Darth Cheney strikes again

Okay, so the tale of Big Dick Cheney keeps getting more sinister. Apparently, the Veep seems to feel that not only is he above the law, but he is outside of the constitution, also. When asked to supply a list of personel attached to the OVP for something governmental called the "Plum Book", Cheney's office instead sent this little diversionary note:

APPENDIX NO. 5
OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT

The Vice Presidency is a unique office that is neither a part of the executive branch nor a part of the legislative branch, but is attached by the Constitution to the latter. The Vice Presidency performsfunctions in both the legislative branch (see article I, section 3 of the Constitution) and in the executivebranch (see article II, and amendments XII and XXV, of the Constitution, and section 106 of title
3 of the United States Code).
The annual legislative branch appropriations act (see, for example, Public Law 108–83) and the annual transportation-treasury appropriations act (see, for example, Public Law 108–199) provide funds for the Vice President to hire employees to assist him in carrying out his legislative and executive functions. Executive branch employees also may be assigned or detailed to the Vice President (see 3 U.S.C. 112) and the Vice President may employ consultants (see 3 U.S.C. 106(a)). The Office of the Vice President (OVP) consists of the aggregation of Vice Presidential employees whose salary is disbursed by the Secretary of the Senate from the Vice President’s legislative appropriation, Vice Presidential employees employed with the Vice President’s executive appropriation, employees assigned or detailed to the Vice President, and consultants engaged by the Vice President.
The numbers, titles and salaries of OVP personnel change with some frequency. The salaries of Vice Presidential employees whose salary is disbursed by the Secretary of the Senate from the Vice President’s legislative appropriation cannot exceed a maximum specified by law (see 2 U.S.C. 60a–1). The salaries of Vice Presidential employees whose salary comes from the Vice President’s executive appropriation also cannot exceed a maximum specified by law (see 3 U.S.C. 106). The authority to appoint, administratively determine the pay of, and discharge Vice Presidential employees rests with the Vice President.
The current duty station of all OVP positions is Washington, DC.

Now, I dont know about you, but to me this sounds like one of those little lectures that "superiors" give someone when they're giving them some sort of legalistic brush-off. It would appear that perhaps Dick Cheney thinks that the Constitution gives him some sort of status distict from both the Executive and the Legislative* branch. Now why he would set himself outside of both, rather than beholden to both, is something that can only be answered by Dick and his lawyer buddies... oh, who are we kidding. It's something that can only be answered by Dick's lust for power and that of his co-conspirators.

Hey, I got an idea. The Legislature is afraid to bust Dubya, worrying about the fallout, since even with his current crappy-assed numbers he's still got a fanatical following. But Dick, now Dick is another story, nobody likes him, not really. How about investigating Cheney, from his connection with the Plame outing, to lies about WMD, to his secret Energy meetings (why did oil prices go so high last year, really?). Impeaching Cheney may put the fear of God into Dubya, will remove the Dark Lord's presence from the White House, and will give Republicans a chance to put someone else in betweeen Nancy Pelosi and the White House.

Anyway, read this and this for more info, and read Majikthise's blog, from whom I swiped this story.


*dont forget, the VP is also the "head" of the Senate, sort of.