So I just watched Cheney's daughter getting interviewed about his actions while with Halliburton. Watching her continues to convince me that this really is a “stupid versus smart” battle. Wolf Blitzer asked her whether Edwards' statements were true, and she said that anyone who wanted to know the truth should visit factcheck.org. Wolf even stepped in to say “now, that's factcheck.org, correct?” since last time they gave the URL (oops).
However, factcheck.org says “Edwards was mostly right.”
CNN of course knows this and have recently reported on it, so Wolf went on to play the clip of Edwards' accusations. Here they are again:
"While [Dick Cheney] was CEO of Halliburton, they paid millions of dollars in fines for providing false information on their company, just like Enron and Ken Lay. They did business with Libya and Iran, two sworn enemies of the United States. They're now under investigation for having bribed foreign officials during that period of time."
So in the clearest of terms, in very recent history Cheney has supported terrorist states, has helped them fight the United States and its allies, broke US law resulting in his company being fined millions of dollars, and engaged in acts of government corruption. So basically not only could one make the case that he's a criminal in the US and a criminal internationally, but he's a man that's acted deeply against the national interests of the United States. These are the facts.
Wolf asked Cheney, “was Edwards lying?” one last time after playing this clip. She didn't deny it — couldn't, in fact — and simply said it was “unimportant” and a “smoke screen” by “the most leftist of liberals” (do people really buy this malarky?). Come on America. Look at his history. I understand that you're a puritanical nation that isn't turned off by his anti-woman and anti-gay action, but as of only five years ago he was an enemy of the United States government… and now you're thinking about giving him a second term as Vice President?
Wow.
I've been talking to another friend who lived in a poor third world nation, and for some time worked for their government. They started doing things in secret, doing stuff they weren't supposed to do, even though a famine was going on. Even though he'd served well and had public support, the government stripped him of his position and threw him in prison (he's out now, but has to “be very careful” with what he says). The crazy thing is though, on the whole, he seems to face less corruption than is expected in the West!
I've already mentioned how the Libertarian and Green Party candidates spent the night of the last Presidential debates in prison. However, you should know that the US is also starting to throw its own reporters in prison. Now, there are accusations of CIA and other US agents killing reporters in Iraq and Afghanistan, but this most recent case is domestic.
New York Times reporter Judith Miller has just been sentenced to 18 months in a holding cell (not even “real” prison with facilities) due to her refusal to name a government source (more). Arthur Sulzberger, her publisher, writes,
"The pending imprisonment of Judy Miller is an attack on the ability of all journalists to report on the actions of governments, corporations and others. The Times will continue to fight for the ability of journalists to provide the people of this nation with the essential information they need to evaluate issues affecting our country and the world."
Miller herself added that she can't work as an investigative reporter “without the trust of my sources and their confidence that I would protect them. I must, and I will.”
For those of you who don't remember, this is about the public revealing of Valerie Plame as a CIA agent after her husband, a former ambassador, spoke out against the government and revealed that they knew that the Niger nukes story was totally fraudulent. The disturbing part is that Judith Miller is not who broke the story or leaked the name. The name was leaked by Robert Novak, a conservative journalist — Plume is just believed to know who it was.
Novak, being on the “right” side of politics, has not been charged or imprisoned.
And that is what makes this very, very scary. That is another puzzle piece that shows you how interconnected “their” systems are. And that is why you need to think very carefully about what kind of America you are going to vote for in a few weeks. Vote now, before it's too late, because armed revolution, as noble as it may seem hundreds of years later, really sucks at the time.
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