Montgomery Residents Request Clearer Regulations
Small measures, such as posting information about development proposals on the Internet and holding more public hearings in the evenings when working people can attend, would give residents greater say in how their communities develop, the groups said. The Planning Board should also do a better job of explaining the county’s perplexing zoning code and allow more time for the public to rebut developers’ comments before voting on a proposal, several community activists suggested.
“The process is very opaque to the average citizen,” said Kathleen Michels, president of the Upper Sligo Civic Association and Friends of Sligo Creek. “The developers know exactly where to go and whom to talk to.”
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Capital Hill Blue claims to have three sources present in a meeting where Bush called the Constitution “a goddamned piece of paper.” In fairness, some 0f the stories that make it into Capital Hill Blue are more rumor than fact, which should be kept in mind, although they were the first to report on White House staffers’ concerns about Bushs erratic behavior under stress, and similar stories have been cropping up in more mainstream outlets. In any event, the scary part is that this story is entirely believeable.
Last month, Republican Congressional leaders filed into the Oval Office to meet with President George W. Bush and talk about renewing the controversial USA Patriot Act.
Several provisions of the act, passed in the shell shocked period immediately following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, caused enough anger that liberal groups like the American Civil Liberties Union had joined forces with prominent conservatives like Phyllis Schlafly and Bob Barr to oppose renewal.
GOP leaders told Bush that his hardcore push to renew the more onerous provisions of the act could further alienate conservatives still mad at the President from his botched attempt to nominate White House Counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.
“I don’t give a goddamn,” Bush retorted. “I’m the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way.”
“Mr. President,” one aide in the meeting said. “There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution.”
“Stop throwing the Constitution in my face,” Bush screamed back. “It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!”
Scary.