More Effort To Force The Spiral Down Into Bush's Fascist World View

Bush Threatens Veto of Bill Mandating Increased Intelligence Oversight

There can be only three reasons for opposing congressional oversight in these matters:

The first reason being the idea that congress, in its entirety and in the form of the joint and several House and Senate committees on Intelligence, are so incompetent and so prone to leaking the secrets of the United States that it is dangerous to release any information to them. However, since there is a long history of releasing information in a secure manner to Congress, especially in terms of the Intelligence Committees, and there are specific laws and provisions of our Constitution that gives Congress purview and authority to check on the operations of the Executive Branch, it would seem unlikely that such a justification and rationale would survive even the most precursory type of scrutiny.

The second reason would be that such a law and its provision would impair the ability of the President and the Executive Branch working under his direction to fulfill the mission of the presidency and interfere with the oath of office the president takes on the day of inauguration. However, since there have been 42 previous presidents that operated under the scrutiny and oversight of Congress without being hampered or shackled in such a manner, or in a manner inconsistent with the inherent checks and balances of our constitutional form of government, this rationale would not seem to hold up under even the least amount of scrutiny.

The third reason would be that President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary Rice, Secretary Chertoff, Secretary Roberts and Attorney General Gonzalez want to operate in complete secrecy, without congressional oversight, without the scrutiny of our representatives or the People (as warranted under the Constitution), in order to continue the current focus on complete fascism without opposition, as the Bush administration has been doing ever since the events of 9-11.

The odd thing about this third reason is that, even without a certain amount of paranoia and delusional conspiracy theory thinking, this rationale is supported by the evidence, history and documentation concerning George W. Bush and his gang of fascist thugs.

So, in actuality, there can be no other reasonable or reasoned rationale for opposing congressional oversight of our secret military and intelligence operations. Bush and his supporters are entrenched on the proposition of being imperial and absolute in the way they run our nation.

Oddly, Representative McKinney--who lost her seat in Congress in part due to her unreasonable opposition, confrontation and scuffle with members of the Capitol Police who protect Congress--is the only member of Congress with the intestinal fortitude and sense of obligation to introduce a bill seeking the impeachment of not only George W. Bush, but also Cheney, Gonzalez, Rice and their gang.

Where the hell is the rest of Congress on these issues? Haven't we seen enough of this spiraling down to the depths in the same way that Richard Nixon spin down in the Watergate scandals? Aren't we seeing enough evidence of political motivation behind wrong-headed policies, practices and wrongful acts? Haven't we seen enough of our best, brightest and bravest killed, injured, maimed or permanently disabled as a result of the entrenched world view held by those occupying not only Iraq, but holding our entire Executive Branch hostage? How many more people must die? How much more evidence of "high crimes and misdemeanors" do we need? What is it going to take for members of Congress to find their own backbones and sense of right and wrong?

The White House issued a policy statement Thursday expressing the administration's strong opposition to Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 (S 372) Thursday, and threatening presidential veto of the bill unless the Democratic-controlled Congress alters provisions which would increase congressional oversight of intelligence activities. The bill, introduced by Senate Select Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) requires increased transparency on annual intelligence spending, mandatory disclosure of intelligence documents within 15 days of a request unless privilege applies, and a requirement that directors of the National Security Agency, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, National Reconnaissance Office, and the Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency be subject to Senate confirmation. The proposed bill also calls for the creation of a new inspector general, who would have the authority to direct internal oversight divisions within any of the 16 intelligence agencies under the supervision of the Director of National Intelligence.

The Bush administration has characterized the contested provisions as being "inconsistent with the need for the effective conduct of intelligence activities," and threatening the security of "intelligence sources, methods, and activities from unauthorized disclosure."

Evidently, the joke I received in my e-mail today is so accurate and applicable, that we will never be able to expect our elected officials in Congress to act with any sense of morality, ethics or law:

An old southern country preacher had a teenage son, and it was getting time the boy should give some thought to choosing a profession.

Like many young men, the boy didn't really know what he wanted to do, and he didn't seem too concerned about it.

One day, while the boy was away at school, his father decided to try an experiment. He went into the boy's room and placed on his study table four objects: a Bible, a silver dollar, a bottle of whiskey and a Playboy magazine. "I'll just hide behind the door," the old preacher said to himself, "when he comes home from school this afternoon, I'll see which object he picks up. If it's the Bible, he's going to be a preacher like me, and what a blessing that would be! If he picks up the dollar, he's going to be a businessman, and that would be okay, too. But, if he picks up the bottle, he's going to be a no-good drunkard, and, Lord, what a shame that would be. And worst of all, if he picks up that magazine he's gonna be a skirt-chasin' bum."

The old man waited anxiously, and soon heard his son's footsteps as he entered the house whistling and heading for his room. The boy entered his room and tossed his books on the bed. As he turned to leave the room he spotted the objects on the table. With curiosity in his eye, he walked over to inspect them. Finally, he picked up the Bible and placed it under his arm. He picked up the silver dollar and dropped it into his pocket He uncorked the bottle and took a big drink while he admired this month's Centerfold.

"Lord have mercy," the old preacher disgustedly whispered, "he's gonna be a Congressman!"

It doesn't seem to matter that none--absolutely none--of the steps indicated as "vital to homeland security" and the "war on terror" have produced a sufficient return on investment to justify the overwhelming breach of civil liberties, violation of several international treaties (and our own Constitution in the process), and the utter disregard of first principles of freedom, liberty, justice and law. Bush and his gang of fascist thugs are intent upon bring our nation to its knees, and Congress is apparently intent upon enabling these jerks in pursuit of this intent.

The time for impeachment has long since passed. But it is not too late to take the necessary actions and stop this fascism in its tracks. All it would take is some genuine leadership, some sense of integrity, some sense of decency and some sense of honor and duty. But I guess that joke sums it up... we won't find that sort of leadership, integrity, honor, duty or decency in our Congress.