WP Froomkin's White House Briefing: Imbalance of Power?

Imbalance of Power?

By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Monday, December 19, 2005; 12:00 PM

President Bush's acknowledgment that he unilaterally approved domestic spying is the latest piece of evidence supporting complaints that his White House operates essentially unchecked by the legislative and judicial branches.

Scott Shane writes in the New York Times: "A single, fiercely debated legal principle lies behind nearly every major initiative in the Bush administration's war on terror, scholars say: the sweeping assertion of the powers of the presidency. . . .

"With the strong support of Vice President Dick Cheney, legal theorists in the White House and Justice Department have argued that previous presidents unjustifiably gave up some of the legitimate power of their office. The attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, made it especially critical that the full power of the executive be restored and exercised, they said. . . .

"But some legal experts outside the administration, including some who served previously in the intelligence agencies, said the administration had pushed the presidential-powers argument beyond what was legally justified or prudent. They say the N.S.A. domestic eavesdropping illustrates the flaws in Mr. Bush's assertion of his powers.

more at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/04/11/LI2005041100879.html

that this administration is hell bent on creating a fascist dictatorship. It would be nice if our Congress would finally understand that.

If the other branches of Government exercise their Constitutional checks and balances to properly restrain the Executive, the next President, regardless of which party he belongs to, will be less influential, as will his successors for at least a generation. There are a number of periods of American history in which this was the case, and they are typically peaceful, prosperous, uninteresting times. Perhaps we will see Presidents who decline to seek a second term, a depoliticized Judiciary, and a more powerful -- and more ACCOUNTABLE -- Congress which better reflects the political sentiments of the entire country as a whole. Oh yeah, and a Vice-President who is little more than window-dressing, as the Founders intended.

Here's hoping.

by the bush white house, "9/11 changed everything". :nuke: WRONG! 9/11 DID NOT change the Constitution, it DID NOT change the system of checks and balances put in place by the founding fathers, it DID NOT change the laws of this land! The BUSH ADMINISTRATION changed all of that, ON THEIR OWN, with NO consent from Congress or the American people!
Impeach this son of a bitch, NOW! :grr: This cock-sucker (or his handlers, I should say) has made a mockery of our entire system of government and the worst thing is he's the STUPIDEST President we've ever had! This fucking MORON thinks he's above the law, he thinks he's smart, he thinks he's clever, he thinks he can do any god-damned thing he wants to because 9/11 CHANGED EVERYTHING! That this fucking imbecile was handed the reins of power in this country TWICE by vote tampering, crooked Republican SCUM is beyond appalling!
I hope the fucking NSA is reading THIS little screed right now. UP YOURS! Come and get me, you know where I am. :mad: