About an hour after posting "The Last Farewell" yesterday, I ran across this little item about presidential "signing statements".
The signing statement is a note appended to a bill the president signs, and Bush has used this technique to unilaterally modify legislation more than 500 times. It's a way of saying, "This bill is law until I decide it's not."
This article goes a long way toward explaining why Bush has never vetoed anything. He just rewrites what he doesn't like.
The current government's use of "signing statements" pretty much puts to rest any serious debate about whether this administration is a dictatorship.
The Knight-Ridder article notes that:
Signing statements don't have the force of law, but they can influence judicial interpretations of a statute. They also send a powerful signal to executive branch agencies on how the White House wants them to implement new federal laws.
In some cases, Bush bluntly informs Congress that he has no intention of carrying out provisions that he considers an unconstitutional encroachment on his authority.
"They don't like some of the things Congress has done so they assert the power to ignore it," said Martin Lederman, a visiting professor at the Georgetown University Law Center. "The categorical nature of their opposition is unprecedented and alarming."
Now ask yourself, is Congress going to do anything about this encroachment of power which is nowhere mentioned in the Constitution? Of course not. Some of them will squeak and squawk, and a few might even talk tough, before the neocon noise machine sends the usual suspects onto the t.v. talk shows to call them traitors, stupid poopy pants, etc. In the end, Congress won't do anything except allow a few of its members to talk. It's the only thing they're good at any more.
If the Roman Senate, er, 'scuze me, U.S. Congress doesn't act to stop this bald-faced, illegal usurpation of their power, who will?
In the end, nobody can do anything to stop this.
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