What the terrorists were incapable of achieving, the president and a Republican (in name only) Congress have been able to accomplish. In its broadest terms, the torture bill gives the president the authority to declare ANYONE an enemy combatant, or one who aids terrorists, and subjects them to indefinite detention and any type of treatment that the president authorizes.
In an election year with these bills going "down to the wire", Congress killed the American Republic and replaced it with a neo-Nazi dictatorship. These bills, if allowed to be signed into law and barring being overturned in judicial proceedings, will make the president answerable to no one. With supreme authority, the president will be allowed to do virtually anything in his "war on terror". The passage of the Military Commissions Act of 2006, and the impending passage of the Terrorist Surveillance Program legislation, coupled with the USA Patriot Act, are the equivalent of Nazi Germany's 1933 Enabling Act.
American citizens are delusional in thinking that we live in a democracy and have a Constitution with a Bill of Rights to protect our nation from tyrannical rule. Comforted in the knowledge that our government's authority is rigidly defined to protect individual citizen's rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Welcome to the Grand Illusion!
Under every administration, prior to the current one, we have had a government, more or less, established within the framework of our Constitution. The Constitution's system of "checks and balances" provided every citizen the calming knowledge that their leaders were incapable of obtaining dictatorial power. The three branches of government, the executive, legislative, and judicial, "checked" one another's power.
With the passing of legislation, enacted since September 11, 2001, our government is now almost entirely ruled by decree. What this means is, much the same as Hitler's Germany, virtually all power resides in the executive branch of our government, namely in the president, who by merely announcing an executive policy or issuing an order, establishes the "law of the land". Regardless of how much "pissing and moaning" our reprehensible congress-critters do, in the end, and to the shame of America, they cave in to the president and do his bidding.
John McCain, looking like a pathetic, modern day Neville Chamberlain, tried to persuade himself, and the American public, that along with Senators Warner and Graham, they had forced the president to accept a "compromise" that left the Geneva Convention Accords intact. Chamberlain, who as Prime Minister of Great Britain, signed an agreement with Hitler in an effort to appease the dictator, giving the Sudetenland area of Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany in the Munich Pact, Eerily, the senate passed this legislation, leaving only the president's signature to establish it as law, on September 29th, exactly 68 years to the day, that the Munich Pact was signed.
It remains to be seen if the courts will strike down this despicable, Unconstitutional law. This legislation was passed almost entirely along party lines. Partisan politics, from Republicans and Democrats, with no thought of their sworn oath, not to the president, not to their political party, but to protect and defend the United States Constitution against enemies, both foreign and domestic, is an act of treason!
It is an illusion to think that government officials, the majority of which are lawyers, will do what is in the best interest of this nation and Her people. There chosen profession trains them to lie convincingly, and, given the choice, these scoundrel congress-critters will always take the easy, and sleazy, way out. The majority of them, have sold their honesty and integrity long ago to attain the position they now hold. They will always choose to sell out America to benefit themselves, or their "handlers", or as a payoff to those who have placed them in power.
With the staggering cost of this never ending "Global War On Terror" that Bush has lied us into, no one can make the claim that it doesn't affect them! Money that could be used domestically, in a multitude of infrastructure programs, is frivolously wasted to benefit the Bush family and other wealthy elites. Middle class income is stagnant, or declining, while our leaders squander the nations assets to consolidate the world's energy sources, in an effort to benefit the chosen few! We pay for our own demise and then find ourselves dismayed that our president, and Congress, never pass laws that are beneficial to the working American citizen.
An article that I sent to individuals on March 24, 2006 in an attempt to encourage them to become involved is posted below:
The CEO who didn't know!
The ongoing trial of Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay, who were the former CEOs of Enron Corporation, has several interesting aspects to it. I recently began to think about all of the media attention that swirled around this case as it unfolded. Every day, on television, in the newspapers, and on the radio, there were new revelations on the scandal that occurred at Enron.
In the dizzying period of the late '90s, before the tech bubble burst, greed was rampant. Lay and Skilling were the media "darlings", along with Adelphia Communications' John Rigas, World Com's Bernard Ebbers, and Global Crossing's Gary Winnick. It seemed that these individuals couldn't spend the money as fast as their executive boards could throw it at them. There was nothing that was denied them. The company stock soared through the roof and all was great.
When the reality of what was going on at these companies became clear, and the callousness of these CEOs and their minions was exposed to their employees and to the world, to a man, Ebbers, Lay, Winnick, Rigas, and Skilling, all feigned ignorance as to the true financial condition of their respective companies.
Enron's Kenneth Lay and Global Crossing's Gary Winnick, both claimed that they "didn't know what was going on". Jeffery Skilling said he "knew of no wrongdoing". Bernie Ebbers said he "didn't know" and that he was a "hands off" type of CEO. The defense lawyer for Adelphia Communications' John Rigas said that "Rigas had a right to believe that things were done properly."
A poll conducted at the height of this scandal showed that most Americans believed that these individuals were lying and that there was absolutely no way that, as heads of these corporations, they had no knowledge of wrongdoing. Furthermore, most Americans also believed that as a CEO, it was no defense, and the corporate head had no right, to believe that things were being done properly by their subordinates.
In America, we have a form of government that was founded "for the people, by the people, and of the people". This government has, at its foundation, the Constitution of the united States. First, our government is "for the people" in that, the individuals who hold office, from the President of the united States, down to the lowest elected official in local government, work for the people. Second, our government is "by the people" in that, the individuals who hold office, from the President of the united States, down to the lowest elected official in local government, are elected by the people. And lastly, our government is "of the people" in that, the individuals who hold office, from the President of the united States, down to the lowest elected official in local government, are not part of a monarchy or royalty, but are merely of the people. Our form of government, under the Constitution, places the individuals who hold office, from the President of the united States, down to the lowest elected official in local government, in subordination to "the people" of the united States, which is the reason that they are called public servants. They work for us.
Under our form of government, the American people are the "CEOs" of this country. Although, according to the aforementioned poll, Americans overwhelmingly think that the above mentioned CEOs are lying when they claim they didn't know what was transpiring in their companies. I am not so sure. I think that more than anything, they were unconcerned about the day to day affairs of the companies they headed. They had hired individuals to take care of things in the daily operations of the companies. They had more important things to do than keep an eye on the hired help, so they hired managers and other executives to oversee corporate operations. In the end, it cost countless people their life savings and led to the imprisonment of two of these individuals thus far. As the CEO of America, we have done no better than any of these CEOs mentioned. With more at stake than merely fiduciary malfeasance, we must be vigilant in our efforts to ensure that our government operates in a manner consistent with the rule of law as set forth in the Constitution. Our very way of life is being threatened daily, and the freedoms that we enjoy, and many times take for granted, are being ripped away from us all in the name of keeping us safe from “terrorists”. I encourage every one of you to dig for the facts behind the stories that are promulgated in the media. If you would like some suggestions on how to find the truth, and not just the “official” story, email me and I will give you some excellent websites. You can always Yahoo, Google, or Dogpile “depleted uranium” or “911” and search through the myriad results that you will get there.
According to our Constitutional form of government, these "public servants" work for us! Don't think that they will work in your best interest if you choose to show little or no interest in what they do, because if you think that, then you are sadly mistaken!!!
November 7, 2006 you have the opportunity to make your voice heard...VOTE THEM ALL OUT!