Will Bush Ever Leave Office?
by Jeff Davis
All the really interesting and important news always seems to come from foreign sources, never from American media. When the mainstream media isn’t repeating word-for-word the latest propaganda from the neocons, it’s riveted to American Idol, the Paris Hilton jail saga, and Lindsay Lohan’s choice in pharmaceuticals.
A recent Alternet article should be banner headlines in every newspaper in the country and covered 24/7 by dozens of cable TV talking heads –if the American news media hadn’t been completely co-opted and silenced by Bush and his little neocon friends. The article reports “[President] Bush has issued a directive that would place all governmental powers in his hands in the case of a catastrophic emergency. If a terrorist attack happens before the 2008 election, Bush and Cheney could use this to avoid relinquishing power to a successor administration….The National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive, signed on May 9, 2007, would place all governmental power in the hands of the President and effectively abolish the checks and balances in the Constitution. If a ‘catastrophic emergency’ — which could include a terrorist attack or a natural disaster — occurs, Bush’s new directive says: ‘The President shall lead the activities of the Federal Government for ensuring constitutional government.’”
Alternet goes on: “What about the other two co-equal branches of government? The directive throws them a bone by speaking of a cooperative effort among the three branches, ‘coordinated by the President, as a matter of comity with respect to the legislative and judicial branches and with proper respect for the constitutional separation of powers.’ The Vice-President would help to implement the plans. ‘Comity,’ however, means courtesy, and the President would decide what kind of respect for the other two branches of government would be proper. This Presidential Directive is a blatant power grab by Bush to institutionalize the ‘unitary executive.’” (more…)