Link.

More signing statements. This snippet from the New York Times:

Mr. Bush signed the two measures into law. But he then issued a so-called signing statement in which he instructed the executive branch to view parts of each as unconstitutional constraints on presidential power. [Emphasis mine.]

www.dailykos.com

Agencies "Ruling" Out Tort Lawsuits - Agencies Usurping

"US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has approved a request for an extra 2,200 military police to support the security drive in Iraq's capital, Baghdad.

"Speaking to Congress, Mr Gates said the deployment would be in addition to the nearly 24,000 combat troops and support personnel approved by President Bush.

"The extra forces will help deal with an anticipated increase in detainees during the Baghdad security crackdown.

"Top US military commander in Iraq, Lt Gen David Petraeus, made the request.

This article is a must read

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/03/whitehouse200703?currentPage=1

A couple of interesting tidbits

What do you think? Real tears or is Karl Rove sticking him with a remote controlled pin?

Tears run from the eyes of U.S. President George W. Bush during a ceremony in honor of Medal of Honor winner Marine Cpl. Jason Dunham in the East room of the White House in Washington, January 11, 2007. Cpl. Dunham was killed when he jumped on a grenade to save fellow members of his Marine patrol while serving in Iraq. REUTERS/Jim Bourg (UNITED STATES)

'Whenever I hear President Bush tell another lie (or read that he has told another lie) I'm reminded of the Liar-in-Chief's former professor at the Harvard Business School, Yoshi Tsurumi, and his spot-on recollection of this president's punk past. According to Professor Tsurumi, Bush "showed pathological lying habits and was in denial when challenged on his prejudices and biases. He would even deny saying something he just said 30 seconds ago. He was famous for that. Students jumped on him; I challenged him." [Mary Jacoby, "The Dunce," Salon.com, 16 September 2004]

Tsurumi concluded: "Behind his smile and his smirk...he was a very insecure, cunning and vengeful guy." "He was just badly brought up, with no discipline, and no compassion." [Ibid] In conservative Lebanon, Pennsylvania, where I grew up during the 1950s and 1960s, such people were called "punks."

I was a Republican, but I'm voting straight Democrat. That doesn't mean I will ALWAYS be a Democrat. It only means I reserve the right to exercise my choice and vote from time to time for the person or party I think best suited for the job of managing my country. After all, I AM AN AMERICAN first and foremost and certainly above any affiliation to a single political party. I may vote Repubican again one day, but not until they Clean up the party!

Bush lied about WMD. They purposely confused the difference between the War on Terror and a war with Iraq. Those are two different issues.

I've entirely stopped watching CNN on television, and I've reset my homepage to Reuters, but occasionally I stumble onto their "journalism" through a Raw Story link or via a Crooks and Liars video. In this case, one of my friends e-mailed a screen capture from Tuesday, September 26. He swears it's real.

Hat tip to J.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09

"We should replay that interview as often as possible," chortled Republican strategist Nelson Warfield on Tuesday. "In this election there's been a lot of worry among Republicans about whether our base is motivated and is going to turn out to vote," Warfield said. "Nothing motivates the Republican base more than some puffy pontification from Bill Clinton. When he has a little fit on TV, it reminds us of the future that awaits if the Democrats should ever win another national election."

***
They wouldn't try to blame Clinton for 9/11 just to piss him off? This guy is openly ringing pavlov's bell, so confident is he that his "base" is so well trained to hate Clinton (that's right, to HATE a U.S. President) that they will turn out to vote Republican no matter how utterly terrible the current Administration...the executive, the senate and the congress ... all Republican controlled for six years .... turn out to be.

Interrogation Methods Rejected by Military Win Bush’s Support

By ADAM LIPTAK
Published: September 8, 2006

Many of the harsh interrogation techniques repudiated by the Pentagon on Wednesday would be made lawful by legislation put forward the same day by the Bush administration. And the courts forbidden from intervening.

The proposal is in the last 10 pages of an 86-page bill devoted mostly to military commissions, and it is a tangled mix of cross-references and pregnant omissions.

But legal experts say it adds up to an apparently unique interpretation of the Geneva Conventions, one that could allow C.I.A. operatives and others to use many of the very techniques disavowed by the Pentagon, including stress positions, sleep deprivation and extreme temperatures.