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The Honorable Richard B. Cheney
President
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Mr. President:
The above is a direct quote from a letter sent on Department of Justice Stationary and signed by Brian A. Benczkoski, Principal Assistant Deputy Attorney General.
Yeah, I did a double take. Then a triple take. Then I read that third line in the address more slowly--and after a brief interlude to defibrillate my heart--went on to read the rest of the letter.
It's a report of how many FISA warrants and National Security letters were applied for and issued. You can read the numbers of yourself. What is noteworthy about the letter (aside from the heartstopping effect of reading the address too quickly) is this:
In March 2007, the Inspector General of the Department of Justice released a report regarding the FBI's use of NSLs. One of the Inspector General's findings was that several factors concerning the manner in which NSLs are tracked in the FBI's database have resulted in inaccuracies in numbers reported to Congress in recent reports.
--snip--
.....the statistics for 2006 should be considered approximate.
--snip--
.....the total numbers could include instances in which [a given] individual [using aliases] was counted more than once.
[emphasis mine]
You got it right. The reports to Congress on the use of NSLs are wrong and the FBI is never going to be able to give Congress hard and fast correct numbers. How in hell can anyone do proper oversight when they cannot get accurate information?
Tell me please, when do heads (figuratively) roll?
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hey, lhp!
LHP!
Isn’t the flip answer: When hell freezes over.
what? you expect them to be precise and accurate when violating our constitutionally protected rights?
When do heads literally roll?!!
there is no oversite when it comes to this administration, the very first time congress allowed him to get away without adhering to standards of oversite was the floodgate
then when congress did not jail officials that defied subpeona the floodgates collapsed entirely
LHP!
“Tell me please, when do heads (figuratively) roll?”
In this administration, heads don’t roll. EYES roll.
Bob in HI
Why is any Executive Branch department member submitting a report to the incumbent of an entirely ceremonial office, anyway? Shouldn’t this report be submitted to a committee chair? Why did he write it to Cheney?
I do not like seeing any of Darth’s encroachment on power legitimized by the executive branch. We may have ourselves a Chancellor before the year is out.
Norske, Honey, you know we NEVER advocate violence on this site. But I get your point.
Nevah blub will pardon everyone…but you already know that. we can all thank Nancy for her fuckery…. to her there is no Table… never Impeachment hearings…
OK, I think Bob wins the quotable quote of the day prize!
Digg this
I think everything about this letter is hinky and dripping with irony.
Done!
The entire nation security homeland thingy is a complete waste of time and a means to keep people scare while others get rich off it and and wield power.
I’ve begun to work in the Empire State Building and they are about to ramp up their overly crazy security measures such that visitors must be on a list or they can’t go upstairs to see someone. So all appointments must be scheduled and logged in with bldg security and they must have 30 - 50 security people in the lobby all day. Jeeze you’d think we are under attack and their are spies everywhere.
This entire security thing is repulsive and I wonder if we can ever get rid of it or will it only keewp getting worse??? We still have soldiers with weapons prancing around Grand Central Station like they do in the 3rd world.
Can Obama change that too?
I am so afraid you are right. Do you draw back from being an armed state?
The Supreme Court gun case has added legitimacy, and things like the wall in the south will mean more armed officialdom. Maybe there is a way to reframe our safety. But like the war, all this hardware makes alot of money.
Private building security is NOT set by DHS.
This is what their private security contractor is telling them to do.
You should know Usama bin Laden had long longed to blow up the Empire State Building, so maybe they know something we don’t know
the good rev. wright called it homeland stupidity (instead of homeland security).
Wow, for calendar year ‘07, FISC approved 2,370, modified 86, denied only 3, and 1 in part… Sounds like the Maladministration is ham-strung by the FISC…!
There will be no oversight of this administration until George has left the building. January, 2009 will be a very important month. The end of the regime and beginning of the Obama Administration investigation into the Bush Crime spree.
These numbers were taken from CNN’s Political web site. The Dem’s had a much greater turn out in the primaries than the GOP, nearly double for many states. The only three states that had more GOP’s voters was Alabama, Arizona (McCaint’s) and Utah. I believe the GOP will have extremely low turn out for the general election. Watch the crowds that show up for McCaint’s campaign, will they be small?
The States that have no numbers had caucus and I didn’t have the numbers for total votes.
Jan 3 Iowa Dems GOP 118,691
Jan 3 Joseph Biden and Chris Dodd withdrew
Jan 8 New Hamp. Dems 284,104 GOP 233,381
Jan 9 Nevada Dems GOP
Jan 10 Bill Richardson withdrew
Jan 22 Fred Thompson withdrew
Jan 24 Dennis Kucinich withdrew
Jan 26 S. Carolina Dems 530,322 GOP 442,918
Jan 30 John Edwards suspended his campaign
Jan 30 Rudy Giuliani withdrew
Feb 5 Alabama Dems 539,925 GOP 564,016
Feb 5 Alaska Dems Delegates GOP Delegates
Feb 5 Arizona Dems 443,426 GOP 476,638
Feb 5 Arkansas Dems 307,318 GOP 224,581
Feb 5 California Dems 4,375,496 GOP 2,514,047
Feb 5 Colorado Dems 119,184 GOP 55,845
Feb 5 Connecticut Dems 350,595 GOP 150,159
Feb 5 Delaware Dems 95,979 GOP 50,062
Feb 5 Georgia Dems 1,046,485 GOP 954,462
Feb 5 Idaho Dems Delegates GOP Votes May 27
Feb 5 Kansas Dems Delegates GOP Delegates
Feb 5 Mass Dems 1,244,133 GOP 496,171
Feb 5 Missouri Dems 820,453 GOP 584,618
Feb 5 Minnesota Dems Delegates GOP Delegates
Feb 5 New Jersey Dems 1,109,369 GOP 556,855
Feb 5 New Mexico Dems 148,404 GOP Votes June 3
Feb 5 New York Dems 1,721,262 GOP 602,747
Feb 5 North Dakota Dems Delegates GOP Delegates
Feb 5 Oklahoma Dems 401,230 GOP 329,843
Feb 5 Tenn Dems 614,096 GOP 547,614
Feb 5 Utah Dems 122,617 GOP 283,759
Feb 6 Illinois Dems 2,003,800 GOP 885,009
Feb 7 Mitt Romney withdrew
Feb 9 Louisiana Dems 357,547 GOP 156,101
Feb 9 Nebraska Dems Delegates GOP Votes May 13
Feb 10 Maine
Feb 12 Wash DC Dems 113,157 GOP 5,711
Feb 12 Maryland Dems 760,314 GOP 286,843
Feb 12 Virginia Dems 970,393 GOP 481,980
Feb 19 Hawaii Dems Delegates GOP Votes May 18
Feb 19 Washington Dems Non Binding Delegates GOP 516,631
Feb 19 Wisconsin Dems 1,099,661 GOP 403,568
Operation Chaos began, numbers didn’t change much, Ohio & Texas still twice as many Dems as Rep. voting.
As for Rhode Island & Vermont having so many Dem votes, here is what wiki has to say about those states.
” Rhode Island is one of the most reliably Democratic states during presidential elections, regularly giving the Democratic nominees one of their best showings. “
” In 1992, it supported Democrat Bill Clinton for president and has voted for Democrats in every presidential election since.”
March 4 Ohio Dems 2,186,831 GOP 1,010,864
March 4 Rhode Island Dems 184,904 GOP 25,649
March 4 Texas Dems 2,818,599 GOP 1,320,653
March 4 Vermont Dems 151,380 GOP 36,730
****************************************************************************
March 4 Mike Huckabee withdrew
March 5 Bush met with GOP Candiate McCain
March 8 Wyoming Dems GOP Jan 5
March 11 Miss Dems 411,495 GOP 136,527
April 22 Penn Dems 2,300,542 GOP 804,846
May 6 Indiana
May 6 N. Carolina Dems GOP
May 13 W Virginia Dems GOP Feb 5
May 20 Kentucky Dems GOP
May 20 Oregon Dems GOP
June 3 Montana Dem GOP Feb 5
June 3 S. Dakota Dems GOP
…………………………………………………………..
Fl and MI Undecided
oh, you did all the homework. Thank you so much.
OMFG!
Nice job!
With this Congress? It’s never gonna happen. They are oversight-averse.
Sorry, Vermont should have been in front of the statement
Vermont
From wiki
So what do they do with tourists who go to the top? That’s where the vulnerability is.
Given what you say, I’m glad I’m not working in one of those Manhattan sky scrapers anymore.
What CAN Obi really change? Can he de militarize this country?
The fact is that FISA as it exists is already an unconstitutional infringement on the rights of American citizens. Maybe its needed, maybe not.
Does he want to demilitarize. The U.S. has a really really big hammer, so all the world’s problems look like nails.
Tourists have a separate entrance and access to the top. Our firm used to be on 84 but they moved to 74… I don’t think the tourist security is as intense as ours is, but I will check. The place is flooded with tourists though. This is worse than Rock Center.
I agree and that is the problem. Our foreign service is a nest of CIA ops… and our foreign policy is driven by protecting our strategic interests… which are???
Sunshine, as I was watching the numbers last nite, I found it heartening that, Hill’s NC totals doubled McInsane’s and Obama’s almost tripled his… I was fascinated that none of the talking heads were covering those vote disparities…!
I like this new FDL show text thingy… I’ve been away .. I mean at work…so I missed a lot
I’m kinda surprised that we still have tourists, what with the painful airport entries. On the other hand, the euro is so much more valuable than the dollar…
Oil, of course…! Didn’t you get the memo…? ;-)
the MSM wants a horse race… they even call an election cycle the “presidential race.. or the senate race… so they can “call” these events like sports and make lots of bucks at it.
Out MSM is disgusting, what a bunch of slackers and suck ups. I won’t read any of it any more. WWW for me.
I know it’s oil, but they don’t say… we are protecting our oil. That sounds awfully grabby…
Canadians are doing some touring now too. Americans - not so much.
Didn’t Greenspan let it slip out? Even, McInsane…
Hmmm… Ya don’t say? ;-)
Mr. Benczkoski sure knows how to kiss up and shat down. I would be more comfortable if he had addressed Mr. Cheney as “Vice President and President of the Senate.”
That little drip of brown from Mr. Benczkoski’s nose aside, I hope he addresses his information to Congress to more people than just Mr. Fourth Branch, cause he’d never pass it on.
By the way, is anybody in Congress at home, alive, not yet fallen asleep next to those lookalike pods Mr. Cheney’s praetorians helpfully put in their office, car and home? Because the administration is telling Congress a bunch of hooey, and Congress is saying, “Fine by me”.
As I said, the Empire State Bldg vulnerability is tourists, not visitors to businesses. Even if they ask for photo ID, they can’t stop a terrorist from setting off a suicide bomb in the elevator shaft. I highly doubt that tourists go thru bomb detectors, and probably not even metal detectators, unless they have lockers where tourists can check bag.
Then there’s the Starlight Room. What a classy way to go! Doubt that they subject people with reservations there to metal & bomb detectors.
Making all the other security a farce.
I don’t believe it is possible. I pray that it is, we waste far, far too much on implements of war. The framers didn’t desire but the least of standing military forces, this being one of their greatest fears and they certainly intended for it to be a defensive force. Convienently cast aside is that this is the whole rationale behiond the well armed militia thing.
Whatever anybody else has that has any value are belong to us. Diamonds, Minerals, Metals, Oil, Gas, Water, Persian Rugs, Mexican blankets…
We will do wahtever it takes to cheat them out of their good stuff. Proud to be an American.
looseheadpropedness, could you do me a favor?
could you tell me if it has been common practice to call the vice president “mr president”?
I know he is president of the senate, but really, do they really refer to him as “mr president”?
So that, given 260 work/days per year, equals 9.46 per diem, or a little more than one an hour. This is clogged? Ack! Cheney you do more than lie.
Heh, mahalo for crunching the numbers…! ;-)
Obviously, he’s made us not only more militant, but more openly militant. We don’t even try to make our actions covert to maintain a reputation and moral authority anymore. We’ve instead reverted to survival of the fittest; might makes right!
Empire and Manifest Destiny to be THE SUPREME RULER OF ALL TIME.
Our bully President has surely molded us into a bully nation. It did not all start with him, but he took his bull horn and never slowed down.
What do you mean?
From his bully Pulpit, eh Rev?
It’s like double secret probation. There is a slew of protocol, but Mr. Cheney makes much of his up, the same way he makes up his classifications for documents.
Ordinarily, it’s Mr. Vice President, then his subsidiary titles if relevant to the communication. Except that that has the inescapable fragrance of lilies-in-the-parlor, state funerals and dam-ribbon-cuttings, the normal jobs of every Vice President until Big Dick.
Mr. Cheney makes up his own job, which is why he took it, and Lil’ Shrub let’s him. Hence, the legion of questions about Oedipus and who pitches and who catches in the CheneyBush White House.
Great work, sunshine!
However, it appears your Jan 3 Iowa is missing a Dems number
That’s good…I hope our the messages are different.
loosehead, i have been gone since last thursday and needed something to feed to the call-in show tomorrow morning, nothing further on things i’ve been working on, cuz i’ve been gone….woulda just been reminders of fisa being attached, bring up ledbetter fair pay act again, farm bill which is way not about farming, so, haven’t had time to review all of the threads, needed something to feed ’my people’….this will do.
thanks.
p.s. (one guy said they should call me ’info lady’ then another guy called and said he was going to call me ’lady liberty’…..i like it, give me your poor, your tired, your hungry………can’t call if i don’t have something ’new’ thanks.)
1-800-405-or 450-8293 capitol switchboard
and rep’s rep said also call local offices for more of an exchange, dc is interns, district offices are policy people. call both……get district numbers from dc office.
I mean that the administration is telling Congress that it’s abusing its authority, as in its abuse of NSL’s, and Congress is taking no action. Arguably, Congress is thereby legitimizing the administration’s most extreme claims. Those aren’t limited to NSL’s, signing statements, the definitions of torture or war. Congress seems just to be waiting for Bush to “be over” as much as George. Except that the abuses continue, as does their harm.
b4t that’s my point, if this has never been done to address another vice president then he is not only assuming the role of president, he is making it clear to congress
congress has to be as bat shit as cheney for them to address him as mr president if it has not been done prior
bmaz brings great news on NSL’s…
I’m sure you don’t preach Shrub’s misbegotten words…! ;-)
I’ve been up since 5 EST, I got to crash. I have to be awake for a judges reception tomorrow night
“and rep’s rep said also call local offices for more of an exchange, dc is interns, district offices are policy people. call both……get district numbers from dc office.”
Funny, I was told the exact opposite when I was calling about the Farm Bill. The local office told me to call dc because that’s where they do policy. He said he didn’t know about, etc. because the local office does constituent services. Maybe it’s all a cover.
Thanks, EOH. It seems to me like congress is taking baby steps now, though. Maybe there is a plan so that everything will fall in to place late October?
Have fun hanging out with their honors
Thank you…misbegotten and mispronounced.
Aloha, lhp! Excellent post…! ;-)
Nighters and thanks again, LHP.
OT
OMG Just heard an ad for the US Air Force claiming that foreigners could take out all US civilian communications from space, and that the air force is there to protect us from that. Take about fear factor. Talk about militarization of space. Makes me want to puke.
I was stunned today, when the EPA’s George Gray declined to discuss Mary Gade’s ouster. There is no oversight.
Heh, I thought his phonetically spelled speeches took care of the matter… Silly me! ;-)
DADDY!
You know, it struck me as odd that the Honorable Dick Cheney, President of the Senate, is claiming executive privilege as a member of the Executive Branch. If the Honorable Dick Cheney, President of the Senate, is served with a subpoena by that very same Senate of the United States of America, it would be hard to imagine . . . cough, cough . . . that he would stand up against his colleagues in the Senate of the United States and refuse to allow them to ask him questions.
Or, for that matter, to ask questions of his subordinate, David Addington.
Because inquiring Senatorial minds want to know, after all.
I just saw that too. Its a recruitment ad. Hey kids, learn how to spy on your neigbors from space. Its been getting a lot of play.
did I hear Tim Russert correctly when he declared “this race is over” and called Senator Obama the presumptive nominee?
I thought there was that whole, Fourth Branch issue that empowered Darth…!
The Air Force Academy is filled by real wack jobs. Wonder how far it permeates into the entire organization.
So odd. Sounds like she was doing her job.
Yes, silly Tuttle: I thought his phonetically spelled speeches took care of the matter… Silly me! ;-)
You forget he can’t read. Not nice really.
Pretty brazen for someone who would undoubtedly tell you he is a strict constructionist of the constitution…!
When do we remove the military from their pedestal?
They are merely are scared cash cow for the manipulators.
But ever more clearly, they LIKE to ‘play’ …
The are ex-service members who will be upset that I ask that and that I say that.
But the question is legitimate and the statement stands …
But, at least he can handle “My Pet Goat”… oh wait… Sorry…! ;-)
Right. Dick had maintained previously that he (his office) was not a part of the eggsecutive branch. It (he - Jabba the Hutt) is a separate entity that is neither here nor there. Apparently, he is now here. Will they subpoena him now?
sandman at 68–been outta town, i missed that, what isit?
OT
there’s a great quiz at Salon to see who Obama’s VP should be.
How many votes does Dick have?
Yes, you’re right. Technically, the letter seems to be from a senior attorney in Bush’s Justice Department to Cheney, not one from Congress to Cheney.
Up until the Libby trial and conviction, and certainly before the 2006 election, Cheney got away with these games because he was the most powerful politician in Washington. He could get the President to do whatever he wanted, but could hide behind him, because Bush had legal liability as CEO for Cheney’s actions. I think everybody inside the Beltway understood that and played along.
Since then, the curtain’s been pulled back from the wizard, and Cheney’s role is more exposed. He still has power over Bush, and half of Congress and much of the MSM still play along, but more and more people are seeing light at the end of the tunnel. But as with torture and war, the wrongs are not limited to Bush and Cheney.
I am well known here for direspecting the military so anything I would say in response would be known in advance. Frankly I think the outlook for the U.S. is hopeless as long as we’re in the hands of the military, but that’s just me.
Geez, If only I could spell ….(shaking head, rattling noises inside …)
dwbartoo at 78 and others—
did you see any of ’carrier’ on pbs?
No.
But they will subpoena his various subordinates . . . assistants to, advisers, associate advisers, assistants to the associate advisers, etc.
A bipartisan aisle-reach extraordinarily rendered.
I would like to point out one thing, the military is told what to do by the ‘Civilian Leadership’, DW, not the other way around…!
I’ve been noticing your comments, and agree with them.
I want to see more discussion of this damnable reality, not less, eCAHN.
No, only heard Raven abd Bobby G speak of it.
echan at 85—what hands should we be in? for the best result?
And the military has its head so far up its civilian masters’ assholes that …
Geez, I thought Curtis Lemay was long dead and buried.
zip ! It’s fun because you pick the type of person you want and it tells you who you have chosen. My choice came up Sibelius.
I think that should be Sebelius
Good night. Such a nice evening.
I was up at dawn to hear more of the results.
CTut, I know that is how the ‘game’ is played.
How do you think it might be changed.
Throughout HISTORY, what you say has been true.
How may we change it so that we might continue to HAVE any history?
CTut, as you may know, I refused to go and kill Vietnamese people.
But I am just as culpable as Raven or SouthernDragon.
From the letter cited in the post above:
The incarcerations based on those errors, on the other hand, should be considered inviolable and beyond reproach.
Would rather have a wonderful composer in the spot.
The Pentagon brass is beholdened to the the leadership, no doubt there, but, it’s the Civialian Leadership that truly calls the shots…!
Not a bad guess, by any approximation.
revbev–then the asshat was coverin’ and ridin’ the gravy train, my rep in the local office knows all of what is going on, all of it…….and tell the dc office that the district guy didn’t know anything and ask for a response from the rep/sen about that…….report their ass……..stay on them…..sorry for the cuss words, am in a mood for them.
and whomever posted the long eastern european name b with a lot of z’s and such, can’t find it in the comments again, wanted to do a search…..what is it?
winding down from the trip, signing off soon…..
The principal way is the promotion system for the ‘Flag’ officers… in that, the stars are awarded by congress, we need to address the desire to promote the Neocons in the ranks, like Betrayus, and promote the Officers who are hesitant to pull the trigger… Powell told Bush Sr. not to exceed the UN mandate and invade Iraq, but, Dubya, promoted and looked to Generals that were willing to to do it…!
JHFC, I picked Wesley Clark. Last time I’ll do a political quiz. Gave up my crystal ball for the same reason.
Thanks CTut, that is a good and thoughtful answer.
The problem then, is simply the conflation of the political with the military.
More complex is the role assigned to the military, generally, however, which is that of stepping ‘in’ when the black ops or mencenary ‘interests’ have failed the ‘economic’ interests of the corporate culture, which is just what Eisenhower spoke to.
When you then factor in the combined ‘economic’ interests of the military to ‘fund’ their toys, we have a cultural mishmash which must be mythologized, just as sugar helps the medicine ‘go down’.
It is central, in fact, to our myth of the upright ‘citizen’ military which each generation is expected to ‘feed’.
Without question ….