All Posts Tagged With: "president"

“Plebiscitary Democracy: Political scientists use this to describe those systems wherein a leader is elected but once elected has almost all of the power. . . .Elect the President. Let him win and then get out of his way” — Barney Frank from “The Nation” magazine describing The Presidency of G. W. Bush

And in The Nation, Barney Frank goes on to describe the Bush Presidency thus:

“We have historically talked about checks, about balances, about our three branches of government. We have contrasted that to the more unitary governments in other parts of the world, even democratic ones. We have separate legislative, judiciary and executive branches.

This is an Administration which considers checks and balances to be a hindrance. They believe that democracy consists essentially of electing a President every four years and entrusting to that President almost all of the important decisions.

I believe we have seen a seizing of power that should not have been seized by the executive branch. But thanks to the acquiescence of a Republican majority in this Congress, driven in part by ideological sympathy, the President has been allowed to be the decider. So we have had a very different kind of American government. It is democracy, but it is closer to plebiscitary democracy than it is to the traditional democracy of America.”

What Mr Frank is effectively saying is that once G. W. Bush came to power, he:

• Ignored legislation passed into Law, and simply did things his way. An example is The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, by which the President and Congress together set forward a method for wiretapping and eavesdropping in cases where we thought there were foreign threats to the US. This legislation was passed 30 years ago and has been obeyed by Carter, Bush Snr. and Clinton within the full requirements of law. Bush has ignored this legislation and the Law.

• By ignoring the legislation, Bush is effectively doing what he wants, not what the people or Congress want.

• Bush has been able to do this because of his interpretation of the power contained in the “vesting clause” of the Constitution which reads, “The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.” This short sentence in the US Constitution allows the President to ignore legislation, ignore Congress and ignore his people. He does what he likes in other words.

• And logically, if you carry this misuse of power to extremes, then it can be said, looking at Bush’s performance, that he has gone against his own US Constitution.

The Final Word rests with Barney Frank:

“We had the Patriot Act situation, where the Judiciary Committee unanimously adopted a very reasonable, balanced bill, which gave law enforcement expanded powers to fight terrorism but had some safeguards against abuse.

But the Attorney General said, No, we do not like that bill. Here is a new one. And a new bill was written overnight and “debated” on the floor of the House with no ability to amend it.

These examples demonstrate that Congress was now ready to do whatever the Administration wanted. They don’t want Congress to agree on their ability to detain people at Guantánamo or track terrorist financing because accepting the right of Congress to agree with them implies that at some future date Congress might disagree. And plebiscitary democracy has no room for Congressional disagreement once the President has made his decision. So we have a situation of unilateralism and a refusal even to take Congress in when Congress wants to be a willing partner.”

This behaviour by the Bush Administration, who indeed have the ability to do as they like in government is, at best, a poor hash of the US Constitution and democracy, and at its worst is nothing more than A Banana Republic government dictatorship without any binding or effective Constitution at all.

HypChanneling returns, this time in beta tripartite diploSpeak, a new UN standard for international crimes, styled as a retro platonic menage a trois.

Our featured High Crimes and Misdemeanor Trio consists of The W (George Bush) as The Accused who is grilled with consistent truthfulness by The JE (John Edwards) who was congressionally appointed to keep him in the game, as The Chief Prosecutor. This trial was presided over by The CH, The Chief Hypocrite, as The Decider. The CH is also the assembler of this first and only report to the public.

You will not read about this Impreachment anywhere else, because of the special circumstances under which it was conducted. Yes, you read that correctly.

It has already begun, been completed and is over and is not even a footnote in history. You nor the MSM or for that matter any of the MLM (Minor League Media ie bloggers) knew or still knows anything about this unusual event, details of which will be unclassified and released after 50 years or after the death of all involved or via leaking by the New York Times, whichever comes first.

History does have a way of repeating at least portions of itself, however there always seems to be a new twist in each incarnation. The 2008 Impreachment was enabled in a secret, unpublished classified compromise amendment, signed by Bush with a disappearing ink pen, which amendment was attached to one of the many bills passed by the Democrat majorities.

These several bills, essentially legitimized all of President Bush’s alleged illegal actions. Despite that, many of the secret signatories still contribute impotent diatribes on the subject of various impeachable acts to the media to “energize” their progressive base. Regardless, Bush and the Democrats toasted in secret underground signing ceremonies, which we got an exclusive grainy photo of.

Too bad we didn’t get a photo with audio, especially at the point where Bush fist tapped Nancy Pelosi, saying, “You go, Girl!” and she responded “Free our President”, insisting on a high five.

The historic compromises included, from Bush, that he would agree to plead nolo contendere, although he did not remember who nolo was and bristled a little at the uppity spanish used.

Compromises from the Democrats included pretending in public that he was never tried or convicted or disclosing any of the terms of his sentence which included permanent immunity from any future crimes, real or imagined, although they reserved the right to complain bitterly and forever about his crimes.

To ensure that they could never say Bush was Impeached, when they wrote the bill they called it Impreachment. Bush thought that had an evangelical flavor and was grateful. They also were grateful figuring that their unlimited assertions of high crimes and misdemeanors permanently into the future would ensure funding advantages over the Republicans for years and periodically re-energizng the base when needed.

The Impreachment proceedings, including the direct exchanges between the Chief Prosecutor and The Accused reportedly were not all retained in media form, except for the copy we obtained. One of the conditions we agreed to reluctantly was never to release enough of it to convince anyone of it’s validity and never to correct the New York Times even when they misreport.

For this report we have decided to release this noteworthy transcribed snippet, we have dubbed “The Outright Lie”.

The CH: Gentlemen, start your engines, you know the rules.

The JE: Thank you Chief. As one Chief to another, I trust that you will not take offense at how I conducted myself during our last interview, I must admit that I was in a deliberative process of learning that my internal adviser had partially turned my good judgment over to the hubris of my circumstances all of which has made me a better man, husband, father and candidate, don’t you think?

The CH: Please continue with the important proceedings at hand.

The JE: Agreed. My thoughts exactly, glad we see things the same way.

Now, Mr President….ahh, Mr President…..after exhaustive reviews of all the films (including direct one on one meetings with one web based filmmaker) and political books chronicling your multiple and outrageous abuses of the public trust, embarrassing your family and your party and your countrymen in full view of our allies and enemies around the globe, as you shredded the US Constitution over and over again, breaking US and international law unilaterally, I saw two Americas.

The W: Like north and south?

The JE: Easy now, Mr President. No. First I saw the average man, struggling to keep his family fed and clothed and in good health without access to health insurance, struggling for a better tomorrow like my dad did in the mills. And then I see your kind, with narcissistic privilege, access, money, unaccountability, taking advantage of others because you can, assuming you are invincible and willing to look the camera in the eye and say I did not do it and I do not know what you are talking about as I’ve responded consistently.

The W: For some reason, that does sound kinda familiar.

The JE: Stop interrupting! Mr President, how could you invade Iraq knowing it was all based on a lie?

The W: All I really know, is what Cheney, Big Al, Hillary, Colin and the Clinton CIA guy told me, that y’al

saw what they all told me about and you voted for me to do it, didn’t you?

The JE: But, Mr Presidnet you knew more than me, in fact you knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, a high crime and misdemeanor, that there was no WMD in Iraq! You lied to the American people, to me, to your wife and kids and to the world just so you could get something that hurt us all! You said the reason we had to go into Iraq was to find and destroy the WMD there.

The W: I’ll tell you something I have never told anyone before about this WMD thing in Iraq. Come closer.

The JE: Quiet confession is good for the soul, Mr President, and I pray redemption continues to be the American way.

The CH: Speak up, I need to hear this.

The W: I confess I was upset when Michael Moore said I was not as smart as a Democrat. He said a Democrat would have been smart enough to plant WMD in Iraq after we invaded and could not find any like we thought. I never thought about that…hurt my feelings. That’s my confession, and damn if you’re not right, I feel better now.

The CH: Case dismissed.

Our fearless leader will go down in history as anti-conservation. His policies certainly have established that legacy.

He certainly doesn’t seem to have an issue with arsenic in drinking water, and he reneged on a campaign pledge to lower carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. He refused to sign the Kyoto Treaty because it would hurt the economy. Well, we didn’t sign it and could the economy be any worse? He’s long been a proponent of opening up the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to his oil drilling buddies. Most recently he indulged in a little political posturing when he lifted the ban on offshore drilling just six months prior to the end of his hapless administration and just in time to blame the Democrats if the Congress doesn’t follow suit.

Meanwhile, back at the “ranch” in Crawford, Texas, George Bush uses passive solar to heat his water. In addition, geothermal heat pumps circulate water through pipes buried 300 feet deep in the ground where the temperature is a consistent 67 degrees. This water is used to heat the house in the winter and cool it during summer months, and it uses only 25% of the electricity required for traditional heating and cooling systems. If that isn’t enough to a 25,000-gallon reservoir collects rainwater from roof runs, while wastewater from sinks, toilets and showers first goes through a purifying process and is then funneled into the same reservoir. This is used to irrigate the landscaping. Amazing, isn’t it? Sure is. It’s also the height of hypocrisy. Why?

Well, I suppose in a free-market economy, Mr. Bush is one of the people who can afford to be ecological in his own home. However, it is his refusal as our president to even look at these technologies for development on a broader scale that keeps the rest of us from being able to afford it. Of Bush’s 63-member energy advisory team, 62 have ties to oil, nuclear or coal interests. His national energy policy places nuclear power, increased oil and gas drilling and “clean coal” at the top of the list. Solar, gray water reclamation, and wind are nowhere to be found. In 2001, his administration utilized the strategy of having Mr. Bush interviewed at carefully-selected, including the Crawford ranch, in the hopes that it would soften his more contentious policies. However, this plan backfired when it served to do nothing but bring attention to our president’s hypocritical approach to the environment and his dismal environmental record. The plans were dropped.

Just as hypocritical is David Heymann, the architect of Bush’s Crawford Ranch. At 4,000 square feet he calls the ranch “stunningly” small. Really? Oh, yes, according to Heymann most people are building 16,000 to 20,000 square foot ranches. That’s because it’s a stretch to call it a ranch, what with the built-in pool insisted upon by the Bush daughters. The Bushes affectionately call it the girls’ “whining pool.” In a USA Today interview, Heyman goes on to describe, “There’s a great grove of oak trees to the west that protects it from the late afternoon sun. Then there’s a view out to the north looking at hills, and to the east out over a lake, and the view to the south…out to beautiful hills.” Too bad our hypocritical ecological president’s policies do absolutely nothing to ensure that such ‘beautiful views’ remain for the future.

In short, the family ranch in Crawford, Texas is just another stage for George Bush to act on. While it’s painted as a beloved, established family get-away much like the Kennedy Compound on Cape Cod or FDR’s beloved Campobello, the reality is that construction was completed in November 2000, just before his election. The grazing cattle was left by the previous owners and the horses are just for show. Bush doesn’t know how to ride. Just ask Vicente Fox, who wanted Bush to go riding on one of his trips to Mexico. In fact, all of Crawford is his stage. Estimates given prior to the Crawford ranch construction put the population of the area somewhere between 400 and 700 people. The Crawford Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture was actually formed after the ranch was completed.

Like everything else associated with George Bush, Crawford is just a sham.

This piece in the Library of Congress, says Woodrow Wilson was NOT always politically skilled. Do you have any opinions about Woodrow Wilson as President of the United States or even his tenure at the university?

Not sure how many Americans today really know anything about him.

Fewer still would know that an early 20th Century entrepreneur and landowner of a mountainside including the inspiring Red Rocks Amphitheater, a major performance venue in the foothills just west of Denver, Colorado, built the foundation and laid a white foundation stone and dedicated the site on a small peak to “The Future Presidents of America” as a western White House.

The Wilson administration evidently did not have much interest and WW I did intervene so today it remains an interesting artifact of what could have been history.