Here's a fun video about the dictator for life Dick Cheney
or whatever he thinks he is -GORD.
And here is a bit from Keith Olbermann:
Dick Cheney is a Rogue Nation KEITH OLBERMANN
DICK CHENEY EXPOSED from the CBC's Fifth Estate :
CBC FIFTH ESTATE
This is a clip from the CBC/Fifth Estate documentary 'The Unauthorized Biography of Dick Cheney, Ascent to Power'
and for more see:
Cheney:Oh, How I Wish He'd Go Away!By Michael Winship t r u t h o u t Tuesday 26 June 2007
Maybe you remember this bit of childhood doggerel, written by the American educator Hughes Mearns:
"Yesterday upon the stair
I met a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today
Oh, how I wish he'd go away."
Cheney is the archetypal man who wasn't there (but is), not only because of his legendary secrecy but also his insistence that he can keep the lid closed on anything he wants because the office of the vice presidency is unique - not part of the executive or the legislative branches of government. It is both and/or one. Or the other. Neither fish but mostly foul, as it were.
In other words, l'etat, c'est Dick. Or, employing the infuriating reasoning style of so many parents, "Why? Because I said so!"
Last week, the House Oversight Committee demanded an explanation of this breathtaking show of arrogance and Alice in Wonderland logic; specifically, the office of the vice president's insistence that it's exempt from President Bush's Executive Order 12958, which requires government agencies, including offices within the executive branch, to report annually on how they handle classified information.
It was explained that because one of his duties is to serve as president of the United States Senate, Mr. Cheney is part of the legislative branch and not the executive. Except when he is. As when he claims "executive privilege" to be the reason he doesn't have to tell us who visits his office and why, or even the names of the people who work on his staff.
Cheney's office followed the classified info rules in 2001. They followed the rules in 2002. But suddenly, in 2003, the vice president decided he didn't have to anymore and hasn't since.
and :
Cheney Stance on Information Challenged The Associated Press Sunday 24 June 2007
Washington - Democratic senators on Sunday chided Vice President Dick Cheney for declaring his office exempt from sections of a presidential order involving matters of national security. Republicans, more cautiously, said the matter deserves review.
At issue is a requirement that executive branch offices provide data on how much material they classify and declassify. That information is to be provided to the Information Security Oversight Office at The National Archives.
The White House contends that Cheney is complying properly. They say the presidential order was not intended to treat the vice president's office as an executive branch "agency," and therefore Cheney's office is exempt from the reporting requirement.
"The vice president is saying he's above the law, and the fact of the matter is, legal scholars are going to say this is preposterous," said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., called Cheney's move "the height of arrogance." She said it might not be a bad idea - as some other Democrats have suggested - that money for Cheney's office be held up until he decides whether or not he's in the executive branch.
"I find this just amazing," she said.
Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., countered that conflicts between the White House and Congress over jurisdictional bounds are not unusual.
"Let the courts decide if there's something wrong here," he said.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was asked in January to resolve the legal dispute, but he has not yet ruled on the issue.
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, led by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif, is investigating the matter.
"I don't think that the vice president, with all due respect to everyone, is saying that the law doesn't apply to him or that he's above the law," said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas. "I think there are some legal interpretations. We have to look at those."
Wyden and Hutchison spoke on CNN's "Late Edition." Feinstein and Lott appeared on "Fox News Sunday."
or in various blogs ie
Craig Crawford's Trail Mix: Cheney's 'Non-Executive Privilege' Agenda
Jun. 26, 2007 |
More examples are surfacing of Vice President Dick Cheney’s assertion that he is not part of the executive or legislative branches of government.
Last week, a House committee revealed his longstanding claim of “non-executive privilege” to ignore a presidential order regulating classified national security archives. In a similar move, Cheney refused to include his office in the so-called “plum” book, a detailed listing of White House jobs and salaries produced every four years.
In the 2004 edition, the VP’s office is only mentioned in an appendix that explains the omission by asserting “the Vice Presidency is a unique office that is neither part of the executive branch, nor a part of the legislative branch.” Also, the Center for Public Integrity reported in 2005 that Cheney and his staff exempt themselves from travel disclosure rules followed by the rest of the administration.
Before Cheney writes his own Constitution for future holders of the office, Congress might want to step in and at least try to settle whether or not the vice president works for anybody at all.
(Contributing Editor Craig Crawford is a news analyst for NBC, MSNBC and CNBC)
or :
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2007/06/cheneying-chene.html The Daily Dish Andrew Sullivan Cheneying cheney june 23, 2007
Cheney is acting as if he is outside the constitution and above the law. He has been acting that way for quite a while now. When a public official abuses the public trust and refuses any oversight, it's time for the other branches of government to do what they can to rein him in. Especially when the man has revealed himself to be a blithering incompetent.
I don't think this is a trivial matter, because it seems to me that Cheney is currently an extremely dangerous man. He has nothing to lose in the next eighteen months. He cannot get any less popular. He thinks the 2004 election is the only legitimacy he needs. He doesn't believe the Congress should have any role in foreign policy. And he also believes that Iran must not develop nuclear power and that no one apart from him can stop them. The drum beat coming from his office about Iran's direct involvement in the Iraq war is obviously a preamble to claiming that the 2003 war authorization gives him and Bush the right to bomb Iran without going back to the Congress for approval. He's a man ready and willing to pull a Cambodia. If the Congress and the press don't start pushing back now, it may come sooner rather than later.
Take care,
GORD.
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