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Wherein Matt Mower (aka rubymatt on FreeNode) rambles about technology, the love of a good MacTop, ruby coding, rails, topics, knowledge management and learning, and politics.

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Curiouser and Curiouser! on get-rid-of-bush http://matt.blogs.it/ RSS feed for topic get-rid-of-bush Copyright 2006 Matt Mower Squib/0.1 self@mattmower.com self@mattmower.com en-gb "I'm a tenth level vice president!" Sat, 26 Jun 2004 15:01:33 +0100 Al Gore, the president who never was, appeared twice in my favourite TV show Futurama so I have a soft spot for him.  Apparently he's also talking a lot of sense.  I'm quoting from an article by Thomas J.DiLorenzo about a recent Gore speech at the Georgetown University Law Center ("<a href="http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0624-15.htm">Democracy Itself is in Grave Danger</a>," June 24, 2004): <blockquote>For example, he posed the rhetorical question of what George Washington would think of the fact that "our current president claims the unilateral right to arrest and imprison American citizens indefinitely without giving them the right to see a lawyer or inform their families of their whereabouts, and without the necessity of even charging them with any crime"? What would Washington think, asked Gore, of our presidents contention that he can "label any citizen an unlawful enemy combatant and that will be sufficient to justify taking away that citizens liberty even for the rest of his life, if the president chooses. And there is no appeal"? "What would Thomas Jefferson think," said Gore, "of the curious and discredited argument from our Justice Department that the president may authorize what plainly amounts to the torture of prisoners. . .?" What would Benjamin Franklin think, Vice President Gore rhetorically asked, "of President Bushs assertion that he has the inherent power even without a declaration of war by the Congress to launch an invasion of any nation on Earth, at any time he chooses, for any reason he wishes . . ."? "How long would it take James Madison to dispose of our current presidents recent claim, in Department of Justice legal opinions, that he is no longer subject to the rule of law so long as he is acting in his role as Commander in Chief?" asked Gore. As Vice President Gore explained, "President Bush has been attempting to conflate his commander-in-chief role and his head of government role to maximize . . . power . . ." President Bush has "declared that our nation is now in a permanent state of war," Gore pointed out, "which he says justifies his reinterpretation of the Constitution in ways that increase his personal power at the expense of Congress, the courts, and every individual citizen." The presidents lawyers, Gore further noted, have "concluded that the president, whenever he is acting in his role as commander in chief, is above and immune from the rule of law." </blockquote> When I think of all the American's I have known the actions of President Bush & his administration do seem "bizarre and un-American."  My American friends, you can do better.  I hope you agree in November. http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00002364.html