ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY Presidential Executive Orders

[UpInArms]

They took away our liberties because we said we were afraid.

Here are just a few Executive Orders that would suspend the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. These Executive Orders can be enacted by the stroke of a Presidential pen:

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10990 allows the government to take over all modes of transportation and control of highways and seaports.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10995 allows the government to seize and control the communication media. Additionally, the USA Patriot Act contains a Sedition Clause which prohibits anti-government speech while the nation is at war. This clause is not enforced at this time, at least publically.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10997 allows the government to take over all electrical power, gas, petroleum, fuels and minerals.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10998 allows the government to take over all food resources and farms.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11000 allows the government to mobilize civilians into work brigades under government supervision.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11001 allows the government to take over all health, education and welfare functions.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11002 designates the Postmaster General to operate a national registration of all persons.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11003 allows the government to take over all airports and aircraft, including commercial aircraft.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11004 allows the Housing and Finance Authority to relocate communities, build new housing with public funds, designate areas to be abandoned, and establish new locations for populations.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11005 allows the government to take over railroads, inland waterways and public storage facilities.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11051 specifies the responsibility of the Office of Emergency Planning and gives authorization to put all Executive Orders into effect in times of increased international tensions and economic or financial crisis.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11310 grants authority to the Department of Justice to enforce the plans set out in Executive Orders, to institute industrial support, to establish judicial and legislative liaison, to control all aliens, to operate penal and correctional institutions, and to advise and assist the President.

Without Congressional approval, the President has the power to transfer whole populations to any part of the country, the power to suspend the Press and to force a national registration of all persons.

The President has the power to suspend the Constitution and the Bill of Rights in a real or perceived emergency.

For an administration who worked so hard to gain complete control over both houses of Congress and all branches of government, why would they step away from that, peacefully, in 2008, when all it would take is a new "terror attack" to declare Martial Law and rule the whole country dictatorially?

God Bless America, we need it more than ever.

...more at link...

[sheelz]

1. Thanks for posting this!

Bush is a evil bastard! :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[oscar111]

2. a contrary view on .. 97

Irony seen here... in ninety seven listed above.

most are disagreeable, but in the wake of the disasterous Energy Bill, the feds would do a better job of maintenance of power grids than the private owners. At least, a good president would. Now that i think of it, might be a tie between private and Bush in control of the grid.
Opinions?

[oscar111]

3. OVERTIME PAY ENDED by an E O

dont forget that.

bush did it right before the last election. He should have been afraid of losing the election because of that.

PS in the OP, shouldnt the word be "implemented by a stroke of the pen"? THey were enacted
when first put into law, methinks.

All this is great argument for the three-president model... as seen in Switzerland, IIRC. tHRee heads are safer than one, as guard against a rouge prez.

[oscar111]

5. Where are limits on E O'S written down?

any limits exist?

how do EO powers .. differ from having a King?

I dont know of any limits on EO's.

[EVDebs]

18. The Constitution limits Presidential warmaking powers, the Congress

and it's looney AUMFs, authorizations for use of military force, abdicate Congress's role in declaring war and 'give' it to Bush (the "..at his determination..." clauses in the AUMFs.

Google up the War Powers Act of 1973 and the two AUMFs (one from Sept 2001 and the other from Oct 2002). The WPA of '73 limits the Pres powers, and the AUMFs both specifically mention the WPAof'73 as being complied with. That is a lie.

The 2001 AUMF
http://news.findlaw.com/wp/docs/terrorism/sjres23.es.html

The 2002 Iraq AUMF
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/10/20021002-2.html

and the War Powers Act of 1973
http://www.cs.indiana.edu/statecraft/warpow.html

""SEC. 2. (a)
It is the purpose of this joint resolution to fulfill the intent of the framers of the Constitution of the United States and insure that the collective judgement of both the Congress and the President will apply to the introduction of United States Armed Forces into hostilities, or into situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicate by the circumstances, and to the continued use of such forces in hostilities or in such situations""

Note that the circumstances and situations in Iraq are far from clear and the WMD justifications, as with all others, are proven errant. A lawyer would normally require truthful circumstances and situations, huh ? Also note that:

""SEC. 2. (c)
The constitutional powers of the President as Commander-in-Chief to introduce United States Armed Forces into hostilities, or into situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances, are exercised only pursuant to (1) a declaration of war, (2) specific statutory authorization, or (3) a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces. ""

PNAC and the JCS have their 9-11 attack, yet the specific authority granted by Congress in this never-ending war on terror are non-specific in their details. Exactly who are these enemies and when will either victory be declared or the money to fund the M/I complex run out ? The President is supposed to consult with Congress in every possible instance but rarely bothers...

[Norquist Nemesis]

4. EO 10995 note on the PA

The "while we're at war" thingy. Congress has yet to declare we are at war. Yes, they 'talk' it at every opportunity, but it has NOT been declared.

Here are the transcripts of his 'testimony'.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/06/AR2006020600931.html

The examples he uses for past presidents use of similar tactics in a time of war as justification is bogus on the face of it because, again, Congress has not declared war. If the law is to be read in the 'originalist' and 'strict constructionist' vein, I don't see "War" in either of the authoizations Congress gave Bush.

[sheelz]

6. #51

Fema is Office of Emergency Planning?

[Skidmore]

7. How can they be checked? Is it only in the courts then?

Or can Congress check them too?

[sheelz]

8. #4 answers that...

designate areas to be abandoned

[oscar111]

10. i dont understand 'areas" ..

how does that answer no . seven?

[sheelz]

12. * would interpret areas...

Capitol building and SCOTUS building.

[oscar111]

9. pls also read my question,

similar to this one, up the thread.

our questions are very similar, tho not identical

[sheelz]

13. This would give him absolute dictatorial power

over the government with no checks and balances!

[oscar111]

11. RECOMMEND.. and also.. put in Demopedia

nt

[windbreeze]

14. People need to understand that these exec orders came into being

around the year 1962...most were exec orders by Kennedy...* is NOT responsible for them(he has his own...plus all his own presidential signings)..some of these exec orders, if not most, have been superceded by exec order 13093 of Clinton's...exec orders get amended/changed/usurped over the years...but I agree, they are definitely scary...and when our gov't...our pres's...or anyone in our gov't, believes they need or deserve to have the right to do such things w/o congressional approval or oversight...then Houston, we have a problem, and we should be demanding explanations...
windbreeze

[texpatriot2004]

15. Hitler used Executive Orders too nm

[Wilms]

16. K&R n/t

[BlueEyedSon]

17. "If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier -

just so long I'm the dictator."

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

19. They're reaching a point...

...where it's surprising to me that they don't just cut through all the shit and issue one all encompassing Executive Order stating that:

I King George can and will do whatever I want, whenever I want, to whomever I want, and stand fully prepared to use any and all force, military or otherwise, necessary to enforce this order. Get in my way and I'll simply crush your ass. Say, have you seen my rug in the Oval Office? It's Sunshine Yellow. Means I'm an optimistic guy. Laura designed it. And yes, I'm fuckin' nuts. You have a nice day.

[Igel]

20. When dems are in power, conservatives produce

vaguely similar lists of EOs with the potential for great abuse. Clinton (Carter) was always about to round up people and put them in concentration camps, some extreme RWers frequently claimed.

It's really one thing that both libs and cons could easily get together on. Except that cons have no problem with EOs, by and large, when a repub prez is sitting in the Oval Office--then the EOs aren't a problem, and, well, restricting them would tie the prez's hands--and libs tend to have the same attitude when it's a dem.