Court Allows Suit on Cheney Energy Panel

[peterh]

<http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-cheney-energy,0,6915043.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines>


WASHINGTON -- A federal appeals court Tuesday rejected the Bush administration's bid to stop a lawsuit that seeks to delve into the energy industry's ties to Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force.

In a 2-1 ruling, the court said administration officials must turn over some information about the task force or list specific documents that they intend to withhold from the proceedings.

The administration argues that the lawsuit by the Sierra Club and a conservative group, Judicial Watch, is an unwarranted intrusion into the internal deliberations of the executive branch of government.


It’s a small victory, though I still don’t expect those papers to see the light of day, at least for the next two years. With this and the Niger/Iraq fiasco, it hasn’t been a good week for Cheney….and it’s only Tuesday….hee hee hee…

[kwolf68]

1. Hold on

They can't release these documents...They would destroy our Democracy. :crazy:

[KC21304]

2. What do you know ?

An inch here and an inch there, we maybe making some headway. Great news.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

3. WELL, IT'S ABOUT EFFING TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[arcane1]

8. you speak for us all, P#6

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

14. I do? Cool!

How much will I be paid?

(So sorry, I couldn't resist...)

:evilgrin:

[ProfessorGAC]

35. It's An Honorary Thing

Volunteerism is a wonderful thing. Thanks for your willingness to represent us FOR FREE! (I wanted to make sure the FREE thing was really, really, really clear.)
The Professor

[Brotherjohn]

4. Thank HEAVEN! I had thought this was already swept under the rug.

I don't know the schedule of things here, and I know the WH has staved off the release of these docs before, but I think they have exhausted their options here. It had already once come close to Judge Sullivan citing Cheney with contempt. It's either turn them over or see Cheney carted off to jail.

Once these docs see the light of day, and people find out that Ken Lay himself wrote the Bush energy plan (if he was at all present, that is basically what it will amount to), then things will really start to deteriorate for the WH.

And not just Cheney. He may step down for "health reasons". But if Ken Lay and Co. were at the White House making energy policy, then the whole gang will be implicated.

[UpInArms]

19. seems like there is still an appeal or two left

for the misadministration on this:

By a 2-1 vote, the appeals court panel dismissed the appeal on technical grounds, ruling the challenge was brought too soon and can be considered later after a final judgment has been entered by the judge presiding over the case.

from: http://www.forbes.com/business/newswire/2003/07/08/rtr1020372.html

[Brotherjohn]

20. More appeals, yes. But only after the final decision. BEFORE that...

... Cheney has to "produce the documents or submit a detailed explanation of what they were withholding and why" as part of the discovery ordered in THIS case by Judge Sullivan.

I don't think he can get away with doing any less than the above. And if he tries to use the same grounds that have been repeatedly (and forcefully) struck down by this judge to explain why he's continuing to withhold docs, I think he'll be ruled in contempt of court, at the least. It has already come close to that on this very same issue (revelation of some documents for discovery IN THIS CASE).

[0007]

32. Yes!

I can see James Baker in front of the Supreme Court now - And I can see Tony Scalia agreeing with the top dog of the Carlyle Gang, and saying for the security of America the "Energy documents should be destroyed"

[chiburb]

5. Cheney has his 'heart' checked today...

Makes me think of something like a trifecta...

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

15. Yes, it's my understanding his heart is rejecting him.

I, for one, feel sorry for his heart, having to put up with him so long.

[Nottingham]

6. Go Sierra Club! Go! Do what the GAO couldn't!

I love this! :bounce:

[mistertrickster]

7. This sounds good, folks

Cheney hauled off for contempt would make some excellent evening news visuals.

[DemoTex]

9. Was that a clap of thunder I just heard?

Or was it Kenny-boy Lay's anal spincter slamming shut? Whoo hoo!

[jos]

10. Tick. tick. tick.

By the time they get the information it will be 2010.

And what about the SEC's Haliburton investigation. Will that be done by 2020?

[StaggerLee]

11. I hope I hope I hope I hope

This news really makes my day.
:bounce:

[scottxyz]

12. Energygate and Uraniumgate

We need to keep hammering on these two issues - I think they're hiding a lot with the Energygate issue in particular - I wouldn't be surprised if Cheney's discussions with Enron showed that the administration was responsible for the current fiscal crisis in California.

[reprobate]

13. From the Wilderness say the administration is going down.

http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/070103_beyond_bush_1.html

uly 1, 2003 1600 PDT (FTW) -- Let's just suppose for a moment that George W. Bush was removed from the White House. Cheney, Powell, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, Wolfowitz and Rove too. What would that leave us with? It would leave us stuck in hugely expensive, Vietnam-like guerrilla wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It would leave us with the Patriot Act, Homeland Security and Total Information Awareness snooping into every detail of our lives. It would leave us with a government in violation of the 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th Amendments to the Constitution. It would leave us with a massive cover-up of US complicity in the attacks of 9/11 that, if fully admitted, would show not intelligence "failures" but intelligence crimes, approved and ordered by the most powerful people in the country <snip>

And this is why, as I will demonstrate in this article, the decision has already been made by corporate and financial powers to remove George W. Bush, whether he wants to leave or not, and whether he steals the next election or not. Before you start cheering, ask yourself three questions: "If there is someone or something that can decide that Bush will not return, nor remain for long, what is it? And if that thing is powerful enough to remove Bush, was it not also powerful enough to have put him there in the first place? And if that is the case, then isn't that what's really responsible for the state of things? George W. Bush is just a hired CEO who is about to be removed by the "Board of Directors". Who are they? Are they going to choose his replacement? Are you going to help them?

<end snip>

[chiburb]

17. Fascinating article Repro!

I think you should start its own thread...

I agree that "Big Business" can't afford to keep this f-up in office any longer. While I'd like to see him go now, the artcle makes very clear that impeachment would happen very soon after (re)election.

Thanks for the link.

[TahitiNut]

21. This FTW article reiterates what I've been saying,

and what some others have been saying, for many months. I've been pointing out that Junior is, himself, expendible to the Reich. He's a sockpuppet, not a policymaker -- a frontman, not an operator. I believe he's viewed as an ablative, much like tiles on the shuttle. His pathological narcissism makes him manipulable and immune to reason -- without his own inner compass that can be shifted by the magnetic north of facts and democratic principles. He's a charade. He's completely replaceable without a significant shift in the direction or velocity this madministration is going. Indeed, in soaking up the 'heat' and evaporating he'd protect the puppeteers. I believe there's a significant possibility the Reich will "cash him in".

[enough]

23. I agree, the From the Wilderness article is a must read

The topic is larger than just the Cheney energy task force information, but it puts today's ruling in context. "It is there that some of the biggest secrets of 9/11 lay buried."

From Beyond Bush: From the Wilderness, linked by reprobate above.

"The foundation of the impeachment - or the scandal that will prompt a regime change - was laid in a March 17 letter written by California Congressman Henry Waxman who has been dogging the Bush administration on its violations of law since it took office. Waxman's first battle was over the refusal of the administration to release the mostly still-secret records of Vice President Cheney's 2001 Energy Task Force. It is there that some of the biggest secrets of 9/11 lay buried. With respect to the Iraqi invasion -- using the record of official statements made by Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Powel -- Waxman has already laid out and won the prima facie case that the administration has lied, deceived the public and broken the public trust. There can be no defense against this record once it gets into a legal proceeding."

[BeHereNow]

25. This is what I am afraid of...

This article should give you cause to pause.
Firstly, realize this:
The REAL people in power are INVISIBLE.
You will seldom, if ever, hear their names.
They are orchestrating this whole fall of the current
cast in the White House.
What REALLY scares me, is WHO they plan to
install next.

I happen to think that just when we think we are
out of the woods, they are going to release the
REAL demons, who will make the current folks
look like kittens.

THINK about it...ask yourself-
Why NOW?
In WHOSE interest.

I think it is going to get MUCH worse- NOT better.
I have a feeling who ever they have waiting in the wings
is going to bring hell on earth to America.

It is NO accident that the media is releasing this attack on
the Bush Cabal. They are setting the stage for the next
crew who I am afraid are going to be the REAL dictators.

Thinkin' out loud, cause I don't buy it.

BHN

[ward919]

16. Even some courts are fed up with this administration

And well they should be.

[Fleshdancer]

18. Note to self...

Donate to the Sierra Club

[shirlden]

22. Note to self

Do not cancel membership in the Sierra Club. Have been more than a bit disappointed in the club since * stole the big office. They just redeemed themselves a little. Will send another donation.

:bounce:

[The Magistrate]

24. This Thing Will Continue To Grow

There may well have been references to the criminal manipulation of the energy markets in California in these papers, and possibly even references to an attack on Iraq in them.

[Code_Name_D]

30. Criminal manipulation has already been proven.

It came out unexpectedly with papers releaced for the Enron bankrupsey. A smart indexer rulized that releaced docs had a direct baring on manipulating prices. Operations with such names as "Fat Boy" and "Death Star."

But the link to Iraq is speculation, all be it a plasabule one.

Its going to take a lot more than a court order to bring these energey docs out into the open however. Some one is going to have to seaze them by force.

[The Magistrate]

33. Indeed, Sir

The manipulation has also been acknowledged in F.E.R.C. findings recently. It was clear to any at the time criminal activity was going on, and clear as well that some of the criminals were advising on energy policy and the selection of officials who would have charge of enforcing law against them. These papers may well show guilty knowledge of this on the part of Cheney.

A connection to Iraq is certainly speculation, but useful speculation in a political sense, particularly as the awareness of the lies told to gain support for the venture percolates deeper among the people: where there is awareness of a lie, people seek the "real" reason. There is an old tale of Lyndon Johnson, in a Congressional race, wishing a charge of grotesque sexual impropriety circulated against his opponent; when an aide demurred the charge was false, Johnson replied, "I know that, I just want to hear the sonuvabitch deny it!"

If a court order to produce the documents emerges, and is defied, the effect would be as good politically as the documents themselves: it would be seen by the people as validating every speculation made about what the documents might reveal --- why else would they be withheld, after all?

[dusty64]

26. More good news.

Let the rocks be overturned and this regime will turn to dust when the sunlight hits it.

[mbperrin]

27. Tell ya what! Let ol'

Dick and me line up 100 meters from the whole stack of info and we'll race for it! Whoever gets there first gets to keep it all!

(Hey, since his "heart" is "checked" so often, it oughta be in great shape! Right?)

Who know? Maybe I'd hit the trifecta - got the documents, got a nice run, Cheney gets a big public fun* thing, right?

</total fantasy sequence>

[dfong63]

28. not so small a victory

... although it is long long overdue. there is a very important principle involved here, about whether our government is to be open and accountable, or secret and unaccountable. even though it is taking a long time, we can't afford to let this slide.

the title of this article,
cheney ordered to name members of energy panel, i think conveys the importance of the decision. do we believe public policies should be set by "secret advisors"? if so, then how can we ever be sure the advisors weren't swayed by conflicts of interest?

[VolcanoJen]

29. Kick!

:dem:

[laylah]

31. yes virginia

there really IS a Santa Claus! :kick:

[bushisanidiot]

34. Get those traitors under oath!

They won't be in the white house forever.. the next administration will be able to follow up on this if the truth doesn't come out now.

[goforit]

36. If all the Federal Judges hold on tight ...We just might see some sun rays

OMG!!!

We have been in the Dark ages for over 2 years????

God gives us light!!!!


O8)