COULD be illegal? Bet on it.

OK, peeps, I know this was a long time ago, relatively speaking. And that we want to forget the past 8 years of increasingly dictatorial control of a supposed democratic republic by a bunch of guys who preferred to focus on bringing that democracy to other countries, but I can't let this one slide- and neither should our current congress or far more transparent presidential administration. (Read that: We hear from our President and we know that our Vice President isn't sneaking around behind the scenes telling lackeys to torture or kill people he doesn't like or trust. For Jebus's sake, who out there trusts Dick Cheney, but we let that bastard live, and we don't even offer to smack his knees with a baseball bat?)

It doesn't matter if those people aren't in control of the government now; they are in control of their publicity, still, with their little book deals and talks and this has got to stop. Listen, when you are told on the radio by reporters who are at least half on board with that phenomenon called investigative journalism, you have to actually put two and two together when they rattle off an historical list of how secrecy has been maneuvered in our federal government over the last say, 60 years, and know that it is not OK (read: yes, that's illegal) to set up these kinds of secret operations- WITH NO ACCOUNTABILITY TO ANYONE- and that especially that's not even the VP's job. No wonder Sarah Palin failed miserably when asked what her role would be as Veep; Dick Cheney was a bad role model!

Simply, put, before I go to work: It does not matter that things are changing and we are looking forward. Not to hold the people responsible in our recent past for their crimes is to say implicitly, "Well, they messed up, but it's OK." In that case, what the hell? What's the big deal about Nazi trials, and reparation in South Africa? But, then, I forget so easily that we are still all agog in this country that a man with Obama's skin color and name was voted into our highest office.

People, we are digging our own graves. Lazy dummies.

Here:

Cheney hid CIA program from Congress: senator

Sun Jul 12, 9:18 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The CIA withheld information from the U.S. Congress about a secret counterterrorism program on orders from former Vice President Dick Cheney, a senator said on Sunday as Democrats called for an investigation.

Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein told "Fox News Sunday" that CIA Director Leon Panetta disclosed Cheney's involvement when he briefed members of Congress two weeks ago. She said Panetta told them he had canceled the program.

President Barack Obama, a Democrat, appointed Panetta to head the agency early this year. The still-secret program, which The New York Times said never became operational, began after the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001.

The Wall Street Journal said the secret initiative terminated by Panetta was an effort to carry out a 2001 authorization by then Republican President George W. Bush to capture or kill al Qaeda operatives.

Citing current and former government officials, the newspaper reported the CIA spent money on planning and possibly some training but the initiative had not become fully operational. Panetta ended the CIA effort after learning about it on June 23, the Journal said.

'COULD BE ILLEGAL'

(More at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090713/pl_nm/us_security_usa_cheney)