Miss America

[flamin lib]

The United States was once a nation of Laws, not men. The Republicans currently in power are doing everything they can to change that.

Most recently a federal judge ruled the Bush plan to allow logging in the Sequoia National Forest in violation of environmental law. The suit, brought by the Sierra Club, charged that the plan to harvest redwood trees was a blatant attempt to pander to the logging industry. Just another ruling in a long line of rulings that nothing will come of.

President Bush has attached signing statements to more than 750 bills passed by Congress effectively rendering them meaningless. More signing statements in his first term than all presidents in the history of our country combined. Among those laws are the McCain anti torture bill, the FISA update, and just about anything else the Unified Executive finds inconvenient.

Justice Kennedy, writing in support of the majority opinion in Hamdan v Rumsfeld, said that the treatment of detainees as "unlawful combatants" is illegal and violates the UCMJ, the War Crimes Act, the Geneva conventions and the Constitution of the United States. Yet nothing has changed. There has been no investigation, no debate, no congressional oversight and no change whatsoever in the behavior of the Administration. The only outcome of the ruling so far has been the Administration's drafting of legislation that would retro-actively make the Bush behavior legal which in itself is unconstitutional.

Last week another federal judge ruled that the NSA wiretapping is unconstitutional. Bush swore to fight the ruling, citing the Authorization for Use of Force as grounds for authority even though the SCOTUS in Hamdan v Rumsfeld clearly said that no such legal authority exists, the very ruling that Judge Anna Diggs Taylor cited in her decision.

My senator, Kay Bailey Hutchison, in a response to my query regarding Congress's responsibility of oversight said that she would watch the developing controversy closely. Watch. Not do anything, not investigate, not offer any oversight, just watch. I had a dog like that once. A watch dog. He'd watch the thief come into the house, watch him pack up the tv and stereo, watch him drink my beer and watch him leave. That's what our Republican Congress is doing, watching. Watching the Executive branch eviscerate the Constitution.

The three branches of government are supposed to be co-equal, adversaries that keep each other in check. With the capitulation of the Republican Congress Bush has effectively eliminated the Judicial branch. Federal judges interpret the law, finding that Bush has violated it, but the House which is responsible for bringing investigations into misconduct ignores the court's findings. There are no longer three branches of government, only the Unified Executive.

Do you miss America? I know I do. The only way to get back the America we all grew up in is to give subpoena power to the Democratic Party by electing a majority to either the House or the Senate.

If you aren't registered to vote, do it now. If you are, register a friend. Your country needs you.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2006/aug/22/082203747.html Breaking environmental laws.

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20060113.html Signing statements

http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/05pdf/05-184.pdf#search=%22Hamdan%20v.%20Rumsfeld%22 SCOTUS ruling in Hamdan v Rumsfeld

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamdan_v._Rumsfeld#Kennedy.27s_opinion_concurring_in_part Layman's report on Hamdan v Rumsfeld

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/2006-08-22-law-terror_x.htm Wiretap unconstitutional.

[babylonsister]

1. Rec'd. Every politician should read this, absorb this, and know

that we're out here, watching for now, waiting for November.

[rock]

2. Steve Allen's Answer Man, "Miss America"

The question is, "If an atomic bomb is dropped, what do we hope it'll do?"