impeacheriffic

again - sorry about the spazzy posting - ive been working on the impeachment poll thingy which has kept me busy, and my computer has crashed a couple of times in the last couple of days resulting in some posts which got disappeared.

in any case, i got a couple of emails from g:

"Re: Bush and the military...looks like the mainstream media is not letting it slip by: (link)
Headline: "Bush military bird flu role slammed"

"The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 bans the military from participating in police-type activity on U.S. soil.

But Dr. Irwin Redlener, associate dean of Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and director of its National Center for Disaster Preparedness, told The Associated Press the president's suggestion was dangerous.

Giving the military a law enforcement role would be an "extraordinarily Draconian measure" that would be unnecessary if the nation had built the capability for rapid vaccine production, ensured a large supply of anti-virals like Tamiflu and not allowed the degradation of the public health system.

"The translation of this is martial law in the United States," Redlener said."

Love the pic they use to accompany the story.



P.S. Should I be more frightened by Bush's suggested use of the military, or by the fact that he seems to know more about the avian flu than I do?

- And last, but not least, is it just me, or should it scare the hell out of all of us everytime Bush starts talking about how the military needs to have expanded rights to 'move quickly, and undetered by local officials', within the US...in times of great need? Be afraid...be very afraid..."

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i have to agree with g. the pic is delightful. the media has turned on the Simian Emperor.

and, of course, Posse Commitatus has been a long time favourite of mine. I'm reminded of a recent post at democracyarsenal called "Using our Military at Home: We're all Nails Now":

"Remember that old cliche about everything looking like a nail when you've got a hammer?...
when a democracy reaches the point that the military is the first answer to any policy question that comes up, that is a scary place. Scary for society as a whole, but also for the military. "

First they wanted to tear up Posse Commitatus for Katrina, and now for Avian Flu. We're all hammers now. The gazillion dollar question is whether President Blinky will call on the military to explicitly save his presidency. Tanks surrounding the White House? don't rule it out. as i've said for years, lets hope its because there's a mutiny, and not because Blinky and Cheney are trying to save their sorry asses.

one interesting thing to note is that the avian flu thing seems to have hit the media big time this week for some unknown reason. perhaps its time we are all sposed to be scared again, so Super Bush can take care of us all - or maybe they are frightened by the indictments that are coming down tomorrow (fingers x'd)

similarly, this story about the philipino spy in the whitehouse is funny - that story is a few weeks old - im not sure it is getting play today - again, maybe its to sow some confusion with that other spy case that we are likely to hear more about tomorrow (fingers x'd).

its also funny to see president Blinky doing *another* major speech on iraq tonight. cnni has been telling me all day that he will 'explain in more detail than ever' something or other about iraq or the War on Error or 911 or something.

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g also said:

With so much going on, just a few random thoughts...

- Bush holds his first press conference in 4 months...every news agency is all over it, except for Fox, who continues to cover the 'capsized tour boat' story...only near the very end did they finally switch over....hmmm

- Bill Hemmer on Fox? Why does this make me sad? Why does this make me suspicious? What did they offer (threaten) to Bill to get him to ditch CNN?

the pieces of the rose garden press conference that i saw were very odd. he is a total schizoid. Inappropriately Sniggering all over the place. I wonder if he'll be able to stop smirking when he gives the 'fitzgerald' press conference. in fact, maybe the reason he had a press conference yesterday was so that he can go another few months without having to face questions about why all of his cohorts have been indicted. Poor Scotty will have to do all the work - it'll be fun to watch him implode, but we wont learn very much.

As for Bill Hemmer - ive never heard of him - so i cant comment 'bout that.