirkingChimp and

was going to post about it here, but I see you have already done so. Many Thanks! It's a good article, and the criticism of King George's congressional courtesans is spot on as is the recommendation that "The next round of demonstrations in Washington should be directed at the Democrats...".

Thanks for posting! :hi:

[snappyturtle]

3. I agree that the next round of demonstrations in Washington

should be directed at the Democrats however I am fearful than time is running out if not run out.K&R

[Psyop Samurai]

4. *Sigh*... I guess it's time to change my avatar...

...Conyers' chairmanship was the main reason I used to convince myself to vote last year, and the main reason I used to convince others.

Somehow, I had missed his post-election remarks.

[Peace Patriot]

5. The quotations in the OP leave out the Bush action that is the subject of the article.

Here it is:

"Without fanfare, or announcement of any kind, the president recently signed a directive which states that in case of a 'catastrophic emergency' the 'President shall lead the activities of the Federal Government for ensuring constitutional government.' What is a catastrophic emergency? Well, it is anything that Bush says it is.

"The document, National Continuity Policy, was signed by the president on May 9, 2007 and unceremoniously posted on the White House website. It defines catastrophic emergency as 'any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government function.'

"That language describes hurricanes, earthquakes, black outs, flu epidemics, terror attacks, or mass demonstrations. If location doesn't matter, the president can usurp the constitutionally guaranteed powers of Congress and the judiciary because of an attack on Iran or a surge of casualties in Iraq. L'etat c'est Bush."

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/7982

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Bush IS "the state." ("L'etat c'est Bush.")

The global corporate predators who rule our land--and the toady politicians who let them do so--have long wished for these powers in the executive branch, since THEY pick who exercises them. THEY pick the President. Don't be under any illusions that we, the People, make that choice. And ever since Seattle '99, when 50,000 ordinary Americans--union leaders, workers, grass roots human rights groups and environmnental groups--rebelled against global corporate piracy ("free trade") at that World Trade Organization meeting, the corporate predators have been itching for additional power to smash such rebellions, and have been conniving in every way to achieve it. And, frankly, I don't think Bush is the only thing we have to worry about. I think a corporate hand-picked Democrat in the White House could be just as much of a menace to our freedom and sovereignty as a people.

Think about it. As the consequences of massive thievery by the rich and the corporate--a $10 trillion deficit, unto the 7th generation--comes down upon our heads, and the war for Mideast oil goes on and on, and the oil cartel adds the Andean democracies (Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador) to their targets, and a Draft is enacted for more cannon fodder, and their borrowing against Social Security and government pension systems comes home, and veteran's pensions and medical care dry up, and all our jobs and manufacturing capability has been "outsourced" to the cheapest labor markets abroad, and millions of American find themselves jobless, homeless and hungry, just imagine the kinds of draconian, police state measures that could be taken, to keep the people of this country from protesting massive injustice and from electing representatives who will see to our interests--the interests of the majority, the poor, the workers and the middle class.

Seattle '99 was the harbinger--that awesome protest that shut down the World Trade Organization, and was disrupted by a police riot, in order to protect CLINTON's "free trade" policies. Just WHO will be using these vastly enhanced police state powers pioneered by the Bush Junta?

Be aware, friends, and be wary. And, for godssakes, work for transparent vote counting! One thing we need to be very aware of is that the Democratic Party leadership entirely supported, and still supports, non-transparent vote counting, on electronic voting machines run on "TRADE SECRET," PROPRIETARY programming code, owned and controlled by rightwing Bushite corporations. Why?