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I imagine the SS will continue to stonewall until this goes farther up the court ladder.
Thursday, October 19, 2006 · Last updated 2:36 p.m. PT
Judge orders Cheney visitor logs opened
By MATT APUZZO
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- A federal judge has ordered the Bush administration to release information about who visited Vice President Cheney's office and personal residence, an order that could spark a late election-season debate over lobbyists' White House access.
While researching the access lobbyists and others had on the White House, The Washington Post asked in June for two years of White House visitor logs. The Secret Service refused to process the request, which government attorneys called "a fishing expedition into the most sensitive details of the vice presidency."
U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina said Wednesday that, by the end of next week, the Secret Service must produce the records or at least iden y them and justify why they are being withheld.
The Secret Service can still try to withhold the records but, in a written ruling Thursday, Urbina questioned the agency's primary argument - that the logs are protected by Cheney's right to executive privilege.
Republicans have suffered a spate of bad news lately. Ohio Rep. Bob Ney pleaded guilty in the Jack Abramoff lobbying investigation, Florida Rep. Mark Foley resigned after reports of his sexually explicit Internet conversations with teenage House pages, and the FBI intensified its corruption investigation into Pennsylvania Rep. Curt Weldon.
If Cheney's visitor logs show meetings with lobbyists, releasing them just weeks before Election Day could provide ammunition to Democrats.
"The political price is very high," said L. Sandy Maisel, director of the Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs at Colby College. "Even more than that, Cheney has a vested interest in keeping them out of public eye at a time when people will pay attention to them. After the election, they will pay much less attention."
The newspaper sought logs for anyone visiting Cheney, his legal counsel, chief spokesman and other top aides and advisers.
The Secret Service had no comment on the ruling Thursday. In court do ents, government attorneys said releasing the do ents would infringe on Cheney's ability to seek advice.
"This case is about protecting the effective functioning of the vice presidency under the Cons ution," attorneys wrote.
A lawsuit over similar records revealed last month that Republican activists Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed - key figures in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal - landed more than 100 meetings inside the Bush White House.
The Post cited those records, which were released to the Democratic Party and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, as evidence that the do ents should be released.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/nation...ouse_Logs.html
I imagine the SS will continue to stonewall until this goes farther up the court ladder.
I imagine the SS can make any records reflect as they wish.
The GOP knows what the Cons ution is? This is rich."This case is about protecting the effective functioning of the vice presidency under the Cons ution," attorneys wrote.
OK, forum Repubs, let me throw this one BACK at you. If he hasn't done anything wrong, why should he mind revealed information about him? I keep hearing that about the wiretapping.
"why should he mind revealed information about him?"
I know he's repugnant, but you have to pay closer attention to head.
head decided 30+ years ago that the Nixon business caused too many restraints on the Exec, so head has a personal agenda to go the other extreme, completely remove all restraints on the Exec, including gratuitously claiming Executive privilge just because he can, to keep the Exec as hidden from the American people as he can manage.
eg, his USA energy "policy" meetings in his firm term with energycos was kept secret, where they cooked up really a "energyco enrichment policy" but of course head would never want that to be known, and of course, the energyco execs are as anti-American as head, so they've kept the self-enriching secret proceedings very secret.
He has also been moving tons of publicly available declassified do ents back into classified status just because he can, demonstratoin of " you, America" power.
Last edited by boutons_; 10-20-2006 at 09:36 AM.
The obsession with secrecy is toxic to good government.
What does Cheney have to hide?
(RG is making a subtle point here, see if you can guess what it is)
F'n activist judges.
Something toxic? let me think.
The point I was trying to make, was that when you have a secretive government, people can ask questions like:
"What does he have to hide?"
I hate to leap to conclusions without evidence, but even I have to wonder what the f*** is going on that they don't want me to know about. If they are hiding it, I think it is something they know I won't like.
The fact that this administration has caused me to think like that pisses me off even more. I hate being cynical, but this administration has done nothing that has caused me to trust it.
It is none of your business what your government is doing. Merely asking the question threatens national security. You apparently relish the specter of smarmy Muslims creating a mushroom cloud that incinerates the loved ones of real God-fearing, red-blooded Americans.
So repugs use the excuse for the patriot act of "If you are doing nothing wrong, there is nothing to worry about", but when it comes to head Cheney? He knows he made deals and that is why he doesn't want the records released. What an idiot.
You have this whole government thing backwards. They tell you what to do, not the other way around. It's not that Cheney has anything to hide, it's that you have no business meddling in the affairs of the authorities. They do as they please.
What do you think this is, government of the people? How quaint. Government by the people endangers lives. Cheney and his secret meetings are keeping us safe.
:edit
oops, mistake
Please refer to the Sarcasm FAQ to better appreciate this thread.
In the same vein of "you got nothing to worry about if you did nothing wrong" ever notice how Rush Limbaugh has great concern for the rule of law when it comes to prosecutors getting ahold of his medical records? Something to hide el Rushbo?
...a little off-topic, but can someone invent a sarcasm emoticon for message boards? Even people who understand the concept of sarcasm can never be too sure about some people's posts.
Unofficially, sarcasm is supposed to be posted in blue italics.
But doing so ruins the fun. Every sarcastic post offers the possibility of extra fun in hooking somebody right through the cheek.
u betIt is none of your business what your government is doing.........................
Just remember the great old RUSSIAN Proverb
The less you know the better you sleep.
Trust me =, I'm powerful and yo aint sheet. DC
I'll get back to you later, I've got to go and burn some logs.
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