The Shape Of Things To Come

I'd like to bring an observation to your attention which further underscores the extentto which once conservative forced in our government are about to be rolled back and forced in to obscurity.

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The House committee on government oversight and reform held its open session today for a total of four hours and twenty minutes. Valery Plame Wilson was the first person to testify. She had the floor for two hours, approximately. Afterwards, Waxman questioned the director of White House records and information policy as well as the director of White House records and information security. This was followed by a presentation made by two different laywers. One defending the Bush position on the Libby verdict and the U.S. Attorney scandal, while the other presented the case against President Bush in these matters.

During her testimony, Mrs. Wilson told her side ofthe story. According to her, it was decided by her superiors to send Joe Wilson to Niger to follow up on the rumor of an alleged Iraqi uranium purchase. It was her contention that her supervisors thought it was a good idea to send Mr. Wilson on this errand, which they deemed of dubious importance. As part of her testimony, she directed the committee in general terms to seek out certain individuals and memorandums that would back up her story. She was asked her opinion regarding several "hypothetical" security breach scenarios.

The net result appeared to me to be that Waxman was angling for a new round of subpoenas aimed at persons inside the Vice President's office and the Attorney General's office. When the White House directors for information policy and seucrity each admitted that they had not yet started any investigations on to the Libby or Plame-Wilson matters, Waxman became irritated. When they asnwered in the negative about activities relating to the Attorney General's office, Representative Waxman had more to be unhappy about.

Both of the laywers who presented pro and con arguments regarding administration activities were of the opinion that the letter of the law was still in tact. Questions of proper behavior remained unresolved, but no actual legal transgressions had occurred in regards to the U.S. Attorney scandal. Both were also in agreement that an actual security breach had taken place in the Vice President's office relating to the Plame-Wilson affair, though their opinions over motive differed.

There was no testimony from special prosecutor Fitzergald.

The stage now seems to be set for the Attorney General to be called before this committee. Large-scale examiniation of sensetive records seems likely. Documents from the Vice President's office and that of the A.G. are likely to be sought by this committee. Despite persistent questioning, the committee didn't seem to be able to find the Vice President worthy of a subpoena during this hearing.

Having seen all this for myself, it now seems likely that Alberto Gonzales will be called before the House and Senate oversight and judiciary committees. Guilty or not, he gets to be the administrations sacrificial lamb. I have no doubt that shredders are running at full speed inside his office as you read these words.

What does this mean for the Republican party?

1. Office of the Vice President

Verdicts in the Libby trial, combined with testimony taken before this House oversight committee, will justify subpoenas for staffers and documents inside the office of the Vice President. Let's just call this what it will be. A fishing expedition. The door will be open to probe Iraq war intelligence and a whole host of "other" issues that may interest the majority leadership in both houses of Congress.

2. Office of the Attorney General

The U.S. Attorney scandal provides the justification for a fishing expedition here, too. Look for topics like border security, surveillance, and detainee torture practices to be examined in a very public way. It could be months before Gonzales himself takes the stand or is forced to resign. It seems likely that special prosecutor Fitzgerald was not present at today's hearing so that he could appear "objective" as he warms up his legal team to plunge in to these deep and bloody waters.

If the Rumsfeld resignation was a stunning blow to the Bush43 administration, today's oversight committee hearings marked the beginning of a very messy end for what is already a lame duck President. I have said for some time now that this was the most likely outcome of recent events, and I see no reason to change that opinion now.

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We're about to see the start of legitimate criminal investigations and an even longer list of premeditated witch hunts. the end result will be a drastically reduced conservative presence in Federal-level government. I contend that this imbalance of ideological representation will accelerate the decay of our civil rights. The net result will be the future that I have previously predicted.

Oh! Those words come with a ghostly ring to them. Let's see, where have we heard something like that before:

1. The Patriot Act
2. Illeagle Wiretapping
3. Invasive Airport Search Technology

I just hope the Bill of Rights doesn't leave to that tune.

Tim

As much fun as we have with conspiracy theory, its important to understand that there's a real hidden agenda taking place right in front of us. It goes on every day. The people who lead us have lost whatever respect they may have had for us, and they're not in the least bit concerned about hiding their contempt.

It's been explained to me that I'm just not "out there" enough for Coast to Coast AM. To be hinest, I feel pretty good about that. I rather like the idea of being just mainstream enough to be heard and understood by the average guy. I wish there were more people like me who had the nerve to point out what's happening to us...as it is happening.

The most tangible cosnpiracy of our time really is the growth in Federal power that now makes it possible for anyone to be watched, arrested, and interrogated, for what amounts to no reason at all. Definitions of National Security are made deliberately vague to the point of absurdity. I've give everything I have to be wrong, but it's not looking like I'll have that luxury.

For the Record, The above list isn't based on theories. I pulled these examples from my local news headlines.

Tim

Very true. Some people ask me if I make this stuff up. Truth really is stranger than fiction. As an indy author, I oughta know.

There are two recent events that I'd like to make note of here. they are widley talked about in other threads here on ATS, but they serve to make my point...again. The political trend that I've been documenting continues. The very real conspiracy hatched by our reigning political and social elites to dominate this country remains in effect.

Very few news groups took note when U.S. Representative
Diane Feinstein stepped down from her post on a top Defense committee after it had been learned that her husband benefitted just a little too much for her influence. As the weeks pass, and the trail goes cold, it seems likely that she'll get away with this blatant and utter ruthelss mis-use of her power.

Her behavior serves to demonstrate the elitist attitude that is so prevelent on Capitol Hill these days. Her willingness to act in what is clearly not in the best interests of the American people makes it quite clear that this real-world conspiracy to centralize power is all too real, and all too successful.

to further demonstrate that these intents are real, I'd like to bring one more recent example to your attention. As you know, John Edwards is a Democrat challenger for his party's Presidential nomination. Until recently he has held himself up to us as an example of honesty and virture. When his wife got bad news about her resurgent cancer, they chose to share that information with us through a national press conference. Even now, there is some debate that the cancer diagnosis is a lie. I've heard many speculate that the whole thing was a publicity stunt to give him a boost in the polls.

As it turns out, those who went to his official web site to send notes of sympathy had their e-mail addressed captured and used for fund raising purposes. That's right, he hit 'em up for money. It's true that his wife may be an innocent casualty in his drive to pad his wallet or to achieve political power, but the fact remains that this callous behavior was premeditated. He meant to do this.

The power brokers who seek to strip the States of the individual authorities are acting in much the same way. They mean to do this...to you.

There is a small matter of government policy that I'd like to bring to your attention. The Fed's "Continuity of Government" policies are often overlooked. I'd like to encourage you to use the link provided in this post to learn about it so that you can form your own opinion.

It's been a while since I posted anything new to this thread, but I'd like to bring a recent development to your attention which backs up assertions I made here one year ago.

ABC News is reporting that recently captured evidence stronly suggests that trans-national terrorists are about to send suicide bombers to Europe and the United States.

In other threads, I have suggested that our leaders might choose to use this coming crisis to take advantage of us. Some of their efforts to centralize power will be accidental, others far more deliberate. This particular news item may turn out to be false, but even so...we're getting glimpse at our near future.

As these bombings occurr, it will be tempting for an American President to declare a National Emergency. It may even happen that such an action is necessary. I hope that it never comes to that, but we need to be ready to try and decide which policy moves are genuine and which are contrived.

Hostile forces are already in place on American soil to make suicide bombs. Because they are not on anyone's watch list, we should expect indoctrinated extremists to enter the United States for the soul purpose of carrying out these attacks. As much as it hurts me to think about it, we'll even have to be ready for that moment when U.S. citizens are found to be the bombers.

I don't relish this. I don't look forward to it. I want to be wrong.

[edit on 18-6-2007 by Justin Oldham]

I'd like to bring some official government activity to your attention to underscore my point. Recent activity from the Vice President's office demonstrates just how deliberate the Federalists are in their quest for ultimate power.

The following news item is take from the official web site of The House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform.

Thursday, June 21, 2007
Administration Oversight

Vice President Exempts His Office from the Requirements for Protecting Classified Information

The Oversight Committee has learned that over the objections of the National Archives, Vice President Cheney exempted his office from the presidential order that establishes government-wide procedures for safeguarding classified national security information. The Vice President asserts that his office is not an “entity within the executive branch.”

As described in a letter from Chairman Waxman to the Vice President, the National Archives protested the Vice President's position in letters written in June 2006 and August 2006. When these letters were ignored, the National Archives wrote to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in January 2007 to seek a resolution of the impasse. The Vice President's staff responded by seeking to abolish the agency within the Archives that is responsible for implementing the President's executive order.

In his letter to the Vice President, Chairman Waxman writes: "I question both the legality and wisdom of your actions. ... [I]t would appear particularly irresponsible to give an office with your history of security breaches an exemption from the safeguards that apply to all other executive branch officials."

A fact sheet prepared by Chairman Waxman describes other instances in which the Vice President's office has sought to avoid oversight and accountability.

Documents referenced from this web source:

Committee Chairman's letter to the Vice President

Letter from the National Archive to the Attorney General

Second letter from the National Archive's to the Vice President's office

First letter from the National Archives to the Vice President's office

Fact Sheet on the Vice President's Efforts to avoid Oversight and Accountability

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You don't have to be a conspiracy theorist to know that there's a double-play going on here. Secrets are being kept, and a new legal precedent is being attempted. Ifit succeeds, future Federal officials will be able to avoid lying by simply telling you that "the Cheney rule" means they don't have to answer your questions.

Who does Dick Cheney think he is????

He can't exempt himself from the laws of the US. Especially the laws that are made to protect national security. As a former Secratery of Defense, he should KNOW better then to come up with this stuff. What's next?

I shudder to think what he might come up with next!

Tim

As I've said before in this very thread, the psychology of the people in power is such that they can easily rationalize these kinds of decisions. We've gone beyond the period where the social and political elites are merely capricious. That ego-driven behavior has been a 'proof' of the conspiracy I've been trying to warn you about.

Somebody had to make this legal challenge, eventually. It could have come from the President, or any of his cabinet officers. The fact that it comes fromthe vice President himself suggests to me that this is more than pre-meditated. It's actually planned. Why? It was only a matter of time before the Houce committee on Government Reform started asking for documents from the VP's office.

This centralized power thing isn't one of your flashy-er conspiracies, so I don't expect it to draw much interest...until...it's too late. Which is why I'm here talking about it. Some day, it'll matter that we had this discussion here in these forums. I'm hopeful that when people dig up the "Best of ATS," they'll read what we've all put here and be just a little informed by what they read here. We may not have the luxury of fixing this until its actually broken, but we can still talk about it and ponder what the real-world fixes actually are.

In an effort to prove that psychology I was talking about, I'd like to show you the following news item.

June 21, 2007 9:39 p.m. PT

Cheney: Office not part of executive branch

Assertion made as part of data battle

By JULIA MALONE
COX NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON -- Dick Cheney, who has wielded extraordinary executive power as he transformed the image of the vice presidency, is asserting that his office is not actually part of the executive branch.

In a simmering dispute with the National Archives that heated up Thursday, Cheney has long maintained that he does not have to comply with an executive order on safeguarding classified information because, in fact, his office is part of the legislature.

Further, Cheney's office tried to abolish the oversight agency involved, according to a Democratic congressman.

Cheney, whose single constitutional duty is to serve as president of the Senate, holds that the vice president's office is not an "entity within the executive branch" and therefore not subject to annual reporting or periodic on-site inspections under the 1995 executive order, which was updated four years ago by President Bush.

The vice president has been refusing to cooperate with the National Archives office assigned to oversee the handling of classified data since 2003.

"We are confident that we are conducting the office properly under the law," vice presidential spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride said.

Democrats, to be sure, took the opposite view. House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, in a letter posted on the Internet Thursday, told Cheney it was "irresponsible" to reject security oversight.

"Your office may have the worst record in the executive branch for safeguarding classified information," the California Democrat wrote.

He cited the conviction of former top Cheney aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby for lying in the investigation into who leaked the identity of a CIA operative.

Waxman said Cheney's office, in a move that "could be construed as retaliation," had tried to abolish the Information Security Oversight Office, the division of the National Archives set up to enforce safeguards for classified information in executive agencies.

Waxman said the oversight office head, William Leonard, told congressional investigators that the vice president's staff had not succeeded.

The National Archives appealed its case for oversight of Cheney's classified information practices to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales last January. Gonzales has not responded.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., when asked about Cheney's claim to be part of the legislative branch, quipped: "I always thought that he was president of this administration."

Constitutional experts were startled at the notion that the vice presidency isn't in the executive branch.

"The vice president is saying he doesn't have to follow the orders of the president," said Garrett Epps, a law professor at the University of Oregon. "That's a very interesting proposition."

Epps said the lines have not been drawn that clearly: "The vice president spans, in some ways, the branches of government."

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino brushed off questions about what branch of the government the vice president resides in, saying she doesn't know enough about the issue.

Susan Low Bloch, a constitutional professor at Georgetown University Law Center, called Cheney's position a "novel claim." Although most people think of vice presidents as executive officials, she added that it's really "a bit of a hybrid" role.

As vice president, Cheney receives his paycheck from the U.S. Senate, which also pays the salaries of much of his staff. However, he also sits in Cabinet meetings and has an office at the White House.

Cheney's lawyers have used his role as adviser to the president to fend off a lawsuit seeking the names of energy executives who advised him on an energy task force.

Paul Orfanedes, who heads litigation for Judicial Watch, a non-partisan group that joined in the lawsuit, said the vice president's claim "seems most disingenuous."

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Disingenuous? Nobody takes a fight like this out in to the open unless they are very sure they'll win.

You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to know that most Americans face an economic down-turn they aren’t prepared for. Unlike the crash of 1929, this one will NOT take us by surprise. We just won’t be ready for it.

The signs are all around us, in spite of what we’re being told by high-ranking Federal officials. From the Preisdent on down, we’re being lied to. That lie is motivated by several sources. First and foremost, Big Money is already taking steps to protect itself at the expense of Little Money. No shared risk for them. The big boys are getting out now so that you can take the fall later on, when it suits them.

The second factor is Partisan Politics. I’m not taking about Democrats versus Republicans. I’m talking about Federalism versus Populism. Those who prefer big intrusive government are about to get their way, and they do know it. The political and social elites who used to champion small responsible government have thrown in the towel. The deal they made with their new Federalist masters is simple and to the point. Over the course of the next decade, they’re going to sell you out in exchange for their own personal and professional security.

Future historians may very well argue that our pending decline was the result of deliberate economic treachery. There is an old saying. “It is better to reign in Hell than it is to serve in Heaven.” That’s not just a colorful platitude. It’s become the driving principle of our political and social elites. Step by step, they’ve been pulling us down this dark path whether we wanted it or not. Like most heavy-handed regimes, our leaders would rather rule supreme in a second rate power than “suffer with less” in an economic powerhouse that favored the prosperity of the majority.

The housing collapse that will play out over the next 2-4 years clearly demonstrates that the Federal Treasury has pursued a deliberate policy of sacking the economy to enrich Big Money in the short run. Naturally, this will have the long term effect of crippling Little Money. It’s worth noting that Little Money (like yours and mine) is the backbone of any true republic. Take that away, and the people are forever at the mercy of their leaders.

Before they can break your intellectual will to resist, they have to take away your spending power. When you’re too busy just trying to survive, you’ll be much more “compliant” when the regime wants you to do something, like fall in to line when they issue some new policy. This trend in progressively powerful government has been with us since the ink dried on the Constitution. The coming defeats of the Republican Party will finalize the triumph of Federalism in America.

The rise of Hillary Clinton signals the beginning of a new Federalist era. In many respects, it won’t matter who the specific Democrat nominee is in 2008. As the GOP retreats in to obscurity, we won’t have any trouble seeing the demise of our freedoms in plain and obvious ways that would make any conspiracy buff blush with shame.

The falling dollar feeds the fires the consume the U.S. housing market, which in turn takes its toll on the rest of the economy. As consumer spending falters, we’ll be told that its not our fault . We’ll be urged to keep on buying to prop up the economy. They’ll want us to buy them just a little more time to move their corporations off shore in to better tax shelters. As the Federal Treasury reduces lending interest rates, we’ll be encourage to keep on buying on credit we don’t really have…just to give them a few more coins to horde. At no point will our own government admit that its milking us for all we’re worth for the benefit of their cronies.

If there’s any real conspiracy here, this would be it. Weak, disorganized, and without hope, we'd be easy pickings for any elitist group that wanted to push something like the North American Union. They'll tell us, "the situation is just too desperate. We have no choice." Never mind the fact that the net result works for them more than it works for us.


[edit on 2-12-2007 by Justin Oldham]