posted on January 4, 2007 12:27:33 PM
Plans Complete Withdrawal from His Senses
by Year End
President George W. Bush has been working around the clock to put the finishing touches on a speech to the American people in which he will announce a comprehensive exit strategy from reality, White House aides confirmed today.
When reports emerged that the president was considering deploying an additional “surge” of troops in Iraq against the advice of military experts and overwhelming public sentiment, many in Washington suspected that the move was part of a larger plan to withdraw from reality entirely.
But not until spokesperson Tony Snow addressed reporters today did the White House officially confirm that the president was about to announce an exit strategy from the land of rational thought.
“The president never intended to occupy the world of reality indefinitely,” Mr. Snow told reporters. “He is planning a new way forward, and that way forward is a one-way ticket to fantasyland.”
Moments after Mr. Snow announced Mr. Bush’s plan to unveil an exit strategy from reality, members of the press corps started peppering him with questions about a deadline by which the president will have totally taken leave of his senses.
The White House spokesperson said that the president refused to set a formal timetable for his withdrawal from reality, but added that it was realistic assume that Mr. Bush’s exit from the real world would be complete by year’s end: “It helps that he’s ninety percent of the way there already.”
Elsewhere, rocker Pete Doherty denied reports that he had married supermodel Kate Moss, but confirmed reports that he had tried to inhale her
Absolute faith has been shown, consistently, to breed intolerance. And intolerance, history teaches us, again and again, begets violence.
---------------------------------- The duty of a patriot in this time and place is to ask questions, to demand answers, to understand where our nation is headed and why. If the answers you get do not suit you, or if they frighten you, or if they anger you, it is your duty as a patriot to dissent. Freedom does not begin with blind acceptance and with a flag. Freedom begins when you say 'No.'
posted on January 4, 2007 12:41:46 PM
You know without a doubt that the country is in bad shape when announcements from the White House and Official Press Briefings become fodder for Comedy Hour.
posted on January 4, 2007 03:56:12 PM
Gee whiz! I thought he had made his exit from reality a long time ago. Just when you thought he reached the limits of chutzpah, it was announced today he signed a "signing statement" which accompanied a Postal reform bill, which could allow the government to open your mail without a warrant.
Bush signing statement may allow mail opening without warrants
By Randolph E. Schmid, Associated Press Writer | January 4, 2007
WASHINGTON --A signing statement attached to postal legislation by President Bush last month may have opened the way for the government to open mail without a warrant.
The law requires government agents to get warrants to open first-class letters.
But when he signed the postal reform act, Bush added a statement saying that his administration would construe that provision "in a manner consistent, to the maximum extent permissible, with the need to conduct searches in exigent circumstances. ..."
"The signing statement raises serious questions whether he is authorizing opening of mail contrary to the Constitution and to laws enacted by Congress," said Ann Beeson, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union. "What is the purpose of the signing statement if it isn't that?"
She said the group is planning to file request for information on how this exception will be used and also asking whether it has already been used to open mail.
Sen. Susan Collins, who sponsored the postal reform measure, said it does "absolutely nothing to alter the protections of privacy and civil liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and other federal laws."
Collins, R-Maine, added that she has long had concerns about the president's broad use of signing statements to raise questions about his intention to comply with laws enacted by Congress.
"And it is my hope that the administration will clarify its intent with this recent statement," Collins said.
White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said there was nothing new in the signing statement.
In his daily briefing Snow said: "All this is saying is that there are provisions at law for -- in exigent circumstances -- for such inspections. It has been thus. This is not a change in law, this is not new."
Postal Vice President Tom Day added: "As has been the long-standing practice, first class mail is protected from unreasonable search and seizure when in postal custody. Nothing in the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act changes this protection. The president is not exerting any new authority."
However, Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., criticized Bush's action.
"Every American wants foolproof protection against terrorism. But history has shown it can and should be done within the confines of the Constitution. This last-minute, irregular and unauthorized reinterpretation of a duly passed law is the exact type of maneuver that voters so resoundingly rejected in November," Schumer said.
The ACLU's Beeson noted that there has been an exception allowing postal inspectors to open items they believe might contain a bomb.
"His signing statement uses language that's broader than that exception," she said.
Bush uses the phrase exigent circumstances: "The question is what does that mean and why has he suddenly putting this in writing if this isn't a change in policy," she said.
In addition to suspecting a bomb or getting a warrant, the law allows postal officials to open letters that can't be delivered as addressed -- but only to determine if they can find a correct address or a return address.
Bush has issued at least 750 signing statements during his presidency, more than all other presidents combined, according to the American Bar Association.
Typically, presidents have used signing statements for such purposes as instructing executive agencies how to carry out new laws.
Bush's statements often reserve the right to revise, interpret or disregard laws on national security and constitutional grounds.
"That non-veto hamstrings Congress because Congress cannot respond to a signing statement," ABA president Michael Greco has said. The practice, he added, "is harming the separation of powers."
The president's action was first reported by the New York Daily News.
The full signing statement said:
"The executive branch shall construe subsection 404(c) of title 39, as enacted by subsection 1010(e) of the act, which provides for opening of an item of a class of mail otherwise sealed against inspection, in a manner consistent, to the maximum extent permissible, with the need to conduct searches in exigent circumstances, such as to protect human life and safety against hazardous materials, and the need for physical searches specifically authorized by law for foreign intelligence collection.
posted on January 4, 2007 06:08:57 PM
"""Bush has issued at least 750 signing statements during his presidency, more than all other presidents combined, according to the American Bar Association.
Typically, presidents have used signing statements for such purposes as instructing executive agencies how to carry out new laws.
Bush's statements often reserve the right to revise, interpret or disregard laws on national security and constitutional grounds.
"That non-veto hamstrings Congress because Congress cannot respond to a signing statement," ABA president Michael Greco has said. The practice, he added, "is harming the separation of powers.""""
I've read about these signing statements before and am not surprised that the amoral, constitution crushing bush administration has used more than all other presidents...
posted on January 4, 2007 06:44:15 PM
This is just one of many alarming Bushisms. The Constitution means little to this administration, as do the personal freedoms this country was founded on.
