XPost: uk.politics.misc, alt.politics.british, alt.conspiracy   
   XPost: alt.conspiracy.new-world-order, alt.america, alt.conspira   
   y.america-at-war   
   XPost: us.politics   
   From: stephen@horgan.REMOVETOREPLY.co.uk   
      
   On Sat, 17 Dec 2005 17:18:54 -0000, "oO"  wrote:   
      
   >Bush on the Constitution: 'It's just a goddamned piece of paper'   
   >By DOUG THOMPSON   
   >Dec 9, 2005, 07:53   
   >   
   >   
   >Last month, Republican Congressional leaders filed into the Oval Office to   
   >meet with President George W. Bush and talk about renewing the controversial   
   >USA Patriot Act.   
   >   
   >Several provisions of the act, passed in the shell shocked period   
   >immediately following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, caused enough anger that   
   >liberal groups like the American Civil Liberties Union had joined forces   
   >with prominent conservatives like Phyllis Schlafly and Bob Barr to oppose   
   >renewal.   
   >   
   >GOP leaders told Bush that his hardcore push to renew the more onerous   
   >provisions of the act could further alienate conservatives still mad at the   
   >President from his botched attempt to nominate White House Counsel Harriet   
   >Miers to the Supreme Court.   
   >   
   >"I don't give a goddamn," Bush retorted. "I'm the President and the   
   >Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way."   
   >   
   >"Mr. President," one aide in the meeting said. "There is a valid case that   
   >the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution."   
   >   
   >"Stop throwing the Constitution in my face," Bush screamed back. "It's just   
   >a goddamned piece of paper!"   
   >   
   >I've talked to three people present for the meeting that day and they all   
   >confirm that the President of the United States called the Constitution "a   
   >goddamned piece of paper."   
   >   
   >And, to the Bush Administration, the Constitution of the United States is   
   >little more than toilet paper stained from all the shit that this group of   
   >power-mad despots have dumped on the freedoms that "goddamned piece of   
   > paper" used to guarantee.   
   >   
   >Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, while still White House counsel, wrote   
   >that the "Constitution is an outdated document."   
   >   
   >Put aside, for a moment, political affiliation or personal beliefs. It doesn't   
   >matter if you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent. It doesn't matter   
   >if you support the invasion or Iraq or not.  Despite our differences, the   
   >Constitution has stood for two centuries as the defining document of our   
   >government, the final source to determine - in the end - if something is   
   >legal or right.   
   >   
   >Every federal official - including the President - who takes an oath of   
   >office swears to "uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States."   
   >   
   >Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia says he cringes when someone calls the   
   >Constitution a "living document."   
   >   
   >""Oh, how I hate the phrase we have-a 'living document,'" Scalia says. "We   
   >now have a Constitution that means whatever we want it to mean. The   
   >Constitution is not a living organism, for Pete's sake."   
   >   
   >As a judge, Scalia says, "I don't have to prove that the Constitution is   
   >perfect; I just have to prove that it's better than anything else."   
   >   
   >President Bush has proposed seven amendments to the Constitution over the   
   >last five years, including a controversial amendment to define marriage as a   
   >"union between a man and woman."  Members of Congress have proposed some   
   >11,000 amendments over the last decade, ranging from repeal of the right to   
   >bear arms to a Constitutional ban on abortion.   
   >   
   >Scalia says the danger of tinkering with the Constitution comes from a loss   
   >of rights.   
   >   
   >"We can take away rights just as we can grant new ones," Scalia warns.   
   >"Don't think that it's a one-way street."   
   >   
   >And don't buy the White House hype that the USA Patriot Act is a necessary   
   >tool to fight terrorism. It is a dangerous law that infringes on the rights   
   >of every American citizen and, as one brave aide told President Bush,   
   >something that undermines the Constitution of the United States.   
   >   
   >But why should Bush care? After all, the Constitution is just "a goddamned   
   >piece of paper."   
   >   
   >http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/printer_7779.shtml   
   >   
   This is a mix of  hearsay, spun with opinion, and then garnished with   
   a few vaguely related factoids. It is essentially propaganda.   
      
   What would you be posting the day after another major terrorist   
   atrocity on American soil?   
   --   
   Stephen Horgan   
      
   "intelligent people will tend to overvalue intelligence"   
      
   http://www.horgan.co.uk/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)