[ChicknLittle]

Alberto Gonzales (Attorney General, Bush Administration) is on C-span getting questioned severely by both Democrats and Republicans. While nothing may come of it it is refreshing to see probing questions and followup directed at the administrations claim of "war power" to conduct "domestic survelance" based on authorization of use of force by congress. The media is even asking somewhat harsh questions of the white house press secretary (shocking).

[ChicknLittle]

Ok, the more I watch of these hearings the more worried I become...

The bush administration and Gonzalez believe in something called the Yoo docterine...which " contends that the president has unilateral authority to initiate wars without congressional approval, and to interpret, terminate, and violate international treaties at will. Indeed, ratified treaties, Yoo believes, cannot be enforced by courts unless Congress enacts additional legislation to implement them. According to this view, Congress's foreign affairs authority is largely limited to enacting domestic legislation and appropriating money. In other words, when it comes to foreign affairs, the president exercises unilateral authority largely unchecked by law—constitutional or international."

Gonzales is on one level saying that Congress authorizing use of force (implying all tools of war) against terrorism gave the president a power which overrules law... Beyond that his belief is that the president has such powers even independant of that declaration and the Patriot act.
(sigh)

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/18431


[web]http://www.masslive.com/images/weblogs/election/gonzalez.jpg[/web]

[ChicknLittle]

Scholar's think Bush might be Impeachable.

[ChicknLittle]

Discussion of the problem.

[Specop_007]

There is an Edit button......

[ChicknLittle]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Specop_007', 'T')here is an Edit button......

[Specop_007]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ChicknLittle', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Specop_007', 'T')here is an Edit button......

[Carlhole]

It's not so hard to rake a fool over the coals.

Video-QT

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