The online computery journal thingy of a turtle

Congress sez, FEMA director must be qualified. Bush sez, screw all y'all.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/10/06/bush_cites_authority_to_bypass_fema_law/

I keep reading the following three paragraphs and trying to interpret this as anything other than Bush being an unscrupulous liar and a petty tyrant who thinks he's above the law, and I keep failing:

To shield FEMA from cronyism, Congress established new job qualifications for the agency's director in last week's homeland security bill. The law says the president must nominate a candidate who has ``a demonstrated ability in and knowledge of emergency management" and ``not less than five years of executive leadership."

Bush signed the homeland-security bill on Wednesday morning. Then, hours later, he issued a signing statement saying he could ignore the new restrictions. Bush maintains that under his interpretation of the Constitution, the FEMA provision interfered with his power to make personnel decisions.

The law, Bush wrote, ``purports to limit the qualifications of the pool of persons from whom the president may select the appointee in a manner that rules out a large portion of those persons best qualified by experience and knowledge to fill the office."

This is not "liberal bias". This is not "quotes taken out of context" (not even by me, because I linked to the whole article above). This is not that "feedback loop" someone was telling me about where a bunch of people who lean the same way politically read only stuff they all agree with and thus spread lies and propaganda. (Unless the Boston Globe has a habit of lying?...) This is another example of Bush acting like a dictator and getting away with it. Where's the outrage?

Current Mood: cynical
Current Music: Andy Partridge - I Gave My Suitcase Away