There was a break in the afternoon gully washers yesterday. I took that opportunity to play a bit of catchup on the yard work. I managed to mow about 2/3 of the yard…if I’m lucky I may get the rest mowed this afternoon.

At 6am this morning we are already at 80 degrees with a 95% humidity. Unless something change, it is gonna be a scorcher. You really have to love the weather prognosticators, the MyCast forecast calls for little or no chance of rain today while the National Weather Service is calling for a 40% chance of heavy rain. AccuWeather is telling me that the RealFeel temperature out right now is about 92 degrees…What a way to start your day.

Reading my Washington Post email I see one of the top stories is ‘Signing Statements’ Study Finds Administration Has Ignored Law .

President Bush has asserted that he is not necessarily bound by the bills he signs into law, and yesterday a congressional study found multiple examples in which the administration has not complied with the requirements of the new statutes.

Bush has been criticized for his use of “signing statements,” in which he invokes presidential authority to challenge provisions of legislation passed by Congress. The president has challenged a federal ban on torture, a request for data on the administration of the USA Patriot Act and numerous other assertions of congressional power. As recently as December, Bush asserted the authority to open U.S. mail without judicial warrants in a signing statement attached to a postal reform bill.

Now exactly who hasn’t realized by now that this administration hasn’t ignored the laws it felt did not apply to it? Come on America, this has to be the most politically corrupt group since the Nixon White House…Oh, yea…It’s the same people, I forgot. They pretty much got away with it then so they figured they could get away with it again. You would have thought most American’s would know that old proverb, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me.” Well America, shame on you…

“At least it makes clear the signing statements aren’t solely for staking out a legal position, with the president just saying, ‘I don’t have to do these things, but I will,’ ” Bruce Fein said. “In fact they are not doing some of these things. You can’t just vaporize it as an academic question.”

The stories keep coming about the White House thinking it’s above the law, yet, no one seems to do anything about it. I think it’s time to put some options back on the table…

Another example…Trying to bypass the Official Documents Act…Bush Aides’ Misuse of E-Mail Detailed by House Committee

White House aides made extensive use of political e-mail accounts for official government business, despite rules requiring that they conduct such business through official communications channels, according to new evidence disclosed yesterday by congressional investigators.

At some point don’t these stories reach critical mass and demand an accounting? It’s no longer an issue of just incompetence. It is no longer an issue of ideology. It is now an issue of law. It is now an issue of criminality.

Pardon the political rant. I try to hold it in, but damn it, if I treated the law as disrespectfully as these folks do I’d be serving time. Who the hell do they think they are?

Time to run…more muses later…