Right now I’m out in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It’s probably one of the most scenic and flavorful (gotta love green chile’s!) towns in the United States. Above all else, I like it because I fit in. Yes, Santa Fe is a Mecca for hippies and hardcore liberals. I always feel at home walking the streets in and along the art gallery district on Canyon Road and through the Plaza.
Anyways, one of my habits/rituals every time I come down here is to check out the free newspaper stands out in front of restaurants, because as we all know, the most reliable information in the world can be found in something paid for by real estate ads and uber liberal groups. So in other words, it’s not exactly what you would call un-baised reporting.
I picked up a copy of the Sun News, one such free liberal newspaper and found a recurring theme: Bush is essentially plotting to take over America the next chance he gets, which could be an invasion of Iran or a terrorist attack on the port in Houston. As much as I enjoy being able to tear apart Dubya on any and all things that can be used against him, I decided to do a little investigative reporting myself.
The basis of the argument is that under a little noticed provision introduced in May of 2007 called the National Security Presidential Directive 51 (otherwise NSPD-51) which essentially lays out the contingency plans that would take place to ensure smooth operation of the federal government in the event of an emergency. While I might not be any expert in law, I haven’t found any significant reason to be alarmed by this. Take for instance this passage which occurs fairly early on in the directive:
(e) “Enduring Constitutional Government,” or “ECG,” means a cooperative effort among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Federal Government, coordinated by the President, as a matter of comity with respect to the legislative and judicial branches and with proper respect for the constitutional separation of powers among the branches, to preserve the constitutional framework under which the Nation is governed and the capability of all three branches of government to execute constitutional responsibilities and provide for orderly succession, appropriate transition of leadership, and interoperability and support of the National Essential Functions during a catastrophic emergency;
The one thing that stood out to me while reading this was “comity” (trans: I didn’t know what it meant.) It is defined in a legal sense as being a matter of courtesy or a disposition to accommodate to some official act out of goodwill and tradition rather than obligation or law.
This could perhaps be a gray area that people are worried about, but here’s the gist of how NSPD-51 goes down (using a scenario from the Sun News):
Some terrorists decide to attack the the shipping lanes in the port of Houston (TX). The resulting attack causes massive explosions along the shipping lanes and is targeted at some of the oil refineries in the area. The ensuing loss of life and environmental and economic damages forces Bush to implement NSPD-51.
The way that it is viewed by this newspaper, Bush gains hold of power and in the worst case scenario forces the election in November to be postponed or all together canceled along with temporarily suspending the Constitution and then viola!: you have a dictatorship.
The other scenario is that Bush goes in and invades Iran and deems it necessary under the vague wording of the directive to seize the reins of the country. (The wording under which the directive is to be imposed is vague, any source, even the legislation itself, will tell you that.) This particular scenario is not all unlikely, as there are claims that Israel has plans to launch an airstrike against Iran sometime between November and January (politically inconvenient for the United States.)
I don’t think that this is likely, for several reasons.
- Number one, the directive was passed into law in May of 2007 under a Democratically controlled Congress. Even though the Democrats haven’t exactly lived up to our expectations of what they were going to do once they had control, I seriously doubt they would have passed something that threatened the basic structure and power of our government (I mean, shoot, they wouldn’t be able to get reelected if NSPD-51 lived up to all the hype!)
- Second, if Bush got control of the country and effectively rendered the Constitution void, there would be riots in this country like you wouldn’t believe, from liberals and conservatives alike. America would go the way of Rome and burn away into the night, with Americans, including myself, either fleeing the country or plotting an overthrow of the Bush “Regime.”
- Third, either scenario that the newspaper put out goes contrary to that key piece of the legislation that I pasted into this post. If anyone feels that the legislation says otherwise, by all means, prove me wrong. I’d love to have more fuel to add to the fire of anti-Bush/Cheney sentiment.
If this all happens, of course, I would be infuriated. It is a worst case scenario I don’t like to think about and it only makes me pray that Dubya doesn’t do anything stupid in his last 6 months as President and that Al-Qaeda keeps to themselves until he is long gone and but a distant and painful memory in the history of America.
In case I don’t post tomorrow, have a safe and happy Independence Day and put out a prayer that our country stay on the high road away from a scenario such as this.