Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ann Corrigan who wrote (18620)	4/27/2004 5:55:32 PM
From: American Spirit	Respond to of 81568

You lie again. Kerry was very disturbed about the war AS HE WAS FIGHTING it the more he saw of it. Again, you slander a war hero with a needless lie. Why can't you just let Bush run on his (lousy) record and stop trying to tell lies about war heros? Shame on you again, you rightwing radical.

To: Ann Corrigan who wrote (18620)	4/27/2004 5:56:39 PM
From: American Spirit	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 81568

Cheney Seeks To Subvert Law To Protect Secret Energy Deals: By James Vicini WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration argued at the Supreme Court on Tuesday that records of Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites)'s energy task force should be kept secret to protect the president's ability to get discreet advice when preparing legislation. Cheney, who did not attend the hour-long arguments, is opposing a federal judge's order to produce documents about White House contacts with the energy industry in early 2001 amid charges of secretiveness over this and other issues. "This is a case about the separation of powers," Solicitor General Theodore Olson said. He said disclosure of the records would intrude on the president's power to get opinions from subordinates in making legislative proposals to Congress. Democrats in Congress have accused the Republican administration of lack of openness and accountability, pointing also to its reluctance to turn over some documents to the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The Sierra Club (news - web sites) environmental group and Judicial Watch, a watchdog group, sued to find out the names and positions of Cheney's task force members and to learn about their contacts with industry executives. They claimed Cheney, the former chief executive of energy and construction company Halliburton Co., drafted a policy that favored the industry at the expense of the environment by consulting business executives. Justice Antonin Scalia (news - web sites), who refused to remove himself from the case even though he went on a duck-hunting trip with Cheney in January, seemed supportive of the government's argument. He repeatedly asked whether outside officials could be considered members of the task force, and thus covered under the federal open-government law at issue, when they did not vote on the various recommendations. Several justices questioned the government's argument that the Supreme Court has jurisdiction over the dispute. "Why should we accept your position on jurisdiction?" Justice David Souter (news - web sites) asked Olson. He said the case could go back to a federal judge for an order on what must be turned over, and that the government then could appeal. NIXON WATERGATE TAPES CASE CITED Olson said appellate courts have jurisdiction over the case, just like the Supreme Court had jurisdiction in its 1974 historic ruling to require then-President Richard Nixon to turn over the Watergate tapes. Several justices asked Olson why the administration had not asserted executive privilege -- a legal doctrine that can be invoked by the president to shield certain documents from disclosure. Olson replied that the objections in the Cheney case go to the entire process and executive privilege would not cover all of the issues. "Executive privilege may not cover every scrap of paper," he said. Alan Morrison, representing the Sierra Club, argued the government does not have the right to withhold the documents. Paul Orfanedes, representing Judicial Watch, cited five meetings between task force members and executives of Enron Corp., the Houston-based energy giant that collapsed into bankruptcy late in 2001. He said Cheney met with Ken Lay, then a top Enron executive. Justice John Paul Stevens (news - web sites) replied, "What does that prove?" Stevens added, "Just because they talked to a lot of people doesn't prove anything to me." A ruling in the case is due by the end of June.