Screaming Penguin

Lou Dobbs is fired up over signing statements - and rightly so (again I somehow agree with Dobbs, well in part). A bipartisan, 11-member panel of the ABA found that President Bush is not only disregarding laws but using such signing statements far more than any president in history. In fact, Bush has used signing statements to raise constitutional objections to more than 800 provisions in more than 100 laws. All of the presidents combined before 2001 had issued only 600. The ABA asserts that signing statements cannot be a substitute for a presidential veto and that such an assertion of presidential power amounts to a line-item veto, which the Supreme Court already has ruled unconstitutional. The matter will likely be resolved in court. But it stands as a metaphor for a 21st century America that is no longer secure in the claim to be a nation of laws. Dobbs diverts the signing statement thing into free trade agreements and, you guessed it, immigration (illegal workers, etc). Despite that completely predictable tact the rest of the article is right on. I suspect however that illegal wiretaps, domestic spying, secret courts and signing statements are the tip of the iceberg (and please get over the whole "security trumps personal liberty" crap, no on is saying we should be INSECURE in favor of having privacy, et al, rather the point is that we can be secure AND follow laws, quite easily).