A Spork in the Drawer

Monday Poll

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Simple Logic

Pfc. Monica Brown, an Army medic, risked her life to save fellow soldiers from a burning Humvee during a firefight in Afghanistan. For this she was awarded the Silver Star - the third highest combat decoration - and had it pinned on her chest by no less than Dick Cheney.

So a few days after the events in Afghanistan the Army did the logical thing - sent her somewhere safe because the law says No Gurlz Alowed in combat.

And yet the military is actively recruiting violent felons.

Logical, indeed.

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Bush Boom

Your pocketbook is getting lighter:

The Labor Department reported Tuesday that wholesale prices rose by 1.1 percent last month, the second largest increase in the past 33 years, exceeded only by a 2.6 percent rise last November. Analysts had been expecting a much more moderate 0.4 percent rise in wholesale prices for the month.

Given that petroleum has topped $112 per barrel expect more of the same.

But remember, energy conservation is merely "a sign of personal virtue".

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Sarcasm

Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill on Defib Dick:

NYT: Have you seen Dick Cheney since he fired you?

O'Neill: I have been to a few events where the vice president was there, but we both did our best to ignore each other. You know, I was a pallbearer, and he was a pallbearer, too.

NYT: You mean at President Ford’s funeral?

O'Neill: Yes.

NYT: And you didn’t say hello?

O'Neill: Nope. It was a good time to be alone together.

O'Neill on St. John:

NYT: McCain recently confessed in public that his grasp of economics is limited.

O'Neill: Yeah. That’s a great place to start from, isn’t it?

O'Neill on BushCo™:

NYT: Do you feel bitter about your service for the Bush administration?

O'Neill: No. I’m thankful I got fired when I did, so that I didn’t have to be associated with what they subsequently did.

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The Wit And Wisdom Of Dick Cheney

After more than five years (and counting) and the deaths of more than 4,000 (and counting) American troops and hundreds of thousands (and counting) Iraqis just who does Dick feel sorry for?

The president carries the biggest burden, obviously[.]

So?

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There He Goes Again

Vice-President Fourth Branch:

CHENEY: On the security front, I think there’s a general consensus that we’ve made major progress, that the surge has worked. That’s been a major success.

RADDATZ: Two-third of Americans say it’s not worth fighting.

CHENEY: So?

RADDATZ So? You don’t care what the American people think?

CHENEY: No. I think you cannot be blown off course by the fluctuations in the public opinion polls.

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Fine

Dick:

The United States intends to complete its mission in Iraq and will not allow the country to become a staging ground for terrorist attacks on Americans, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said on Tuesday.

Now tell me what the "mission" is.

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DeFib Dick Sickens Troops

Dick's old Halliburton subsidiary KBR has been giving bad water to our troops in Iraq:

A report obtained by The Associated Press said soldiers experienced skin abscesses, cellulitis, skin infections, diarrhea and other illnesses after using discolored, smelly water for personal hygiene and laundry at five U.S. military sites in Iraq.

[...]

It was impossible to link the dirty water definitively to all the illnesses, according to the report. But it said KBR's water quality "was not maintained in accordance with field water sanitary standards" and the military-run sites "were not performing all required quality control tests."

"Therefore, water suppliers exposed U.S. forces to unmonitored and potentially unsafe water," the report said.

It should go without saying that KBR is as pure as the driven snow:

KBR said its water treatment "has met or exceeded all applicable military and contract standards." The company took exception to many of the inspector general's assertions. "KBR's commitment to the safety of all of its employees remains unwavering," the company said in a statement to the AP.

KBR is a former subsidiary of Halliburton Co., the oil services conglomerate that Cheney once led.

If he can't get them shot or blown up Dick'll just give the troops skin infections.

But his bank balance remains healthy.

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Fun But Meaningless News

Stay out of Vermont, George and Dick:

Voters in two Vermont towns on Tuesday approved a measure that would instruct police to arrest President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for "crimes against our Constitution," local media reported.

The nonbinding, symbolic measure, passed in Brattleboro and Marlboro in a state known for taking liberal positions on national issues, instructs town police to "extradite them to other authorities that may reasonably contend to prosecute them."

It would be nice if someday before too long the Administration was held responsible for their crime but, hey, you know it's never going to happen.

Helluva country we live in.

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The Fourth Branch Strikes Again

An unaccountable power unto himself:

Vice President Cheney signed on to a brief filed by a majority of Congress yesterday that urged the Supreme Court to uphold a ruling that the District of Columbia's handgun ban is unconstitutional, breaking with his own administration's official position.

[...]

In order to make his dramatic break with the administration, Cheney invoked his rarely used status as part of Congress, joining the brief as "President of the United States Senate, Richard B. Cheney." It is a position he has used at times to make the point that he is sometimes part of the legislative branch and sometimes part of the executive.

So now Defib Dick's megalomania has reached the point that he's working against the administration. He's publicly castrated George.

At 12:01pm (EST), 20 January, 2009, President Obama or President Clinton should announce that he/she has seized the passports of George and Dick and are opening wide-ranging investigations into their actions for the previous eight years.

It won't happen but a boy can dream, can't he?

[Via Think Progress.]

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Tyrant

Pierce:

For the past couple of weeks, they've just gotten blatant about it. The administration of George W. Bush is bound by no law, bound by no precedent, bound not even by the forms of democratic self-government, let alone its actual substance, which is being used as a throw-rug in John Yoo's den these days. They will torture and the Congress can do nothing. Their powers to spy, to search, and to seize are unlimited and Congress is not remotely entitled to know even what those powers are. They can imprison without trial. They can force corporations -- and, indeed, individuals within the government -- to violate the law. They are not subject to treaties. They are not subject to oversight, nor even subpoenas. Read this swill from yesterday. Through his actions, and from the mouths of his minions, George Bush is now claiming fully the powers of a tyrant, by any reasonable definition of the term.

[...]

...Now, a group of very obvious extremists -- Dick Cheney is an authoritarian bully and a personal coward. His approval rating is 19 percent in the country and 100 percent in that hall. Res ipse loquitur. -- gathers in Washington, and not only do the party's most prominent political figures truckle and beg, your liberal media puts the worst of them on the air, as if they were serious people and not simple public vandals. Jesus Christ in Air Jordans, what in hell was David Bossie, a thug and a hoodlum, doing on Jim Lehrer's program last night? Tom DeLay is under indictment, for pity's sake. Why was he on MSNBC, grinning at Chris Matthews and lying about climate change? Mitt Romney's speech was a sprawling landfill of demagogic swill. It was treated as, well, statesmanlike by people who believe that John McCain is not conservative enough. This is plainly nuts, and any respectable conservative would work tirelessly to wring these crackpots out of the movement before the whole mess goes over the cliff again. Somebody should, you know, take out an ad or something.

Read the whole thing.

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On Learning From Experience

Or not:

"The President has made the right decisions for the right reasons and he always reflected the values of the American people," Cheney declared, "Would I support those same decisions today? You're damn right I would."

The crowd was adoring. There was a standing ovation as Cheney entered, and a woman shouting: "We Love You!" Attendees clamored for a good "Cheney shot," with one young conservative pumping his fist after catching an unobstructed wide lens take of the Vice President on his camera.

Here's an exclusive picture of Cheney addressing the CPAC rally:

Another nugget of wisdom from Dick:

"The freedoms we enjoy, the rights we exercise, all the privileges we have in this country - none of them can be taken for granted."

Do you detect a not-so-subtle threat in there?

[Via Think Progress.]

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ADDED: They're flippin' delusional:

Bush spoke to a boisterous crowd shortly after 7 a.m. EST. The ballroom erupted in cheers when someone shouted "Are there conservatives in the house?" When the president walked on stage, they clapped and chanted "Four more years! Four more years!" They cheered his comments on tax relief, the military buildup in Iraq, the Reagan years and his opposition to abortion. They booed when Bush said his critics want to expand the size and scope of the federal government.

Talk about a cult of personality.

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The Rich (And Powerful) Are Different From You And Me

DeFib Dick, doggie-style:

A motorcade caused its expected commotion in northwest D.C. Wednesday afternoon, speeding down a street and stopping traffic, but it wasn't for a politician or a dignitary. It was for the vice president's dog.

At about 4 p.m., the motorcade -- complete with Secret Service, motorcycles and two limousines -- was escorting Dick Cheney and one of his two dogs -- the 10-year-old yellow Lab, Dave -- to Friendship Hospital for Animals, News4's Jackie Bensen reported.

The thing is, rather than take the dog to the hospital I'd've though Dick would have simply gone "Old Yeller" on the cur.

[via Pam Spaulding.]

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Whoops!

The good news is that he didn't shoot anyone in the face. The bad news is...

Although a heavy police presence kept the media and curious local residents at a distance, Cheney's visit did stir up a bit of controversy when a New York Daily News photographer snapped a picture of a small Confederate flag hanging inside a garage on the hunt club property.

[...]

...Cheney spokeswoman Megan Mitchell said neither Cheney nor anyone on his staff saw such a flag at the hunt club.

Whether Cheney was aware of the flag or not it certainly says something about the owners of the club. And there can be no doubt that DeadEye Dick knew their attitudes.

Indeed, via Think Progress, we find this:

Club officials threatened a reporter with arrest when he sought comment.

Nice people, huh?

And speaking of nice people, what sort of hunting was Dick doing? Need you ask?

Farm-bred pheasants were released on the preserve 24 hours before Cheney arrived, making them easy targets for the hunting party.

"The way they hunt, I'm not fond of," said Linda Smith, 52, who runs a local preschool. "It's not what I would call a real sportsmanlike activity."

The Veep sure does enjoy injuring and killing defenseless creatures. That certainly explains a lot about him.

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Odd Critter Roundup

An ocean quahog clam thought to have lived more than 405 years has been found off the coast of Iceland. A study of the mollusk could lead to insights on the aging process.

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In the Allegheny Forest northeast of Pittsburgh a camera fitted with an "automatic trigger" set by a hunter took a picture of Bigfoot. Or maybe a bear with mange.

My money is on the bear with mange.

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To my friends in the Hudson River Valley: Be afraid. Be very afraid. Josh Marshall passes along the news the none other than Dead-Eye Dick Cheney will be visiting with a gun.

Maybe he'll be hunting Bigfoot. Or perhaps a bear with mange. Either way, keep to your basements up there.

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Neither Stalin Nor Mao. And Not Hitler

Reformed war supporter Fareed Zakaria of Newsweek brings some sanity:

The American discussion about Iran has lost all connection to reality. Norman Podhoretz, the neoconservative ideologist whom Bush has consulted on this topic, has written that Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is "like Hitler … a revolutionary whose objective is to overturn the going international system and to replace it in the fullness of time with a new order dominated by Iran and ruled by the religio-political culture of Islamofascism." For this staggering proposition Podhoretz provides not a scintilla of evidence.

Definitely a must read, especially in light of Dick's weekend speech. Scott Horton:

Is Cheney threatening war against Iran? Yes, that’s exactly what he is doing. As Greg Djerejian reminds us, in the lead-up to the war against Iraq, Cheney gave a number of speeches making clear the intention to resort to arms against Saddam Hussein. And he used exactly the same language, including specifically the key phrase “serious consequences.” And note the focus on the Quds unit of the Revolutionary Guard. This is an exercise in target-practicing. As several sources have noted, Cheney has advocated targeting the Quds unit in the first bombing raids. He and his chief of staff David Addington have also advocated putting the Quds unit on the scheduled list of terrorist organizations, presumably for prior Congressional authorizations for the use of military force canbe drawn upon to justify the attack without the need to go back to Congress.

Last week over at Slate, Fred Kaplan discussed the frightening behind-the-scenes debate amongst generals and admirals about what to do if the order to attack Iran comes down.

May you live in interesting times, indeed.

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You're Not Paranoid

I'm honestly not surprised by this:

A former Qwest Communications International executive, appealing a conviction for insider trading, has alleged that the government withdrew opportunities for contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars after Qwest refused to participate in an unidentified National Security Agency program that the company thought might be illegal.

Former chief executive Joseph P. Nacchio, convicted in April of 19 counts of insider trading, said the NSA approached Qwest more than six months before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to court documents unsealed in Denver this week. [Emphasis added.]

[...]

But the filing also claims that Nacchio "refused" to participate in some unidentified program or activity because it was possibly illegal and that the NSA later "expressed disappointment" about Qwest's decision.

"Nacchio said it was a legal issue and that they could not do something that their general counsel told them not to do. . . . Nacchio projected that he might do it if they could find a way to do it legally," the filing said.

Cheney, among others, have for decades desired the presidency to be an authoritarian institution. So how can anyone be surprised that they were attempting to put a surveillance state in place well before there was any excuse to do so?

These are bad people who DO seek to harm our country and our Constitution.

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Going Off-Script

Whoops!

Every effort should be made to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, but failing that, the world could live with a nuclear-armed regime in Tehran, a recently retired commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East said Monday.

John Abizaid, the retired Army general who headed Central Command for nearly four years, said he was confident that if Iran gained nuclear arms, the United States could deter it from using them.

"Iran is not a suicide nation," he said. "I mean, they may have some people in charge that don't appear to be rational, but I doubt that the Iranians intend to attack us with a nuclear weapon."

Wow. Someone is actually being rational about Iran. Of course, it's a RETIRED general but still....

Right now DeFib Dick is trying to figure out how to get Abizaid into his man-sized safe.

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You Don't Roll Out A New Product In August

Juan Cole passes along an unconfirmed tip that DeFib Dick has ordered the selling of the Iran war to begin next week.

Given that on Tuesday George was going on about a "nuclear holocaust" should Iran continue with its nuke program we might want to take this seriously.

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Lovely

Here we go again:

Cheney, who's long been skeptical of diplomacy with Iran, argued for military action if hard new evidence emerges of Iran's complicity in supporting anti-American forces in Iraq; for example, catching a truckload of fighters or weapons crossing into Iraq from Iran, one official said.

[...]

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice opposes this idea, the officials said. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has stated publicly that "we think we can handle this inside the borders of Iraq."

Should Dick win this internal debate (if there is indeed a debate) then you can be certain that "evidence" will magically appear.

Lea Anne McBride, a Cheney spokeswoman, said only that "the vice president is right where the president is" on Iran policy.

Somehow I'm not comforted by this.

[Via Laura Rozen.]

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Maniac

DeFib Dick is still pushing the idea that he's his own branch of the government.

We are ruled by very bad people.

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If He Only Had A Heart

This doesn't count:

Vice President Dick Cheney will have a new internal heart defibrillator implanted on Saturday morning because the battery needs replacing, his office said on Friday.

[...]

Cheney, 66, has had four heart attacks, the most recent shortly after the November 2000 election, although it was considered mild. He had the defibrillator implanted in his chest in 2001 to help regulate his heartbeat.

It would be a shame if he had a fifth heart attack.

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Oh Good Gravy

Josh Marshall:

Be Afraid, Be very, very afraid. This headline is now running at CNN as a Breaking News flash ...

President Bush temporarily will transfer power to Vice President Dick Cheney while Bush has a colonoscopy Saturday.

So making Dick Cheney acting president for maybe an hour or two. Hmmm. Checklist. 1. Invade Iran. 2. Rule Pat Leahy 'Special Legislative Enemy Combatant' ...

What else do you think is on (Acting) President Cheney's to-do list?

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Cheney Determined To Strike In US

The WaPo digs up some details about DeFib Dick's secret energy meetings. One participant can't figure out all the secrecy:

"I never knew why they fought so hard to keep it secret," said Charles A. Samuels, outside counsel to the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, which participated in a March 13 meeting to discuss the idea of tax credits for super-efficient appliances. "I am sure the vast majority of the meetings were very policy-oriented meetings -- exactly what should take place."

Because, Mr. Samuels, Dick believes he is accountable only to himself. After all, he has decided that even the number of people - and their names - who work for him is a state secret.

Because, Mr. Samuels, Dick Cheney is a paranoid megalomaniac.

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All Messed Up

Dan Simpson has a different take on the 2008 elections:

The decision of President Bush to keep Dick Cheney on as his vice presidential running mate in 2004 may have been the worst thing he has done to America.

I say this not on the basis of whatever policy impact Mr. Cheney may have had within the Bush administration -- the Iraq war, torture, obsessive secrecy, plumping up the executive branch, whatever. The problem is the phenomenon of having in the vice presidential slot a person who will not be running for president in the next election. (Dick Cheney cannot and never could have on the basis of his heart illness.)

[...]

If, for example, Mr. Cheney were going to be running for president in 2008, during Mr. Bush's second term, and particularly toward the end of it, he would be working within the administration to make its positions on issues more palatable to the American people, more likely to improve his prospects with the electorate in the upcoming elections.

Maybe, maybe not. It's likely that even if Dick was in the best of health he would still be a fascist bastard. (Granted, the four heart attacks could have affected his brain but the evidence from the Nixon and Ford administrations and after shows that Dick has always been a fascist bastard.) (Also, given that Dick claims he is unaccountable under the law because he's his own branch of government who's to say he intends to vacate the vice presidency after the election? Call me paranoid but I wouldn't put it past him.)

Continuing:

More practical Republican candidates whose seats will be at risk in 2008 are either jumping ship or drinking.

Or wearing Huggies™. (Surely Vitter isn't the only one.)

One result of Mr. Cheney having hogged the crown prince vice presidential slot in 2004, or, depending on one's interpretation of what went on in the underground caves of the White House at that point, Mr. Bush's having felt he could not dispense with Mr. Cheney in a second term, is that now the Republicans are in total disarray in terms of settling on a presidential candidate. Instead of having an obvious man-in-waiting with bona fide White House experience to put forward with a decent prospect of winning in 2008, they have instead a large collection of flawed, unconvincing characters, three of whom don't believe in evolution, with a television actor who hasn't even declared as their great white hope.

[...]

If there were a clear Republican candidate coming from the vice presidency, the Democrats would feel compelled to get their act together, settle on someone with decent prospects to be elected and put together a platform that included the big issues and made sense. So, thank you again, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney, for -- at least at this point -- having messed up the U.S. presidential race for '08 and, unless the country is able to pull itself out of its electoral tail-spin, for the next four years as well, until 2012.

I don't think I agree with this. While there is undeniable disarray on the Republican side - frankly, the GOP candidates are a pathetic bunch - I don't see much disarray on the Dem side. Given how early the campaigning has started plus a crowded field it seems confusing - Mike Gravel? Please... - but the leaders, Clinton, Obama, Edwards, are sticking to their messages. When people start paying attention late this year I doubt there will be much confusion. At least beyond the usual confusion posed by candidates.

But Simpson's larger point is true: Dick is an albatross around the necks of all Republicans. And that's fine by me.

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Oh Joy

Shifting again:

The balance in the internal White House debate over Iran has shifted back in favour of military action before President George Bush leaves office in 18 months, the Guardian has learned.

The shift follows an internal review involving the White House, the Pentagon and the state department over the last month. Although the Bush administration is in deep trouble over Iraq, it remains focused on Iran. A well-placed source in Washington said: "Bush is not going to leave office with Iran still in limbo."

[...]

The vice-president, Dick Cheney, has long favoured upping the threat of military action against Iran. He is being resisted by the secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, and the defence secretary, Robert Gates.

[...]

"Cheney has limited capital left, but if he wanted to use all his capital on this one issue, he could still have an impact," said Patrick Cronin, the director of studies at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

It's well established by now that Dick is clinically insane (maybe his multiple heart attacks cut off oxygen to his brain) and both he and George have nothing left to lose. The few demented sociopaths that comprise their base would be orgasmic from all of the destruction (not to mention that the fundies would see it as another step towards their beloved Armageddon). So, why not?

[Via C&L.]

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Defenestrating Dick

Check out Robert Greenwald's latest video, Impeach Dick Cheney, then sign the petition!

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On Impeachment

New ARG poll:

45% favor beginning impeachment proceedings against George, 46% oppose. The numbers are worse for Dick: 54% approve, 40% oppose.

Then again, "Everybody sort of likes the president, except for the real whack-jobs, maybe on the left -- I mean -- like him personally."

[Via Election Central.]

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KO

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President Cheney To Congress:

Go fuck yourselves.

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Never-Ending Dick

John Aravosis has a question.

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Brutal Finality

Pierce:

I ordinarily enjoy apocalyptic literature. Under the auspices of the Society of Jesus, I even took a couple courses in it. I generally tend to avoid it in my own writing, in large part because the apostle John did it better than anyone else ever will. However, in this case, I will make an exception. The public careers of Cheney, Gonzales, David Addington, and anyone else involved in this perversion of democracy must be ended with all the brutality -- and more important, all the finality -- that the rule of law allows. They, and the philosophy they represent, must be crushed, utterly, so that it never rises again. In the future, executives must look at what happened to these people and be afraid of pulling this nonsense again. The WaPo series is a brief for impeachment, as clear a roadmap as we're likely to get, considering everything that must already have gone into the shredder. This is renegade authoritarianism at the very heart of the government and it must be stopped. This is no longer about politics. This is about what kind of country we are. If we allow this kind of unconstitutional brigandry to go on unchecked then we consent by our silence to the end of self-government. Period. If the Congress fails to check it, and if the Judiciary fails to recognize it for what it is, then they have consented to rule by the Executive. Period. Either Dick Cheney goes on trial, or we are found guilty of assisting in the suicide of our country. On this, there is no third way. Not any more.

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Dick Week

Because there's so much Dick in the news here's a roundup:

Part III of the WaPo's impressive series on Cheney can be found here. Meanwhile, on the op-ed page, the Queen of the Georgetown Cocktail Weenie Set, Sally Quinn, implies (without naming names or even sourcing) that Republicans want to dump Dick. Quinn's preferred replacement? Fred Thompson, who she claims, "everybody loves." Delusional much? Below Quinn (on the page, not in intellect) Eugene Robinson most likely gets it right by arguing that Dick isn't going anywhere.

Over at the LATimes, Jonah "Doughy Pantload" Goldberg, while professing admiration for Dick, argues that his style is frustrating and counterproductive.

Finally, over at Crooks and Liars, video of KO discussing Dick with Newsweek's Richard Wolffe.

I hope you've enjoyed this Dick update.

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Defunding Dick

Good for Rahm:

Illinois Congressman Rahm Emanuel has come up with the right response to Dick Cheney's attempt to suggest that the Office of the Vice President is not part of the executive branch.

The House Democratic Caucus chairman wants to take the Cheney at his word. Cheney says his office is "not an entity within the executive branch," so Emanuel wants to take away the tens of millions of dollars that are allocated to the White House to maintain it.

[...]

"This amendment will ensure that the vice president's funding is consistent with his legal arguments," say Emanuel, a former aide to President Clinton who, like Cheney, has served in both the legislative and executive branches.

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More Dick

Given that DeFib Dick has declared himself to not be a part of the executive branch the question becomes, to which branch of the government does the Vice President belong? Rahm Emanuel asks Dick to move out of his Naval Observatory mansion and more:

"Today, we discovered that everything we learned in U.S. government class was wrong. Evidently, the Vice President does not consider himself a part of the executive branch, and therefore believes he can obstruct meaningful oversight and avoid being held accountable. If the Vice President truly believes he is not a part of the executive branch, he should return the salary the American taxpayers have been paying him since January 2001, and move out of the home for which they are footing the bill."

That seems right.

Emanuel also provided a handy chart:

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Beyond Dangerous

If there wasn't already abundant evidence that Dick Cheney needs to be removed from office there is now:

Vice President Dick Cheney has asserted his office is not a part of the executive branch of the U.S. government, and therefore not bound by a presidential order governing the protection of classified information by government agencies, according to a new letter from Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., to Cheney.

The self-evident wrongness of this is so overwhelming that I can't think of a single rational response.

Bill Leonard, head of the government's Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), told Waxman's staff that Cheney's office has refused to provide his staff with details regarding classified documents or submit to a routine inspection as required by presidential order, according to Waxman.

In pointed letters released today by Waxman, ISOO's Leonard twice questioned Cheney's office on its assertion it was exempt from the rules. He received no reply, but the vice president later tried to get rid of Leonard's office entirely, according to Waxman.

Benjamin Franklin is alleged to have said we have "a Republic, if you can keep it." With each passing day it's becoming clearer that we're failing Dr. Franklin.

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DeFib Dick Has A Problem

Whoops:

Vice President Cheney told Justice Department officials that he disagreed with their objections to a secret surveillance program during a high-level White House meeting in March 2004, a former senior Justice official told senators yesterday.

The meeting came one day before White House officials tried to get approval for the same program from then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft, who lay recovering from surgery in a hospital, according to former deputy attorney general James B. Comey.

[...]

Comey said that Cheney's office later blocked the promotion of a senior Justice Department lawyer, Patrick Philbin, because of his role in raising concerns about the surveillance.

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The End Of A Meme?

No, of course not. The rightists are impervious to facts. (As Stephen Colbert put it some years ago, "Facts have a well-know liberal bias.") Nonetheless, here's yet another confirmation:

In new court filings, special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald has finally resolved one of the most disputed issues at the core of the long-running CIA leak controversy: Valerie Plame Wilson, he asserts, was a “covert” CIA officer who repeatedly traveled overseas using a “cover identity” in order to disguise her relationship with the agency.

Fitzgerald cites Wilson’s covert status as part of his argument—advanced in two strongly worded memos filed in recent days—that I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, should be sentenced to up to three years in prison.

The defenders and useful idiots (hello, WaPo editorial board!) of the BushCheney regime have insisted from the beginning the Plame was nothing more than a desk-jockey Whoops!

“It was clear from very early in the investigation that Ms. Wilson qualified under the relevant statute”—the Intelligence Identities act— “as a covert agent whose identity had been disclosed by public officials, including Mr. Libby, to the press,” Fitzgerald wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed late last Friday night.

What's more:

In the “unclassified summary” of his memom which was based on information cleared by the CIA and became publicly available Tuesday, Fitzgerald provided new details about Wilson’s previously classified activities at the agency. In January, 2002, she was working for the agency “as an operations officer” in the Directorate of Operations’s Counterproliferation Division (CPD) and serving as “chief” of a unit with responsibility for weapons proliferation issues related to Iraq. In that capacity, he added, she traveled overseas in an undercover capacity.

“She traveled at least seven times to more than 10 countries,” the document states. “When traveling overseas, Ms. Wilson always traveled under a cover identity….At the time of the initial unauthorized disclosure in the media of Ms. Wilson’s employment relationship with the CIA on 14 July 2003, Ms. Wilson was a covert CIA employe for whom the CIA was taking affirmative measures to conceal her intelligence relationship to the United States.”

Counterproliferation. In other words, Plame was working on WMD. Thanks to BushCo™ she's no longer working on WMD and who knows what intelligence networks were destroyed as a result of her exposure.

To put it bluntly: The administration actively took steps to weaken national security.

And, finally, an unintentionally funny comment:

One of Libby’s most ardent defenders, Richard Carlson, a former chief of the Voice of America who serves as a member of a defense trust set up for Libby, reacted harshly to Fitzgerald’s latest filings. “I think it’s certainly unseemly that he is kicking him while he’s down,” Carlson said. “For Fitzgerald, to get on his high horse, it’s disgusting and he should be ashamed of himself.”

Such sensitivity! And Richard Carlson is the father of the bow-tied twerp Tucker.

Unfortunately, Irving's criminal cover-up worked. The real author of the little bit of treason is still sitting safely in the Vice-President's Mansion.

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Destroying The Evidence

Well well well:

A lawyer for Vice President Dick Cheney told the Secret Service in September to eliminate data on who visited Cheney at his official residence, a newly disclosed letter states.

[...]

"The latest filings make clear that the administration has been destroying documents and entering into secret agreements in violation of the law," said Anne Weismann, CREW's chief counsel.

[...]

The letter regarding the vice president's residence was in addition to an agreement quietly signed between the White House and the Secret Service a year ago when questions were raised about visits to the executive compound by convicted influence peddler Jack Abramoff.

That agreement, which didn't surface publicly until late last year, said White House entry and exit logs were presidential records not subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.

And yet Congressional Dems can't find any impeachable acts.

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Good Job, George And Dick

None of this would have happened without you:

The Iraq war, which for years has drawn militants from around the world, is beginning to export fighters and the tactics they have honed in the insurgency to neighboring countries and beyond, according to American, European and Middle Eastern government officials and interviews with militant leaders in Lebanon, Jordan and London.

[...]

Last week, the Lebanese Army found itself in a furious battle against a militant group, Fatah al Islam, whose ranks included as many as 50 veterans of the war in Iraq, according to General Rifi. More than 30 Lebanese soldiers were killed fighting the group at a refugee camp near Tripoli.

None of this is surprising since DeFib Dick continues to demonstrate to the world that he's a delusional madman:

“We’re fighting a war over there because the enemy attacked us first,” Cheney said. “These are men who glorify murder and suicide. Terrorists are defined entirely by their hatreds.”

The terrorism fight now centers on Iraq, the vice president said, because that is where the enemy has massed. “The security of this nation depends on the outcome,” Cheney said.

They weren't there before you got your war on, jackass.

While it comes as no surprise to those of us who have been paying attention, on Saturday The Dick openly stated contempt for our laws and Constitution:

As Army officers on duty in the war on terror, you will now face enemies who oppose and despise everything you know to be right, every notion of upright conduct and character, and every belief you consider worth fighting for and living for. Capture one of these killers, and he'll be quick to demand the protections of the Geneva Convention and the Constitution of the United States. [...]

Remember: A terrorist is anyone who George labels a terrorist, including you and me.

20 January, 2009 can't come soon enough.

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Insane Cheney Update

Joe "Jokeline" Klein confirms Steve Clemons' report that DeFib Dick and the AEI are conspiring with Israel to attack Iran and adds a bit more.

Given that it's Joe Klein you might want to take this with a grain of salt.

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Have You Ever Heard Of Spiro T. Agnew?

By gum, they are arrogant:

Attorneys for Vice President Cheney and top White House officials told a federal judge today they cannot be held liable for anything they disclosed to reporters about covert CIA officer Valerie Plame or her husband, former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV.

[...]

Attorneys for Cheney and the other officials said any conversations they had about Plame with each other and reporters were part of their normal job duties because they were discussing foreign policy and engaging in an appropriate "policy dispute." Cheney's attorney went farther, arguing that Cheney is legally akin to the president because of his unique government role, and has absolute immunity from any lawsuit. [Emphasis added.]

"So you're arguing there is nothing -- absolutely nothing - these officials could have said to reporters that would have been beyond the scope of their employment [whether it was] true or false?," U.S. District Judge John D. Bates asked.

"That's true, your honor. Mr. Wilson was criticizing government policy," said Jeffrey S. Bucholtz, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's civil division. "These officials were responding to that criticism."

The arrogance of this argument is breathtaking. DeFib Dick's attorney is arguing that he is immune from any and all lawsuits. Should Judge Bates agree with this reasoning the Vice President, and by extension the President, would be beyond the scope of the law. (Presumably, though, the immunity would end when they leave office.)

Oh, by the way:

The suit, Jones v. Clinton, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. Judge Susan Webber Wright, who had taken a class under then-Professor Clinton at the University of Arkansas School of Law, ruled that a sitting President could not be sued and deferred the case until the conclusion of his term (although she allowed the pre-trial discovery phase of the case to proceed without delay in order to start the trial as soon as Clinton left office).

Both Clinton and Jones appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, which ruled in favor of Jones, finding that "the President, like all other government officials, is subject to the same laws that apply to all other members of our society."

[...]

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeals.

In the majority opinion by Justice John Paul Stevens, the Court ruled that separation of powers does not mandate that federal courts delay all private civil lawsuits against the President until the end of his term of office.

In his concurring opinion, Breyer argued that presidential immunity would apply only if the President could show that a private civil lawsuit would somehow interfere with the President's constitutionally-assigned duties.

Ooops.

[Via The Muck.]

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Putting The Crazies Back In The Box

Gareth Porter writes:

Admiral William Fallon, then President George W. Bush's nominee to head the Central Command (CENTCOM), expressed strong opposition in February to an administration plan to increase the number of carrier strike groups in the Persian Gulf from two to three and vowed privately there would be no war against Iran as long as he was chief of CENTCOM, according to sources with access to his thinking.

Fallon's resistance to the proposed deployment of a third aircraft carrier was followed by a shift in the Bush administration's Iran policy in February and March away from increased military threats and toward diplomatic engagement with Iran. That shift, for which no credible explanation has been offered by administration officials, suggests that Fallon's resistance to a crucial deployment was a major factor in the intra-administration struggle over policy toward Iran.

One of the concerns about appointing Fallon to head up CENTCOM was that a career naval aviator overseeing two ground wars was a bit odd. However, any attack on Iran would largely come from aircraft carriers so it wasn't unreasonable to think that his appointment was in preparation for just such an attack. That would appear to have been wrong.

But Fallon, who was scheduled to become the CENTCOM chief Mar. 16, responded to the proposed plan by sending a strongly-worded message to the Defence Department in mid-February opposing any further U.S. naval buildup in the Persian Gulf as unwarranted.

"He asked why another aircraft carrier was needed in the Gulf and insisted there was no military requirement for it," says the source, who obtained the gist of Fallon's message from a Pentagon official who had read it.

Fallon's refusal to support a further naval buildup in the Gulf reflected his firm opposition to an attack on Iran and an apparent readiness to put his career on the line to prevent it. A source who met privately with Fallon around the time of his confirmation hearing and who insists on anonymity quoted Fallon as saying that an attack on Iran "will not happen on my watch".

Asked how he could be sure, the source says, Fallon replied, "You know what choices I have. I'm a professional." Fallon said that he was not alone, according to the source, adding, "There are several of us trying to put the crazies back in the box."

Perhaps the military has tired of BushCheney's love of war as a solution for all things. And maybe this bodes well for the country and the world:

The defeat of the plan for a third carrier task group in the Gulf appears to have weakened the position of Cheney and other hawks in the administration who had succeeded in selling Bush on the idea of a strategy of coercive threat against Iran.

Anything - anything - that weakens DeFib Dick and his crew is a good thing.

If the Iraq War is the biggest foreign policy disaster in this nation's history Iran would be that times a hundred. It can only be a good thing if the military scuttles the insane plans of the madmen in the administration.

But I won't rest easy until at least 21 January, 2009.

[Via Think Progress.]

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Open Looting

The cavalcade of corruption continues:

A senior lobbyist at the National Association of Manufacturers nominated by President Bush to lead the Consumer Product Safety Commission will receive a $150,000 departing payment from the association when he takes his new government job, which involves enforcing consumer laws against members of the association.

Under ethics rules this constitutes "extraordinary payment'" and [Michael E.] Baroody must recuse himself from decisions involving the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). However:

Mr. Baroody said in the letter that the payment would not prevent him from considering matters involving individual companies that are members of the manufacturers’ association, many of whom are defendants in agency proceedings over defective products or have other business before the commission. Nor would it preclude him from involvement with smaller trade groups like those representing makers of home appliances and children’s products that have alliances with the association.

In other words, he's not going to recuse himself at all but merely take advantage of some technical language.

It should go without saying that the White House thinks this is just dandy:

A spokeswoman for the White House, Emily Lawrimore, said the administration was satisfied that Mr. Baroody “has taken the steps necessary to avoid any conflict of interest in the event he is confirmed.”

Ms. Lawrimore said Mr. Baroody’s letter had been approved by government ethics lawyers. “Mr. Baroody has proven leadership abilities and over three decades of experience with labor policy, manufacturing and safety issues,” Ms. Lawrimore said, “and we believe he will be a valuable advocate on behalf of American consumers.”

None of this should come as a surprise considering the Vice President continued to be paid by his former company after assuming the office.

The remarkable thing is all of this is happening in broad daylight. At least, this is the corruption we know about. How much don't we know?

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Wolfowitz Is Toast

Though he'll hang on as long as is possible:

Asked whether Wolfowitz should stay in his job, Cheney, in an interview with Fox News in Aqaba, Jordan, replied "I do."

The vice president went on to praise Wolfowitz, who was the No. 2 official at the Pentagon and an architect of the U.S.-led Iraq war, before he took the bank's helm in June 2005.

"I think Paul is one of the most able public servants I've ever known, and I've worked with him a lot over the years," Cheney said. "I think he's a very good president of the World Bank, and I hope he will be able to continue."

An endorsement from Mr. 18% is surely the kiss of death.

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Mission Accomplished!

DeFib Dick:

“We didn’t get elected to be popular,” Mr. Cheney said. “We didn’t get elected to worry just about the fate of the Republican Party.”

So sayeth Mr. 18%

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Delusional Liar

DeFib Dick yesterday:

“Extremists from inside and outside the country want to stir an endless cycle of violence, and Al Qaeda is operating and trying to open new fronts,” he said in his speech, to soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division and Task Force Lightning stationed at Camp Speicher.

DeFib Dick nearly two years ago:

"I think we may well have some kind of presence there over a period of time," Cheney said. "The level of activity that we see today from a military standpoint, I think, will clearly decline. I think they're in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency."

DeFib's lies are never-ending.

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[bangs head on desk]

Doesn't anyone in the administration speak like an adult?

The vice president's message boils down to this, according to the official speaking on condition of anonymity: "We’ve all got challenges together. We’ve got to pull together. We’ve got to get this work done. It’s game time.”

When I become dictator one of the first things I'll do is make it illegal for politicians to use sports metaphors.

Then there's this:

And, if Cheney was consulting with leaders in private, he wasn't taking any time for reporters' questions. After lunch came a series of "photo sprays'' and Cheney was putting his foot down about allowing questions. At one he emphasized: "This is just a photo spray.” At another, a reporter could hear him saying as they filed into a conference room that Cheney was using all day: “…Then we kick the press out.”

No wonder they call him Mr. 18%.

[Via Think Progress.]

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It's Interesting...

...that after more than four years DeFib Dick still can't openly travel to Baghdad.

Whatever happened to all that peeance freeance?

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