Cheney's Law (updated)

This is what the DK household will be watching tonight. PBS "Frontline" usually does a good job going behind the scenes providing a thoughtful unsensationalized program.

Will I just be torturing myself by watching this tonight, or is there some validity to witnessing the ongoing compilation of evidence that might some day end up in a criminal court trial (domestic or international, maybe even, dare I hope, both)?

PBS FRONTLINE
"CHENEY'S LAW"
Tonight, Oct 16th

PBS Press Release:
FRONTLINE'S SEASON PREMIERE INVESTIGATES CHENEY'S EFFORTS TO EXPAND THE POWER OF THE PRESIDENCYFRONTLINE presentsCHENEY'S LAW Tuesday, October 16, 2007, at 9 P.M. ET on PBS www.pbs.org/frontline/cheney

*********** UPDATE: just a few DK thoughts while watching Frontline :

First, if you missed it & are interested, it is worth seeing. Click on the PBS link above & you can see it online. If impeachment thoughts have ever receded, it will bring them rushing back into your forebrain.

The key to understanding Dick Cheney is his core belief in ensuring the President has unlimited powers as Commander in Chief. Thus, the Cheney legal team has gone about creating an unfettered presidency for GWB that allows him to ignore the law. Why does congress keep passing those pesky laws?

All crucial decisions during the GWB presidency take place in Cheney's office. Whatever will the next president do without the benefit of Cheney's "benevolent" guidance?


Cheney has been quoted as saying, immediately after 9/11, that now the country will be Ruled by Men, rather than Laws. By "now", he meant during the War on Terror, which we know will go on forever & therefore we are no longer a nation of laws. This is Cheney's Catch-22.

We've all heard the little coxswain crowing many times, "I'm a wartime president". It is vitally important to Cheney's agenda that this impression be emblazoned into the public's consciousness. Wartime powers, as interpreted by John Yoo & David Addington & other cheneywhores, mean that congress cannot limit the president's powers as commander in chief. In their minds, there is nothing congress can do to stop a wartime president. Many in the opposition party seem to have bought into this BS & that is why we are seeing so little done to stop the madness. Maybe they need to declare themselves a "wartime congress" so that they can exercise unlimited powers against the unlimited executive branch.

The program has a very good section about the Ashcroft hospital bed incident. What struck me was how, when the word got out that Gonzo & Andy Card were on their way to Ashcroft's sickbed, there was a mad rush by other Justice Dept people to intervene. Ashcroft was described as "ashen & near death", but he rallied enough to refuse to endorse expanding NSA surveillance & restated that Comey was Acting AG, not him. Of course, this didn't stop GWB from then authorizing the program on his own signature the very next morning (I wonder who gave him the idea he could do that). 30 Justice Dept people threatened to resign over that, incl Jack Goldsmith, James Comey & even Robert Muller, the FBI director. There was a brief side-shuffle while Cheney & Addington reworked the memo to pacify the Justice Dept. It remains a secret to this day what exactly was changed. Knowing the great leeway they've given themselves in the torture & spying business, don't you wonder what was so awful that they capitulated to Justice & removed it?

My final thought is that when Cheney swings into action, we better all grab onto our asses. The man is lethal. We have him & Addington to thank for the clever wording of all those signing stmnts, the ones that proclaim the Unitary Executive Branch will interpret whatever piece of legislation GWB just scrawled into law -- meaning the law isn't worth the paper it's written on. So, why are we wasting all those trees providing this congress with paper to write laws on?

******* OK, it's late, I'm tired & my back hurts. If you detect any crankiness in my thoughts here, it is no doubt a result of that & not to be interpreted as dissatisfaction with our wonderful leaders. Many others have raged about this in a much more entertaining fashion. ~~ D.K.