From a Republic to a Monty Python Parrot

[JohnyCanuck]

From a Republic to a Monty Python Parrot: Bush and Congress Transform America

by Weldon Berger

When onlookers asked Ben Franklin what sort of government the constitutional convention had produced, he told them "A republic, if you can keep it." Well, we haven't. We no longer live in a constitutional republic. The republic is dead, deceased, demised, passed on, no more, ceased to be, expired, late, bereft of life; it is an ex-republic. You still get to vote, your elected representatives still get to legislate, at least whenever Senate majority leader Harry Reid gets permission from minority leader Mitch McConnell to pass something other than gas, but the fundamental balance that defines a republic is gone.

Two recent executive actions against the Constitution highlight the situation. The first was the president's use of his signing statement on the National Defense Authorization Act of 2008 to flatly deny the Congressional power of the purse, refusing to acknowledge the authority of Congress to prohibit him from using money for purposes other than specified in the appropriation, in this instance building permanent bases in Iraq or controlling Iraq's oil. The second was the declaration by CIA director Michael Hayden that the US has used waterboarding against terrorism suspects and reserves the right to do so again.

The Constitution is explicit on the matter of money: "No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law." But Congress declined to challenge the president's reservation of authority to do just that. The strongest response from Democratic leaders was Nancy Pelosi's statement that "I reject the notion in his signing statement that he can pick and choose which provisions of this law to execute. His job, under the Constitution, is to faithfully execute the law - every part of it - and I expect him to do just that."

Or?

Waterboarding is often described as "simulated drowning", but there's nothing simulated about it. If you keep pouring water into someone's lungs, they will drown. Interrupting and restarting the process doesn't make it "simulated;" only incomplete. Waterboarding is torture. Torture is illegal under US and international law. The director of the CIA has just told Congress that yes, the US does torture and will again if the president thinks doing so is appropriate.

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/12685

Bonus feature: The thread at SmirkingChimp.com includes an embedded Youtube video of the the Monty Python "Dead Parrot" sketch.