Starting Off or is it Starting On

It's Sunday evening June 11, 2006 and today is the initial posting of what I hope to be an informative and daily discussion on the events of the day. Many bloggers are commenting on different issues and doing so wonderfully well. I hope, in some small way to add to this discussion and it is my hope that I will add some cogent points and possibly help to move the discussion forward in a way that is beneficial to us all.

So let's get started:

I just finished Glenn Greenwald's excellent book - How Would A Patriot Act? Defending American Values from a President Run Amok.

If you've been following the news in any way over the last couple of years, you may have heard about some of the amazing and truly scary things that our current President and his minions are engaging in. In particular, signing statements, expansion of presidential power etc. etc.

Mr. Greenwald presents cogent and well thought out legal explanations and reasons as to why the actions and desires of the Bush Administration are truly dangerous and how it's our patriotic duty to understand not only what they are doing but to have the citizenry and the elected representatives in government actually do what they should, by carrying out their constitutionally mandated duties and short circuit this whole enterprise.

Of particular interest to me and something that I would like to see more discussion on, is the concept some conservatives have espoused for some time called the "Unitary Executive". As best I understand it, the Unitary Executive concept is something akin to being a King. Checks and Balances are minimized through the acceptance that the President and his administration can do what they wish, when they wish, as long as they feel it's necessary. Should they need to, and only if they feel it is necessary, do they have to either inform Congress and the American People, or belatedly ask for validation/funding after the fact. I think you could see that this could lead to a level of fascism this country has never seen.

Not being an attorney, I can't speak from a legal perspective, but from what I've read so far, it seems that for any elected representative to go along with this is not only a dereliction of duty and an abandonment of their constitutional role in this government, but also a betrayal to the very people who have elected these people to represent them.

I could go on and on and probably will at some point. I'm learning this as I go and would be the last person in the world to say I'm an expert at this or that I understand the intricacies of posting etc....but I hope to continue to improve this site and thru daily effort, create something that you'll want to come back to each day.

Peace Out