Hail to the King

As MeTheSheeple has ranted before and before that, the current president's incredibly common use of "signing statement" has already eroded the three pillars of American democracy, wiping out checks and balances and leaving the president with unmatched power.

The Boston Globe reported yesterday that the non-partisan Congressional Research Service reached the same conclusions, saying the chief-king is trying to pursuade Congress and others "to the belief that the president in fact possesses expansive and exclusive powers upon which the other branches may not intrude." As the Globe's Charlie Savage reported:

Under most interpretations of the Constitution, the report said, some of the legal assertions in Bush's signing statements are dubious. For example, it said, the administration has suggested repeatedly that the president has exclusive authority over foreign affairs and has an absolute right to withhold information from Congress. Such assertions are ``generally unsupported by established legal principles," the report said.

In other words, say goodbye to a democratic republic.

Looks like it took the media a few days to catch up from the original notice by the Federation of American Scientists, which offers a direct PDF download to the report.

Wonder what can happen? Witness this AP story, which shows the tip of the iceberg:

WASHINGTON -
President Bush, again defying Congress, says he has the power to edit the
Homeland Security Department's reports about whether it obeys privacy rules while handling background checks, ID cards and watchlists.

n the law Bush signed Wednesday, Congress stated no one but the privacy officer could alter, delay or prohibit the mandatory annual report on Homeland Security department activities that affect privacy, including complaints. ...

Bush's signing statement Wednesday challenges several other provisions in the Homeland Security spending bill.

Bush, for example, said he'd disregard a requirement that the director of the
Federal Emergency Management Agency must have at least five years experience and "demonstrated ability in and knowledge of emergency management and homeland security."

His rationale was that it "rules out a large portion of those persons best qualified by experience and knowledge to fill the office."

Yeah, you're doing a heckuva job, Bushie. Want to send another PR guy to singlehandedly monitor a major disaster scene?