Cheney's Law: The Veeps Radical Theories of Executive Power
By SilentPatriot Friday Oct 19, 2007 5:46pm
Last week PBS Frontline aired a special called "Cheney's Law" that examined Dick Cheney's view of presidential power and his 30 year struggle to expand, strengthen and centralize that power. Through interviews with high-level administration officials such as John Yoo and Jack Goldsmith, the program offers a fresh perspective on how fundamentally different Dick Cheney's view of constitutional government is from, well, just about every student of American history. Here is a brief clip about the administration's contempt for Congress, illustrated by their public acceptance of the "McCain torture bill', and their private signing statement essentially saying that the bill means absolutely nothing.
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The entire program can be streamed here.
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DICK!
.
IMPEACH DICK FRIST!
.
I don't think these guys have truly realized what they have done.Wait till we have a Dem Prez.....then we'll see how they like it.yeah,yeah....I know...i know..
Great info. along with John Dean's book Broken Government.
They think they are above the law.
That's not the America I grew up in....
I suppose we should thank Dick when President Obama (or Clinton, or *sigh* Edwards) rolls into office as the most powerful president in history. And here's hoping they are wise enough to give some of that power up.
Frontline is what muckraking journalism is all about. It's a lost art form. I expect there are many that complain about public funds being use to get the truth.
Cheney is one of the greatest threats to our democracy this country has even had. He is not an American. He is a fascist scum bag who belongs in jail, not the White House.
Bart @ 5:
I think it is the America we all grew up in. The difference is that we get information at the speed of light thanks to the internet. It's a lot harder for the government to keep secrets. In the past this stuff happened and nobody knew about it. Maybe I'm wrong. Cheney is clearly pushing the envelope though. I doubt anyone in the past was as criminally motivated, brazen and contemptuous toward Americans but they still did anything they could get away with regardless of law.
He's a Dick who needs to be cut off.
AbbeyHoffmansGhost @ 7:
Please don't forget so many others who deserve a prominent national spot. Amy Goodman, Greg Palst, Chris Hedges, Norman Solomon, Jeremy Scahill, Dar Jamail, John Pilger....
So, what is anyone going to do about it?
... nothing.
The constitution isnt going to be restored. A faction rather than opposition will be elected and nothing will change. Can you imagine the government spending until 2012 going though every bill, presidential directive, presidential signing statement, performing a physical/political audit of literally every department in the executive and more? I cant.
The republicans destroyed the government before the democrats very eyes and got away with it. (Starting with the supreme court decision to appoint bush in 2000) They didnt stop it then, or after 2004, or after 2006 and I dont see it changing much under a vichy democrat in 2008.
The rhetoric will change to be sure. But they have plenty of excuses ... the war (which will continue if not widen) ... the economy (which is about to collapse) ... foreign relations (a new cold war with Russia - and a return to a bipolar world).
This will be forgotten in a week or two ... Abu whatsit? So Whatsit.
Mxrk @ 6:
I don't believe that they are betting on there being a next president.
Retired Navy @ 13:
Looks that way doesnt it. I would be both amazed and happy if there were not only a peaceful transition AND a detailed restoration of the constitution with attendant corrections in voting, voting finance etc.
Not only cant I imagine these thugs doing such a selfless thing I cant imagine their corporate masters allowing.
It will either be this group seizing power or a different representative for the corporations - Clinton, Obama etc. (The factions not oppostion).
If there was a God, he would have made one of those heart attacks go all the way.
Now we know there is only Satan.
They really haven't been that secretive about it. It's been right in our faces for years and we just let them continue on and on and on while wringing our hands and sighing. What's it going to take?
http://www.newamericancentury.org/statementofprinciples.htm
Every time I see John Yoo interviewed I ask myself how he got a job teaching at Berkeley. Was he an affirmative action hire, i.e., a monarchist to fair-and-balance out the the rest of the faculty that actually believes in the Constitution rather than in trying to figure out ways around it? I don't get it.
Watch next Tuesday Frontline about Iran.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2007/10/18/DI200...
curtilingus @ 15:
Well, you don't really think Satan is going to "terminate" himself, do you?
Here's the preview:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/showdown/
curtilingus @ 15:
Instead of hoping that Our Big Daddy might smite the evildoers with heart attacks, consider that God might expect us to be responsible enough to take a stand.
Its just unfathomable how many people still support this administration.
I watched this show and one thing that struck me was how several of the neocons were described as "intelligent". These people aren't intelligent. They are myopic thugs who lack the intelligence to see the long term consequences of their actions.
juanchopancho @ 20:
Thanks. I appreciate that Frontline has their program available online.
After watching the preview, I have a proposal: George is not allowed to start a "nucular" war until he learns how to pronounce it.
"Cheney's Law" was fascinating, but it told only a small part of the neocon plot to elevate the president above the Constitution. After giving a thumbnail portrait of Cheney, the program focused mainly on the controversies generated on the torture memos drafted by the justice department. Very illuminating and important - but only one thread in a hidden tapestry of power-mongering and abuse.
The full telling of this story awaits disclosure by private and public papers and records, and persistent investigation by skilled historians.
There is so much more to be told:
- the full story of how the Administration teamed up with the big telecom companies so set up the massive, unconstitutional domestic spying program.
- the co-opting and augmentation of the military effort in Iraq and Afghanistan via the massive expansion of private military contractors. This unprecedented privatization of war is beyond the defined rules of war, outside the bounds of international treaties, and is not subject to any previously known standards of oversight and accountability.
- the full story of the war between the intelligence establishment and the Bush/Cheney Neocons. Cheney marginalized attacked the independence of the CIA and NSA from Day 1 in order to gain control of intelligence for the Administration's purposes. 9/11 only increased their ability to twist and use intelligence for their own purposes.
- the full extent of the politicization of the judiciary, regulatory agencies, scientific agencies and government departments.
These are all unknown unknowns.
anon @ 12:
Exactly!!!!most people here just talk about how the next democratic president (yeah right) will come and save us and turn it all around!! they continue to watch mainstream media...(although there are some that may go to an occasional protest)and most continue to pay an income tax! to the very govt that will soon be comin down very hard on our (and the rest of the worlds) freedoms...
Keep payin your income tax...
and watch Dick grow.
liberalista @ 23:
Hear hear.
Their awareness ends at their skin. They have no understanding of others. This, I believe, is a form of sociopath - those who emotionally see other people as objects. The sense of them or us is amplified in them. Liberals tend to see many 'others' as 'kin'. Conservatives do not.
I really want to watch this, but I am so afraid my head will explode from anger.
cheney violates the constitutional laws of the USA and should be IMPEACHED
and then turned over to the world court, the Hague, in Nuremberg, Germany for
high crimes against Humanity.
Hi, I just started a political blog a few days ago and wrote a supplementary to this post, so I thought I'd share it. I don't know if this counts as advertising disallowed here, but i apologize if it is; please notify me if this is inappropriate.
Here is the supplementary:
http://nschmitt.wordpress.com/2007/10/21/presidents-signing-statement-to...
Keep up the good work Amato!
c ya
Nathan
liberalista @ 23:
Agreed. They are not intelligent. They are simply relentlessly self-serving.
Helena Montana @ 28:
Agreed, not only that, but I wonder if the Republicans are worried that they have stolen so much power for the executive branch and could lose that power to the Democrats. Bet they will be screaming bloody murder if that happens.
Two questions:
Where can I download this or watch this online and my second question:
WHY THE HELL HAVE WE NOT IMPEACH HEART ATTACK CHENEY AND BUSH YET!!!!!! ????
I do not know about the rest of you, but Cheney scares the shit out of me! Even more than Bush. And that's saying a whole lot.
Geno in Ptown @ 33:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/cheney/?campaign=pbshomefeatures...
Congress makes laws. So signing statements are irrelevant-right? Have any of Bush's signing statements passed thru courts yet? When someone breaks one of congress's laws will the signing statement protect them? Does anybody have any insight into these signing statements and the courts? Are signing statements constitutional? Do they negate congressional laws?
Bart @ 5:
If you are 18-40, then it is, it just wasn't as blatant to your eyes. Which Pres was the good guy...Clinton? Bush 41? Reagan? Ford? Nixon? Johnson?
nwj10 @ 21:
But what if they yell at us or make us stay in our houses or take away our cable. I'm gonna pretend everything is O K. And then, well, I don't know...
liberalista @ 23:
If that was true...then why are they running things? So you think you know the bigger picture do you? The consequences are endless war, profit, control, and power. Now get back in line and shut up.
Several people have mentioned that no neocons are intelligent. Underestimating your enemy is a terrible mistake. Cheney is intelligent. Pure evil, and intelligent. I'm also surprised no one mentioned:
"Go fuck yourself, Duck Cheney; go fuck yourself!" Quack!
Mxrk @ 6:
I believe, based on his past history, that Edwards would roll back executive power. It is also why the powers that be will NOT allow him any press or to be elected (without a LOT of citizen help... and it looks like people are too lazy again this cycle. content to let the rich decide the candidates through money only).
Hillary? Forget about it. She's a republican, and this is ALL about her ego. She'd keep the power because she KNOWS she can be trusted with it, right? Ha. She is the definition of "power hungry".
Obama is just to much of a newb. If my some meteor strike he IS elected, I doubt he'd stand a chance against the bureaucratic machine. It would take him 6 years just to get acclimated. He should have been a governor over the last few years, not a senator.
It is all moot though. Everybody is bitching now that it is basically too late. Where were you when we needed help protesting after the farce of the 2000 election. The REAL opportunity to change this was the Democratic primary of 2004. But no, we had to play fun and games with yet another insider known as Kerry, who STILL has not explained why he promised to count votes in questionable districts and then quickly stopped all counting. Not that he has to explain, really. We know.
Everything looks magnified in the moment, but something very very terrible happened to this country over the past decade (and it wasn't the tragedy of 9/11). We will see that when we look back, I think. Things aren't changing, they already have changed. Perhaps permanently. Electing the person most likely to repair the damage doesn't really seem to be on anyone's agenda.
Catalyst @ 22:
Actually sir, it is unfathomable how many of us let it continue.
After the inauguration, Cheney, his little monkey, the neocons, and the rest of the 24%ers should just find a nice island (or Iowa ) and start their own private facist military state. There Cheney can practice all his facist fantasies with Blackwater as the military force.
The Ghost @ 37:
Eisenhower. All started downhill after that.
Jail would be nice
swarmofkillermonkeys @ 43:
I was staying within the commenters age range. Yeah, I Like Ike. JFK had a lot going for him and was prob killed for the good stuff.
.
The part I don't get is how We can talk about what we recognize, a Fascist Regime in America, while doing absolutely nothing to stop it. Well, not everyone, and not quite nothing, but when our lawmakers fail to defend American values and principles in a climate of fear, that then either makes our lawmakers fearful cowards or just plain complicit to this Neoconservative/American Fascist Movement that has a death grip on the world.
The only thing beating in Dick Cheney's heat is blood-lust.
When our lawmakers won't or can't stop it, the people are faced with a choice; Submit or resist!
.
Eishenhower, huh.
http://www.historymania.com/american_history/Dwight_D._Eisenhower
http://www.dlwaldron.com/Lumumba.html
Geno in Ptown @ 33:
http://video.google.com search for cheneys law
Impeach Bush/Cheney @ 36:
Signing statements were in large part the work of Alito while serving under Reagan - who is now a supreme court justice. Any bets as to how he will vote?
Mr. cheney - GO FUCK YOURSELF!
Straight Shooter @ 47:
Sure I think Eisenhower was basically a good guy, with great concern for his country over his own profit.
Perfect? No. This is the real world. We all have dirt on our hands. We all make mistakes.
And I've no idea what the hell your second 'source' is all about (he owns the copyright to a Cleveland paper? I doubt it). But even if accepting the first one: stuff hit the fan after Ike's term. CIA, the military, and defense contractors were getting out of control, even of the president. Not surprising.
Actually, he basically leveled with the public and predicted it. We ignored him (and still do) to our own detriment. There hasn't really ben a lot of honesty since.
"President Bush, how should Americans sacrifice for this war?"
"Don't worry your pretty little head, ho. Now why don't you run along and go shopping -- buy yourself something pretty."
Dick's Pinochet-esque disdain for Democracy knows no bounds. He bought a vacation home in Maryland with ill gotten gains from Halliburton while GIs were being killed and crippled
How I would LOVE to see the "liberal, MSM" give some air time to such stories. I watched it on PBS, and all the time I kept thinking...."it's so blatant obvious, and yet everyone is SLEEPING through a nightmare for this country."
Get your head out of your asses, Americans!!
Max-1 @ 46:
This was very good. I'd like someone to please explain to me how Cheney's views on expanded presidential power are any different from a dictatorship or monarchy. It's absurd, and totally goes against the Constitution.
Retired Navy @ 13:
Sad, but closer to the truth then anything out there.
Darth Cheney says:
"It is our intention to leave this office (the presidency) in better shape than we found it for future generations"
There it is folks, right from the mouth of the guy who is really running the show. It's not about the welfare of the country, it's People or it's standing in the world community. It's all about turning the U.S. into an imperium. This is why it is so important that they be at impeached. To set an example and send the message that a presidency in this country should not have been allowed to get away with what is has and restore our country to a the true democracy it was meant to be as set forth in our Constitution. These guys are no better than Saddam Hussein.
Funny as shit, in their desire to please the extremist evangelical base by installing Ashcroft as AG, they hamstrung their efforts to get whatever they wanted via amoral tools like John Yoo.
nwj10 @ 16:
It's going to take an economic collapse, gas prices sky rocketing and food shortages in all stores. Then, and only then, will the so called average American wake up and realize, (excuse my french) "Hey, we've been fucked". Until then, I'm not holding my breath.
nwj10 @ 21:
This reminds me of a joke about a few religious ...(I'll call them people instead of using one specific religion as an example) people were stranded on a rooftop during a flood. They kept praying, "please God guide us to safety". A few firemen came along in a boat to rescue them, but the religious folks said, "It's ok, God will save us and guide us". So the firemen left and then came along a family in a boat. They offered to help. But, the religious folks again said, "God will show us the path to salvation" and stayed. Twenty minutes later, the water came up and they all drowned. When they reached the gates of heaven they met God and said, "Why didn't you save us?" and God said, "well, I sent you the firemen and the family with the boat".
Behold, Cheney is the new face of tyranny.
swarmofkillermonkeys @ 43:
And everyone forgot about C...
At least under Carter people were being killed in my name...
Crap... weren't being killed in my name...
Helena Montana @ 28:
I watched the whole thing at the PBS website. It was very informative and well done. Yes, it does anger me, but I also got more of a sense of what they're doing (don't forget they are ideologues and think they are doing good things-- even good for America.) That said, it doesn't mean I agree, accept, or condone any of it.
One thing I'm pretty sure about, "the war on terror", like "the war on drugs", won't be going away anytime soon. This and future presidents can 'groove' on the extended powers Cheney & Co., a.k.a., Evil Inc., have brought around. That's for sure.
That Bradbury guy looks like a sick fuck too. More homework: googling another goon.
Is it possible that in order to prevent a Democrat President from using this power, the current Administration might have devised -
(a) A method of legally repealing these powers
(b) A 'poison pill'; something that will demolish the future Administration and occupy the public's attention
Retired Navy @ 13:
I don't believe that they are betting on there being a next president.
I agree with this. I doubt the current White House plans on vacating it anytime soon. All they have to do is start a war with Iran, blow something up in this country, and claim national security. People in this country are so fucking scared of the boogy man, it will be Bush forever......
liberalista @ 23:
I have to strongly disagree with you here friend. These people know exactly what they are doing.
exactly the sort of "leadership" America deserves, for being so stupid and lazy.
too bad the few who are paying attention will be sucked into the void along with
all of the dummies.. that's tough nuts for you smarties, ain't it!
well, America, you were a nice concept - for about 150 years.
we should really change the name to Amerikkka in Cheney's honor.
THESE PEOPLE HAVE NO PLANS TO GIVE UP POWER, YOU MARK MY WORDS.
political assassination used to be honorable, perhaps we ought to bring it back.
This was done in the same way as the federal reserve act. Signed after everyone had gone home to celebrate Christmas in 1913. It is unconstitutional as hell.
The only peaceful remedy under our system of government for a declaration of executive dictatorship is impeachment or a suspension of funding. The failure of congress to exercise these imperatives has established a very certain precedent for a new form of governance in this country.
Thing Fish @ 62:
A good point. I guess I don't think he makes the list because his presidency was poisoned.
The willingness by those on the other side of the aisle to hurt the president even though it meant severely hurting the country had already begun. With that giant knife sticking out of his back, he was unable to perform properly. They wanted the same thing for Clinton, and finally (after years of spending our money to dig through his trash) got something they could make LOOK like a scandal, even if it wasn't. Carter is blamed for inheriting the huge Vietnam war debt. And somehow the hostage situation with Iran (although they were eventually released alive, and we did get back the money Iran owed us). I would say Carter was better for those hostages, than Bush was for the beheaded Iraq hostages, wouldn't you?
Carter could have avoided all of this in Iraq. ALL the current mess, and tried to. Yet even today he is mocked for installing solar panels on the White House, encouraging everyone to wear sweaters, and creating the DOE rather than cave in to OPEC. It isn't his fault really, that the big business Republicans coordinated to fuck the economy just to make Carter look bad. But it destroyed his presidency and all the good, hard work he was trying to accomplish. This still makes him LOOK bad to all the same idiots in America that still trust the media to always tell the truth. Just as they trust those who trot out the "oooh, Clinton got a blowjob, I'm so telling teacher!" line, then go fuck strange men in filthy airport bathrooms.
Now of course, every sane individual can point at his presidency and say, "See? I told you so. He was right." But it is too late. Had he been elected again (or just not stabbed in the back) there would be peace in Israel and Palestine, just as he originally negotiated.
Sadly, I think only more Cheneys and Roves lie in our future, until you can get ALL of your neighbors up of the damn couch to demand change, not just for now, but every day in government. But our kids idolize Paris Hilton, not Sandra Day O'Connor. The future is uncertain.
@69
You aren't paying attention. After assassinations, a country always moves even FARTHER to the right. Is that really what you want? Martial law, checkpoints, and curfew "for your own good"?
fwacbar @ 67:
I agree with this. I doubt the current White House plans on vacating it anytime soon. All they have to do is start a war with Iran, blow something up in this country, and claim national security. People in this country are so fucking scared of the boogy man, it will be Bush forever......
I disagree. It'll be Tricky Dick II forever. After Iran is invaded, the dunce steps aside and lets Cheney take over. That's been his amition since the seventies. Who knows.... He may even off the dunce.
Dick Cheney, the Benedict Arnold of the 21st century. Destroying America (from within) for blood-money.
If you really believe that Cheney is acting out of an honestly held belief "fresh perspective on how fundamentally different Dick Cheney’s view of constitutional government is" you are fooling yourself - Dick Cheney is acting soley for Dick Cheney. This man and his co-horts are evil and we need more people to stand up and publicly expose them for the evildoers they are
and it is not stopped. . . it is allowed to go on and on. . .
this country is in trouble, and the people we elected will not do anything about it. . .
AND yet the Congress continue to defy every reasons available to them to justify IMPEACHMENT proceedings.
All of this continue to be in discussions on the table; yet this administration has somehow successfully hand-cuff the arms of the Speaker and Congress from proceeding to IMPEACHMENT.
Is it a matter of votes? If SO, then they should at lease bring it to a full congressional vote; so WE the public knows where and who is holding this (IMPEACHMENT) up. Names of all congressman who voted Yea and Nays. And Press those who refuse to even vote.
It seems to many of us that something, somewhere and someone is preventing this process from going forward and WE the people want to know WHY.
Meh. Bush had nothing to do with that one. Pelosi wants to be Speaker for a long time. So she is doing everything she can to not rock the boat, and maybe pick up more votes in the House next election.
It won't work, of course, because she neither knows nor cares just how pissed off we all are right now. This is all about Pelosi grabbing at power, just like all the rest. She doesn't want to fix the country, she just wants money and power.
Just like Hillary. There are precious few in power for either party that actually give a shit about doing the RIGHT thing anymore. Just the thing that keeps them elected for that sweet, sweet lobbyist pork.
So no impeachment for you! Don't like it? Write a letter to Pelosi's office, then call. Then protest.
Cheney is bound by oath to the US Constitution. He may have "a view" on power; but when he departs from the Constitution, he's walking on thin political ice. Please encourage your friends to discuss prosecuting this VP outside impeachment. Congress may choose to do nothing; but the States have the power to prosecute a VP. VP Buhr was prosecuted for a duel. Cheney's done more than that: He's shot one of his friends.
This is an admissiable statement which the grand jury can review: "their private signing statement essentially saying that the bill means absolutely nothing." Let's get the state citizens of Oklahoma and New Mexico to empanel a grand jury, review the evidence behind this statement, and offer indictments. A state-level indictment and finding of fact is admissable to Federal Court.
The statement can be entered into evidence for purposes of war crimes prosecutions, and other indictments against the President. Arrticle 1 Section delegates the power to make laws only to the Congress; it is an illegal exercise of judicial power of the VP to say that the law "does not apply." The Famers intended for Congress to make law; and for the VP-President to implement that law.
chlorocardium @ 11:
Not everyone can live up to the high standards set by FAUCKS NEWZ.... yeah, riiiight [rolling eyeballs go here]
Cheney said today he will not allow Iran to have nuclear weapons. It's time for the American Congress, Justice Department, American citizens and the sane people of the world to tell Bush, Cheney and their accomplices that they will not be allowed to start Bush War III or World War III.
Steve Everett
http://www.JustAThoughtThatsAll.com
fwacbar @ 67:
I agree with this. I doubt the current White House plans on vacating it anytime soon. All they have to do is start a war with Iran, blow something up in this country, and claim national security. People in this country are so fucking scared of the boogy man, it will be Bush forever......
I don't think Bush is interested in being President beyond 2008. He achieved his goal in life which is to surpass his father by being re-elected. Of course, he has been a failure at everything else in life. I don't think Bush has put much effort into the job the last 7 years. He remains uninformed about most matters and not terribly interested in being president. I think the neocons see guilani as the bush replacement in 2009. He is Bush with brains.
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