When I was a kid, my friends and I had many lively discussions about which super power would be the best one to have. The winners were usually invisibility and flying. I generally leaned towards invisibility.
George Bush has super powers. He waved a wand and gave them to himself on May 9th, with his new presidential directive (NSPD51/HSPD20). This directive basically gives him dictatorial power in the event of a “catastrophic emergency.” Which he gets to declare, of course and, evidently, without asking Congress.
If that alone doesn’t scare you, the definition of “catastrophic emergency” for purposes of this directive should: “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.”
So if, say, the stock market crashed, Bush could say it was a catastrophic emergency, and he, alone, would be the decider. He’d be the boss of Congress, state governments, tribal governments, and even some private sector organizations….
That’s super powers. Super Emergency Powers. You can read the text of the directive here, or watch this video of the author of this article.
Evidently, the media haven’t paid this any attention. Maybe you should.
Just a thought.
I am so glad I am coming to France. I don’t think his super powers can hurt me if I am in France. Can they? Oh no—we are in a global economy and that means there is no escape. What is his cryptonite?
LBR, I promise you, after you’ve spent some time here you’ll learn what real liberté feels like.
I feel safe from that country’s fascism here, but I,a US citizen with no criminal history, get nervous going back for visits.
I’m just waiting for the day when all mouthy bloggers are put on the “confiscate laptop at border” list (which doesn’t exist yet–as far as I know)… They can already do that legally, without probable cause. Any border control officer can arbitrarily decide he needs to search and/or seize your laptop.
Fourth amendment–what’s that?
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TRAVEL/10/25/laptop.privacy/index.html
If McCain is elected, my friends and family will have to come here if they want to see me…
I would like the ‘change weight to desired poundage at whim’ power, please.
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I recall Jeb Bush signed something with similar wording (at the state level) for Florida after 9/11. What worries me is that this sort of thing is starting to seem routine to many.