I would not want to be the paper shredder in Dick Cheney's office.
That poor device is going to be running 24/7 from now until January 20, 2009. It probably started when CNN declared Obama the winner and has been going non-stop since. That crooked and devious thief is going leave behind a remarkably thin paper trail. When he's done 'clearing out', his office will look like Christmas morning in Who-ville after the Grinch cleaned them out. Just some hooks on the wall, a few wires and little piles of dust here and there.
Image courtesy of Dr. Seuss
(Cross posted at The National Gadfly)
How many emails will be 'lost'? How many laptops? How many hard drives? How many boxes entire rooms of paper documents will be lost, burned, misplaced or denied the very existence of?
He telegraphed his intentions already by asking a US Federal Judge for permission to leave no trace of his foul deeds. In a welcome move of overt support for the US Constitution, "Dick" Cheney's request to hide his illegal activities from public scrutiny and accountability was denied. Even more delightful was the clear language in the ruling that demonstrated how this Dick would not get away with the same shenanigans as the last Dick (Nixon) to try and destroy evidence of his criminal abuse of the public trust.
From Countdown to Crawford, LAT Blog
In her ruling, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly cast doubt on the vice president's argument, given that the Presidential Records Act was specifically amended to prevent former President Richard Nixon from destroying any of the tapes or documents that led to his resignation.
Seriously, in law there is this concept of 'foreseeable results' that assign fault to those that claim to have not been able to predict the crime that occurred. In this case, it means that we already know enough to predict that Dick Cheney will do everything he can to hide, obfuscate, deny and impede. The guilt of his past and present deeds are his, but it is our fault if we do not stop him right now from hiding or destroying evidence.
A zebra cannot change its stripes. Dick Cheney cannot stop abusing power. Contact your Representative, your Senator and the Department of Justice to demand oversight of Tricky Dick v. 2.0 before he has a chance to hide any more evidence than he's already destroyed.
We have a great deal of work to do in order to repair our country. We have a ruined economy and two disastrous wars. Dwelling on the past is often a distraction, but the past actions of Dick Cheney's assault on the rule of law will hamper our efforts to create a lasting, meaningful reform of our economy, our military and our legal system. His sordid efforts to reduce The Constitution of the United States into a permission slip for GOP military tyrants is not a distraction. It is a cancerous legacy that has weakened the country for the financial gain of oil companies and defense contractors. So long as these giant financial entities have unchecked control of our government, we have no chance for security, stability or prosperity.
He is a thief and a liar. Stop. Him. Now.
- gadfly