Calling This To Your Attention

As if by "magic," the following came in the morning email and supplements today's piece The Trojan President.

FYI:

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

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LAW OF THE LAND
Bush grants presidency extraordinary powers
Order for emergencies apparently gives authority without congressional oversight

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Posted: May 23, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern

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© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

President Bush has signed an executive order granting extraordinary powers to the office of the president in the event of a declared national emergency, apparently without congressional approval or oversight.

The order was signed May 9 without any announcement, says Jerome R. Corsi in a WND column.

Titled, "National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive," it was issued with the dual designation of NSPD-51, as a National Security Presidential Directive, and HSPD-20, as a Homeland Security Presidential Directive.

The order establishes under the office of the president a new national continuity coordinator whose job is to make plans for "National Essential Functions" of all federal, state, local, territorial and tribal governments, as well as private sector organizations to continue functioning under the president's directives in the event of a national emergency.

"Catastrophic emergency" is loosely defined as "any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions."

Corsi says the president can assume the power to direct any and all government and business activities until the emergency is declared over.

The executive order says the assistant to the president for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, currently Frances Fragos Townsend, would be designated as the national continuity coordinator.

Corsi says the executive order makes no attempt to reconcile the powers created for the national continuity coordinator with the National Emergency Act, which requires that such proclamation "shall immediately be transmitted to the Congress and published in the Federal Register."

A Congressional Research Service study notes the National Emergency Act sets up Congress as a balance empowered to "modify, rescind, or render dormant" such emergency authority if Congress believes the president has acted inappropriately.

But the new executive order appears to supersede the National Emergency Act by creating the new position of national continuity coordinator without any specific act of Congress authorizing the position, Corsi says.

The order also makes no reference to Congress and its language appears to negate any a requirement that the president submit to Congress a determination that a national emergency exists.

It suggests instead that the powers of the executive order can be implemented without any congressional approval or oversight.

Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke affirmed to Corsi the Homeland Security Department would implement the requirements of the order under Townsend's direction.

The White House declined to comment on the order.

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Comments

[Always On Watch]

I know several who voted twice for GWB now terming him "The Trojan President." And for good reason! More than one such item has slipped in under the radar.

Our Founders wisely limited the power of each branch. Our current President is undermining our Founders' intentions, IMO.

[JasonP]

Given that a nuclear attack on New York or Washington is the Islamic Holy Grail, and given that our borders have been wide open with engraved invitations to the President’s friends in Saudi Arabia, and given that our troops are hamstrung in their attempt to kill the enemy over there, we have to assume that the President knows something about the likelihood of a nuclear attack and is preparing for the event.

If he has such knowledge, his inaction makes him complicit at the very least.

[GM]

AOW,

I am one of those who voted twice for GWB, a fact I hate now. I think Mike Savage hit the nail on the head when he said that GWB is now free to do anything he wants across his last 18 months in office. No one will even try to impeach him, and no one will try to stop him. Our children and our grandchildren will have to endure his legacy.

[GM]

Jason,

One of my very big problems with GWB is that I do not know what he knows or does not know. Some secrecy is inevitable, even desirable and required as part of his job. In the past, I have read commentaries suggesting that Bush is a millenarian. If that is true, he welcomes the end of times. In that regard, he would be no different from Ahmadinejad. I do not know. I am greatly concerned about what he has been up to in his "skull-and-bones" type super-secrecy, stuff we may not learn about--if it exists--until he is out of office. I do know that I have never been able to trust any person I have ever encountered who could not play with the cards on the table, so to speak. In many instances, I have discovered that my mistrust was well placed. I am trying to recall if he did anything really positive in his administration other than the temporary tax cuts. If you know of any positives, please share them.