Go Fuck Yourself, Mr. Cheney, A rallying cry? Options

[circle6]

Apparently the incident did make some newscasts:

http://ww.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/8/123441/6549

Sweet.

[Semperfidel]

Now Cheney can really go fuck himself...and and the FCC can kiss your ass, too.

Court Rebuffs Fines for Indecency

If President Bush and Vice President Cheney can blurt out vulgar language, then the government cannot punish broadcast television stations for broadcasting the same words in similarly fleeting contexts.

That, in essence, was the decision on Monday, when a federal appeals panel struck down the government policy that allows stations and networks to be fined if they broadcast shows containing obscene language.

Although the case was primarily concerned with what is known as “fleeting expletives,” or blurted obscenities, on television, both network executives and top officials at the Federal Communications Commission said the opinion could gut the ability of the commission to regulate any speech on television or radio... (read more)

[Galahad]

From the DailyKos.com:

Washington, D.C. – House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel issued the following statement regarding his amendment to cut funding for the Office of the Vice President from the bill that funds the executive branch. The legislation – the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill -- will be considered on the floor of the House of Representatives next week.

"The Vice President has a choice to make. If he believes his legal case, his office has no business being funded as part of the executive branch. However, if he demands executive branch funding he cannot ignore executive branch rules. At the very least, the Vice President should be consistent. This amendment will ensure that the Vice President's funding is consistent with his legal arguments. I have worked closely with my colleagues on this amendment and will continue to pursue this measure in the coming days."

He is referring, of course, to the fact that Mr. Cheney believes that public (as Congressional) oversight of his activities isn't warranted. He does want people to see his visitor logs, to know who he's meeting with, or to have access to any official communications he may have with other government leaders or public figures. Naturally, he claims "national security" as the most obvious reason for why he has to be the first veep in history to operate in complete secrecy.

Guess they'll have to move "Satan's Lair" over to Rove's house.

[ganymede]

Are Krusty and Count Chocula going to weigh in, or do we get to object on our own?

[PalePhoenix]

Guess they'll have to move "Satan's Lair" over to Rove's house.

The DailyKos.com is like "Cheney Watch," if you don't mind them distilling NYT and WP articles for you. The latter take one-two punches at the Administration so often, there's either something to the Regime's complaint about the Liberal Media, or BushCo might actually try to stop making asses of themselves on a regular basis.

The latest isn't the greatest. In fact, it's not even "late." It's a four-part (yes, it was worth four separate installments to discuss Richard Bruce Cheney in the WP) series on what he's been responsible for, over the past seven years:

Cheney has changed history more than once, earning his reputation as the nation's most powerful vice president. His impact has been on public display in the arenas of foreign policy and homeland security, and in a long-running battle to broaden presidential authority. But he has also been the unseen hand behind some of the president's major domestic initiatives.

Scores of interviews with advisers to the president and vice president, as well as with other senior officials throughout the government, offer a backstage view of how the Bush White House operates. The president is "the decider," as Bush puts it, but the vice president often serves up his menu of choices.

Cheney led a group that winnowed the president's list of potential Supreme Court nominees. Cheney resolved a crisis in the space program after the Columbia shuttle disaster. Cheney fashioned a controversial truce between the legislative and executive branches -- and averted resignations at the top of the Justice Department and the FBI -- over the right of law enforcement authorities to investigate political corruption in Congress.

And it was Cheney who served as the guardian of conservative orthodoxy on budget and tax matters. He shaped and pushed through Bush's tax cuts, blunting the influence of Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, a longtime friend, and of Cabinet rivals he had played a principal role in selecting. He managed to overcome the president's "compassionate conservative" resistance to multiple breaks for the wealthy. He even orchestrated a decision to let a GOP senator switch parties -- giving control of the chamber to Democrats -- rather than meet the senator's demand for billions of dollars in new spending.

As the Kos calls it:

One thing has been made perfectly clear by this series: There's a very good reason why on 9/11 that Cheney was calling the shots from a bunker while the man who was supposed to be in charge - after seven dazed minutes with The Pet Goat - flew hither and yon aboard Air Force One. Does anyone still object to my calling that man Mister Bush instead of the President?

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[ganymede]

Obviously parody, but incredibly accurate:

[PalePhoenix]

Obviously parody, but incredibly accurate...

And this is NOT parody, but him, in his own words, in 1994:



Cheney became Halliburton CEO in 1995. He's been busy ever since.

[ganymede]

He'll never make it past the primary in a couple of months, but Dennis Kucinich may be better remembered to future generations for what may look like the grandstanding of a Presidential candidate, but is actually a long overdue Congressional action:

We are in a serious Constitutional crisis. Democrats were elected to Congress to put the brakes on the Bush-Cheney juggernaut. They should be willing to take some political risks to honor, protect, and defend the Constitution. (It is, after all, their oath of office.) If we allow Bush and Cheney to succeed in permanently altering the balance of powers between the branches of government, the Constitution will become a dead letter, a yellowed reference document for school children to gaze at under glass at the National Archives.

Representative Dennis Kucinich has introduced House Resolution 333, which calls for a vote on articles of impeachment against Dick Cheney. It is a long overdue measure coming from a Democrat who has the guts to stand up for the United States Constitution... (read more)

I'll go ahead and point out something the HuffPo won't, probably just because it's an irrelevant coincidence. The number "333," like 666, has occult significance as well. It supposedly stands for the "Son of the Beast" (the anti-christ, or human incarnation of the Devil on earth) and other Biblical badness. There are more amusing meanings, but do you think the gnome politico waited just for this bill's number to come up? He believes in UFOs, after all.

[Semperfidel]

Is anyone else waiting for an advance copy of Scott "Big Ole Liar" McClellan's tattle-tale book on the White House? Well, not me, but that's only because I don't want to give him a cent, but I'm sure the pundits and wonks will be analyzing excerpts for me, especially of this part:

"The most powerful leader in the world had called upon me to speak on his behalf and help restore credibility he lost amid the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. So I stood at the White house briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior-most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby. There was one problem. It was not true. I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice President, the President's chief of staff, and the President himself..." (read more)

The book is not scheduled for publication until late April, which is long enough after the primaries not to interfere with the reputation of the GOP and long enough before the actual election for several months of spin-doctoring. Am I the only one who thinks this is grounds for impeachment? Most of the characters have already been tried or left like rats off a ship, so that leaves Bush & Cheney to face the music. As if.

Another news item that may have snuck under the radar: The Dems are holding "microsessions" during the holiday hiatus, just to block Bush from making more of his famous recess appointments. Maybe it's just my impression again, but Bush has historically used this Executive privilege nearly as often as his signing statements and line-item vetos. I thought these powers were in place for checks and balances, not to secretly enforce your own agenda while there was no one around to stop you.

[ganymede]

...long enough before the actual election for several months of spin-doctoring.

Who has to wait for damage control anymore when you can have it in the same news cycle! "[The] 151-word excerpt...was not meant to be as tantalizing as it sounded, according to the publisher."

“He told him something that wasn’t true, but the president didn’t know it wasn’t true,'’ [publisher] Osnos said in a telephone interview. “The president told him what he thought to be the case.'’

Cover-up? Lies on lies? Who will be next to fall on his sword over this, all to protect the biggest idiot of them all? You just know that guys like Rove, Rummy, and Cheney...evil, but not stupid...are defending what they think are the "ideals of the Office," even though they undermined them at least half a decade ago.

[JBlueEyes]

Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are [almost] free at last!

No Vice President is Above the Law

For the first time since the Bush administration took office, three members of the House Judiciary Committee, Robert Wexler (D-FL), Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), are calling for hearings on the impeachment of Vice President Richard Cheney.

Their position, while courageous, is not surprising. What is surprising is that it took this long for members of Congress to invoke impeachment, and that even now, they do so against enormous political resistance and cynical indifference from the media.

No serious student of the Constitution would question that sufficient grounds exist to impeach both President Bush and Vice President Cheney. The Constitution provides that an Executive who puts himself above the law and abuses the powers of his office may be impeached, a point confirmed in the impeachment proceedings against President Nixon, for abuses such as illegal wiretapping... (read more)

It's still a long way to Tipperary, or Articles of Impeachment, but we already know they've got the grounds, and now it's up to the new year's session to see if this bears fruit. You can bet the following things will be said by the White House:

"They're wasting taxpayers' time."
"This is a witch hunt."
"Congress is holding up more important matters."
"You found WHO in the visitor logs?

[Bryan9000]

No one else is above the law, either. This is about to get interesting. Call it "House Cleaning."

House Cites 2 Bush Aides for Contempt

The House voted Thursday to issue contempt citations against the White House chief of staff and a former White House counsel for refusing to cooperate in an investigation into the mass firings of federal prosecutors.

The vote to hold Joshua B. Bolten, the chief of staff, and Harriet E. Miers, the former counsel, in contempt of Congress followed bitter partisan wrangling on the House floor, including a Republican walkout from the chamber, and moved House Democrats closer to a constitutional showdown with President Bush.

The 223-to-32 vote to issue the contempt citations, the first approved by Congress against the executive branch since the Reagan administration, is likely to move the dispute to a federal courtroom, with House lawyers calling on a judge to enforce subpoenas against Mr. Bolten and Ms. Miers. The Senate is weighing similar contempt charges against Karl Rove, President Bush’s former political adviser.

Mr. Bolten and Ms. Miers were subpoenaed by the House Judiciary Committee for information about their part in the dismissal of several United States attorneys last year for what appear to have been political reasons. The uproar over the firings led to bipartisan calls in Congress for the resignation of former Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, who abruptly stepped down last summer.

As House Republicans protested the vote with an angry walkout from the House floor, the White House joined in expressions of outrage over the contempt citations.

It's about fucking time. I had heard that the Republicans walked out earlier today, but for a different reason. Do they think the government is supposed to be run by people who just pick up their toys and stomp out in a tantrum when things aren't going their way?

[irishblessing]

With the telecoms receiving immunity for having abetted the Bush Administration's warrantless wire-tapping programs, you would probably guess that contractors in Iraqi, like Halliburton and Blackwater, would be next. And you'd be right.

Pentagon pushes for more contractor immunity in Iraq

As the Bush administration prepares to “renegotiate a long-term bilateral security agreement” with Iraq, a “deal-breaker for the Iraqis is contractor immunity” of the type that allowed Blackwater guards to escape punishment after killing 17 Iraqis in a Baghdad shoot-out. But “in interagency discussions arranged in preparation for the start of negotiations, the Department of Defense has said it wants to ask the Iraqis to maintain status quo.” The State Department “has argued strongly against that position.” (source, multiple supporting links)

In an illegal war, you should expect the current regime to institutionalize lawlessness and freedom from accountability. There's more money to be made in no-bid contracts, and by avoiding prosecution that might be "inconvenient."

[ganymede]

A minor victory?

House Votes to Repeal Tax Breaks for Oil Companies
The White House has threatened to veto on grounds that it unfairly targets the oil industry, would extend tax credits for producing energy from wind, solar, geothermal, cellulosic ethanol, biofuels and other renewable sources.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to repeal $18 billion in tax breaks for big oil companies to help pay for developing renewable energy sources.

The bill, which the White House has threatened to veto on grounds that it unfairly targets the oil industry, would extend tax credits for producing energy from wind, solar, geothermal, cellulosic ethanol, biofuels and other renewable sources.

The measure passed in a 236-to-182 vote... (read more)

I can't figure out why this wasn't in more broadcasts, why the media seems to have ignored it. Maybe I'm crazy, but I think it's a momentous turn of events. It's supposedly from Reuters, but I couldn't find any other sources when I bookmarked it.

With record profits for the oilcos, I can hardly feel any sadness or empathy for them. I almost wonder why they were getting massive tax breaks anyway. Then I remember who's running this show...

[Bryan9000]

"Hey man, nice shot." No, dummy. You missed!

Actually, it was a woman.

Suicide Blast in Iraq Eclipses Cheney’s Visit

BAGHDAD — A female suicide bomber penetrated one of the most secure perimeters in Iraq Monday evening and killed at least 42 people near the Imam Hussein shrine in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, according to the Iraqi authorities.

The explosion, the deadliest attack in Karbala in nearly a year, overshadowed a Baghdad visit by Vice President Dick Cheney, who met with Iraqi and American leaders and extolled what he described as “phenomenal” security improvements in the country.

The explosion rocked central Karbala at about 6 p.m. “Many people were killed and wounded,” said Abu Ahmed, 36, who minutes earlier had walked past the site where the blast would occur, and then came rushing back afterward to help the wounded. “Everyone near the bomber was killed.”

Presumptive nominee Sen. McCain is also stopping through to...umm...do something or say something. Probably not promising the troops he meets any MRAPs, non-lethal rayguns, or decent body armor.

[JBlueEyes]

It's not likely to go anywhere, since the "war crimes/impeachment" rallying cry has been sounded many times before, and Dick Cheney makes Reagan's Teflon look like Super Glue, but here's a new twist:

Cheney accused on prisoner abuse

A top aide to former Secretary of State Colin Powell has launched a stinging attack on US Vice-President Dick Cheney over abuse of prisoners by US troops. Col Lawrence Wilkerson accused Mr Cheney of ignoring a decision by President Bush on the treatment of prisoners in the war on terror.

Asked by the BBC's Today if Mr Cheney could be accused of war crimes, he said: "It's an interesting question."

"Certainly it is a domestic crime to advocate terror," he added. "And I would suspect, for whatever it's worth, it's an international crime as well."

This is an extraordinary attack by a man who until earlier in the year was Mr Cheney's colleague in the senior reaches of the Bush team... (read more)

I strongly suspect we're going to see other "senior staffers" from years past falling out of the woodwork as it becomes increasingly unlikely that their continued silence will offer them any protection after the current Administration departs. While I don't figure we'll be seeing Cheney on trial in the Hague any time soon, I'd like to know how they respond to this one.

Discredit the guy? Hide behind unconstitutional legislation? Pretend it doesn't exist? Insist he had a right to do whatever he wanted?

[PalePhoenix]

Our friends at IaBT.com offer the following insights on some progress in the UK:

Report after report by human rights organisations have detailed the mistreatment of detainees in Pakistan. In October 1996, Nigel Rodley, the United Nations special rapporteur on torture, reported on the "endemic, widespread and systematic" use of torture in the country. The methods used, he reported, included "rape; beatings with sticks, hosepipes, leather belts and rifle butts; kicking with heavy boots; being hung upside down; electric shocks to the genitalia and knees; cheera (forced stretching apart of the victim's legs, sometimes in combination with kicks to the genitalia); sleep deprivation; prolonged blindfolding; and boring of holes with an electric drill into parts of the victim's body".

Sir Nigel Rodley, as he is now, is sceptical of any claim by British officials that they did not know how Amin was likely to be treated. "It sounds like wilful ignorance to me," he says

At the end of that month, just weeks before Amin was detained at the request of British authorities, the US state department was reporting that Pakistani "security force personnel continued to torture persons in custody throughout the country". Amin's lawyers are planning an appeal against his conviction, and considering bringing a civil action against MI5 on his behalf, possibly for damages for assault, battery and false imprisonment.

MI5 can be expected to contest vigorously any legal claim that it is responsible for the mistreatment of Amin. The involvement of British officials in the torture of anyone, anywhere in the world, was outlawed by the 1988 Criminal Justice Act, which makes clear that it is an offence to "consent to or acquiesce" in torture. The offence carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

Maybe there's some hope for incriminating Cheney yet.

The accusation that MI5 is at the very least turning a blind eye to the torture of British citizens - and may have actually colluded in their torture - is to surface in a number of forthcoming court cases, including the trial of the man who lost his fingernails, an appeal lodged by the man from Luton after he was convicted of terrorism offences, and a separate civil action being pursued on his behalf...

Last week it was disclosed that eight men freed from US custody at Guantánamo Bay had issued writs against MI5 and the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, alleging they were complicit in their illegal detention and subsequent abuse.

[Qweerty]

Vice President Dick Cheney pulled a muscle in his back while moving boxes and will be in a wheelchair for Tuesday's inauguration ceremony. (source)

That ought to make good symbolism for...what, the economy, the entire previous eight years?

[PalePhoenix]

Vice President Dick Cheney pulled a muscle in his back while moving boxes and will be in a wheelchair for Tuesday's inauguration ceremony. (source)

That ought to make good symbolism for...what, the economy, the entire previous eight years?

Dr. Strangelove.

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