I'm no John Milton, Digby or emptywheel. My reading tends to be U.S.-mainstream and doesn't contain much exotic stuff like lukery's excellent Sibel Edmonds series. While I'm making excuses, I remain remarkably busy here. You'd think I was putting half a dozen kids through college. So, my comments are limited to the most egregious and outrageous things, the stuff that sticks in my craw that even I can't believe.
I came of draft age during Nixon in Vietnam, so I can believe almost anything. In the last week, easily the most idiotic thing I saw come from Washington was an executive order from President Bush that doesn't appear to have a number, referred to as Executive Order: Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq. Along with the order is a link to a fact sheet which explains absolutely nothing substantive about this ridiculous, incomprehensible and unbelievable order.
In spite of the mainstream media's ignoring it, much has been written about it already in the alternative press. Author Stephen Pizzo has this fun annotated analysis of the order which is good enough for me. You are probably familiar with it if you're reading this blog: it says basically the federal government can seize the property of people who give aid to terrorists or do things disruptive to the reconstruction of Iraq, without notice and without legal recourse.
There are so many unique things in this order it's hard to know where to start. I've read a few executive orders, but none like this one. It is written like a statute, but not written by Congress. Executive orders are intended to be used by the president to direct the operation of federal agencies. The purpose of this order is to bypass Congress and deny citizens due process in the "blocking" (confiscation) of their property. The nonspecific nature of the qualifications strongly suggests all that is required is a person criticize the war or the Bush administration, and his property ownership can vanish immediately.
Like many issues Bush has addressed with executive orders, there were already laws in place to deal with funding and abetting hostile foreign subversives; so, it's hard to know, once again, just what the motive is behind this order. Offhand one would think it is illegal, but since when has compliance with the law stopped the Bush administration? I agree with Marc Ash when he says, "[s]ince the order seeks to circumvent both judicial and Congressional oversight, it renders unto the executive branch, and ultimately Mr. Bush, absolute power of law." Clearly the Bush administration is rather certain a period of civil insurrection is at hand. Why would they think that? For what contingencies could they be scrambling so quickly?
I suspect our attack on Iran is at hand, and that Washington expects a nuclear counterattack on the lower 48. If there are angry survivors, they plan to apprehend them and cancel their property ownership rights. As cynical as that sounds, I can't help but guffaw a bit, because it seems like a pollyannaesque view: a nuclear strike on the United States would probably leave survivors, if any, struggling too hard to stay alive to pose much of a problem of dissidence to the Bush administration. Of course, I'm just letting my imagination run wild. On the other hand, one thing seems pretty certain: I can't imagine these little tin gods handing over the power they've accumulated in the executive branch to a democratic administration, or even a new republican administration. That isn't a pretty thought either.
