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May 25, 2006
Bush Eliminates the SEC Disclosure Rules
Bush signed an "official memorandum" giving John Negroponte, who oversee the CIA and the NSA, the authority to waive SEC-required financial disclosures for companies that are working on secret projects for the government, Business Week reported Wednesday.
Now, I understand why the Bush administration wouldn't want its secret projects to become public via SEC filings, but um, generally a financial line item on an income statement does not disclose national security. What is concerning is, on the surface, this gives Negroponte (who, under Reagan, was heavily involved in America's covert and illegal war in Nicaragua) and by proxy (the financially savvy must forgive the pun), the Bush administration, the ability to authorize any company to withhold elements of its financials -- all they have to do is say that those items must remain secret for national security purposes. Can someone say Halliburton, for starters?
But this "official memorandum" baffles me. Forgive my lack of understanding of American civics, but what is this verses an "Executive Order" and what kind of power does it have? Is there any check against this administration.
Add this memo to the more than 750 Presidential signing statements Bush has tacked onto the laws passed by Congress (these statments basically say "I sign this law but am not bound to follow it") and you really have no Republic left. The American Empire has officially begun and has unofficially begun to fall.
I usually don't like simplistic visual parodies like this but these days we have no need for complex metaphors. It's finally most useful to aim low:
Posted by MJuhre at May 25, 2006 04:09 PM