From the candidate who promised to get rid of Gitmo in a year:

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

http://news.yahoo.com/obama-signs-defense-bill-despite-reservations-200818531.html

^That One BilllTM is now law. The President expressed severe reservations about it but still signed it into law anyway. To me if he really expressed reservations about it and did not want to object to it becoming law he could simply have refused to sign it or to return it and thus let it become law without his signature. Signing it indicates President Obama's objections to this as a law are a mite bit.....hypocritical. I also think that the practice of including provisions like this in bills where the overall thing includes other, necessary actions is one reason why there should be a constitutional amendment to permit a line-item veto. I also view the further extension of the government's coercive power since the first attempt at a Patriot Act in the 1990s to be a deplorable and worrying trend and hope we can all agree on that much. Your thoughts?

Comments

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

Deplorable, worrying and I'm wondering if there's anyone in government who gives a damn about rights or due process anymore.

[policraticus.livejournal.com]

Time to get those Nader/Kusinich 2012 bumper stickers working.

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

Yup (http://talk-politics.livejournal.com/1263590.html).

[musicpsych.livejournal.com]

I was glad to see this quote: "My administration will not authorize the indefinite military detention without trial of American citizens," Obama said in the signing statement. "Indeed, I believe that doing so would break with our most important traditions and values as a nation." Of course, there's talk, and then there's action. We'll see what happens with that...

This is supposed to be the full signing statement: http://blogs.ajc.com/jamie-dupree-washington-insider/2011/12/31/obama-defense-bill-signing-statement/

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

And you thought pepper-spraying was bad.

[eracerhead.livejournal.com]

I do recall the president trying to close Gitmo, and meeting incredible resistance from congress and paranoid state governors.

There may be parts of the bill that are eventually declared unconstitutional, but he has to sign something to keep the military funded. It's called compromise.

[telemann.livejournal.com]

I hope at some point during the campaign, several people hit the President hard with questions about this law. I'm sure he'll just shake his head and say "No, let me tell you what the law really means."

[allhatnocattle.livejournal.com]

Tooo many secrets. An open government is a lot more open.

[ghoststrider.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to figure out when exactly it is when the Implied Corollary to Godwin's Law is repealed and we can safely assume we've crossed into a Nazi state.

[enders-shadow.livejournal.com]

I was discussing the idea of a line-item veto for the president just the other day.

My objection is that it would give the president power to fuck over virtually any member of congress.

"Don't vote against my bill Senator/Representative X. If you do, I'll line-item veto everything you are trying to get for your state/district."

Isn't that sorta a substantial problem with such a kind of veto?