This administration has had such a constant stream of scandals and cover ups that it has lulled us into complacency where it seems to be normal.

Starting with rumors of Bush going AWOL from the national guard and losing his records then sealing them under secrecy on the grounds of them being a threat to national security we were accustomed to hearing these responses to inquiries.

If we counted the number of specific counts of malfeasance, refusals to testify or allow those involved to respond, sealing records under the "threat to national security" ploy, enacting retroactive legislation that circumvents the law, total disregard of the law, and pardons of members who have been legally covicted of crimes, it would come up to hundreds of disturbing events. We are talking about single events that in any previous administration would have had us demanding full investigations until the extent of illegal actions had been fully explored. The hint of covering up transgressions have been enough to trigger a massive inquiry in the past.

It takes a certain type of specific illegal policy at this point to hit a nerve with people. I find myself getting more and more outraged about how we could even allow ourselves to get to a place where individual rights could be held in such disregard. All of a sudden it hits home when looking at any incident of Bush refusing to respond to senate directives, directives which were enacted because of concerns about disregard for laws. You have to start looking at who does this president think he is that he can do whatever he wants with complete immunity.

The mistake has been the failure to demand proper oversight. As soon as the oversight is gone and the programs in question are veiled in complete and total secrecy with no possibility of forcing disclosure on them, who's to say how far boundaries get stretched?

The real crimes perpetrated at the highest level are the acts of coercing officials who's job is to provide unbiased and honest assessments of the things that are critical to our country's health and well being. Bush and Cheney being advised by those in charge of a detention facility that as many as 30 to 50 percent of the prisoners were being wrongfully detained is one thing. How that information is responded to is of major importance. Ignoring the fact that you might have innocent people being exposed to cruel and unusual circumstances and not responding with review and release is the worst form of criminal inhumanity.

Bush can pardon those who did in fact comit crimes and are guilty and sentenced as such but doesn't care about innocent people being held for extended periods of time because it would be inconvenient to have to answer for the full scope of the programs involved.

How about the full ramifications of Cheney and Bush willfully suppressing the information on carbon dioxide levels that are advising what levels are harmful to human life? That information is supposed to serve as guidelines for policies concerning the true urgency of government support for green technologies. The act of coercing regulatory or oversight officials to delete or alter findings of consequence is the worst form of betrayal of public trust.

This administration needs full all out prosecution of crimes that went farther outside the boundaries of constitutional law and the checks and balances meant to keep an administration in control. We need to get back to where we refuse to let a president even think about infringing on our rights.

Torture was the result of being allowed to operate without oversight rounding up anyone in proximity to suspected terrorist activity, it is then a tool to fish for information from detainees that aren't really proven to be involved, just in proximity. Of course you are going to end up with a lot of people being wrongfully detained, to keep the secrecy intact there is then no choice but to keep holding them.

One person that was innocent, then held even though commanders in charge of the facility knew this to be the case, demands that Bush and Cheney be held responsible for these violations. These men have damaged this country in ways that they can't live long enough to pay for in prison years.

The Bush administration is mired in so much secrecy and hidden agendas that it would seem impossible for this to be turned over to an unaware president and the staff he would replace old advisors with.

As a new president learns of the extent of problems surrounding detainment and torture of supposed terrorists do the programs get an immediate revamp?

How about super bases in Iraq that cost over a billion dollars hard cost each, bases that haven't been acknowledged, aren't approved for budgetary spending, and here's the rub, provide for safety and quarters for private corporation's employees and operations?

Quite frankly there is going to be a government within the government that is going to continue to operate in a secrecy deemed necessary by the old "threat to national security" line we are so familiar with.

The scope of hidden agendas that have developed toward big oil and other major corporate beneficiaries of huge government fundings would be deemed to be completely unacceptable if looked at by a new administration trying to make sense out of why they are getting what they have been and are continuing to get.

If an oil company and other US contractors need a base of operations and security it is up to them to pay for it. What is a new president supposed to do with a totally ludicrous hidden agenda?

Quite frankly the existing regime can't afford to allow a new boss in town that won't play along with the very secret agendas that are in motion, it would definitely be a threat to national security as Bush would define that. That's a bit worrisome to me to think about what the alternatives are.