Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine thought she had herself a nice, though rather mundane little postal reform bill under her belt when she attended the signing ceremony back in December. Little did she know she was opening the door for our Mad King George to assert his right to poke through our first class mail without a warrant. Funny that.
Of course, Tony "I don't know" Snow says it's nothing special, this supposed power of the president to bypass the courts and rip open grandma's Christmas cards ... their being from al-Qaida and all ... Said Snowy:
"This is not a change in law, this is not new, it is not ... a sweeping new power by the president ... It is, in fact, merely a statement of present law and present authorities granted to the president of the United States."
Apparently, Ms. Collins is at a loss as well, having only discovered the special addition to her bill this week, the way the rest of us did, in the New York Daily News.
Why am I reposting this info, which was covered on this blog already? Because, if you actually read the news items about what the Collins bill is about, it has ... wait for it ... NOTHING to do with governmental authority over the mail. It has to do with financial regulations and reforms. For the Bush administration to slap on a measure granting sweeping new powers to the president, in a bill that's mostly about pensions, unions and postal rates, these guys have got to be truly, deeply insane. To whit:
The public will notice little immediate impact, Postmaster General John Potter said in an interview.
Over the long term, though, the measure can have a major impact on the finances of the Postal Service, perhaps delaying or reducing the amount of future rate increases, and assuring a firm basis for retiree health benefits.
One big change shifts responsibility for some retirement benefits from the post office to the treasury.
Many postal workers previously served in the military. Unlike other federal agencies, the post office was required to pay for retirement benefits earned during both military and postal careers of those workers.
The post office will still be responsible for their retirement costs for the time they worked for them, but benefits earned during military service will now be charged to Treasury - relieving the post office of having to pay billions of dollars over coming decades.
That, Potter said, will mean improved financial stability, a benefit for the post office, the public and large mail users because of rate increases that will most likely be less than they otherwise might have been.
In a second major change, a requirement that the post office place around $3 billion annually in an escrow account is ended. The law requires the agency to use that money to fund retiree medical benefits for 10 years. After that the funds may be available for other uses.
Still awake? And have you spotted the opening for the Prez to assert his right to break the seal on your Valentines?
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dim done
done = request.form("done")
if done = "" then
done = "No"
%>
Tell a friend
<%
Else
if request.form("done") = "Yes" then
'sets variables
dim email, sendmail
email = request.form("email")
Set sendmail = Server.CreateObject("CDONTS.NewMail")
'put the webmaster address here
sendmail.From = "webmaster@aspbasics.com"
'The mail is sent to the address entered in the previous page.
sendmail.To = email
'Enter the subject of your mail here
sendmail.Subject = "Check out this website"
'send a specific page or send a site url
dim url
'url = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
url = "http://www.aspbasics.net"
'This is the content of the message.
sendmail.Body = "Site recommendation from a friend!" & _
vbCrlf & vbCrlf & "A friend has sent you this email and thought you would should check out this site." & _
vbCrlf & url & vbCrlf
'this sets mail priority.... 0=low 1=normal 2=high
sendmail.Importance = 1
sendmail.Send 'Send the email!
response.redirect Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
'Response.write ("Sent to ") & email
End if
End if
%>
"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
