Bush continues to ignore congress AND Blair's fantasies of doing likewise: update

[spudtater]

I posted a while back that Bush has claimed absolute power in America, which I still find absolutely shocking. Also shocking is the fact that nobody seems to be complaining too much. The division of power between govermnental branches is the bedrock that american politics is built on. They teach that to every american kid in third grade, fogodsakes.

"There are numerous noteworthy items, but the most significant, by far, is that the DoJ made clear to Congress that even if Congress passes some sort of newly amended FISA of the type which Sen. DeWine introduced, and even if the President "agrees" to it and signs it into law, the President still has the power to violate that law if he wants to. Put another way, the Administration is telling the Congress -- again -- that they can go and pass all the laws they want which purport to liberalize or restrict the President's powers, and it does not matter, because the President has and intends to preserve the power to do whatever he wants regardless of what those laws provide."
– Glenn Greenwald, Administration tells Congress (again) - We won't abide by your "laws"

Somebody makes a good point in the comments, too:

"Notice the word "wartime" missing from the latest arguments? Apparently there's a lot of bad stuff in the world, and the president needs these powers permanently. Whoever said it had anything to do with war?" – dgbellak

Yep. Bush is now a qualified, bona fide dictator.   8^(

(Via jwz)

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And further to my post last week on the "Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill" here in our own country: Alastair Darling has sent me a reply! Woo!

Dear Mr Panayotopoulos

Thank you for your e-mail.   The Government is reflecting on the Regulatory Reform Bill you refer to.   A number of people think it needs some amendment so that it can't be used inappropriately.   I am making some further enquiries and I shall write to you again.

Yours sincerely

Squiggle

Well, at least he dignified my letter with a response. And who knows; if enough people kick up enough stink over the matter, perhaps we can prevent our country from going the same way that america has.

Comments

[leynos.livejournal.com]

My reply from Alistair Darling MP:

Dear Mr McIntosh

Thank you for your email which my assistant acknowledged. As I understand it, the government is considering the terms of this bill in view of a number of concerns that have been expressed about it. On the face of it, it was though this would be a simpler way of getting rid of obsolete regulations and other red tape. However, there are legitimate concerns that there are adequate safeguards against the unnecessary or unwarranted use of such legislation. As I understand it, the government is reflecting on it further but I have sent a copy of your email to the apropriate minister so that your views can be taken into account.

I shall keep you informed.

Yours sincerely

[signature]

Not too shabby.