The Rise of the Executive Branch

Foreign Policy Magazine labels this story "Bush’s Post-Katrina Power Grab", but am I the only who remembers liberals, the media, and Hollywood scream for the President to send in the Marines after the drowning of New Orleans?:

When U.S. President George W. Bush signed the $532 billion federal defense spending bill in October, there were the usual budgetary turf battles on Capitol Hill. But largely overlooked was a revision of a nearly 200-year-old law to restrict the president’s power during major crises. In December, Congressional Quarterly examined the changes, saying that the new law “takes the cuffs off” federal restraint during emergencies. Rather than limiting the circumstances under which a president may deploy troops to “any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy,” the 2006 revision expands them to include “natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident.” In other words, it’s now easier for the federal government to send in troops without a governor’s invitation.

In the words of Thomas Paine "What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly". We have gotten too use to security and comfort, and now we pay the price for our abuse of liberties.

In a related story, read this from Breitbart: Bush vows he will not be stopped by Congress over Iraq plan.