The Torture Report

Welcome to America under Bush/Cheney.
www.nybooks.com/icrc-report.pdf
via Sullivan

Now why won't Congress or the Obama Administration do something about this blight on America?

Via Greenwald:
"Note how warped our political culture is: Sen. Dick Durbin was forced to tearfully apologize on the Senate floor for accurately comparing our treatment of detainees at Guantanamo to the techniques used in Soviet gulags and by Gestapo interrogation squads, but those who perpetrated these war crimes have apologized for nothing, remain welcome in decent company, and are still shielded by our Government from all accountability."

Unintentional CNN Funny

Hah!





via CNN

Impeach Cheney

With all of Cheney's anti-democratic manuevers (not part of executive branch, torture, warrantless ease dropping etc.), I would be perfectly happy if the Democrats shut down the government just to impeach Cheney. Cheney is not just using the usual political boiler plate aruguments, he is actively undermining the very foundation this nation is founded on. This is serious. If you only write you congressperson once, this is the time to do. We must demand the Vice President stop his anti-constitutional rampages.

Your Representative
Your Senator

You can watch Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) call for defunding Cheney's office here.

Cheney has done more to curtail our liberties and the Constitution than Al-Quieda could dream of.

You can read Bruce Fein's reasoned analysis for impeaching Cheney:

"Article II enumerates the powers and responsibilities of the president, including the obligation to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. A special presidential oath is prescribed. Section 3 of the 25th Amendment provides a method for the president to yield his office to the vice president, when "he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office." There is no other constitutional provision for transferring presidential powers to the vice president.

Yet without making a written transmittal to Congress, President Bush has ceded vast domains of his powers to Vice President Cheney by mutual understanding that circumvents the 25th Amendment. This constitutional provision assures that the public and Congress know who is exercising the powers of the presidency and who should be held responsible for successes or failures. The Bush-Cheney dispensation blurs political accountability by continually hiding the real decision-maker under presidential skirts. The Washington Post has thoroughly documented the vice president's dominance in a four-part series running this week. It is quite a read.

In the end, President Bush regularly is unable to explain or defend the policies of his own administration, and that is because the heavy intellectual labor has been performed in the office of the vice president. Cheney is impeachable for his overweening power and his sneering contempt of the Constitution and the rule of law."

via Slate.com

Dick Cheney Claims He Is Not Part Of The Executive Branch...!

Run that by me again?

"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."

Let's see, there are three co-equal branches of the federal government: Legislative, Judicial and Executive.
Hmm. I don't see anything listed there that shows a "Cheney" Branch.

Now Tricky "Dick" Cheney did comply up to 2003 with the presidential order that governed the protection of classified documents. So what changed? Well, if you remember it was October of 2003 that Scooter Libbey (Cheney's former Chief of Staff) was indicted by the United States for obstruction of justices. What a coincidence that Cheney followed the presidential order governing classified information up until 2003!

Coincidence? Yeah, right.

The depth of corruption and hubris is astonishing.

via ABCNews.com

Your Representative
Your Senator

As Andrew Sullivan says, "The idea of impeaching him really doesn't seem so outrageous as the months go by, does it?"

Update:
John Arovosis over at Americablog points to what this means:

"What Cheney is doing isn't some esoteric battle over protocol. He's refusing to let the national security watchdogs make sure that his staff isn't being sloppy with classified information. He is quite literally risking our national secrets during a time of war. These rules exist for a reason, the oversight exists for a reason. People are sloppy, and sometimes they're even evil. When you're dealing with classified information, information that can quite literally get someone killed, you need several layers of protection to ensure that the information doesn't slip out, by intent or neglect."

Dick Cheney doesn't care about national security, he only cares about his ego and that is dangerous for The United States.