A Rational Animal

. . . since I see via Chris that our Fearful Leader has just arrogated to himself yet another unconstitutional power:

WASHINGTON - President Bush has quietly claimed sweeping new powers to open Americans’ mail without a judge’s warrant, the Daily News has learned.

The President asserted his new authority when he signed a postal reform bill into law on Dec. 20. Bush then issued a “signing statement” that declared his right to open people’s mail under emergency conditions.

That claim is contrary to existing law and contradicted the bill he had just signed, say experts who have reviewed it.

Bush’s move came during the winter congressional recess and a year after his secret domestic electronic eavesdropping program was first revealed. It caught Capitol Hill by surprise.

No shit. 

You know, you’d think, after all this time, that "Capitol Hill," as they put it, would know that 1) W’s going to issue an signing statement as a matter of course, unconstitutionally "claiming" powers that he doesn’t have, and 2) he’s most likely to do so during recess periods or times when the Congress and the MSM are focused elsewhere.  It seems to me that it’s part of Congress’s job to be particularly watchful at such times.

Not, of course, that I expect that to change . . . . 

Courtesy of Mustang Bobby, I once again get to start my day with a giggle - and a reminder of why I [heart] Dana Milbank:

"The bill we offer today, the minority bill of rights, is crafted based on the exact text that then-Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi submitted in 2004 to then-Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert," declared McHenry, with 10 Republican colleagues arrayed around him. "We’re submitting this minority bill of rights, which will ensure that all sides are protected, that fairness and openness is in fact granted by the new majority."

Omitted from McHenry’s plea for fairness was the fact that the GOP had ignored Pelosi’s 2004 request — while routinely engaging in the procedural maneuvers that her plan would have corrected. Was the gentleman from North Carolina asking Democrats to do as he says, not as he did?

"Look, I’m a junior member," young McHenry protested. "I’m not beholden to what former congresses did."

Anne Kornblut of the New York Times asked McHenry if his complaint might come across as whining.

"I’m not whining," he whined. [Emphasis added.]

That’s right, folks - that last sentence is not an example of Bobby’s outstanding editing.  It’s my boy Dana, tellin’ it like it is.  WaPo’s Editor for Ensuring GOP Talking Points must still be home nursing a hell of a post-New Year’s hangover.  Either that, or taking a "mental health day" because s/he’s unable to cope with the fact of Speaker Pelosi’s gaveling to order of the 110th Congress.  (Eat it, bitchez!)