National Continuity Coordinator

Listening to the radio and a caller relays that an acquaintance has been re-activated for a ‘Continuity of Government’ mission, who had ‘never seen anything like it’. I’m a sucker for things like this, so Google presents this Presidential Directive, from two Mays ago (less than a year after Paulson came onboard, five days after I started writing this blog, and three months before we correctly identified the magnitude of the housing bubble). Highlights include that, in the case of a self-declared ‘emergency’:

"The President shall lead the activities of the Federal Government for ensuring constitutional government. In order to advise and assist the President in that function, the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism (APHS/CT) is hereby designated as the National Continuity Coordinator."

To do things such as:

“Protecting and stabilizing the Nation's economy and ensuring public confidence in its financial systems”; and

“Succession orders and pre-planned devolution of authorities that ensure the emergency delegation of authority must be planned and documented in advance in accordance with applicable law” (‘devolution of authorities’ and ‘applicable law’?);

Interesting times we live in. It appears that the grown-ups recognize that there are problems. The stories we will have to tell. Remember your oaths, my brothers in uniform. The Constitution was written by James Madison, not George Bush. It was designed for an electorate of tax-paying males. It is the best system yet devised.
….

Ernst was not a tall man, and was a queer. But he was a man who felt strongly about a certain world-view and was comfortable with the group he associated with. He was summoned to a meeting on June 28th, which he looked forward to. On June 30th, there came the knock and he was led away.

A pistol was placed on the table before him and he was given ten minutes. Ernst, instead of using the pistol, instead opened his shirt and waited for the guards to return. When they did, he thrust his chest out defiantly, and they shot him at point blank range.