The Insurer Guy
Bush Anoints Himself as the Insurer of Constitutional Government in Emergency | The Progressive — It’s interesting how all these weird provisos are added to a governmental system that Republicans are supposed to hold sacred. And, of course, nobody in the supposed liberal media (all owned by large corporations) says anything about any of this. No analysis, nothing.
With scarcely a mention in the mainstream media, President Bush has ordered up a plan for responding to a catastrophic attack. In a new National Security Presidential Directive, Bush lays out his plans for dealing with a “catastrophic emergency.”
Under that plan, he entrusts himself with leading the entire federal government, not just the Executive Branch. And he gives himself the responsibility “for ensuring constitutional government.”
He laid this all out in a document entitled “National Security Presidential Directive/NSPD 51” and “Homeland Security Presidential Directive/HSPD-20.”
The White House released it on May 9.
Other than a discussion on Daily Kos led off by a posting by Leo Fender, and a pro-forma notice in a couple of mainstream newspapers, this document has gone unremarked upon.
found by Howard Harawitz
hmm..interesting.
I bet there will be some huge disaster before Jan 2009, which requires him to “take over” and never leave office.
I read through these documents (and I suggest you do so as well) and was highly disturbed. Only anti-american madmen would contemplate such a power grab under such a broad and poorly defined “emergency”, let alone write it up and sign it! The reason that the media isn’t covering this is that it is a naked and obvious act of treason.
The media isn’t covering it because the media is all corporate-owned, and the corporations are ecstatic about the possibility of the most corporate-friendly president in history staying in power for life.
The media is still milking the American Idol winner, sorry.
Humm, Maybe they don’t want to cover it because it started under Clinton.
All left-wing journalists and TV commentators should be deeply ashamed. So what is it? They get paid under the table? A little Winter Holiday bonus? Women? How does it work?
RBG
Well he’s proven he can handle an emergency and run a constitutional government so it stands to reason.
Has any one Voted on this bill??
#5 – You’ve just destroyed the post and all of the comments in this thread. Shame on you.
Granted, you are correct, in that this push started under Clinton and FEMA.
Read a book about German history before AH became the decider. When the Reichstag was set ablaze AH needed extraordinary powers too. We all know where that led.
Bob (#5) and James Hill (#9),
I did not see any reference to this being a Clinton thing on the White House website. Where did you find that info, please?
Indeed, Clinton signed a great many executive orders that, if put into effect, would have been quite tyranical. However, let us not forget who is -currently- in power, i.e. who could now use any disaster as an excuse to, under continuity of government authority, appoint new representatives and justices indefinetly and at his own discretion. In other words, it’s called continuity; Clinton was then, and this is now. Then is of no concern to us, only now is.
Sometimes I wonder if these “Look at Clinton” people live their lives backward, as if they are the unmagical unwise cousins of Merlin.
Not to stray too far off this important topic, but. . . This is what the brilliant Content Link displayed for the word “continuity,” in my last post.
“Learn about the rise in Configuration Management Database (CMDB) adoption and it’s popularity worldwide. Download the Whitepaper here.”
What is the benefit to the reader for this “feature,” John? I think it is an ugly distraction, that provides little useful information.
OK, pay no mind to me.
Was watching C-Span Suday when a caller called in and complained about how the press was not covering this topic. I forgot who it was hosting the Washington Journal that morning, but they were quick to say hwo they knew nothing of this news. Later on in the session, they found the article and covered it. The fact that the directive was not reported by EMPIRE was the main reason why it was not talked about. This goes to show the true power that the AP has in EMPIRE and its role as propaganda propagators.
In the 70’s, people would have been on the streets in protest about this move. Thanks to the internet, we can now blog about it and those responsible can continue to do whatever it is they want to do. Is it no wonder why the “internet’ is created by every world government to control the anger and discourse into a virtual forum where the people feel active and engaged ? I feel bad just posting this crap.
And as a reward for my ignorance, I get elevated to middle class status ? Where the heck is my steak dinner ?!!!
the republicans are just so damned happy to not have democrat in the white house, they’ll gladly give W any powers he wants and will gladly abdicate any personal liberties he asks for, hell i bet half of them would give him their daughters if he asked for them.
what kills me is that most of my conservative/republican friends inform me that W is neither a true conservative nor a true republican (given his penchant for spending like a drunken sailor, enacting laws that erode personal liberties, and in general empowering the federal govn’t over the states and individuals)
won’t be long now folks, W is on tract to abolish our beloved constitution and morph the union into the Christian States of America or some such.
#10, it’s in the manual. “When no reasonable or logical argument exists or the arguer is incapable of logical reasoning, blame Clinton or librals” [sic]
I’d hate to be right, but I’d bet that the first President to use this will be a Democrat. Bush will be out in two years, and if I had to make a bet, I’d say that Hillary gets the nod. The idea of Democrats controlling the Presidency, Senate, and House will signal in a new era of cooperation with the outside world, which will probably only last a few years.
If you want an example of what eventually happens when you talk to extremist groups and work things out, ask the Spanish or the Brits. It’s all good until the opposition decides they want something else.
Only a couple more years left of the Bush Administration’s term in office and I think this country will get through it. Just put more trust in the Democratic congress to keep things “honest.”
Umm, exactly what has the demo congress done so far that’s so amazing, or that has fulfilled our hopes?
Yeah, look for a large “master minded by midget minds” attack to keep GeoW in office….for ever, and the rest of the country freaked out. Then they’ll round up all the non Christians (as we’re troublemakers) and we’ll all be in a nice undisclosed location to be converted.
…
I keep hearing about the coup d’ etat, but it never happens. Is there a program or something with dates?
Just exactly who should be in charge when a major disastor happens? The last time the **insurer** left it up to the agencies that were supposed to take care of things and oooops, they screwed the pooch. While Bush is obviously not the best person around, he beats having say…435 members of Congress trying to be boss.
There really ARE problems in this country….you all should spend half your **Bush is our next dictator** energies working on those.
If you want to see how a goverment goes from Democracy to Dictatorship in 5 easy lessons…..pay attention to what our pal Hugo Chavez is doing in Venezuala…..THAT is a real coup d’etat!!!!
Sounded creepy when I first heard about it, but if the ACLU doesn’t have a problem with it, there’s probably nothing there to worry about:
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003310.php
“The consensus amongst experts seems to be that the directive, aimed at establishing “continuity of government” after a major disaster, is not new nor does the policy seem to expand executive power.
In fact, Mike German, the policy counsel to the ACLU’s Washington office told me that an executive continuity plan actually might “not be that bad of an idea.” …
German called the release a positive sign, but said he urges the release of all previous directives so we can get a real sense of what has changed.”
More, “it’s not a power-grab” quotes through that link. Maybe the ACLU is wrong, but the “experts” don’t really see this as a problem.
You are all making a mountain out of a mole hill.
If I remember ( I say that truthfully ) The president is the only office in the federal gov that has a chain of succession and in the case of a Nuke or other great disaster that wipes out out standing govt ( aka the tv show Jericho comes to mind )it simply states that the surviving president( not necessarily the sitting one but the one who falls in line of succession) withstanding that there is not a congress or supreme court left after the disaster then he/she would have supreme power for the time necessary to put the republic back together
I see no problem with the order it makes sense to me, only all the conspiracy nutcases wearing tinfoil on their heads can really think that the sitting president would enact this unless it was a true emergency
If they tried it with out an emergency the people would not stand for it
“If they tried it with out an emergency the people would not stand for it ”
Hahahhahahahaha. What would “the People” do Mitch, call their Senator? Express outrage, bitch about it on a blog, Just what do you think “the People” would or could do?
Probably more than any other country in the world, this one would be the least likely to have a take over by a President.
The war in Iraq has shown us that Generals and military officers are of both parties and all political views, and no President could take power without the military.
I was talking with my Dad about the idea of a coup here, and he said that as far back as he can remember(anectodal), it’s always been the left that makes noises about the right taking over. The right never seems to think the left will do it. I wonder why that is, considering most dictatorships in the world are left wing.
um, I had seen this a few times already in the “MSM” (an abbreviation which pegs the needle on my crackpot meter. sorry, but its just to closely associated with 9/11 “truthers”).
just because it does not appear in screaming headlines on the front page of every paper, does not mean it is not out there.
and, by the by, in a serious enough emergency, any president is going to do what he can to ensure continuity of government, enabling act or no. so this is no big deal.
Is it me, or are some of the net Lefties taking over where the Michigan Militia left off in the 90s as far as driving the paranoia bus goes?
John.
There’s no such thing as a liberal media, just profitable liberal shows.
#14 – And as a reward for my ignorance, I get elevated to middle class status ? Where the heck is my steak dinner ?!!!
Wait.
Do you mean to say that if I became ignorant of the blatant abuses of power going on around me, and just watched American Idol, voted randomly, and never rocked the boat… That I would be elevated to a middle class lifestyle and offered a steak dinner?!?!?!?!
Well why didn’t you say so?
I stand with W!
Now, what’s on the tube tonight? I’m bored with all this news crap anyway.
#15 – hell i bet half of them would give him their daughters if he asked for them.
Well, 38% of them, anyway.
#19 – Then they’ll round up all the non Christians (as we’re troublemakers) and we’ll all be in a nice undisclosed location to be converted.
Will there be a warm bed and three meals a day at this undisclosed location?
If so, I wanna be converted.
And while everyone cries and worries about the ridiculous notion of the Bush bogey man becoming a dictator, you all miss the most important fact of this story:
The Government expects a crippling terrorist nuke attack to be likely.
It amazes me, the people who decry the iraq war and the police measures ( most of which I don’t like) but imagine a nuke blows up new york or D.C. (yes Id almost be glad to see D.C. as long as congress is in session at the time…) just imagine the police state and the wars that will come from that. You think Iraq is bad? You think not allowing water bottles on planes is bad? You think “water boarding” is bad? What do you think the world will look like after a nuked American city, with 80-90% of the us population supportive of the most extreme measures imaginable?
But go ahead and keep checking your closets at night for Dick Cheney.
If we survived Jimmy Carter we can certainly survive George Bush.