Cheney Asserts Independence From Executive Branch-Is The Vice-President Now An Official 'Rogue' Element In Our Government?

Vice-President Dick Cheney has obviously spent too much time in “undisclosed” locations because since 2003 he has directed his office to quit complying with Executive Order 12958 that requires the National Archives to inspect federal agencies and White House offices to ensure that they are complying with the security procedures regarding classified information.

In a letter to the national Archives, sent in 2006 by Cheney’s staff, Cheney asserted that the Office of the Vice-President is not an “entity within the executive branch” and therefore not subject to presidential executive orders.

Excuse me…what?!?

Since when was the OVP not part of the executive branch? Has Dick Cheney ever even read the Constitution of the United States? You know, the one he took an oath to uphold and protect?

The disclosure that Cheney views himself and his office as a separate apparatus unaffected by any restraint comes from the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, led by Congressman Henry Waxman. The issue itself was brought to Waxman’s committee by National Archive personnel after the Department of Justice (under Alberto Gonzales) refused to look into the matter. In other words, this bold and stunning assertion was discovered not as the result of some “witchhunt” for wrongdoing.

The prospect that Cheney clearly views himself and his office (and has apparently since 2003) to be an ‘independent operator’ inside the American government, subject to no laws or rules from anyone or anything, including the president, is chilling indeed.

If this isn’t enough to remove this man from office then American government and democracy is nothing but a farce and a shell of its former self.

(cross posted at Bring It On!

Grad Night Promises To Be A Blast

ABC News has reported that a recent ‘Suicide Bomb Training Graduation Ceremony’ has concluded with large teams of would-be martyr’s headed for points unknown in England, Germany, Canada, and the United States to spread fear, mayhem, and terror by means of suicide bombings.

This photo (again from ABC News) shows a proud schoolmaster and teaching staff as they send their apt pupils off with their new skills. One wonders if they dispense actual certificates or simply strap on the vests right then and there.

The photo (and others, as well as a videotape) was obtained from a Pakistani journalist who had been invited to the event to document the occasion. On the videotape, a Taliban military commander, Mansoor Dadullah, was shown introducing and congratulating each team as they stood.

“These Americans, Canadians, British and Germans come here to Afghanistan from
faraway places,” Dadullah says on the tape. “Why shouldn’t we go after them?”

Apparently this guy didn’t get the “we have to fight them over there so they don’t follow us home and fight with us here” memo the president sent out. Fortunately, there’s no possible way even one of these guys could make it into the US. After all, President Bush has personally done everything possible to make sure that our land borders are secure enough that we at least know who is coming in and going out, and he’s done everything a guy could do to make sure that airport security isn’t just a sham, and he’s even tried to keep an eye on all of our ports so that nothing bad could slip in through there. Yessiree, these Suicide Teams haven’t got a chance against the US.

Tell me again why we left the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan to fight Saddam in Iraq?

(cross posted on Bring It On!)