Only 750?Follow

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/05/03/hearing_vowed_on_bushs_powers/


WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, accusing the White House of a ''very blatant encroachment" on congressional authority, said yesterday he will hold an oversight hearing into President Bush's assertion that he has the power to bypass more than 750 laws enacted over the past five years.

I think this is a pretty good system. Since he doesn't have a line item veto, the Emperor has apparently decided that he can just make a note in the margins of laws he signs (litterally) and ignore the parts he doesn't like. Not existing laws mind you, that would be well over 750, but laws the man himself as signed.


Specter's announcement followed a report in the Sunday Globe that Bush has quietly asserted the authority to ignore provisions in 750 bills he has signed -- about 1 in 10.

Well, hey, I guess that's not too bad. If not for the liberal bias of the Globe, this headline would have read "President complies with 90% of own laws." Fox News would have a ticker item saying "President Bush get's A on complying with laws".


Over the past five years, Bush has stated that he can defy any statute that conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution. In many instances, Bush cited his role as head of the executive branch or as commander in chief to justify the exemption.

The statutes that Bush has asserted the right to override include numerous rules and regulations for the military, job protections for whistle-blowers who tell Congress about possible government wrongdoing, affirmative action requirements, and safeguards against political interference in federally funded research.

Bush made the claims in ''signing statements," official documents in which a president lays out his interpretation of a bill for the executive branch, creating guidelines to follow when it implements the law. The statements are filed without fanfare in the federal record, often following ceremonies in which the president made no mention of the objections he was about to raise in the bill, even as he signed it into law.

Man we should really set up a branch of governement to interpret the Constititution. We could call it the Supreme Constitution Interpeting Pannel, or something, and have six or seven people assigned to it to handle that sort of thing. Nah, that would never work.

Oh well, at least we know that Bush will end up carrying watter for Sheiks for like a morrocan houseboy in two years or so. Sic semper tyrannis as they say in old Virginny.

What this country needs is an *****.

Where the hell are the White House lawyers? What kind of half-assed advice is he getting?

Too busy telling Dubya exactly what he wants to hear, more likely. Anything else would be "disloyal".

WAht's the problem here?

Do you not know that if the President does it, it's legal? DUUH

OMGZ! Bush is ignoring the laws he signed! Alert the media! Oh wait...

Guess it was time for another cycle, and it was the Boston Globe's "turn".

Man, has it really gotten that bad that you won't even go through the motions of attempting to justify gross abuse of power by the Emperor now?

I expect the plagues of locusts any day now.