some people just say it better than I ever could

Like the line says, first do no harm. And for the United States as a country, right now, that means doing everything constitutionally, legally and politically possible to limit the president's and even more Vice President Cheney's free hand to shape and execute American foreign policy. Sift it all out and it's that simple. Stop them from doing any more damage. All the rest is commentary and elaboration.

Josh Micah Marshall

(Best to read the whole post.)

On the way home I had an idea to create a Website listing each Bush action to disable the separation of powers and the constitution (signing statements, "commander in chief", wiretapping, habeas corpus, torture memo, etc.) using plain english language examples of what the effect each Bush & co. action has had on our constitutional democracy. I even named this imaginary Website: "Dismantling the American Constitutional Democracy" (actually, I think it was catchier than that, I can't remember now.)
Anyway, the idea was to publish a news story, like yesterdays: Bush Directive Increases Sway on Regulation, and then in very plain English, relate what this actually will mean for the average joe and jo-ess.

For example: With this 'directive" President Bush has decided that he is also the decider on what congress has intended laws to mean over the last 231 years. From now on, all the agencies, like the Food and Drug administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, etc., must abide by Bush's understanding of how congress intended to enforce its laws. Which drugs need to be tested? How clean does the air have to be? etc. Bush now believes he can rewrite the rulebook too. How fast can our rules and regulations change? Give it 6 months to a year, and we have a whole new bright and shiny playing field for our corporate citizens. (Ok, I was thinking of making it less partisan and more constitutional, but that is beyond me for tonight.)
Of course I'd have brilliant contributers to actually write said plain english "what this means to you" commentary.

On the way home this evening it seemed like one of those brilliant ideas. I had a lot of energy then. Has someone already done this? - I'd love to see it.

That's about all folks. Not much more to say than that today, and someone else said it for me. Josh: from your blog to God's ears.