NYT: Signing statements are notices that Bush doesn't intend to follow law

[DeepModem Mom]

Editorial
Read the Fine Print
Published: July 25, 2006

Over 212 years, 42 presidents issued “signing statements” objecting to a grand total of 600 provisions of new laws. George W. Bush has done that more than 800 times in just over five and a half years in office.

Most presidents used signing statements to get legal objections on the record for judges to consider in any court challenge. For Mr. Bush, they are far more: part of a strategy to expand presidential powers at the expense of Congress and the courts. His signing statements have become notices to Congress that he simply does not intend to follow the law, especially any attempt to hold him accountable for his actions.

Some of Mr. Bush’s signing statements have become notorious, like the one in which he said he didn’t feel bound by the new law against torturing prisoners. Others were more obscure, like the one in which he said he would not follow a law forbidding the White House to censor or withhold scientific data requested by Congress.

But all serve the “unitary executive theory” cherished by some of Mr. Bush’s most extreme advisers, including Vice President Dick Cheney and his legal staff. This theory says that the president — and not Congress or the courts — has the sole power to decide how to carry out his duties....The A.B.A. called Mr. Bush’s use of presidential signing statements “contrary to the rule of law and our constitutional system of separation of powers” and recommended that Congress enact legislation clarifying the issue.

We agree on both points, even though we fear that if Congress passes a bill, Mr. Bush will simply issue a new signing statement saying he also does not intend to follow it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/25/opinion/25tue2.html?ex=1311480000&en=ede2d680d81d9bec&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

[msongs]

1. then he must be impeached and fired by a congress with courage.

not sure where we are gonna get a congress with courage at this time however.

msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

[Reckon]

2. He's the decider!... nt