How Cooperative Will Bush Admin Be In Allowing Smooth Transition In January?

[kpete]

Elliot Cohen: Would A Dictator Graciously Relinquish Power?
Submitted by BuzzFlash on Sun, 11/12/2006 - 7:55am. Guest Contribution
A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Elliot D. Cohen, Ph.D.

.......given the voracious appetite and tenacity the Bush administration has displayed for power, and given its blatant disregard for constitutional limits of executive authority and the extremes to which it has already gone to acquire power, there is reason for concern about just how cooperative the Bush administration will be in allowing a smooth transition in January.

The image of the Bush administration declaring Martial Law is not one any of us would care to entertain, but it could serve as a convenient way to disrupt the changing of the guard. The legal machinery has already been established. For example, the Military Commissions Act http://balkin.blogspot.com/military_commissions_bill_1.pdf(PDF) permits the president to declare American citizens unlawful enemy combatants and to detain them indefinitely in detention camps without habeas corpus should he deem them "hostile" to the security of the United States. Given the vacuous nature of the term "hostile" this could include anyone who questions the authority of the president, especially under conditions of Martial Law. (See Bush's Chilling New Definition of "Unlawful Enemy Combatant.")http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/contributors/442

The president has already succeeded in conducting warrantless, unlawful surveillance of American citizens' e-mail and phone messages, and now he has indicated a desire to legalize this in the form of the Terrorist Surveillance Act of 2006 before the old congressional guard leaves. While this Act would limit warrantless eavesdropping to 45 days, it would also criminalize disclosure of any information relating to the Terrorist Surveillance Program:

In General- Any covered person who intentionally discloses information identifying or describing, whether in whole or in part, electronic surveillance authorized by section 2 of the Terrorist Surveillance Act of 2006, or any other information relating to the Terrorist Surveillance Program under that Act or any program of surveillance under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.) to any individual not authorized to receive such information shall be fined not more than $1,000,000, imprisoned not more than 15 years, or both (my italics).

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While the transition to a Democratic congress promises a fresh start, the Bush administration's continued policy of inbreeding is anything but refreshing. This administration is still just as clandestine and powerful as ever; and its history of guile and deceit is a useful gauge for making rational predictions about what it might try next. In this interim period of uncertainty, keeping our collective eye on the ball can be crucial to the survival of democracy in America.

http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/contributors/552

[MadMaddie]

1. I just don't see the * cabal relinquishing power come January

Cheney has already ready said "it doesn't matter what the American people think"!

If they relinquish power they know they may go to jail...