Bush admin want to keep Cheney's visitor records secret

[ProSense]

What's he hiding?

Inquiring minds want to know...

The Bush administration asked an appeals court Wednesday to overrule a federal judge and allow the White House to keep secret any records of visitors to Vice President Dick Cheney's residence and office.

To make the visitor records public would be an "unprecedented intrusion into the daily operations of the vice presidency," the Justice Department argued in a 57-page brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia.

The government was responding to an October order, by U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina, to release two years of White House visitor logs to The Washington Post. The newspaper, researching the access lobbyists and others had on the White House, sought Secret Service records for anyone visiting Cheney, his legal counsel, chief spokesman and other top aides and advisers...

A lawsuit over similar records revealed in September that Republican activists Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed — key figures in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal — landed more than 100 meetings inside the Bush White House.

[LSparkle]

1. Jeff Gannon/Guckert is breathing a sigh of relief

[Ian David]

2. Abramoff, Haggard, Gannon, Cunningham, Noe... gee, I wonder. n/t

[butterfly77]

3. I am so sick of this...

who in the hell do they think they are...They want to know who we talk to,our sexual habits,and probably what brand of underwear that we buy...

[CJCRANE]

4. What *isn't* he hiding?

Would be a very short list.

[Debi]

5. Because nobody wants to know how many times Oscar Golldman

has had to rebuild him....

[babylonsister]

6. Let's hope the appeals court looks upon this as sceptically as

we do. Unprecedented? I doubt that.

[neoblues]

7. I'm almost to the point...

I'm almost to the point I think we should install public-access date/time stamped audio/video-cams (maybe even an additional camera showing their desktops, computer displays, etc) in every high-ranking elected public official's (and appointed ones too) office (and require them--by law--to hold ALL meetings IN their offices in view/range of the cameras/mics) and feed the output directly to the internet (as well as to an "archive" site), accessible by at least all U.S. citizens (if it can't be secured to U.S. citizens, too bad). As in... no government "security" at all; everyone can see and hear everything. No privacy, no secrets, no "classified" documents, no security clearances... Tune in and watch Cheney's meetings... See the other Dick (George) fumble about in the oval office... Watch Rummy standing at his desk cussing... and hear the details of what these and other buffoons are doing to/with this country.

Okay, okay, that might not be quite workable, but it's time we demanded a return to more open/transparent government (regardless of any "terraist" threat). It wasn't some secret government information that the terrorists got their hands on that allowed them to attack on 9/11; if anything, it's government information that would implicate people within our government (if not of active or passive participation, then at least it would provide the possibility of determining the incompetence and provide better accountability).