Mike's Blog

The Culture Of LIfe (and Death of the Constitution)

The War On Terror Freedom. Somehow I'm much more terrified of Bush than any radical Muslim jihadist with a 3 1/2 oz bottle of shampoo. Bush is a much larger enemy of freedom than anyone else in the world. Let me say that clearly. Those who claim to support a "Culture of Life" are the enemies of freedom and democracy in the world.

It doesn't get any more Orwellian than this.

"I am pleased that the Supreme Court upheld a law that prohibits the abhorrent procedure of partial-birth abortion. Today's decision affirms that the Constitution does not stand in the way of the people's representatives enacting laws reflecting the compassion and humanity of America. The partial-birth abortion ban, which an overwhelming bipartisan majority in Congress passed and I signed into law, represents a commitment to building a culture of life in America.

The Supreme Court's decision is an affirmation of the progress we have made over the past six years in protecting human dignity and upholding the sanctity of life."

-G.W. Bush, 4/18/07

Setting aside the fact that Bush has just stated that the Constitution doesn't stand in the way of Congress, let us dwell for the moment on his concept of this "Culture of Life".

Does it look like this?

Or maybe THIS is his "Culture of Life"?

Does this qualify?

Or maybe this?

We know how important his Culture of Life was when Hurricane Katrina hit.  Then again, those people were brown, too. (link Dependable Renegade)

 

 

Bush once again deceives and misleads Congress and the American people, basically says "fuck you" and does what he wants

Bush once again uses a "recess appointment" to put whoever he wants in office despite what Congress or the American people may want or care about. Shortly before the confirmation vote for Sam Fox,  Bush's nominee for ambassador to Belgium was to be put before Congress, the White House withdrew the nomination as it was obvious he would have lost. Bush's strategy was to avoid confrontation and opposition to what he wanted and waited until Congress was in recess. At the very least, Bush and his cronies must be impeached. I can think many more appropriate fates than a simple impeachment.  In a previous post I'd suggested that Guantanamo be "repurposed". That's also mild in comparison with some of my other thoughts.

                  Bush appoints Swift Boat financier as ambassador -- avoiding Senate approval
by Joe Sudbay (DC)                   ·  4/04/2007 05:02:00 PM ET
  Discuss this post here: Comments (176) ·  digg it · reddit · FARK ·  · Link

Last week, facing enormous opposition, the White House pulled the nomination of controversial Swift Boat campaign funder, Sam Fox, to be Ambassador to Belgium. Today, in a direct rebuke to America's veterans who served in Vietnam unlike Bush and Cheney, Bush used a "recess appointment" to avoid Senate confirmation and gave Fox the job anyway:

President Bush named Republican fundraiser Sam Fox as U.S. ambassador to Belgium on Wednesday, using a maneuver that allowed him to bypass Congress where Democrats had derailed Fox's nomination.

Democrats had denounced Fox for his 2004 donation to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. The group's TV ads, which claimed that Sen. John Kerry exaggerated his military record in Vietnam, were viewed as a major factor in the Massachusetts Democrat losing the election.

Recognizing Fox did not have the votes to obtain Senate confirmation, Bush withdrew the nomination last month. On Wednesday, with Congress out of town for a spring break, the president used his power to make recess appointments to put Fox in the job without Senate confirmation.

This means Fox can remain ambassador until the end of the next session of Congress, effectively through the end of the Bush presidency.

Bush is the first one to play games to avoid the normal procedure when he's going to lose. The Senate should cut funding for the embassy in Belgium. (link AMERCIAblog)

A scary and sickening relevance

I was reading a post in corrente (link Let Facts be Submitted to a Candid World) which got me thinking.  I wonder how long it will be before a .gov link to the Declaration of Independence is hard to find.  Below are a few of the lines that struck me with a sickening familiarity and relevance.  Follow the link on the bottom to the full text of the Declaration of Independence, read carefully and think of what is happening in this country now and how what was written over two hundred years ago relates to it.

...

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
...

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

...

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their substance. ...

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

...

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

...

For depriving us of many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury: For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with Power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

...

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
...

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us
...

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. (link to National Arichives)

Warrantless Searches by the TSA

John Barlow was arrested as the result of a very small amount of contraband found by the TSA during a search of his bags at SFO.  They were NOT looking for explosives, what they found was a small quantity in the bottom of a Tylenol bottle.  They had to look hard and specificially for something other than explosvies.  This goes to court again on Decmeber 15. 

...There is a lot at stake here. Although, as I say, the 4th Amendment is in rough shape, it remains quite clear in its prohibition of "general warrants," which are searches of unspecified members of the public for evidence of random illegal activity. But, whether by design or "mission drift," this is what TSA's checked baggage searches increasingly resemble. They're not just looking for explosives, folks.... Link via Dan Gillmor