The article to which you link, is rather odd. It's a jumble of inflammatory statements and, about halfway through, it tangents into information that's totally unrelated to the article's header.
It's my interpretation that the executive order covers federal agency administrators, with the intent to keep federal programs (DOE, DOT, welfare, etc) running even in the event of a catastrophe. The article implies that these people would take over the White House, which is patently wrong.
The fact that Rep. William Delahunt doesn't realise that there's at least two multi-billion dollar bunkers specifically designed for the House and Senate in similar emergencies should give the people of Massachusetts pause. But then, they keep electing Ted Kennedy.
The article says that the House and Senate weren't informed of the order. They aren't directly informed of any executive order, except when the President makes a speach before congress (which is rather rare). However, all executive orders are available to them (and anyone else), if they care to read.
The article uses the pejorative phrase "shadow government," which I can only assume is intended to make readers believe that there is a secret cadre waiting to take over the country. The fact is, the people covered by the order are bureaucrats who will continue to do the job they're doing now, even if their departmental building is destroyed.
I realise there are strong reasons to distrust the government, and some people want to believe that Bush is incapable of doing anything non-evil. Misrepresenting it does not make the order evil. However, raising the alarm on this can only serve to reduce the effectiveness of alerting the public when something that -is- wrong is done.
aye, i agree with what you've said, however, i think that the white house could have at least made an effort to let congress know it was enacting a contingency plan which has never actually been used. yes, it's easy enough to look this stuff up, but the white house lets congress know about stuff all the time--that's one reason DC has such a thriving courier business.
congress itself has contingency plans--it usually lets the public know when those are going to be deployed.
as for raising the alarm--the bush administration lets stuff like this happen so folks do NOT notice other orders which are pushed through... it's part of the plan.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2002-03-02 10:47 am (UTC)It's my interpretation that the executive order covers federal agency administrators, with the intent to keep federal programs (DOE, DOT, welfare, etc) running even in the event of a catastrophe. The article implies that these people would take over the White House, which is patently wrong.
The fact that Rep. William Delahunt doesn't realise that there's at least two multi-billion dollar bunkers specifically designed for the House and Senate in similar emergencies should give the people of Massachusetts pause. But then, they keep electing Ted Kennedy.
The article says that the House and Senate weren't informed of the order. They aren't directly informed of any executive order, except when the President makes a speach before congress (which is rather rare). However, all executive orders are available to them (and anyone else), if they care to read.
The article uses the pejorative phrase "shadow government," which I can only assume is intended to make readers believe that there is a secret cadre waiting to take over the country. The fact is, the people covered by the order are bureaucrats who will continue to do the job they're doing now, even if their departmental building is destroyed.
I realise there are strong reasons to distrust the government, and some people want to believe that Bush is incapable of doing anything non-evil. Misrepresenting it does not make the order evil. However, raising the alarm on this can only serve to reduce the effectiveness of alerting the public when something that -is- wrong is done.
no subject
Date: 2002-03-02 11:48 am (UTC)congress itself has contingency plans--it usually lets the public know when those are going to be deployed.
as for raising the alarm--the bush administration lets stuff like this happen so folks do NOT notice other orders which are pushed through... it's part of the plan.