Crazy and....
I try to avoid sounding like a certain type of person, a type we all know. I'm speaking of the know-it-all old guy who takes delight in starting little speeches with " D'ja hear what crazy dang things those fools in the government are doing NOW?" Hearing stuff like that makes you check the room for exits. But having said so, I just can't help noting two rather crazy-sounding ideas from the duo right at the top of the whole thing.
My favorite target, Vice President Cheney, has almost outdone himself by finding a new explanation for ignoring a government edict from the President himself aimed at members of the Executive Branch with the purpose of gathering materials for the National Archives. The VEEP, who has ignored these annual requests for four years, now tells us why. The Vice President, according to the incumbent, is NOT actually a member of the Executive Branch because he is also the President of the Senate. Where does that put Mr. Cheney, who was not shy about claiming executive privilege on any number of other matters pertaining to secrecy? He doesn't say, except to say that he need not reply to the request for documents. In other words, "That's YOUR problem, chump. Not mine." Congress is now considering using this logic to defund the Office of the Vice President altogether if his position is some sort of Constitutional Neverland. Good luck to them, though respect for FUTURE VEEPs will probably keep them from carrying out the fiscal death penalty.
The President toured eastern Europe this month, and made a statement in Poland that no one was expecting. In order to stop a missile threat to Poland from Iran, the Poles get one of the first anti-missile defense systems from their American pals, us. Does this seem odd, considering that there has been no successful test of an anti-missile system despite over $100 billion in expenditures trying to make it work since the Reagan days? Iran has no nuclear weapons and no ICBMs capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to Poland. And since when are the Iranians determined to attack Poland for ANY reason? So Bush promised a non-existing system to guard against a non-existent threat for a country which not only hasn't asked for it, but in fact opposes by a 3-to-1 margin. The answer, I must conclude, is in the answer to the question: Who benefits from such a plan? No, not Christian conservatives or anti-Muslim Polish Catholics, but the large (or we could say "big") businesses involved in designing, building and deploying the system - the same ones who've collected the $100 billion plus. After all, we have to keep them going even if peace should break out.
My favorite target, Vice President Cheney, has almost outdone himself by finding a new explanation for ignoring a government edict from the President himself aimed at members of the Executive Branch with the purpose of gathering materials for the National Archives. The VEEP, who has ignored these annual requests for four years, now tells us why. The Vice President, according to the incumbent, is NOT actually a member of the Executive Branch because he is also the President of the Senate. Where does that put Mr. Cheney, who was not shy about claiming executive privilege on any number of other matters pertaining to secrecy? He doesn't say, except to say that he need not reply to the request for documents. In other words, "That's YOUR problem, chump. Not mine." Congress is now considering using this logic to defund the Office of the Vice President altogether if his position is some sort of Constitutional Neverland. Good luck to them, though respect for FUTURE VEEPs will probably keep them from carrying out the fiscal death penalty.
The President toured eastern Europe this month, and made a statement in Poland that no one was expecting. In order to stop a missile threat to Poland from Iran, the Poles get one of the first anti-missile defense systems from their American pals, us. Does this seem odd, considering that there has been no successful test of an anti-missile system despite over $100 billion in expenditures trying to make it work since the Reagan days? Iran has no nuclear weapons and no ICBMs capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to Poland. And since when are the Iranians determined to attack Poland for ANY reason? So Bush promised a non-existing system to guard against a non-existent threat for a country which not only hasn't asked for it, but in fact opposes by a 3-to-1 margin. The answer, I must conclude, is in the answer to the question: Who benefits from such a plan? No, not Christian conservatives or anti-Muslim Polish Catholics, but the large (or we could say "big") businesses involved in designing, building and deploying the system - the same ones who've collected the $100 billion plus. After all, we have to keep them going even if peace should break out.
posted by Mark at 7:10 PM
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