Saturday, March 25, 2006

Is Bush Bound By ANY Law?

So I'm watching TV tonight and mulling over things that I've been posting about... and a theme emerged.

Can anyone name ANY law that Bush feels bound by?

He doesn't feel that he's bound in by laws regarding torture.

Bush administration lawyers contended last year that the president wasn't bound by laws prohibiting torture and that government agents who might torture prisoners at his direction couldn't be prosecuted by the Justice Department.

It has been stated that he is not bound by the Geneva Conventions, which are "quaint".

Gonzalez’ solution to this potential problem truly defies logic and seems so rife with legal casuistry as to be bereft of the basic requirements of what most people consider lawful behavior. His solution: declare that Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters do not have the protections afforded by the Geneva Convention. In other words, simply by fiat, by making a formal or official authorization, stipulate that you are not bound by the dictates of the law.

He is not bound by the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty.

The Bush administration is contemplating a new crop of nuclear weapons that could reduce the threat to civilian populations. However, they're still unlikely to work without producing massive radioactive fallout, and their development might require a return to underground nuclear testing.

He is not bound by international law - especially any international requirement that war can only be waged through the UN Security Council.

America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our people.

He is not bound by US domestic law, especially any law that requires him to wiretap US citizens through the auspices of FISA.

"He's trying to claim somehow that the authorization for the Afghanistan attack after 9/11 permitted this, and that's just absurd," Feingold said. "There's not a single senator or member of Congress who thought we were authorizing wiretaps."

I have, after hours of research, found one instance where Bush has admitted that his actions fell outside of the law. It was when he shot a bird!

Recognizing he'd bagged the "wrong" bird, Bush admitted his mistake to the game warden and announced his desire to pay the fine. "I thought it was a dove," Bush said, "I made a mistake and I'm going to pay for it." GW was fined $130 for shooting the bird with a 20-gauge shotgun during an hour long dove hunt in a field northwest of Houston.

Perhaps it was the fear of such hefty fine that led Cheney to shoot 78-year-old Harry Whittington in the face, rather than take the risk of hitting an endangered species.

If you can think of any other laws that don't apply to Bush, feel free to add to the list.

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