Anniversaries, eavesdropping, and a charming reminder of Hitler - posted at 09:51

Yesterday, to mark the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, our classy Vice President Dick Cheney spent the day not visiting maimed veterans of the war or the families of those who have lost loved ones or even anything reverential at all, but rather raising money for the GOP giving a speech in Ohio. During this speech he devoted some time blasting Democrats for wanting to censure the President for his domestic wire-tapping program. This is a subject that I was frankly too exhausted to write about when this made it big in the media the first time, but now that it's being brought up again, the time is ripe.

This program has a huge amount of support in the population, which angers me to no end. Sure, the program may be good, may be necessary, I'll give it that, but to condone the program while ignoring how it came into use is criminal. The American people do not seem to be bothered by the fact that the executive branch just decided it was necessary and circumvented the necessary judicial means to get it approved, even though they could do so after the fact. People, this is why we have separation of powers -- so some power-hungry President doesn't decide that he can do whatever he wants to. Bush may claim that this program is legal, but I've got news for him -- unless it is approved by the FISA courts, it's not, by definition.

This is a scary precedent to be setting. The possibilities of what the executive branch could just arbitrarily decide are and aren't legal is too staggering and frightening for me to fully comprehend in the time in which I have to write this. So, by all means, let your imaginations run free on that! Spend some time and think about it, because this administration is really lapping up the fact that a lot of Americans aren't engaging their brains on this one.

Proof of this? One woman who listened to him speak shared this reaction:

"I don't even know what he said, it was just fun to see him!" [Laughs] "Wonderful to see him! Makes you feel, anyways for me it made me feel like a real American."

That is exactly what people said when they saw Hitler speak!

Congratulations, Bush and Cheney. This is your base. Something to be proud of, no?