Bush Blindsided By Socially-Conscious High School Students

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[Edumakashun]
While meeting with a group of high school seniors from the Presidential Scholars program in the East Room of the White House, President Bush received an unexpected surprise: a letter signed by 50 of them urging Bush to halt "violations of the human rights" of terror suspects held by the United States.

According to the Associated Press, "The White House says Bush did not expect the letter but took a moment to read it and talk with a young woman who'd handed it to him."

White House spokesman Dana Perino said Bush let the student know "the United States does not torture and that we value human rights," a statement seemingly contradicted by Bush's signing statement which gave him power to largely ignore a Congressional ban on torture spearheaded by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).

In the following CNN video, three of the seniors who met with the president discuss the event. The designation of Presidential Scholar is among the nation's highest honors for high school grads, with the honorees traveling to Washington for lectures and seminars, the AP reports.





 

a note of correction
Posted by wizeGurl on 2007-06-27 11:05:27
It's not true that "Bush's signing statement...gave him power to largely ignore a Congressional ban on torture." The signing statements have no legal force at all; they're not in the Constitution, or anywhere in the nation's laws. If people in government act as though they had legal force...well, those people are not following the laws of the United States. But when the judicial branch and the justice department are in Bush's pockets, it's easy to get away with ignoring national and international laws against torture (and a whole lot of other inconvenient laws as well).
Posted by Pile on 2007-06-28 10:48:51
When the rest of Congress doesn't do its job, Bush can make goofy claims like signing statements have some sort of legitimacy.

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