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Old 08-30-2007, 01:56 PM   #5 (permalink)
dc_dux
 
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Location: Washington DC
Welcome otto! New voices and new perspectives are always welcome, but its asking alot to rehash all of the many issues with Bush that have been well documented here in numerous threads.

I agree with Dave, but I will try to be a little more specific, with just a few examples.

Start with the most serious....the undermining of the concept of the separation of powers:
Quote:
The use of "signing statements" at unprecedented levels......here is one egregious example:
When President Bush signed the reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act this month (2006), he included an addendum saying that he did not feel obliged to obey requirements that he inform Congress about how the FBI was using the act's expanded police powers.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/ar...t_requirement/
Here is a more general finding by an ABA panel:
Presidential signing statements that assert President Bush’s authority to disregard or decline to enforce laws adopted by Congress undermine the rule of law and our constitutional system of separation of powers, according to a report released today by a blue-ribbon American Bar Association task force.
http://www.abanet.org/media/releases/news072406.html
Add to that the excessive use of executive orders, the unilateral interpretation of US obligations under international treaties (ie treatment of prisoners under Geneva Conventions), and the attempt to extend "executive privilege" to include exchanges between WH staff (conversations and e-mails not directly involving the Pres) in order to prevent Congress from performing its proper oversight role of the Executive Branch.
And then there is the withholding of pre-war intel from Congress that questioned his WMD rationale for war and his lying to the American people ("Congress had the same intel I had")to justify the invasion and the ongoing misrepresentation of the facts to continue (for 4 years) a failed occupation.

Warrantless wiretapping of citizens in violation of FISA (at the time...as determined by FISA judges and DoJ attorneys) and Bush's personal order to block DOJ internal investigations by denying security clearances to DoJ investigators

Not to mention the blatant and excessive manipulation of scientific data of federal agencies for political purposes.....we had a long thread on that one:
http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...cientific+data

As well as serious potential violations of the Presidential Records Act and attempts to block Freedom of Information Act requests along with the massive level of new secrecy and classification of documents... all to prevent access to the federal government to a public that has a right to know.

I have lots more when I have time

The damage Bush had done to our relatively open and balanced (between the branches) system of government has been wide and deep. Fortunately, the system is still stronger than one man and can be corrected.
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Last edited by dc_dux; 08-30-2007 at 03:02 PM.. Reason: added links
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