Take a walk on the DARK SIDE--The Cheney side of the administration.
This guy was DRIVEN to grab more power than any other White House and any other Vice President ever before. He's secretive, sneaky, ornery, and corrupt. DOn't let his snarl make you think he's a nice guy.
Via Boston Globe--via Huffpo--via Crooks and Liars.
The Iran-contra scandal was not the first time the future vice president articulated a philosophy of unfettered executive power — nor would it be the last. The Constitution empowers Congress to pass laws regulating the executive branch, but over the course of his career, Cheney came to believe that the modern world is too dangerous and complex for a president's hands to be tied. He embraced a belief that presidents have vast "inherent" powers, not spelled out in the Constitution, that allow them to defy Congress.
A close look at key moments in Cheney's career — from his political apprenticeship in the Nixon and Ford administrations to his decade in Congress and his tenure as secretary of defense under the first President Bush — suggests that the newly empowered Democrats in Congress should not expect the White House to cooperate when they demand classified information or attempt to exert oversight in areas such as domestic surveillance or the treatment of terrorism suspects.
THis is the guy who has likely been running the show for the last six years. He's also the guy who MAY be on HIS WAY OUT. Rumors abound in rumor driven Washington DC. And they're strategically talking about Cheney leaving and McCAin or someone else being appointed instead.
But if that happens it has positives and negatives. Will that person be able to distance himself from Bush while serving as VP or will it be "Anyone but Darth Cheney is better...?" And will people recognise if they do this then their new VP will be their presumed nominee in 08 and will use our tax dollars to go out and campaign for Presidency? (This is a great reason to support public financed campaigns over lobby-and-party driven campaigns.)
Either way, it's easy to see why Darth Cheney, the Republicans, and George Bush want to get rid of John Kerry. There's something in the Iran-Contra thing--and I bet you that John Kerry knows more than they like.
Interesting how the Iran-Contra names keep popping up again: Bush Sr., Bush Jr, Gates, Cheney,Reagan,..And of course, the Iran-Contra investigations was definitely the forces of good...John Kerry against the forces of evil--government corruption and the rest of the names just listed and interesting enough...these pieces all fit together, somehow.
But does anyone else care when it's something that is more in depth than an episode of survivor?
THis is a FAR cry from the olden days... One of my favorite jokes in an old history book went something like this.
A widow had two sons. One became a sailor. The other became the Vice President. Neither one was heard from again.
THe good old days, eh?
STill, i'd be GLAD to never hear of many of these people again.
So what do you think? Will Cheney stay or go?
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Actually i'm wondering if they'll fire him and slip in McCain or Rudy too. they may try to use the 'power of incombancy' to help sneak in a republican in 08.
***The thing is, if you control the Senate meetings, you control the gavel. And the gavel is a very important instrument... an instrument of power. An instrument that establishes the agenda.
Dan Quayle former Republican VP of George Bush Sr***
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2823431
good ones!
***The thing is, if you control the Senate meetings, you control the gavel. And the gavel is a very important instrument... an instrument of power. An instrument that establishes the agenda.
Dan Quayle former Republican VP of George Bush Sr***
reasons why i LOVE the onion... THose are hilarious!
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_linda_mi_061125__22americans_can_t_han.htm
***The thing is, if you control the Senate meetings, you control the gavel. And the gavel is a very important instrument... an instrument of power. An instrument that establishes the agenda.
Dan Quayle former Republican VP of George Bush Sr***
goood article... although the article argues AGAINST the view that we cant handle another impeachment...
Gas up 30 cents since the election.
no excuses...just a final gouging.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061129/ap_on_re_us/ohio_voting
Ohio county may junk e-voting machines
CLEVELAND - The commissioners of the state's most populous county are considering getting rid of touch-screen voting machines and putting in a new system for the presidential election in 2008.
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Hagan and Dimora said they want high-speed, optical-scan machines, which read paper ballots, to replace the touch-screen machines. Hagan said the commissioners need to decide this year.
{More on link.}
good to see ohio recognizing the problems, given the past elections troublse....
Hopefully we'll see some good reform, and not just ANOTHER proprietary machine bought with taxpayers dollars
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061129/ap_on_re_mi_ea/un_iran_us
In an open letter, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged the American people Wednesday to demand the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and reject what he called the U.S. government's "blind support" for Israel and its "illegal and immoral" actions in fighting terrorism.
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The letter to "Noble Americans," distributed by Iran's U.N. Mission, denounced President George W. Bush's policies in the Middle East and U.S. practices in the "war on terror." He appealed to the American people to work to reverse them and called on the Bush administration and the new Democratic-controlled Congress to heed the results of the recent midterm elections.
"Undoubtedly, the American people are not satisfied with this behavior and they showed their discontent in the recent elections," Ahmadinejad wrote. "I hope that in the wake of the mid-term elections, the administration of President Bush will have heard and will heed the message of the American people."
In a message to Democrats, he said, "you will also be held to account by the people and by history."
"If the U.S. government meets the current domestic and external challenges with an approach based on truth and justice, it can remedy some of the past afflictions and alleviate some of the global resentment and hatred of America," Ahmadinejad said.
"But if the approach remains the same, it would not be unexpected that the American people would similarly reject the new electoral winners, although the recent elections, rather than reflecting a victory, in reality point to the failure of the current administration's policies," he warned.
Ahmadinejad wrote a rambling, 18-page letter to Bush in May, which Washington criticized for not addressing Iran's nuclear program — where the U.S. is leading the drive to impose U.N. sanctions on Tehran for its refusal to stop enriching uranium.
Wednesday's letter made no mention of Iran's nuclear program.
Iranians in the street were disappointed by the cold response to the May letter because, while it did not make clear proposals, it was the first official communication between the two countries' presidents since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
Earlier this month, Ahmadinejad said he was planning to write a letter to Americans.
In Wednesday's letter, he focused on past good relations between the U.S. and Iran and between their peoples who are both "inclined towards the good, and toward extending a helping hand to one another, particularly to those in need," and who deplore "injustice, the trampling of peoples' rights and the intimidation and humiliation of human beings."
Ahmadinejad has alienated many Americans by calling for Israel's destruction and repeatedly dismissing the Nazi Holocaust as a myth. He also strongly supports the Palestinian militant group Hamas and the Lebanese faction Hezbollah, which the U.S. State Department lists as terrorist organizations.
In Wednesday's letter, he said, "we, like you, are aggrieved by the ever-worsening pain and misery of the Palestinian people" and accused the Bush administration of disregarding public opinion by remaining "in the forefront of supporting the trampling of the rights of the Palestinian people."
"What has blind support for the Zionists by the U.S. administration brought for the American people?," Ahmadinejad asked. "It is regrettable that for the U.S. administration, the interests of these occupiers supersedes the interests of the American people and of the other nations of the world."
He urged Americans to support the right of the Palestinians to live in their own homeland.
Twice this year, Iran has proposed talks with the United States over Iraq, but Ahmadinejad has said that for such negotiations to take place, Washington must change its behavior. On Sunday, he said Iran was ready to help the United States get out of the "Iraqi quagmire if the U.S. changes its bullying policy toward Iran."
Ahmadinejad said in Wednesday's letter that the U.S. invasion of Iraq, while overthrowing Saddam Hussein which people "are happy about," has led to hundreds of thousands of deaths, an exponential growthy of terrorism, and no rebuilding of Iraq's ruined infrastructure.
"I consider it extremely unlikely that you, the American people, consent to the billions of dollars of annual expenditure from your treasury for this military misadventure," he said.
"Now that Iraq has a constitution and an independent assembly and government, would it not be more beneficial to bring the U.S. officers and soldiers home, and to spend the astronomical U.S. military expenditures in Iraq for the welfare and prosperity of the American people?," Ahmadinejad asked. "As you know very well, many victims of Katrina continue to suffer, and countless Americans continue to live in poverty and homelessness."
hmmm i WONDER how bush is TAKING this letter!!!(hehehehe)
Cant be fun being criticized and held accountable for your mistakes by a man who is ON YOUR AXIS OF EVIL! bwaha.... or maybe i just needed a good laugh.