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Friday, December 19, 2008
A little Friday evening traveling music….
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Dick Cheney thinks he’s a human Guantanamo - U.S. laws don’t apply there
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dick Cheney is one piece of work.
Federal law requires Cheney to turn over all official records to the National Archive as he leaves office.
Cheney says nope, ain’t gonna do it and you can’t make me.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Dick Cheney’s lawyers are asserting that the vice president alone has the authority to determine which records, if any, from his tenure will be handed over to the National Archives when he leaves office in January.
That claim is in federal court documents asking that a lawsuit over the records be dismissed. Cheney leaves office Jan. 20, potentially taking with him millions of records that might otherwise become public record.
“The vice president alone may determine what constitutes vice presidential records or personal records, how his records will be created, maintained, managed and disposed, and are all actions that are committed to his discretion by law,” according to a court filing by Cheney’s office with the U.S. District Court on Dec. 8.
The 1978 Presidential Records Act requires all presidential and vice presidential records to be transferred to the National Archives immediately upon the end of the president’s last term of office and gives the archivist responsibility to preserve and control access to presidential records. The law ended the tradition of private ownership of presidential papers, opening White House records to the public and historians.
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Bush plays Santa for Detroit
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Earlier this month, Senate Republicans summoned enough votes to block emergency loans sought by U.S. automakers. They saw the vote as a chance to take a swing at the UAW and organized labor, and they took it, economic consequences be damned.
But their fellow Republican, George Bush, wasn’t quite so willing to see the auto industry collapse as he left the White House for Texas.
“Under ordinary circumstances, I would say (bankruptcy) is the price failed companies must pay,” Bush said today. “These are not ordinary circumstances… Allowing the U.S. auto industry to collapse is not a responsible course.”
At first blush, the deal looks pretty stringent. In return for emergency loans of up to $17.4 billion, “the companies will have to restructure their wage and benefit agreements so that by the end of 2009 they are competitive with foreign automakers that have plants in the U.S. In addition, by March 31 of this year the companies will have to show they are financially ‘viable’ and able to repay the government,” reports the Washington Post.
Merry Christmas, Detroit.
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‘Zuzu’s petals!’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“It’s a Wonderful Life,” with its Depression-era setting and its tale of greedy, manipulative bankers run amok and people struggling to keep their homes, will take on some added resonance in this 2008 holiday season. Aspects of the movie overlooked in better times come into sharper focus.
For example, Wendell Jamieson of the New York Times has a wonderful essay this morning on the true darkness underlying the Capra masterpiece (and don’t worry, he loves the movie.)
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