It became official today; President Bush named himself King of the United States. Granted those of us who follow this administration have seen Bush act as if he was a king and not an elected representative for the past five years but finally today Bush all but came out and said it.
The issue at hand is the wiretapping of US citizens without judicial oversight. In this country that is a felony and an impeachable offense. Essentially, the president does not have absolute power in this country. He is but one part of the government and is supposed to be “checked” and “balanced” by the other branches of government. In the Bush administration however, the other two branches are merely subservient to the omnipotent King George.
In order for the president to wiretap an American citizen he must obtain permission from the courts. In order to gain that permission he must prove to the courts that there is probable cause for such activities. There needs to be a justifiable reason for invading the privacy of the citizen. If the courts agree, then they grant the wiretap. In these instances, Bush bypassed the courts, never established probable cause, and “authorized” the wiretaps himself, making them illegal.
While the blogs have been reporting on such activities for over a year it took until recently for the mainstream media to catch up and when the truth finally came to light this week America huddled together to hear the president explain himself. Instead Bush took to the air waves today to say that not only did he do this, but he will continue to do so, thumbing his nose at the courts, checks and balances, and the Constitution of the Untied States of America. Bush actually was more upset that it was reported, claiming phantom damage done to their war on terror. Mind you they have yet to prosecute ONE person successfully since the onset of this “war.” So to sum up, the president violates federal law; illegally spies on the citizens he is sworn to protect, and then is angry that someone would expose it. Gotta love King George.
One telling quote from Bush today was:
"We don't talk about sources and methods. Don't talk about ongoing intelligence operations. I know there's speculation. But it's important for the American people to understand that we will do - or I will use my powers to protect us, and I will do so under the law, and that's important for our citizens to understand."
Essentially Bush is saying trust me. Sorry George we don’t. It is quite obvious that he is reluctant to discuss “sources and methods” because that would reveal the scope of the federal violations he has sponsored. While it is noble for the president to want to “use his powers” to protect us, it is ILLEGAL for him to determine what those powers are. It is ILLEGAL to rewrite the constitution and assume broader powers circumventing the checks and balances system set up by our founding fathers. What is important for American citizens to understand is that our president does not operate “under the law” but rather seems to believe he is above the law.
The catch phrases you will hear over the ensuing days is that Bush operated within the law, but the part they omit is that Bush decides what the law is, which ones he will follow and which ones he thinks fall under his “powers” to override. If you want to go to war, simply lie to Congress about the intel you have collected. If someone challenges your lies, attack him personally and out his secret agent wife. If you want to hold someone indefinitely, call him an enemy combatant. For whatever annoying law there is, simply create a fake “power” that you can then grant yourself and blame it all on living in a terrorist-post-911 world. If you want to violate the civil rights of citizens, simply don’t inform the courts that you authorized illegal wiretaps. This is all standard in the arrogant Bush administration that treats its citizens as children, who are guilty until the illegal wiretap proves them innocent.
The truly shocking thing today was the brazen admittance by King George. A few years ago he would have denied the story or sent out his emissaries to attack the credibility of any of the sources. Instead today he went on the air and told America that he no longer is bound by the Constitution and that the system of checks and balances which has served our country well for over 200 years has been rendered quaint. He took up the crown he has hid for the past five years, crafted with lies, corruption and war and placed it firmly upon his head. He declared himself to no longer be president but King of the United States, no longer answerable to law, courts, or any of the other branches of government. People within his own party were aghast at these revelations and have promised to investigate but they sound like court jesters before the mighty, omnipotent, King George.
Wake up America; it is time to throw the tea in the harbor again.
Anthony Wade, a contributing writer to opednews.com, is dedicated to educating the populace to the lies and abuses of the government. He is a 41-year-old independent writer from New York with political commentary articles seen on multiple websites. (more...)
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
First, they go after the NYT because it appeals to their ever-tightening base. Anybody who has read anything in the last five years can see the NYT is now a charter member of the right-wing media spin machine-controlled mass media. Their editorial page is to the left, but their news division is totally pro-Bush. They spiked the "Bush was Wired" story because they didn't want to "influence the election." They sat on this story for over a year for similar reasons. What ELSE haven't they allowed to be reported by those few reporters who still thought they were working for "The Old Gray Lady." We might never know.
The NYT is the ENEMY and any progressive who continues to read them thinking otherwise is fooling themselves.
The King HAS been coronated, and his willingness to come out and admit these crimes openly is simply a test of the Republican's total control of media, congress, executive, judicial, and investigative branches of government. Also a good way to separate the totally-on-board Republicans from those who might jump ship, so they can be "suprisingly defeated" in Republican primaries in 2006 and more pro-agenda Republicans installed in November 2006.
We have lost this country to Republican controlled election systems through Diabold, ES&S, and Sequoia. We will never see another honest election in this country until after the streets have filled with blood.
It was a nice run for a test of Democracy and representative government, but we were asleep at the wheel when the Republicans gutted education and allowed television to dumb-down the electorate to the point when they didn't know it was time to re-take their government.
Too bad, really. But hey, history is long, and the short-term crisis is just that.
I wish I could have left my two college-age daughters a better future.
Charlie L
Portland, OR
CLL2001@gmail.com
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Charlie L (2 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 747 comments [2 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, Dec 18, 2005 at 10:02:24 AM
As America grasped for totalitarian comfort and convenience of, by, for oil, George Bush Junior seized the crown, and America hypnotized by the orgasm didn't even notice.
But under the layers of paper essential for survival of civil discourse hide the arguments we need to resurrect again to free the many from tyranny...again.
Strangely enough they sleep unfettered by the responsibilities that gave us the freedom from fear some knew so well to know,
But as each day passes and the tyrant reminds us again and again that 9/11 made war so that he could crush us, I wonder.
by
HollyBerkowitz (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 8 comments) on Sunday, Dec 18, 2005 at 9:32:39 PM
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