For Whom The Bell Tolls

George W. Bush, 43rd president of the USA
If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier... [Bush chuckles, audience laughs] ...just so long as I'm the dictator [more laughter].

March 3, 2005: H.R. 1070/ S. 520, Introduced in Senate: Constitution Restoration Act of 2005

A BILL

To limit the jurisdiction of Federal courts in certain cases and promote federalism.

Sec. 1260. Matters not reviewable

`Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the Supreme Court shall not have jurisdiction to review, by appeal, writ of certiorari, or otherwise, any matter to the extent that relief is sought against an entity of Federal, State, or local government, or against an officer or agent of Federal, State, or local government (whether or not acting in official or personal capacity), concerning that entity's, officer's, or agent's acknowledgment of God as the sovereign source of law, liberty, or government.'

Aug 2, 2005: Bypassing Senate (link previously on news.yahoo.com)

President Bush installed embattled nominee John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations on Monday, bypassing the Senate after a testy five-month standoff with Democrats who argued that the tough-talking conservative was unfit for the job.

Mar. 24, 2006, An Update on President Bush's NSA Program

Bush's position is that he does not need Congressional approval for his measures.

March 24, 2006, Bush shuns Patriot Act requirement

When President Bush signed the reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act this month, he included an addendum saying that he did not feel obliged to obey requirements that he inform Congress.

April 30, 2006, Disobeying more than 750 laws

President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution...

Bush is according himself the ultimate interpretation of the Constitution.

June 4, 2006: Ignoring more than 750 laws

Bush has appended statements to new laws when he signs them, noting which provisions he believes interfere with his powers.

June 7, 2006: Declares Exemption from Secrecy Oversight

In its 2005 report to the president released last month, the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), a branch of the National Archives, provides a quantitative overview of hundreds of thousands of pages of classified and declassified documents. But the vice president’s input consists of a single footnote explaining that his office failed to meet its reporting requirements for the third year in a row.

Dec 16, 2005: Senate rejects reauthorization of Patriot Act

“Today, fair-minded senators stood firm in their commitment to the Constitution and rejected the White House’s call to pass a faulty law,” said Caroline Fredrickson, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington legislative office. “This was a victory for the privacy and liberty of all Americans.”

Mar 9, 2006: Became Public Law No: 109-177

USA PATRIOT IMPROVEMENT AND REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2005

SEC. 605. THE UNIFORMED DIVISION, UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE

Sec. 3056A. Powers, authorities, and duties of United States Secret Service Uniformed Division

(a) There is hereby created and established a permanent police force, to be known as the United States Secret Service Uniformed Division'.

(b)(1) Under the direction of the Director of the Secret Service, members of the United States Secret Service Uniformed Division are authorized to--

(A) carry firearms;

(B) make arrests without warrant for any offense against the United States committed in their presence, or for any felony cognizable under the laws of the United States if they have reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing such felony; and

(C) perform such other functions and duties as are authorized by law.

dictatorship

     n : a form of government in which the ruler is an absolute
         dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or
         opposition etc.) [syn: absolutism, authoritarianism,
         Caesarism, despotism, monocracy, one-man rule, shogunate,
          Stalinism, totalitarianism, tyranny]

George W. Bush, 43rd president of the USA
Just so long as I'm the dictator.

Update

July 1, 2006: Courts, Congress Resist Growing White House Power

While in the past the power was used to keep specific documents from disclosure, recently the privilege has been invoked to choke off entire lawsuits against the government.

(thanks to nemo)

to be continued...

Living in a Kafka World

found in a Spam:

“Life Should be Full of Luxuries”

found at latimes.com:

"It's not hopeless," Schuur said. "We're just at the beginning of this cycle, so we can, through the controlling of emissions, have a hope of slowing down this rate of global warming that would slow the melt of the [Siberian] permafrost." (Global Warming Threat Is Seen in Siberian Thaw)

Happened in June, 2006...

"There's still time to take action, but not much.” (Warming hits 'tipping point', an article about the “recently” found melting of the Siberian permafrost)

Happened in August, 2005...

and the clock ticks...

Enjoy your luxuries!

It’s not just me... – Favorite Quotes (2)

My aversion against “alpha-ship”, my antipathy against the self-made slaves...

the dominant leaders and the willingly obedient underlings, praising the man on the top...

the perfect copy of each alpha chimp or silverback

for his “wisdom” and “ability” to protect HIS wealth...

in fact depending on the work of all

against the other wanna-be-alphas and against the (paramilitary) killer troops of the other (chimp) groups...

ever read Konrad Lorenz? Remember the banana-heap-experiment?

David Brin (1950- )
It is said that power corrupts, but actually it’s more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power.

Frank Herbert (1920-1986), Chapterhouse Dune, Missionaria Protectiva
All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible. Such people have a tendency to become drunk on violence, a condition to which they are quickly addicted.

Harry S. Truman
Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.

Douglas Adams
Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.

Russian Saying
Show me your friends and I tell you who you are.

Elizabeth Marbury, american writer
The richer your friends, the more they will cost you.

Roman Saying
As long as you're prosperous, you'll have many friends.

Morris K. Udall (American Congressman, 1922-1998)
If you can find something everyone agrees on, it's wrong.

Mark Twain
Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.

Walter H. Judd
People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people. Of course, that is not true. Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote - a very different thing

Tom Stoppard
It’s not the voting that’s democracy - it’s the counting.

Joseph Stalin
The people who cast the votes don't decide an election; the people who count the votes do.

Ursula K. Le Guin ("The Left Hand of Darkness")
If civilization has an opposite, it is war. Of those two things, you have either one, or the other. Not both.

Priorities

I told you so.

It’s fascinating to watch the world beyond Iraq prepare for the World Cups...

It was up for nearly two whole days before the problems began. The first hint of a problem came through [defendant]’s neighbor. He stopped by the shop and told [defendant] that a [secret service agent] had been walking past the shop window, when the [bone of contention] attracted his attention. According to the neighbor, the [secret service agent] stopped, gazed at the [bone of contention], took note of the shops name and location and went on his way.

A day later, [defendant] had a visit at noon. A [secret service agent] walked into the shop, and had a brief look around. [defendant] tried to interest him in some [commodities], but he was not to be deterred from his apparent mission. He claimed to be a ‘representative’ from the [rulemaker] press bureau which was a few streets away and he had a message for [defendant]: the people at the abovementioned bureau were not happy with [defendant]’s display. Where was his sense of national pride?

[defendant] wasn’t happy at all. He told the [secret service agent] he would find a ‘solution’ and made a peace offering of some inexpensive [commodities] he sometimes sold. That evening, he conferred with various relatives and friends and although nearly everyone advised him to take down the [bone of contention], he insisted it should remain on display as a matter of principle. His wife even offered to turn it into [something unsuspicious]. He was adamant about keeping it up.

Two days later, he found a rather dramatic warning letter slipped under the large aluminum outer door. In a nutshell, it declared [defendant] and people like him ‘[traitor]’ and demanded he take down the [bone of contention] or he would be exposing himself to danger. It takes quite a bit to shake up a guy like [defendant], but the same day he had the [bone of contention] down and the display was back to normal.

Can’t you see them?

The small general store, the friendly son of long-established jewish family, who “inherited the shop from his father” – and the grim, dark, “black-glad” man, silently gazing, taking notice...

foretelling evil...

I told you so: Riverbend is a second Anne Frank. Reading this story Viva Muqtada... – doesn't this remind you of the stories of Anne Frank, how the SS used just pinpricks, but steadily and unpredictably, to control the people and to force them to obedience – and to betray their friends like Anne Frank?

Priorities....

our priorities: Sports, games, Spam, telling us, that “Life Should be Full of Luxuries....” to make us buy needless stuff...

who cares about others?

“First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up, because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me” - Rev. Martin Niemoller

When the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught...

who cares about us?