Bush considered restrictions to the first ammendment!

So it appears that the Office of Legal Council took to creating opinions on even further torching of the constitution then was actually exercised by our Former Dictat...uh I mean... President Bush Jr. (I hesitate to link to huffpo but I can't find a major new outlet reporting this yet)
HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPostIts hard to imagine why they would ask the OLC to produce an opinion on this if there weren't considering using it.I would like to hear how our conservative peers defend this? This is especially considering that this would have greatly expanded the power of the federal government while currently we have Republicans railing against Obama for supposidly expanding government.What would it have looked like had Bush exercised the same latitude from these opinions in the same way he did for torture, rendition, and wiretapping? Would we have seen:State takeover of media?
State censorship of media?
Wholesale detention of protesters (worse than they already did)?
Anti-sedition edicts straight out of the executive branch?Really at the point that they were willing to toss out the First Ammendment, they sky is the limit. They probably didn't do it because they realized that they could not sell it politically. But damn, I have no idea how Bush defenders can possibly defend this.

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If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. --Thomas Jefferson

Fear not, the AP now has an article on it.Outside the scope of your OP, but it's worth mentioning that the Bush administration also considered the 4th amendment to be null and void while fighting terrorism.What's the bet that had McCain won we would not be hearing about these internal memos and opinions from the OLC, as well as other related info?

Bush Adm. Weighed Restricting 1st AmendmentSeriously this is Jack Bauer crap straight out of 24.No comments so far? This is evidence #1 that these guys were wiping their ass with the Constitution.

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If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. --Thomas Jefferson

There were a number of declassified "memos" that directed various violations of the constitution, and it looks like our current justice department is looking into it. I'm sure there is more to come.Enjoy

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I haven't had a whole lot of time to search but so far I haven't seen a single major media outlet give a treatment of this issue.The things that are on topic seem to be primarily concerning Republican angst over socialism and arguing if Rush Limbaugh is the real leader of the Republican party.Where the fuck is the outrage!!! People have been hanged and shot in this country for lesser acts of treason!

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If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. --Thomas Jefferson

the current regime just wants to destroy the 2nd. with that gone they can do what ever they want.

What is your reasoning for saying this? Has Obama made any comments about ending gun ownership?

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Facts don't lie or have an agenda. Facts are just facts

He's trying to reinstate the Assault Weapons Ban. Take a look at this section. He even wants to make it permanent Plus he's from Illinois, which has the worse gun laws of any state. Yikes!But all this is off-topic. There hasn't been a gun thread here in a long time. We should get another one going. Care to start it? I'll participate.

That is far from destroying the 2nd amendment. We have had assault weapons bans before and they didn't destroy the 2nd amendment.No. I have no desire to argue this topic.Just so you know. I am a gun owner and a hunter.

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Facts don't lie or have an agenda. Facts are just facts

But how far is it from wanting to... Ah, oh well. Gun topics are, like, my next favorite to evolution and cosmology ones. I just have a handgun.

While all you have is some freepers, WND conspiracy theory, we here in reality have memo's from the Office of Legal Council that explicitly state that in their opinion the President has the power to suspend the Constitution (including the 2nd) by the mere virtue of his role as Commander in Chief.If anything, there is more evidence that Bush wanted to take away your guns than anything you can offer as evidence that Obama has done especially considering that his official position is that he does believe that the 2nd ammendment is a personal right.Given the treason so explicitly laid out in those memos, aren't you pissed off that these guys are still walking around out there free and clear? These guys were in a position to just about take a match to the founding documents of our country and all you can complain about is being afraid that you will no longer be able to go buy a rocket launcher?Edited by Jazzns, : No reason given.

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If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. --Thomas Jefferson

Jazzns,I feel your outrage.But if you continue to publicly express your disapproval over such "minor" things as war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other unlawful/unconstitutional activities, you'll be labeled an overacting, non-sensical, immature, non-comprehending, vacuous, silly, ignorant, terrorist-loving, anti-American malcontent.Just saying.(It's been a looong eight+ years for me.) regards

The thing that frustrates me the most is this whole concept of "not looking backwards" that has been embraced by Obama. I realize he is in a pickle of having to try to get things done with a chicken-shit democrat controlled senate but these guys like Yoo and Rove literally are murders and traitors. If we don't "look back" into crimes of that magnitude we are essentially saying that whatever an ex-president or his administration does is okay because we hit RESET no less than every 8 years anyway.If there are no consequences, then it WILL happen again.

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If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. --Thomas Jefferson

Jazzns, thank you, thank you, thank you for writing this. Apparently, I am NOT the only one with these thoughts. Similarly, my NYS senator, Schumer, keeps the same infuriating stance. Me paraphrasing him: "the history and reasons are not at all important to why I authorized the invasion of Iraq, it's only important what we do from this point on". Schumer was then easily re-elected. Ughh. Edited by dronester, : clarity

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Cogito, ergo Deus non est

I would wager to say that over 90% of the activist base of the progressive movement, the very same people who are still recovering from the sunburn of walking the pavement to get Obama elected, favor some kind of retribution for what is, by definition, treason committed by former Bush officials.At the very least, I hope something comes of the Conyers investigation of Rove on the issue of the attorney firings and most of all, Don Siegelman's political prosecution. Bush and company obviously had no moral qualms about illegially imprisoning Democrats. It blows the mind to think that Democrats are so tepid about enfocing the law against ACTUAL crimes that these guys committed.

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If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. --Thomas Jefferson