When It's Illegal And The President Does It, It's Still Illegal
When the president does it, it's not illegal. That was an outrageous statement made more than 30 years ago by President Richard Nixon.
Forever immortalized in a TV interview with TV personality David Frost, Nixon's words captured the cowardice of a man unable to stand up to his own actions and represented his complete lack of respect for the rule of law and the American people.
Unfortunately, Nixon wasn't the last president to show blatant disregard for the law.
The Bush administration's actions over the last eight years mirror the presidential-power-above-all policy implemented by Nixon, which, in presidential la-la land, places the commander-in-chief in a gold-laced, Pegasus-drawn chariot high above the heads of America's working-class citizens.
In reality, however, actions taken by Bush are placing the American people in harm's way, particularly when it comes to opening our border to unsafe Mexican trucks. Last week, the Bush administration extended the illegal and reckless plan allowing unsafe trucks from Mexico on our highways for another two years.
The order by Bush to open our border to trucks that do not meet U.S. safety standards first came nearly one year ago with a shady "pilot program." Though it was dubbed a trial, in reality, the order was the first step toward unfettered access for trucks from anywhere south of the border. Only after the Teamsters outed the administration did officials actually admit the plans they had hiding up their sleeves.
Those plans are nothing short of illegal. Playing the NAFTA card, Bush administration officials, under the direction of U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters, claim open borders will benefit the economy by keeping costs down. Unfortunately, those who support such actions are forgetting the price Americans must pay in order to keep goods cheap -- their jobs and their safety.
The agency aiding Peters in opening the border, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA,) claims that border inspectors can check all Mexican trucks and are able to ensure that U.S. safety standards are met on all on south-of-the-border vehicles. That, as Congress and the American people have found, is an outright lie. Not only do many Mexican truck drivers not speak English, but, among many other violations, their vehicles are not equipped with anti-lock breaks--the most basic of safety measures required on all U.S. vehicles.
To combat these issues, Congress has tried desperately to turn the tide by passing laws to stop the dangerous trucks from crossing into the United States. But despite Congress's overwhelming support and action against the unsafe program, the Bush administration continues to push for open borders and unsafe vehicles in the name of fair trade.
In an effort to stop the outright lawbreaking being conducted by Peters and the Bush administration, the Teamsters have taken our case to court, asking that the border be closed. Though we are still awaiting the judges' opinion, we cannot go it alone. Please contact your congressional representative and tell them that allowing unsafe Mexican trucks into the United States is not only outrageous, dangerous and completely unacceptable, but it is against the law.
Because, as those in the real world know, when it's illegal and the president does it, it's still illegal.
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One sunny day in 2009 an old man approached the White House from across Pennsylvania Avenue,
where he'd been sitting on a park bench.
He spoke to the U.S. Marine standing guard and said, "I would like to go in and meet with President Bush."
The Marine looked at the man and said, "Sir, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here."
The old man said, "Okay" and walked away.
The following day, the same man approached the White House and said to the same Marine,
"I would like to go in and meet with President Bush."
The Marine again told the man, "Sir, as I said yesterday, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here."
The man thanked him and, again, just walked away.
The third day, the same man approached the White House and spoke to the very same Marine, saying, "I would like to go in and meet with President Bush."
The Marine, somewhat agitated at this point, looked at the man and said, "Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here asking to speak to Mr. Bush. I've told you already that Mr. Bush is no longer the president and no longer resides here. Do you understand?"
The old man looked at the Marine and said, "Oh, I understand. I just love hearing it."
The Marine snapped to attention, saluted, and said, "See you tomorrow."
Hey, the Democrats have sanctuary cities, Bush has sanctuary highways, whats the difference?
The idea that Mexican anything is as safe as US regulated things is absurd. I am in aviation and have lots of experience with Mexican aircraft which are not as safe or regulated as US ones. They do not have regulations which are enforced. The standards are far below those of the US. Canadians do not have the level of corruption that Mexico has and thus I have no problem with their trucks operating in the US.
NAFTA is a good idea for only the US and Canada since our countries have similar standards and enforcement and standards of living. It should never have included Mexico for those reasons, and should be radically modified or ended.
Laws are only applicable to the "little people" you know, the guys and girls who act as cannon fodder in wars, or the homless people, the huddled masses, you cannot expect law to be applicable to decent civilized society, they have to be free and above the restrictions of all the god dammed bits of paper!
exactly and that is why there are 1 million cases of Salmonella poisoning in this country every year while there are only 800 cases in the whole of Sweden....
If we cannot keep lead out of toys and control Salmonella as well as the Swedes,...
"Because, as those in the real world know, when it's illegal and the president does it, it's still illegal."
So the Democrats shield the president from investigation/prosecution/impeachment until they can pass legislation making the illegal activities legal and they can give retroactive immunity to all who went along with breaking the law.
And the people of America say, hooray! Now let's put a Democrats are our heroes, let's make one POTUS.
What's your suggestion, vote for the party doing the illegal acts and thinking it fine because of their positions?
When everyone in a party agrees with an action, denigrate the party.
Republicans, for example.
When a few people put political concerns above legal and Constitutional necessity, and the rest of the party disagrees, blaming the party is stupid and counterproductive.
The constitution is just a piece of paper if the people who are sworn to uphold and defend it decide to abandon it instead. George Bush has declared that he is above the law and Nancy Pelosi has agreed. In theory, Bush must obey the law, but the reality is, the law does not apply to him. Nixon was proven wrong by people determined to uphold the law. There are no such people now. They have all been bought and paid for by the global monopolists who's interest is served by an open border between Mexico and the United States.
Speaker Pelosi tacitly authorized W's criminal behavior. Since Mr Hoffa could tell us if is engaging in a criminal act. Working Class is altogether right. He makes me proud of my working class roots. Thanks, Working Class.
Could Speaker Pelosi be impeached for tacitly authorizing W's crimes?
I still believe that we can solve all of this by taking our men out of Iraq and invading Mexico. We can make it another state and all it's people will be happy citizens. We can then make the trucks safe and use the abundant oil and beautiful beaches. The only people sad would be the elite rich class that have been raping the poor for so many centuries.
So, what about it, senor?? No more wall? No more working below minimum wage? Flowers for everyone!! Whoopeeeee!
THEY DON'T TRANSFER THE SAVING ONTO THE CUSTOMERS !!!!!!!!!
This lower the cost for the products . ok .
Where is it writting they must transfer the lower cost to the customer. ????
It is not and they do not !!!!!!!!!!!
exactly, even after Sam Walton died and paid alll of those outrageous death taxes, 4 of the 10 richest people in the world are Waltons.... Imagine that...
Actually, if it's illegal and the president does it, it's MORE illegal.
He's the one who's sworn to uphold the Constitution and the laws of this nation, and yet he's the one violating them.
Living in San Diego since 89 Ihave seen so many cars and trucks from Baja going down the road like smog bombs on wheels. You might see the cars mostly getting pulled over but the cops know the ticket means little and if they are lucky the driver has no license or for sure insurance and it's a long process to write the ticket ad the driver will no show in court. The truck drivers from Baja scare the hell out of me and always have as they have been on our roads for years. The wheels have the oily sludge on them and you have to give them space just in case they cannot stop or even slow down in time to not hit someone. The drivers rarely follow the traffic laws in any kind of vehicle and believe me they have some new off the lot cars all the way to beaters that you wonder how they run. But above all the refusal to follow the traffic laws and the state of the brakes on the trucks and regular suv types will give you nightmares.
Been contacting my congressmen so long it looks like short. In addition to the safety reasons you state, there are these: the flow of drugs & diseases (hepatitis, in particular), more coyotes (the human kind), pollution, drunk driving (unless i'm wrong, AA is not very popular in Mexico yet). If i'm wrong, mea culpa.
i almost hate to comment, it sounds like i hate Mexico or something. i don't. i love it. i hate the way we have grabbed indigenous lands and driven their citizens up here, only to be reviled up here in these hard economic times. it's a mess.
This is all part of the plan for the North American Union (NAU), don't you know! You see, there is no need for borders if we are all part of a bigger entity. Made possible by treaties among friendly, like-minded governments with presidential directives to U.S. government agencies. Nativist and current U.S. citizens need to understand that American standards must be altered to comply with the NAU plan.
Slow integration is the key because we don't want them anti-free trade nuts to stop free trade/free markets. After all, it is working great for the European Union. And what is good for Europe must be great for the U.S. By the way, the NAU will solve our illegal migration problems---since everyone will be a citizen of this greater entity, no one would be illegal. Brilliant, don't we all agree? Paraphrasing Clinton-Gore, "NAU because we hafta!".
If everything you said is true and desirable, is it still sarcasm?
Oh if we only had an independent judiciary or a competent congress.. without balance of powers you get serial monarchy.
And if McSame is elected and gets to name a new Supreme Court justice, we'll have the RATS-plus-one for a right-wing majority:
Roberts
Alito
Thomas
Scalia
???
Then the next one should have a last name beginning in "F."
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