The Cheney Coup

The Washington Post is doing a multi-part series about the things it has uncovered about the Vice Presidency of Dick Cheney. This is, perhaps, the most explosive journalistic work the Post has done since blowing the lid off Watergate in the 70s, but it seems to be barely getting any notice.

The series has revealed:

* How Cheney engineered the presidential order that denied terrorism suspects access to courts, and then made sure that it was not subjected to review by anyone else.

* How Cheney spied on others in the White House — enacting a system where he’d read supposedly confidential communications between Condoleeza Rice and her subordinates, without notification.

* How Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice didn’t find out about Cheney’s “torture memo” (which makes a radical reversal of established US detention and interrogation policy, in ways that would seriously impact on our standing in the world) until they read about it in the newspapers two years later.

There’s more. Much more. In short, the Washington Post is documenting the fact that Dick Cheney has enacted an internal coup…..against not only the country, but the rule of law itself.

Read the series here, at the WashPo website. The final installment comes out tomorrow.

Pass this link on to everyone you know. This stuff needs to be known.

High School Students For Teh WIN.

50 high school students, designated as Presidental Scholars, were in the White House yesterday, invited there to be backdrops for a Bush fluff speech about his No Child Left Behind policy.

The students, however, had other plans. Saying that they had a responsibility to voice their convictions, the students handed Bush a hand-written letter urging a halt to torture and violations of human rights committed by his regime.

A quote: “We do not want America to represent torture. We urge you to do all in your power to stop violations of the human rights of detainees, to cease illegal renditions, and to apply the Geneva Convention to all detainees, including those designated enemy combatants.”

Bush, of course, lied to them. He said that “the United States does not torture.”

But damn — hijacking a bullshit propaganda session, making a principled stance and speaking truth to power…. the parents of these kids should be proud as hell. In fact, we should all be proud of them.