Mr. Grieve wrote...

Fielding said that the White House's refusal to comply with the subpoenas rests on a "bedrock presidential prerogative: for the president to perform his constitutional duties, it is imperative that he receive candid and unfettered advice and that free and open discussions and deliberations occur among his advisors and between those advisors and others within and outside the executive branch."

In other words, in order to uphold the Constitution, President Bush and Co-President Cheney must destroy it. This is ridiculous.

Congress needs to bring this imperial presidency to heel, and fast. If they knuckle under on this, then it really is time for them to pack up and go home, and shut down the Legislative Branch of government.

And if the Republican members won't help do their own constitutional duties, then they'll pay for it in 2008, assuming The Leader lets elections proceed. At this rate, given their staggering contempt for law, responsibility, accountability, and checks and balances, anything's possible, here.

Time to crack knuckles and go after them, Congress. At least force the GOP to side with this imperial administration, so they can take that back home to their constituencies and pay for it at the polls.

This is what Nixon asserted, is it not? Let us hope our congress is as strong as the one we had in '73.

This is professional wrestling staged for your benefit. There is no outcome and even if there was, it would be fake. This is all as meaningless as the entire political process and arena in America has become. At least the dictators of yore could dress better than the hacks we have now.

You DO understand that the term "Loyal Opposition" is an insulting term, don't you? It means a weak useless opposition that works hand in glove with the leaders to give the appearance of legitimate dissent.

Maybe Chavez and Castro get it right. Declare yourself El Presidente for Life. Fascists love it, communists love it, anarchists love it and hippies just stay home and smoke out.

If the President's advisors are giving advice that is consistent with the Law and the Constitution, then there is no reason that a disclosure of their counsel and recommendations would stop them from continuing to do so in the future.

If there are "national security" elements to the wiretapping conversations, then redact them. That is what Sharpees are for.

However, any discussions around the firing of the Attorney Generals, would be irrelevent to issues of National Security. This again falls back on the fact that the president's advisors should only be concerned if their interest lies in the ability to give illegal or unconstitutional recommendations in the future.

It is time for Kucinich to update/amend his articles of impeachment for VP to include all of the domestic hell which Cheney has wrought upon this nation.

I have been writing daily to my representatives to support Kucinich's impeachment. If you want to see this guy raked over some coals, don't assuume your congresspeople read Salon's comment page. Assume they read their email. Contact them today.

"At this point, I see only one choice in moving forward, and that is to enforce the rule of law set forth in these subpoenas."

Exactly how does one do that?

Send a lawsuit slowly through th Judiciary to a stacked Supreme Court?

Hire some goons to break the documents out of Cheney's man-sized safe?

Impeach Bush and Cheney?

Is there a way to enforce this, even assuming we had a willing congress and court?

So the "presidential prerogative" - best summed up by Cheney's infamous, "Go Fuck Yourself" - is now a legal defense? This is what happens when checks and balances fail. Congrats, we now have a monarchy, precisely what the founding fathers hoped to avoid. A single person or branch of government accountable to no one.

Wow! What a headline! What a surprise! "Oh the humanity, the humanity..."

What makes anyone think Stalin would comply? Law? What, to Immortals? Pashaw!

You Republican Congressional lemmings are now only seeing what negligent legislative oversight brings to a democracy? Same on you and what you have brought to this Republic. Shame on you!

For whatever good that will do.

the vaunted cleansing of the Augean Stables will be as child's play compared to the effort necessary to remove the stench from the West Wing. Bringing the rotting corpses of Bush/Cheney's foul deeds to the light of day will require mythic girding of the loins . . . I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever. -Thomas Jefferson

There have to be some areas where executive (and congressional) privilege extend. After all, it wouldn't be appropriate for the Atty General to put out a subpoena for all email between Conyers and his staff members and other members of Congress in regards to the US Atty firings, would it?

Then somebody grow a fuckin' back bone and start some criminal and or impeachment hearings! Why does congress continually roll over? They don't even get a cookie for their efforts! Somebody should stop letting these guys get away with this shit. AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! Makes me ashamed of my government. If we could just get dickie and georgie on a plane to guantanimo...they are definitely enemy combatants determined to bring down the America I thought I lived in.

Fuck! GRRRR! Snarl! (sigh...)

~steve

In order to get any traction against these gangsters, given our current Constitution, we need Republicans to join in the outrage. Now if the Legislative Branch of government could have a vote of "no confidence" and get rid of malevolent crooks such as we have in our current administration that would be a very good thing. As it stands now, in order to dump these gangstas what we need is, alas, more Republican support. So contact your Republicans and tell them you'll never vote for them again if they don't gid rid of these greedy monsters.

Are not doing anything. How much more of a mountain of crimes would you need to see from the Branch-of-government-formerly-known-as-the-Executive to be spurred into action?