Bush Declares Constitution Null and Void Again

George W. Bush has declared the Constitution null and void yet again. This time, Bush has used the crisis in Burma as an excuse to issue an executive order that further undermines the Constitutional rights of the American people. Thus far Bush has declared himself a dictator in the case of a national emergency, has stomped on the Constitution by abolishing the fourth amendment through a vaguely worded executive order that claims the government has the power to block the property of people without due process who might be undermining democracy in Lebanon and by abolishing the fifth amendment through another vaguely worded executive order that claims the government has the power to block the property of individuals who undermine Iraq reconstruction including Iraq war protesters.

Bush’s new executive order claims the government has the power to block the property of people who might be directly or indirectly supporting the Burmese government. The executive order was issued today and can be accessed here. The language in this new executive order is very similar to the previous aforementioned executive orders and expands the scope of people who the government can seize property from without any sort of probable cause, warrant or due process.

In the first section of this new executive order Bush expands the scope of the national emergency declared back in 1997 as the excuse for its issuance. He also uses vague language to determine the criteria for seizing an individual’s property. According to the language in the executive order, an individual who the government determines provides even accidental indirect support without any sort of due process can have their property seized. The first section of the executive order is shown below.

I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, hereby expand the scope of the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13047 of May 20, 1997, and relied upon for additional steps taken in Executive Order 13310 of July 28, 2003, finding that the Government of Burma’s continued repression of the democratic opposition in Burma, manifested most recently in the violent response to peaceful demonstrations, the commission of human rights abuses related to political repression, and engagement in public corruption, including by diverting or misusing Burmese public assets or by misusing public authority, constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States, and I hereby order:

Section 1. Except to the extent provided in section 203(b)(1), (3), and (4) of IEEPA (50 U.S.C. 1702(b)(1), (3), and (4)), the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 (title IX, Public Law 106–387), or regulations, orders, directives, or licenses that may be issued pursuant to this order, and notwithstanding any contract entered into or any license or permit granted prior to the effective date of this order, all property and interests in property of the following persons that are in the United States, that hereafter come within the United States, or that are or hereafter come within the possession or control of United States persons, including their overseas branches, are blocked and may not be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in:

(a) the persons listed in the Annex attached and made a part of this order; and

(b) any person determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, after consultation with the Secretary of State:

(i) to be a senior official of the Government of Burma,

the State Peace and Development Council of Burma, the Union Solidarity and Development Association of Burma, or any successor entity to any of the foregoing;

(ii) to be responsible for, or to have participated in, human rights abuses related to political repression in Burma;

(iii) to be engaged, or to have engaged, in activities facilitating public corruption by senior officials of the Government of Burma;

(iv) to have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, logistical, or technical support for, or goods or services in support of, the Government of Burma, the State Peace and Development Council of Burma, the Union Solidarity and Development Association of Burma, any successor entity to any of the foregoing, any senior official of any of the foregoing, or any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to Executive Order 13310 or section 1(b)(i)-(v) of this order;

(v) to be owned or controlled by, or to have acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to Executive Order 13310 or section 1(b)(i)-(v) of this order; or

(vi) to be a spouse or dependent child of any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order or Executive Order 13310.

In section 5 of the executive order Bush states that the Constitution is null and void as it pertains to this executive order. This section states that because of the ability to transfer funds or assets instantaneously that the government does not need a warrant or provide an individual with due process in order to seize an individual’s property because it would make the purposes of the executive order ineffectual. This is similar language that Bush has used in his previous unconstitutional executive orders. Section 5 of the executive order is shown below.

Sec. 5. For those persons whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to section 1 of this order who might have a constitutional presence in the United States, I find that because of the ability to transfer funds or other assets instantaneously, prior notice to such persons of measures to be taken pursuant to this order would render these measures ineffectual. I therefore determine that for these measures to be effective in addressing the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13047, and relied upon for additional steps taken in Executive Order 13310, and expanded in this order, there need be no prior notice of a listing or determination made pursuant to this order.

Bush does not have the authority to say that he can seize the property of people without a warrant or without due process simply because there is technology to transfer funds instantaneously. Like Bush’s previous executive orders this new one pertaining to Burma is a clear violation of both the fourth and fifth amendments and shows yet again that he is hell bent on tearing the Constitution into a million pieces. Due process, appropriate search warrants and other protected rights referenced by the Constitution are not mentioned anywhere in this new executive order.

George W. Bush is a traitor to this country and he needs to be held accountable for his actions. How can a President get a way with issuing three similar executive orders which between them all declare the fourth and fifth amendments and for that matter the Constitution null and void in a so called free country? The answer is simple, the United States is not a free country and anybody aying so is a liar. [link to intelstrike.com]