Prayer and Probability

Bush Declares Constitution Null And Void
It Is Old And Outdated

“This new threat required us to think and act differently,” with these words George Walker Bush declared his imperial (dictatorial) presidency. He said he was above the law of the land. The nation hadn’t heard such hubris since the days of Contragate and before that Watergate. As Reagan and Nixon did with those two crimes the Bush Administration attempted to conceal and justify their law-breaking with the standard radical right
explanation of “National Security”. Unfortunately for them the old, ‘we had to destroy it so we could save it’ routine doesn’t play any better today than it did in the past. And there is a reason for that, it is totally insane. It makes sense only to the intellectually, morally, and ethically challenged. That certainly explains why Bush and his cronies chose to use it.

It didn’t take the President very long to start his pattern of lying and deceiving. His tenth sentence was this, “Our mission in Iraq is critical in the victory in the global war on terror. After our country was attacked on September the 11th and nearly 3,000 lives were lost, I vowed to do everything within my power to bring justice to those who were responsible.” After more than 4 years he is still trying to mislead the American people into believing Iraq had something to do with 9-11. His WMD ploy failed, he hasn’t much else to use. Bush is running scared, he always has eventually. He and Karl Rove wanted desperately for others in his administration and party to be the ones in the public spotlight, the ones defending the lies and deception. But as many succumbed to scandal and indictment, Bush has had no option except to place himself on the firing line. This was a great plan on September 12, 2001. It is an act of desperation in December 2005.

After decades of cowering before the onslaught of the extreme right, the Media at long last seems to be rediscovering a backbone. As more and more lies and crimes of conservative reactionaries come to light the media is refusing, albeit slowly, to close their eyes to all the excesses. Hopefully as Richard Cohen has called for, we are entering the era of accountability and leaving the ‘I am responsible but it is someone else’s fault’ era.

One of the first things we must hold Bush accountable for is this from his opening decree yesterday, “As President and Commander-in-Chief, I have the constitutional responsibility and the constitutional authority to protect our country. Article II of the Constitution gives me that responsibility and the authority necessary to fulfill it.” Nowhere does it give him the right to define and select what parts of the Constitution he decides to defend and protect. In fact the very reason for the First Amendment and the Bill of Rights is to prevent some hegemonic dictator or would be king from being able to steal the people’s rights.

In trying to secure these powers for himself Bush went on to add a plea for the extension of the “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism” Bill, or as he likes to euphemistically refer to it, ‘The Patriot Act’. He said,”Another vital tool in the war on terror is the Patriot Act. After September the 11th, Congress acted quickly and responsibly by passing this law.” Well they acted quickly at least, kind of. It was passed after an all night writing session conducted by whom no one knows. It just mysteriously appeared around 8 A.M. and was put up to vote without allowing Congress to get a chance to read the bill. Bush calls surrender your rights to me without knowing what you do responsible! Well he would.

Then Bush got really weird. He defended his attack against the poor and under privileged of America by saying, “We were wise with taxpayer's money and cut non-security discretionary spending below last year's level.” He went on to say, “We passed bankruptcy reform and class action lawsuit reform…, we need to keep taxes low, and make the tax relief permanent. We must restrain government spending, and I'm pleased that the House today has voted to rein in entitlement spending by $40 billion, and I urge the United States Senate to join them.” As I said yesterday the only sacrifices Bush calls for are from someone besides himself and his moneyed class. It is way past time to hold him accountable for his war against the Constitution and the American people.

The Bush Credo - No Sacrifice Is Too Great For Others To
Make.