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It Is No Surprise That Cheney Withheld Information from Congress
It is not surprising that the former Vice President Dick Cheney withheld information on covert operations from the Congress, and even members of the sacred Senate Intelligence Committee. Why are the media and so many members of Congress surprised? It was totally within the playbook for the past Administration. This was the way business was done circa 2000 through 2008: steal an election, ignore a hurricane, start covert actions - what the heck?! Remember this is the same group that hoodwinked the Congress, and sadly the American people, into going to war in Iraq.
These revelations should not surprise or distract the work at hand. The Congress is in the midst of one of the most challenging legislative schedules since inception: economic stimulus, financial services reform, climate legislation and health care reform. In many ways, it is the best of time and the worst of times. The last thing we need is the siren of distraction. Let us not give any more air time to the wrongs of the past group of bandits. Rather, let's either table the discussion, or position their wrong doings for the World Court at the Hague.
Please Mr. Attorney General Holder, sir, do not waste your precious resources on this merry group. We all know that this is only the tip of the iceberg. The shenanigans of the last eight years cover vast territory whether in terms of foreign affairs, the CIA or the wholesale bankruptcy of this great nation and the world. There is too much at risk right now to allow any type of distraction. We must stabilize the economy and heal the emotional rift in this country that is allowing acts of domestic terrorism.
Assuredly, they would like nothing better than to take the spotlight. So don't give them the air time. We cannot afford that right now. Sadly, this is a country that has been left economically and emotionally bankrupt. We have been deceived, and now are being economically challenged. Emotions are raw. People are digging deep to keep their feet on the ground as the rug continues to slide. There is no doubt that there has been wrongdoing. The question is how and when to take action.
Remember we live in interesting times.
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Please look forward and look backward with clarity and good judgment. Most on this strange site are wildly hypocritical in their political beliefs and tend to let emotions rather than logic dictate judgment. Mistakes were made, but all great heroes make mistakes. Cheney and Bush are American heroes on the level of George Washington and other great Americans. This site’s attempt to radicalize our mistakes, by contending that America is a bad country, is unconscionable and a farce. We are the most charitable and world helping country in the history of the earth. Pray that the current administration follows the Bush-Cheney lead ensuring no further attacks on our homeland. Pray that your children get to live and prosper in a free country where they are rewarded for accomplishments and not penalized for success. We must focus on bringing the unfortunate up the ladder by ensuring hard work will be rewarded. It is not productive to level out American wealth by bringing hard workers down the ladder with dis-incentivizing taxation. Pray that the country will overcome the shackles being placed on it by this administration and this congress. I am poor but know that in this country I can make it big if I don’t give up. Obama is in the process of shattering my dream through his fiscal irresponsibility and his classic jimmy carter tax/spend policies, but I have faith that freedom will regain its hold on America in 2010. So hang in there all you patriots.
I am not going to comment on the content of what was kept from Congress. Rather I am going to comment on Congress' ability to keep any secrets of any kind. I would not tell them my phone number much less anything of national security because if it means a few votes to those panderers they will find one way or another to get it out to the press - through some "unnamed source releasing information conditional on anonymity". Anything they are told ends up on the front page of the NYT.
And thank goodness that information leaks out! Otherwise, the American people are completely left in the dark. Instead of more secrecy, we need a whole lot less!
There have been extremely serious crimes committed in the name of the people. We cannot stick our heads back into the sand and pretend that it did not happen! A free press is fundamental to our democracy. Enough of our "shadow government" and its abuses of power! Let the leaks continue!
If Cheney's abuses of power are in fact "no surprise," doesn't that make it all the more of an outrage? How many egregious examples have to come to light before we have the full picture of what he did and when? What Cheney and other Bush administration officials did should NOT be guesswork or subject to speculation, like that currently surrounding this secret CIA program.
Furthermore, they should not be allowed to get away with such abuses of power. Doing so would set a precedent that will forever damage our democracy, the Constitution, and the rule of law. Not to mention it is utter hypocrisy - as Bob Edgar pointed out, it's not as if the public would ever allow Bernie Madoff to go free (Free Bernie Madoff," 29 June).
There must be accountability and people responsible for war crimes must face consequence.
Only truth can set us free.
Is this post meant as satire? I really can't tell.
One could argue that discrediting the neocons once and for all would diminish their power giving control back to the moderates.
I am so confused, how did the vice president get so much power, why did the C.I.A obey his orders, did he have the authority to tell the C.I A. not to inform the congress, the constitution dose not give him the authority to direct any part of the government but the senate, so was he breaking the law.
All the actions taken by Cheney were delegated by Bush II.
If no consequences occur, then Dick Cheney's abuses will become exactly what Cheney wants them to be: the new precedent defining the unlimited nature of presidential power.
The nation cannot afford that.
We say that we are a moral nation and we are not, we are fighting around the world for democracy in other countries and our country is not a democracy, our government under the Bush admimistration ran the country like we were a third world country, they disregarded the constitution and the laws of the United States, president Bush sad hell with the constuitution and the laws and the new president want to sweep all of those crimes under the rug, and if he dose and another president dose the same thing it would be legal for them to do it, because president Bush set the precedent , the republican say that it is all right for the country to show the world that we are liars and hypocrites, that why we are fighting around the world telling other people that the American way is the best way, dictatorship, and an autocraticed government ran by a few.
I would love to get on with the other enormous issues of the day but we cannot allow the executive branch to continue to accrue ever more extra constitutional power. This is the most salient reason for our country's formation. Those who think they are above the law are watching to see how to get away with their ongoing plans. We must act decisively against the unconstitutional and even treasonous actions of the Bush's White House as well as any other. The future of our democracy is hanging by a thread eaten away not only by neo-fasci... I mean Neo Cons, but also by the apathy of all of us who let each transgression slip by. I hope we will not be distracted from any of the major issues Ms. Kraus mentions, but I think this kind of un-American governance is one of the most important, not just a distraction...
WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO,
THE INSURANCE COMPANIES ARE WRITING THE HEALTH CARE BILL .
WHY? BECAUSE THEY OWN OUR POLITICAN AND WE THE WORKING PEOPLE ARE NOT ABLE TO PAY FOR THEIR SERVICES, WAKE UP AMERICA TAKE A STAND LET YOUR CONGRESS PERSON OR SENATORS NO THAT WE ARE TIRED OF THEM WORKING FOR JUST A FEW, CALL OR WRITE OR E-MAIL THEM AND LET THEM NO THAT YOU ARE NOT HAPPY WITH THEM.
WHEN THE POLITICAN IN WASHINGTON TRY TO JOCKEY FOR THE NEXT ELECTION THE COUNTRY IS DROWNING, BUT WHAT THE HELL DO THEY CARE ABOUT THE COUNTRY, ASK YOURSELF THAT ONE QUESTION.
Kraus's plea to Holder to leave the criminals of the past administration to the World Court ignores that OUR laws were broken, and it is OUR responsibility to prosecute OUR criminals. Not all of the criminality involved crimes against humanity or war crimes, but even these are also violations of OUR laws. If we do not punish OUR criminals, we shall have repetitions in the future. The fact that the current administration has not completely repudiated the violations of our Constitution indicates that we are in particular jeopardy of repetitions, sooner rather than later. Eric Holder, as AG, must bring before OUR bar of justice the criminals of the Bush administration from the former president on down to avoid the setting of precedents for his successors.
And if he doesn't?
I UNDERSTAND WHY THE PRESIDENT DOSE NOT WANT TO TAKE ON THE LAST ADMINISTRATION BUT THIS SHOULD NOT BE UP TO HIM, WE SHOULD DEMAND THAT SOMETHING BE DONE AND STOP TRYING TO COVER UP CRIMINAL ACTS, IF WE ARE A NATION OF LAWS WE SHOULD BE THAT ARE STOP LYING TO THE WORLD, OTHER NATION ARE WATCHING TO SEE IF WE ARE GOING TO BE TRUE TO OUR WORD AND LIVE UP TO WHAT WE SAY, CHENEY AND BUSH HAVE SHOWN THE WORLD THAT WE ARE LIARS AND HYPOCRITES.
NO.
NO to looking forward and not back.
NO to letting the crooks get away.
NO to their accomplices and defenders.
NO, NO and NO.
What part of NO don't you understand.
WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.
We cannot afford to ignore the treasonous actions of the past administration. If we do, such actions will certainly happen again. No free passes for treason.
AND YOU ARE RIGHT, AND I WONDER WHAT DO THE REPUBLICANS HAVE ON THE DEMOCRATS, THE DEMOCRATS ACT LIKE LITTLE GIRLS AFRAID TO DISOBEY THEIR FATHER, THE REPUBLICANS HAVE PUT FEAR IN THEIR HEARTS AS WELL AS THE PUIBLIC.
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