Absolute Power Directive

Does it bother anyone that the administration has set itself up to have dictatorial powers in the event of an emergency?  Is the constitution now considered "quaint" and "irrelevant"?

Link to the WH press release on this utterly unbelievable piece of legerdemain

And does the following sound like a contradiction when contrasted to the Constitution?

2 (e) "Enduring Constitutional Government," or "ECG," means a cooperative effort among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Federal Government, coordinated by the President, as a matter of comity with respect to the legislative and judicial branches and with proper respect for the constitutional separation of powers among the branches, to preserve the constitutional framework under which the Nation is governed and the capability of all three branches of government to execute constitutional responsibilities and provide for orderly succession, appropriate transition of leadership, and interoperability and support of the National Essential Functions during a catastrophic emergency;

This was signed on May 9th and I had not heard anything about it on the news or anywhere else until I stumbled across it on Wikinews.

Why was this sort of thing not necessary for the previous two world wars and every emergency the US has faced until now?  Would you really want to have the same people who responded to Katrina running the world unfettered?

A link to more blogs on this:

http://thenewshole.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/05/25/203917.aspx

STIR IT UP!