Dictator Bush Uses "Bill Signing Statements" To Quietly Alter Legislation Behind The Backs Of The American People

"It's nothing short of breathtaking." Bush quietly undercuts laws with bill-signing statement 08 Jan 2006"

" Dictator Bush agreed with great fanfare last month to accept a ban on torture, but he later quietly reserved the right to ignore it, even as he signed it into law. Bush said he would interpret the new law in keeping with his expansive view of presidential power."

" He did it by issuing a bill-signing statement -- a little-noticed device that has become a favorite tool of presidential power in the Bush White House. In fact, Bush has used signing statements to reject, revise or put his spin on more than 500 legislative provisions... "It's nothing short of breathtaking,'' said Phillip Cooper, a professor of public administration at Portland State University.

"In every case, the White House has interpreted presidential authority as broadly as possible, interpreted legislative authority as narrowly as possible and pre-empted the judiciary."