I cannot believe Goldy missed the headline about our latest constitutional crisis: “Of White House stonewalling on the investigation, Harman says, ‘We have a system of checks and balances and it’s broken. We’re in Constitutional crisis because of the arrogant view of some in this administration that they can decide what the policy is, write the legal opinions to justify that policy and be accountable to no one’.” Wow, might be a story there somewhere. Wait a minute…looks like the P-I missed it too. And The Times. Page after page of “The Nation” and “The World” and somehow our lying, lawbreaking administration didn’t merit a single line of coverage. Even searching on the phrase “constitutional crisis” in both papers yields scant hits in recent weeks (and nothing on tape destruction). Goldy, I forgive you! Sometimes it’s easy to miss the little ones, there’s so much real news out there…
We are, after all, in a noisy roads crisis. A1, top of the fold…and here you are complaining about no local news. For shame, Goldy, for shame….
UPDATE (– Goldy):
Of course, Paul, I was referring to paucity of local news headlines. But here’s one local news story I did miss, the one about the Seattle Symphony and its messy courtroom drama. But, um, isn’t it a little embarrassing to the folks at the P-I that they had to pick up this local story, day-old off the pages of the New York Times?
Why is it a “Constitutional Crisis”? The Congress thinks one thing, the Executive thinks another… happens all the time. One side takes the other to Court and forces the issue. It is not a crisis when the Executive branch tells the Congress to go suck eggs and the Congress responds with a heart felt “screw you”. It is a normal part of the tension in our type of government.
Now, if the Executive or Legislative branch ignores the Court, then we have a real Crisis.
Is #1 MR or MRS Pelletizer (TM). The last Truth Teller was Pelletizer (TM).
More sock puppetry?
@1:
Here is why this is a constitutional crisis:
The Bush adminsitration is trying to expand “executive priviledge” into any and all areas, even if the president is not involved.
Since the congress is entrusted with “oversight” and spending by the constitution, the Bush administration is trying to claim that they can decide what congress can have oversight of….they are trying to write the rules and interpret them too (this, of course, is the jurisdiction of the courts).
Witness the signing statements (the executive branch interpretation of the law) and the statements about how the Bush administration can interpret the laws as they see fit.
Also, former bush administration officials are now under contempt of congress for not testifying to congress (in it’s oversight role) and they are saying that the justice dept. will not enforce the contempt – so the executive branch is ordering the judicail branch not to listen to the legislative branch – that is called a constitutional crisis.
Neither. I can use another name – didn’t know this one was taken.
I just object to people magnifying everything these days – “CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS”!!! “WE’RE IN THE WORST ECONOMY SINCE THE ROMAN EMPIRE”!!! “THE IRAQ WAR IS THE MOST DISASTROUS WAR IN HUMAN HISTORY”!!!!
Or, since I am a Clinton supporter “HILLARY IS DEAD IF SHE DOESN’T WIN NH BY 30 POINTS”!!!!
:)
#3 – The Justice Dept is part of the Executive Branch, not the Judicial Branch. If a Court orders the Executive to enforce the comtempt of Congress, then they will. If they don’t, that is a crisis.
Having quieter roads means that you can build housing at higher densities closer to major roads than we have been. This is a good thing.
The last 7 years have been one big constitutional crisis. It’s not really news at this point.
@5: Truth
If congress has issued a contempt citation (which they have done) – it is up to the AG (Washington DC) from Justice (executive) to serve the warrant – if they refuse (as they have done) then it goes to courts – that is called a constitutional crisis.
how about pete domenici slipping a $24b loan guarantee for the nukular industry into the appropriations bill? or maria cantwell & patty murray voting on 12-14-07 to approve $189b more for iraqapation and afghanistan war? or ohio’s secretary of state reporting on 12-14 that the 2004 ohio election was basically a fraud? is that news you can use?
http://www.democracynow.org/
#4: Can you point to some traceable acceptable government indicators that prove this is the worst economy since the Roman Empire?
In the words of Daddy Love: “…unless you provide a citation allowing us to evaluate the source material independently. You know, who conducted the study, when and where it was published, who was surveyed, what they asked or what data they analyzed, grown-up stuff like that.”
On Goldy’s mention of the Seattle Symphony brouhaha in the P-I having been picked up from the NYT: it was also reported by Roger Downey in Seattle Weekly. Two years ago.
Meanwhile, back at the Government, the FISA bill with its lovely get-out-of-jail-free provision for the telcos hits the Senate floor this week.
@2 No.
@4 Yes. That’s Mrs. Rabbit’s screen name. Find yourself another one.
@9 Wheat prices spiked above $10 a bushel today (for the first time in history), guaranteeing another round of price surges at the grocery store.
The financial press keeps telling us there’s no cost-push inflation because workers aren’t demanding higher wages based on inflationary expectations.
The financial press had better pull their heads out of their journalistic asses and think again. When people can’t feed their kids because of the Bush Inflation, you’d better believe they’re going to demand higher prices.
The thing I’ve never been able to figure out is, when American corporations send jobs overseas and slash wages of the jobs that are left, who the hell do they plan to sell their goods to? People making $9 an hour and paying $3.50 for gas, $3.50 for milk, and $3.50 for bread?
Pelletizer (TM): URL? Citation? Wheat Price Spike?
Something real: “Real gross domestic product — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property
located in the United States — increased at an annual rate of 4.9 percent in the third quarter of 2007,
according to preliminary estimates released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the second quarter,
real GDP increased 3.8 percent.”
http://www.bea.gov/newsrelease.....elease.htm
These are real facts. Facts that hurt the liberal mind. Di I just hear a kablaaammmmm?
Yeah Pelletizer (TM) talk to the Toy Hand of Mattel. How are we gonna buy our black Barbies if we can’t afford them?
@15 Why should I post cites because you’re too fucking lazy to read a newspaper? For the rest of you:
“Wheat Prices Surge to Record High
“By LAUREN VILLAGRAN,Associated Press
“NEW YORK (AP) – Wheat prices surged above $10 a bushel for the first time ever Monday amid concerns that strong demand globally could result in a grain shortage in the United States next year – worsening food price inflation. …
“U.S. wheat exporters already have sold more than 90 percent of the 1.175 billion bushels the U.S. Department of Agriculture expects will be exported during the whole marketing year, which ends in June 2008 … analysts say consumers should expect that higher wheat prices will … work their way into the grocery aisle.
“Wheat prices have … doubled since the start of the year, when wheat traded for about $5 a bushel.”
Quoted under fair use; for complete story and/or copyright info see http://money.aol.com/news/arti.....3809990042