Back in 2001, George W. Bush, who believes that American citizens have no right to privacy, signed Executive Order 13233, which seals Presidential Records in perpetuity, so that HE could have privacy for ever and ever, and receive as little scrutiny from the gods of History as possible.
The Order was drafted by then-White-House-Counsel Alberto Gonzales. It was one of the first things Bush did upon taking office, and should have set off alarm bells back then and warned America what sort of lunatic had just taken office, but it didn't.
Most people probably thought that Bush was trying to protect Poppy, whose greasy hands were all over Iran-Contra; but at this point, it's pretty obvious that he was trying to protect himself, since he was planning to do all sort of slimy crap from the moment he took office.
Before Bush signed the order, Presidential Records became public after 12 years. But Bush decided that 12 years wasn't long enough, and FOREVER sounded about right. As things are now, in the United States of America, you can't know what a President did unless he or his heirs approves the release of the information. Forever.
And last week, with very little fanfare, the House overwhelmingly voted to rescind this Stalinist piece of legislation. They passed H.R. 1255 by 333 to 93. Veto proof. That bill says that Executive Order 13233 "shall have no force or effect," and puts the original Presidential Records Act back into effect.
It is now moving to the Senate where (I hope) it passes easily.
And, although it hasn't been given much play in the news, I think there are few things more likely to cause Bush to throw a temper tantrum than the House and Senate doing away with that idiotic Executive Order. Telling Bush that he doesn't get to make his own rules and that he will be held accountable for his own actions is tailor- made to make the spoiled little boy furious.
3 comments:
Hi Iggy,
Thanks for this, I missed it (it's hard to keep up!).
Forgive me if you have already posted something on this:
LAW OF THE LAND
Bush grants presidency extraordinary powers
Directive for emergencies apparently gives authority without congressional oversight
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55825
This is good news. However, in light of the fact that the RNC is deleting e-mails on a pace that rivals only Ollie North and his paper shredding activities, we still may never know the depth of the depravity or the full nature of Bush's insanity. This is, however, a step in the right direction.
The question will then become, what will anyone do about it? The problem, as I see it, is not whether or not the Democrats can find illegal activity from this administration, but if they will do anything about it. If the track record is any indication, nothing will ever become of any of it. I find that equally absurd and would love to see democratic leadership develop a spine.
I don't think I DID post anything about the extraordinary powers thing - I remember it, but I was probably running myself ragged that day.
Yes, we are trapped in the Party of the Spineless. Call it the hope that springs eternal within the human breast: I keep hoping these clowns will wake up.
I've edited the post and included links to the legislation.
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