Bush makes power grab

Stuff like this is grist for the conspiratorial mill for sure, but like the expression says: “Just because I’m paranoid, doesn’t mean they really aren’t after me.”

President Bush, without so much as issuing a press statement, on May 9 signed a directive that granted near dictatorial powers to the office of the president in the event of a national emergency declared by the president.

The “National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive,” with the dual designation of NSPD-51, as a National Security Presidential Directive, and HSPD-20, as a Homeland Security Presidential Directive, establishes under the office of president a new National Continuity Coordinator.

That job, as the document describes, is to make plans for “National Essential Functions” of all federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal governments, as well as private sector organizations to continue functioning under the president’s directives in the event of a national emergency.

The directive loosely defines “catastrophic emergency” as “any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions.”

A lot of this latest edict is similar to stuff already on the books in something else called the “National Emergency Act” but differs in that it removes any provision for Congressional review or removal of emergency measures. Not Good!

Military positioned to launch action – here

The United States military is being positioned to be put into action under presidential authority in any one of a dozen scenarios within the United States – including natural disasters, epidemics, terrorist attacks, insurrections, or domestic violence including conspiracies, according to a report from WND columnist Jerome R. Corsi.

He has concluded that under the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, the military of the United States and Canada are turning NORTHCOMM into a domestic military command structure, with authority extending to Mexico, even though Mexico has not formally joined with the current United States-Canadian NORTHCOM command structure. “President Bush appears to have positioned the U.S. military and the National Guard acting under presidential authority to intervene in a wide range of domestic incidents that could occur anywhere in North America,” he wrote.

He cited a number of developments, including the 2002 order establishing NORTHCOM as response for “homeland defense” of the U.S., Canada, Mexico and parts of the Caribbean and some Atlantic and Pacific waters. That organization already controls the North American Aerospace Defense Command, a joint U.S.-Canadian effort, he said. Secondly, section 1076 of the John Warner Defense Appropriation Act for Fiscal Year 2007 grants the president the right to commandeer federal troops or state National Guard to use them domestically, he noted.

On the radio a bit ago this evening, Corsi was talking about the Cheyenne Mountain nuclear command post being transformed in a domestic emergency center for the new NORTHCOM.

Hmmmmmm. Brings to mind the final solution shown in the Peter Sellers classic film Dr. Strangelove. Hey – that makes as much sense as anything else these days!