I've got a new Nation column here, "The Uses and Abuses of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi."
Signing the Constitution Away: Isn't it kind of amazing that after all this time, Charlie Savage of the Boston Globe remains just about the only reporter in America interested in the story that George W. Bush feels he can ignore the laws of the land whenever it strikes his fancy? Here is today's entry about potential Senate action. Here is a page 09 story in the Washington Post with the ho-hum headline, "Bush's Challenges of Laws He Signed Is Criticized."
Dan Froomkin writes a similar complaint here though he misses the column cited below.
Patriot, Joyce Green of Oklahoma writes me:
Mr. Alterman:
I have been reading media and legal materials (including your piece, "Think Again: Signing the Constitution Away," at the Center for American Progress), here, about the unitary executive and the Bush administration's use of presidential signing statements. I think this is an important topic.
Therefore, I have collected all presidential signing statements from January 19, 2001, through June 12, 2006, and posted a temporary webpage that provides full text of all the bill signing statements issued by President George W. Bush. By setting out the full text of the signing statements, this Web page should remedy complaints that the statements are difficult to find. To help readers verify text, the Web site also provides links to the full text of the same documents at the White House and Government Printing Office (GPO) Web sites.
The Web site also provides links to the full text of the laws that are the subject of signing statements.
I am contacting law schools, scholars, attorneys, and commentators, hoping to find a permanent home for this Web page. Please feel free to pass the URLs to others who may be interested in either: (1) giving this information a permanent home on the Web, or (2) using the information (including stealing and distributing it).
The main URLS are:
I hope that the Web site will: (1) help scholars and commentators write intelligently and authoritatively about presidential signing statements and the unitary executive, and (2) save attorneys a great deal of time rooting these statements (and the laws to which they apply) out of the GPO and White House websites.
The site is not pretty, but it is useful.
In sum, I want to give this information to someone else. My offer is free to any taker.
Thank you for your time. I enjoyed your article and have linked to it on my site. I appreciate your writing well on such an important topic.
--Joyce
Hey look. Check out librul man's goatee! And go, right away to buy Tom Tomorrow's terrific tome today, here, so that it softens him up a bit when I ask him to send me the original.
How much is that advertisement in the window? That will teach you not to invite Marty Peretz to sign your ad. "Celebrity politics is at best second class politics, from top to bottom." Buying a magazine with your wife's inherited fortune; that, however, is real classy. By the way, here's another of Marty's quotes that seems relevant, particularly in light of his McCarthyite attack on Juan Cole. In a 1982 interview with the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, Peretz explained to a reporter that Israel needed to turn the Palestinians "into just another crushed nation, like the Kurds or the Afghans" and thereby make their problem "boring."
From the sublime to... If memory serves, Ann Coulter's boobs were a fraction of this size when she was first hired by MSNBC ten years ago, and I used to wonder if maybe she had once been Jimmy Hoffa... Maybe Mickey has, um, more...
Quote of the Day, Al Gore: When Dana asked whether then-Gov. Bush's 2000 campaign pledge to limit CO2 emissions was a smart strategic move, Gore replied thusly: "'Well, if you define the word 'smart' in an antiseptic and clinical way that excludes any ethical dimension, then, yeah, I guess it was smart,' says Gore. 'Smart, if you're willing to say things that you know are not true. But that's what Karl Rove is known for. Bush's whole pose as a compassionate conservative was fraudulent. His budget was fraudulent. Even the idea that he would be staunchly opposed to nation building was fraudulent. I don't mean that he actually knew at the time of the campaign that he was going to invade Iraq -- because I don't think Cheney had told him yet [laughs]. But the statement on global warming, and the specific pledge to reduce CO2 emissions with the force of law, was part of a larger pattern. He was completely fraudulent from head to toe.'" From Rolling Stone, not out yet.
This from Bruce Craig and the National Coalition for History:
1. HOUSE CUTS NARA FUNDING BY $8 MILLION
In a surprise move on the floor of the House of Representatives, on 14 June 2006, the lower chamber cut the proposed budget for the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) by $8 million. A higher level budget had been approved by the House Appropriations Committee and its Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development, the Judiciary, and the District of Columbia. If the Senate agrees with the House the net result would signal (to quote a "dismayed" Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein) "a very austere year" in FY 2007 for NARA - one that would mean a reduction of hours of operations, partial closings of researcher reading rooms on nights and weekends, and even possible furloughing of employees.
The cut took National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) legislative staff and the House Appropriations Members and staff by surprise; there was no advance notice of the proposed amendment. The amendment, sponsored by Representatives Darlene Hooley (D-OR) and joined by Kenny C. Hulshof (R-MO) and Ike Skelton (D-MO) sought to restore funding (including $8 million from the NARA budget) for a drug interdiction initiative that had been zeroed out of the federal budget. The initiative seeks to help curb the extensive abuse of crystal methamphetamine.
The congresswoman recommended taking the money from NARA's budget as she needed to find an "offset" (when Congress adds money to a bill, an "offset" must be found and the budget for that program reduced by an equal amount) in order to fund the interdiction program.
While the funding plight of the interdiction program was recognized by Congressman Knollenberg (R-MI), Chairman of the Transportation/Treasury Appropriations Subcommittee, he vigorously opposed funding proposal at the expense of NARA's budget. The chairman told his colleagues that the National Archives was already struggling to fund a $12 million shortfall, and that the agency is considering other measures to save money in addition to the hiring freeze (see related story below). During the first vote the amendment was defeated, but Rep. Hooley demanded a roll call vote; the final vote on the amendment was 348 yeas to 76 nays, with 8 members not voting. As a result, NARA's proposed funding shortfall in FY 2007 is now over $20 million.
In conversations between the National Coalition for History and Senate appropriations staff and others on Capitol Hill, most insiders believe the Senate will not agree to the proposed offset and that the $8 million will be restored by the Senate in conference when the bill is reconsidered by representatives of both houses.
Insiders also report that when the Senate takes up the NARA funding bill (probably after the July 4 recess) the Senate is likely to agree with the House on the need to provide some level of funding for the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC). While the president proposed zero funds for the NHPRC, the House approved funding at $7.5 million ($5.5 for grants; $2 million for administration and staffing). The Senate is expected to provide funding for the NHPRC at a level consistent with the House.
Constituents of Representatives Hooley, Hulshof, and Skelton may wish to contact their member (write, e-mail, or call -- the capitol switchboard number is (202) 224-3121 and express their views on the amendment that was offered and let them know about the devastating impact it conceivably would have on NARA's ability to serve the public.
2. NARA IN FISCAL TROUBLE - HIRING FREEZE AND OTHER MEASURES PLANNED
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) plans on instituting a hiring freeze and other steps - including an early retirement buy-out program for qualified employees - in order to minimized an anticipated budget shortfall for this and next year.
While Congressionally-mandated pay raises, higher facility rents, and increases in energy costs in facilities nationwide account for some of the projected funding shortfall, the fact is that personnel costs make up the largest part of NARA's operational expenses. According to NARA officials "these costs must be reduced." Consequently, a hiring freeze is set to begin 3 July. It will effect only those positions funded by the agency's core operational funds and will not effect positions funded from NARA's Revolving Fund, Trust Fund, through the ERA appropriation, or through most reimbursable programs.
In addition to instituting the hiring freeze, NARA anticipates taking additional action to reduce the budget: there will be opportunities for employees to take an early retirement, and a reduction of hours of operation for both the research and exhibition sides of NARA - that move is anticipated to hit the genealogical community and other researchers, as well as the visiting public especially hard.
This just in: "BREAKING NEWS ALERT:
On July 16 (a Sunday, naturally), Andrea Jones will start as the new Executive Director of Media Relations for ABC News in Washington, D.C. She will oversee the public relations for Nightline (making frequent trips to Gotham City), This Week, and ABC News' powerhouse DC bureau. Jones comes to ABC News from Sen. John McCain's office where she has served as press secretary since March 2003. Born into politics, Jones has an impressive resume for someone so young. She was assistant campaign manager for the Simon for Governor bid in California in 2002, state field director for Bill Jones in 2001, campaign manager for Campbell for Senate in 2000, and was John McCain's national youth coordinator in 1999 and 2000. Jones will report to ABC News Vice President Jeffrey Schneider and his powerful lieutenant, the incomparable Cathie Levin.
My question is this: Will she keep the same office? Job Title? Will the name on her paycheck change? Just asking.