Cheney trying to block video taped depositions in the Denver/Secret Service case
By John Amato Saturday Feb 09, 2008 9:00pm
Cheney has been trying to hide from this case for a while now:
The office of Vice President Dick Cheney is seeking to block the release of videotaped depositions given by two aides who witnessed a physical encounter between an Iraq war opponent and Cheney.
In a motion filed Saturday, Cheney's office contended that the videotapes could be used to invade the privacy and embarrass two aides called to testify about the encounter in a civil lawsuit.
The motion for a protective order expressed particular concern that both aides' faces could wind up on YouTube.com. The plaintiff, Steven Howards of Golden, is suing Secret Service agents who arrested him after he approached Cheney at a Beaver Creek mall in 2006 and told the vice president his policies in Iraq were "disgusting."
Eagle County prosecutors dismissed a criminal charge of harassment filed against Howards.
This case was a travesty against our civil liberties and the First Amendment. Do you think the Secret Service would have reacted like this if Howards was a Cheney/Iraq war supporter? Molly Ivins dedicates a chapter to this case in her wonderful book called "Bill of Wrongs." You can read more about the case here.
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Wil somebody impeach this zombie? What unanimates them? Is it salt or a silver cross? Whatever, lets get it done.
Thanks John!!! IMPEACH this traitor.
We can't see the tapes because according to Dick it would "invade the privacy and embarass two aides?" Why didn't Nixon try that excuse during Watergate?
"Well, I'd like to release the White House tapes, but I wouldn't want to embarass Haldeman because man, that guy really gets raunchy sometimes."
We're supposed to have public trials in America.
The video "could wind up on YouTube.com.," where any citizen could see them.
Yes, that would be in keeping with American values.
I just finished Molly's last book today. Beautifully done and tough. Steven Howards and others like him who have been wronged must keep fighting. The book and the stories inspired me. Thanks for the diary.
BoyHowdy, would I love to see Cheney's impeachment on YouTube!!
So the possibility of the aides being "embarrassed" on Youtube is more important than the 1st Amendment? Wow, I never knew that.
Methinks Cheney's afraid he'd look like the chickens**t ass he truly is.
I hadn't heard of this before. Someone charged for saying "reprehensible" to Dead-eye Dick? Seriously, who the hell do these pukes think they are? Wilting lilies with an attitude problem?
I like how their privacy matters, but not our privacy.
what is it with this jackass that no one ever challenges him...?
i remember once having respect for wolf blitzer when he covered desert storm in iraq and then having that respect vanish the moment cheney stared him down on a question he refused to answer about reconciling his political position with his personal life...
that frakhead should be tarred and feathered... impeachment is too soft a punishment for him... even if it were to land him with a lifetime stay behind bars as someone's beeyatch...
It's about time some of these peoples' faces start showing up on WANTED posters.
Ironic that our government refuses to let its citizens know what it is doing, but demands to know what its citizens are doing. Bass Ackwards.
Otay @ 13:
It makes sense to Cheney...
Dick Chaney held responsible for something? Did Hell freeze over?
John Amato @ 14:
Yes, Cheney is only playing the game to max advantage.
I wish it had been Rove. He is an extreme homophobic. A reporter gave him an 'arm pat' at a mixed social event and he came unglued and yelled, "Don't touch me!". He was on with Stewart, Colbert, or someone similar and they also touched him. He did not scream, but definitely made an immediate point to not do that again. I would love to see him under a dog-pile of sticky-fingered 5 year-olds. He would probably seizure.
Tequila @ 10:
It's been that way with Republicans since the days of J. Edgar Hoover and Nixon.
Otay @ 13:
In a country that wasn't "free" like ours that would be called a fascist, big brother dictatorship.
Wow, unicorn blood exist.
That would be...unicorn blood does exist. Poo
Strawberrybitch @ 21:
It do?
The likely problem is that the aides quaked in court and spilled every creepy thing Darth Cheney did.....
MacDaKnife @ 17:
It was Cheryl Crow who touched him. He's not used to someone pretty touching him.
For some reason, when you brought this up, I imagined Rove being tasered. And imagined the smell of burning pork.
lafin gas @ 22:
It's the only explaination, I mean, if Cheney was a vampire, he couldn't go out during the day and bathing in the blood of virgins is damned near impossible in this age of Bratz.
Otay @ 24:
Right, goes more for the robust Jeff Gannon types.
Strawberrybitch @ 25:
I don't know about that. Show me a handful of college Repubs, and I'll show you a handful of virgins. They may not be the gender of virgin he expected, but hey...
To Bill Clinton's credit, he deals with hecklers all the time and doesn't have them arrested. Cheney, being a typical thin skinned Republican can dish it out but he's to craven a coward to take it. The thinned skinned nature of the authoritarian personality may be the Democrats magic bullet for taking down McCain in the general election. All we need is the right criticism to make him lose his cool in public. That could shatter his PR constructed image as a "straight-talking, moderate maverick." It will probably happen, but will the Corporate Media allow through their filter? We never would have heard anything about George Allen's maccaca moment had it not been for the internet. Thank goodness for youtube.
Otay @ 27:
Depends on whether getting it on with your own kind and denying it counts as virgin.
Otay @ 24:
My bad. Baking Pillsbury dough would be a more likely smell.
fuck dicKKK!
Billy Bob @ 29:
I'd deny it if I were a Repub and getting it on with a Repub. ;)
Yeah, I know what you meant...
Obstruction of Justice.
Gitmo for the VP.
I believe the motion that Cheney is making with his hand in the photo speaks volumes about what he'd like to do to anyone who gets in his fat, greedy, fascist way .
will someone take this bastard cheney fox hunting?
of course, we will make cheney the fox....hope he stays
out of the bougainvillea flowers. lol lol
I think he's showing off his trigger finger.
His arrogance will be his inevitable downfall.
Otay @ 13:
Not the government (because that changes hands), but the GOP. All information is the property of the party. That's one of those laws it's illegal to know about.
Animals have a sense for evil people. I wonder how animals react around this twisted, psychopathic, treasonous S.O.B.
I just wish that countries outside the USA would draw up "Wanted: For Crimes Against Humanity" papers for cheeeeeeeeny.
I Hope whoever becomes the democratic president encourages the DOJ to start investigations on this corrupt administrations. That is the question the candidates should be asked.
What makes a steaming pile like this guy tick? He's approaching 70, he has more money than god, yet he spends all of his time trying to screw working people out of what little they have left.
If it wasn't for greed, this evil bastard would shrivel up into a piece of dust, and blow away in the wind.
NoGWBpolicyleftinplace @ 40:
I honestly think he is trying to keep himself from going to prison and losing it all.
Wait.... the administration is worried about "invasion of privacy?"
Isn't it just this sort of pre-911 thinking that can let the ter'rists win? If he has nothing to hide, well then he is innocent.
In days of you're, you could tell a Witch by whether or not they floated. To test, they would throw the suspect in water. If they floated, it was proof that they were a Witch. Of course, non-witches ended up drowning. So if you survived the drowning, you would be burned at the stake for being a Witch. As long as we are turning back the clock to simpler, more moral times, I think we should consider these notions when denying Cheney his rights, as they are old and quaint. Such old timey justice would give everyone a good result, regardless of the evidence.
MacDaKnife @ 17:
How about under a pile of naked Iraqi's?
ltfcrazy @ 43:
How about him being naked under a bunch of angry Iraqis.
ltfcrazy @ 43:
If you could get that on the blogosphere, you could probably bring the entire Internet to a short halt. Maybe we could make a trade for OBL?
Arresting someone for criticizing the Vice President?
Wow.
The Secret Service are traitors.
Ron @ 39:
Ya Know,
I wouldn't wanna wish that job on anybody, with them jerk-offs, but if we pay them well I'm sure their are folks out there who would relish the thought of bring these cretins a little bit of justice. Perhaps the law folks who lost their jobs from Gonzo-gate.
We could call it the First American Inqiusition, sounds good to me. In fact what ever it is called it needs to happen, in one way or another. If it means world court, so be it.
Ron @ 39:
They won't. Whoever the Democratic president was would claim the country is concerned with the future and wants to move on and don't want to focus on the past ,although most everyone I know wants the Bush regime investigated and tried for their crimes. But you better believe if the roles were reversed the Republicans would hound the Democratic adminstration to the ends of the earth if they did everything BushCo has done.
"So I turned to my right and I swear I saw a duck, or a quail or whatever in the hell we were suppose to be lookin' for. So naturally, I let both barrels go! Damn lawyers, always stickin' their noses where they don't belong."
"And yes, we are still friends, and I sleep very well, and I would do the same damn thing over again if given another opportunity. So "F" you. Any other questions?"
So let me get this right:
"Aides", who stood by and did nothing but watch while these jack-booted federal agents illegally arrest and detain a law-abiding citizen and might be embarrassed when the world sees them admit as much need to have their identities protected by the Vice President...
Covert CIA operative (reads: secret agent) Valerie Plame - not so much...
dick cheney concerned about peoples privacy?
am i the only one who finds this hysterically funny?
Ruthless People @ 48:
If Hillary would answer that question in the positive, I would vote for her. Otherwise It's Obama. I'm looking for change in the status quo.
MacDaKnife @ 17:
Didn't he also freak out because Sheryl Crow happened to touch him at some dinner or other? What is he, a germophobe?
cheney gave a speech at the Navy base where I work last year. Man, I was scared. Almost everyone at my office was called in to support his visit.
I was never asked if I would help out thankfully. I really like this job but I would have quit first.
If dick cheney were on fire, I wouldn't pee on him to put him out (unless it was a big fire and my pee wouldn't really have much of an effect on the fire, in that case, I'd let 'er rip).
Pee on him! Pee on him! Pee on him!
Everything Cheney touches turns to shit.
"Cheney’s office contended that the videotapes could be used to invade the privacy and embarrass two aides"
Yes, because if there's one thing we know about Cheney & Co., it's that they are strictly opposed to invading anyone's privacy, and they don't want to embarrass or humiliate anyone!
Reading the stories though, I'm frankly amazed that this guy was even able to walk up behind Cheney and get within touching distance without being jumped by at least a couple Secret Service officers (Jonah Goldberg fans: notice how I didn't abbreviate that to "SS officers") in the first place. Did everyone who enter the mall have to go through metal detectors?
Crazy, disturbing times!
Ruthless People said:
"But you better believe if the roles were reversed the Republicans would hound the Democratic adminstration to the ends of the earth if they did everything BushCo has done."
And right so, no??? (And I'm only asking to confirm, I'm not trying to pick a fight here!)
The lawsuit asks for money for attorney’s fees and damages that include loss of enjoyment of life. Actually Americans should start suing those types of politicians, especially Dick Cheney, to include violations of the Constitution, did Cheney get a warrant for this mans arrest? Probably not, and it should be a significant issue introduced in the public arena for debate and trials that apply to basic civil liberties. Very interesting arguments against the patriot act.
This guy is going down in history as the most notorious and uncomplimentary public servant perhaps holding the record for the worst set of virtues that are counter productive to the American public office, only second to George Bush and family.
Actually the Bush administration is weighing in with Reagan as perhaps the most distorted, under reported government operations ever, that was counter productive with bungled policies hidden and buried in National Security Secrets.
Arrogance slips in every where with Cheney, from simple explanations to what considerations are made to very complex. The term Complex used too often which masks out truths and corruption under the National Security Secrets. All of it is not funny, rather very serious classical and historic cultural situations are in play and moving through time. Many, many long time political leaders are finding themselves in difficult expanding hypocritical situations that is attractive to corruption. Lieberman, being an outstanding example, which likely is doing a huge amount of open range shenanigans trading and changing sides in the political window thus far shows a breach of value, likely in his bank account, it certainly was his personal virtues too.
New politicals like Obama show arrogance too. Seriously flawed in national public speeches touted as expressively inspirational yet blatantly abusive in racial overtones that add insult and personal bloodline connections as distant heritage to Cheney. This is interesting, to address this ideal in a national public speech that Obama hails, praises to raise himself in stature, as a person who is related to someone who is not cool because of his blood connection. Though the whole race card, obviously pulled here, were Cheney could very well lash back sometime later to swift boat Obama. All very startling if you read Obama’s book “Audacity of Hope” and how he, Obama characterizes, and imagines mind you, white southern men talking to their son’s saying Nigger this and Nigger that. All really something when I feel guilty to say that word in public but Obama can put it in a national publication distribute it all the while claiming everyone else including the mainstream Media Journalist are being racial. Very extraordinary.
To me so laughable, here, Mainstream Media Journalist jumps through this racial breach , a cultural ozone hole giving reason to sink the stature of those selective surrogates like Chelsea Clinton in sexually explicit tone like pimping out. Very much the contrary, the Media Masters have been pimping out scum for decades. Chris Matthews the expert on contextual sexual innuendo expletives delivered for years displayed heavy seeded language against the Clintons with a Cheshire's smile. Perhaps Chris will disappear too. Clinton is being very nice if she doesn’t sue and squeeze the shit out of MSNBC, which she should do.
At some point, the colonists realized the Red Coats weren't bulletproof.
In response to:
In a motion filed Saturday, Cheney’s office contended that the videotapes could be used to invade the privacy and embarrass two aides called to testify about the encounter in a civil lawsuit.
Uh, and, they can also be used to show..., well, just what the hell happened during the encounter. Kind of important in this case.
Republicans don't want to be touched by men unless in a public lavatory.
It's I've been shot in the face day
Today's the 3rd anniversary of Cheney shooting Harry Whittington in the face
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR7CH9zvD6s
Rock out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1TqV1U3ZLg
The way he holds his finger in the picture it looks like he is going to shoot someone. He would never do that, would he? Seriously, is this all DeadEye Dick and Dumbya think about? War. Guns. Killing. Note to the Dems when you kick all their sorry asses out: End the wars, bring the troops home. Thanking you in advance for your assistance in this matter, Sincerely, The World.
That cheney is not sitting in a prison cell is a travesty against our criminal laws!
"Cheney’s office contended that the videotapes could be used to invade the privacy and embarrass two aides called to testify about the encounter in a civil lawsuit."
Added irony is how much the right hates the ACLU, & then uses a privacy issue to hide behind!
Amy Goodman featured this a while back ...
The guy was cuffed and jailed while walking his 8 year old son thru a mall in his own hometown ...
isnt THAT a little more than 'embarrassing' ?
Careful, folks. Maybe Cheney's just trying to hold himself back from all the ways he can kill.
http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/images/blpic-cheneytenways.htm
"Cheney's office" can't even twist the truth effectively anymore. "Cheney's office" doesn't want the videotapes released because they will provide proof to Americans that Cheney infringed on a citizen's rights in this case, and then used his "office" to harass this citizen and to prevent the truth of the incident from being revealed to America.
Mr. Cheney:
- Quit acting like a stupid jerk.
- Grow up and become an adult with adult responsibilities.
- Stop the childish "secrecy crap you use to hide your screw-ups with.
- Better yet, resign and get out of town.
I say keep pissing the bastard off. Do whatever you can to make his blood pressure rise! Sooner or later he will explode.
I feel a certain level of compassion for the two (2) Cheney aides. After all, they really had no choice or control over their actions. If they had disobeyed the Dark Lord we all know what would have happened to them...
Cheney's current survival starkly illustrates that every technology, in Cheney's case battery technology, has both good and bad applications.
It appears YouTube might be a deterrent to SecretService Agent's alleged abuse of US citizens exercising their rights.
Nobody's saying, "Don't protect the VP or President." Rather, the opposite: When the Secret Service appears to permit itself to be used to squelch political speech, those procedures need to be reviewed.
YouTube, not Congress, may provide the needed review to ensure there is some improvement within the Secret Service. VIP Protection "Yes," abuse of power "No."
if the VP doesn't like his alleged "handling team" on YouTube, perhaps they may wish to wear the following next time they make depositions: Here.
Just sayin'.
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