Not sure this was brought up...

[Gnomad]

Maybe some of you know about, perhaps you've already talked about it... but for those that missed it...

The National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive, signed on May 9, 2007 declares that in the event of a “catastrophic event”, George W. Bush can become what is best described as "a dictator":  

"The President shall lead the activities of the Federal Government for ensuring constitutional government."  

This directive, completely unnoticed by the media, and given no scrutiny by Congress, literally gives the White House unprecedented dictatorial power over the government and the country, bypassing the US Congress and obliterating the separation of powers. The directive also placed the Secretary of Homeland Security in charge of domestic “security”.

Anyone else think this is beyond a horrible idea?

Full text is here.

[evasivetear]

umm...don't reallly see the need for this...

it gives an outline of what our government should be doing anyway....minus all the checks and balances that make it a democracy.  

I don't care if you're a democrat or republican......if a president ever used this to obtain total control over the government, i hope that people would come out of their stupid political shells and realize 'hey....i didn't elect him to do this.  maybe this guy isn't as great as my blind faith in my political party makes him to be...'

[TheRuleofThree]

This is what our administration does - pursue their own agenda, ignoring the constitution, using the "war on terror" as an excuse to do whatever they want.

If this ever happened, I wouldn't worry too much.  He would be impeached before the next step took place.

[BuddyGoodness]

I read that a while back and the bill is a little ambiguous in it's wording but it also includes natural disasters.  I think it is to improve efficiency in government's response to disasters though that is a load of crap because govt is incapable of quick response to anything.  It bothers me because it means not only Bush will have unprecedented powers but all the future incompetent presidents will have it as well.  No matter which direction power shifts between the branches of govt they will always manage to fuck shit up.