A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine emailed me an article from WorldNetDaily, wondering if anyone was talking about it.
No one was. No one from the MSM, anyway.
The article concerned the new and improved National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive, which grants the President extraordinary powers in a catastrophic emergency.
The idea seems practical enough on the surface: In the event of a crisis, we need to make sure the government keeps running, so a position is created to ensure national continuity. Sounds good, right?
Don’t be so sure. It turns out that there was already a National Emergency Act intended to keep the trains running and maintain our system of checks and balances. This one cuts Congress out of the equation, making the responsibility for maintaining government the exclusive purview of the executive branch. Sound familiar?
Also “catastrophic emergency” is rather broadly defined as “any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions.”
Let that sink in for just a moment.
Then consider this: if the United States were to enter into a war with Iran, would it fit all of those criteria? It’s easy to dismiss such ideas a nutty conspiracy theories; but that doesn’t change the fact that such an action would constitute a catastrophic emergency.
For that matter, this presidency itself can be characterized as catastrophic emergency. That being said, President Bush could use himself as the basis for declaring himself Caesar.
And just when you think that you might be over-reacting, something like this turns up in the Boston Globe:
James Carafano , a homeland security specialist at [The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank], criticized the administration for failing to inform the public that the new policy was coming, and why it was changing.
He said the White House did not recognize that discussion of emergency governmental powers is “a very sensitive issue for a lot of people,” adding that the lack of explanation is “appalling.”
But White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said that because of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the American public needs no explanation of such plans.
Let that sink in for just a moment, too.
On the heels of this comes the news that General Peter Pace has been fired as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in order to avoid his upcoming re-confirmation hearing. Pace, a Rumsfeld Man through and through, would face a number of difficult questions about Iraq. And no one in the Bush administration wants to hear that.
To be fair, Pace needs to go; but then so does his successor, Admiral Ed Giambasitiani, who was even closer to Rumsfeld.
But the objective here is not to find a better candidate, it’s to cover up the truth, while chipping away at what remains of Congressional oversight.
To give credit where it is due, this administration has done one thing remarkably well – it has consolidated enormous power within the executive branch.
Ask yourself this: Do you honestly believe they would do that, and at the same time risk having a Democrat in the White House to weild all of that hard-earned power?
The madness of King George, indeed.
