The Rules Don't Apply If Your Name Is Dick

Update: Bush belatedly contracts me-too-itis, according to the LA Times:

"WASHINGTON — The White House said Friday that, like Vice President Dick Cheney's office, President Bush's office is not allowing an independent federal watchdog to oversee its handling of classified national security information.

"An executive order that Bush issued in March 2003 — amending an existing order — requires all government agencies that are part of the executive branch to submit to oversight.

"Although it doesn't specifically say so, Bush's order was not meant to apply to the vice president's office or the president's office, a White House spokesman said."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-cheney23jun23,0,863839.story

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Whether shooting old hunting pals in the face, calling journalists "real assholes," boldly telling Congresspeople to "go fuck themselves," blocking promotions of folks who disagree with his superior legal opinions when it comes to desperately needed warrantless wiretapping, conducting foreign policy by telling the Russians what's what, or surreptitiously declassifying an undercover operative's identity to teach her no-good Iraq-nay-saying traitorous husband a lesson, we have to give it to the Dick.

He knows that what's good for Dick Cheney is good for the country, & he isn't about to let democracy or democratic government procedures get in his way.

Today's most interesting news item (title bar) proves that Dick has the balls to stand up to anyone & everyone who would tell him he HAS to do anything he doesn't wanna, whether it was the news several days ago that he ordered Secret Service records of his visitors to the White House be kept hush-hush, or today's news that he not only has stopped complying with the Bush White House orders to report the handling of classified information, he also wants the office requesting it to be abolished.

"The standoff disclosed yesterday stems from an executive order establishing a uniform, government-wide system for safeguarding classified information. The order was first signed by President Bill Clinton in 1995 and was updated and reissued by President Bush in 2003. Under the order, an "entity within the executive branch that comes into the possession of classified information" must report annually how much it is keeping secret.

"Cheney's office filed annual reports in 2001 and 2002 describing its classification activities but stopped filing in 2003, according to internal administration letters released yesterday. Cheney's office made the case that it is not covered because the vice president under the Constitution also serves as president of the Senate and therefore has both legislative and executive duties.

"In 2004, the Archives' Information Security Oversight Office, a 25-member agency responsible for securing classified information, decided to conduct an on-site inspection of Cheney's office to see how sensitive material was handled. The vice president's staff, according to a letter Waxman sent Cheney, blocked the inspection."

Alberto Gonzales is reportedly looking into Cheney's failure to comply. Uh-huh.