After much contemplation, I've arrived at teh conclusion that this administration is actually competent.

Competent, but morally evil in its hyper-partisanship and authoritarian tendencies.

-5.75,-4.05 "I am in earnest; I will not equivocate; I will not excuse; I will not retreat a single inch; and I will be heard."
William Lloyd Garrison
US abolitionist & editor (1805 - 1879)

Cato Institute

Democrats block private accounts advocate for No. 2 post at Social Security

By Mary Clare Jalonick
ASSOCIATED PRESS

2:50 p.m.February 14, 2007

WASHINGTON – An advocate of partially privatizing Social Security, nominated by President Bush to become deputy director of the half-billion-dollar retirement income program, was rejected Wednesday by Senate Democrats.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said his panel will neither consider nor hold hearings on Bush's choice of Andrew Biggs, who was an outspoken enthusiast behind the president's ill-fated plan two years ago to let people divert some of their Social Security taxes into private investment accounts.

“It's a bad idea to give the No. 2 position at the Social Security Administration to someone who still supports that failed proposal,” Baucus said.

White House spokesman Alex Conant said Baucus is wrong to deny the Senate and public a chance to hear from the nominee.

more

Daniel Pipes, who is marginally left of Attila the Hun, was a Bush recess appointment for the board of the US Institute of Peace. And who could forget the stick that was poked in the eyes of diplomats with his appointment of contrarian John Bolton as the UN Ambassador. Bush and Rove must sit around trading jokes as they pick the most odious scumbags they can dredge up from fetid waters in rotting barrels.

Hmmm yet another likely candidate for Bush to name as a recess appointment from the cesspools ... Biggs! Surely the American supply of creeps is starting to approach the endangered level?

of the appointment. People who aren't lawyers, realize that an abuse of power has taken place.

Senator Kennedy lost his appeal to the supreme court for the recess appointment of Judge William Pryor. As the link states, the court did not judge on the propriety of the appointment, just the technical aspect of a piece of paper that missed a deadline. I believe the Sierra Club and the UCL also filed a court case on Pryor’s appointment to the bench. I have not been able to track the results of their 2004 objections.

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The propriety of Presidential recess appointments has a history that dates back to 1792.

The history of the Recess Appointments Clause shows that it has also been employed by Presidents for political purposes throughout the history of the Republic. As such, the Clause has been the source of recurrent controversy, beginning with the Administration of George Washington, and continuing to the current Administration of George W. Bush. Historical interpretation and judicial treatment of the Clause have fleshed out many of its inherent ambiguities, to the extent that there is now precedent supporting the propriety of such appointments irrespective of when the vacancy at issue arose. Likewise, precedent has been established to support recess appointments during both intersession and brief intrasession recesses. However, many tensions remain regarding the proper scope and application of the Clause. These tensions, coupled with the lack of any definitive consideration by the Supreme Court, would thus seem to ensure that the Clause will continue to be the source of political and legal controversy.

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In defence of the Supreme's not making a ruling on something as nebulous as propriety, who can blame them? People who are elected are assumed to have the best interests of the country as their motivation and there haven't been too many mean-spirited Presidents until now. But if a ruling is made, that sets a precedent that hampers all Presidents that follow Bush which the judicial branch would correctly be very reluctant to do.

Clashes with branches of the government normally serves no one but the Bush Presidency seems to seek them. George W. Bush will go down in American history books as the worst President ever. He goes out of his way to create dissension when formerly there was none.

is becoming the first dictator in American history.
Because he is the "decider".
The majority of Americans tell him that he is wrong but he still tells them that he is the "decider".
I don't know what he is on but in the 60's I would have taken it.
Now I wouldn't.
Because he is more f%&k up than I ever was.

_{repressive governments mix administrative clumsiness & inefficiency with authoritarian tendencies.}

Bush did it to thumb his nose at congress and also to try to get the news diverted away from Gonzales, the attorneys, NSL's......

The Swiftboater attack on Kerry was effectively an attack on the principle of free an open elections based on true fact and on perceptions derived from them. It was not just an attack on Kerry, but an attack on the election process, an attack on liberal society - a flim-flam, a lie, a swindle undermining the very election process. Belgium is legitimately seen as lying at the heart and soul of liberal Europe. Fox, if he behaves as he did during the 2004 election, will spend his time lying to it.