"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:GDmwd.582233$D%.446179@attbi_s51...
This is news?

The President has always had broad powers in times of national emergency,
and can disable (or enable) some or all parts of the national airspace --
including GPS, ILS, VOR, and NDB. I'm sure they've got some contingencies
to shut down access to the internet, for that matter.



Exactly. In your country and mine, Powers to shut down ports, roads,
bridges, airports, civil liberties, put troops in the streets, etc... have
always been there "in times of national emergency".

You have to excuse some questioning of these powers, however, because no one
is exactly sure what constitutes "national emergency". Does something
affecting 10 percent of the population constitute "national emergency"? 1
percent? 1 in 100,000? 1 in a million? Does a poised hostile armed force of
100,000? A few thousand? Several hundred militants and a bunch of
rabble-rousers? Armed with mostly light weaponry? Armed with atomic bombs?

We know full well that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts
absolutely.... which is why democracies were born in the first place. The
use of "power" in a "National Emergency" does not scare most people....
except for the power to define what is a bona fide "National Emergency"
requiring those powers.