Two Hours and Five Minutes

Apparently Veep Dick Cheney, under the authority of the 25th amendment to the Constitution no less, was acting as president on Saturday for two hours and five minutes while President Bush under went a colonoscopy and polyp removal procedure. The White House reported that Cheney performed "no official acts" in that period of time, but come on, if you had presidential powers, you'd use 'em. At the very least I'm sure Cheney said to his wife, "How does it feel to be sleeping with the president."

On the other hand, he has been running the shadow government, so maybe it was no big whoop?

Or maybe he was unable to do much because Bush ordered the CIA to practice his latest executive order reauthorizing the use "harsh interrogation techniques" on Cheney? It's a little hard to invade a country when you are being waterboarded.

Washington Post Reports about Cheney's Secret Energy Meetings

The Washington Post has a story about the energy policy meetings that took place in 2001 and led people to believe that there was something fishy going on in Cheney's office.

The Post reports, "In all, about 300 groups and individuals met with staff members of the energy task force, including a handful who saw Cheney himself, according to the list, which was compiled in the summer of 2001. For six years, those names have been a closely guarded secret, thanks to a fierce legal battle waged by the White House. Some names have leaked out over the years, but most have remained hidden because of a 2004 Supreme Court ruling that agreed that the administration's internal deliberations ought to be shielded from outside scrutiny."

Sneaky Meetings?

"Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, who unsuccessfully pushed for details of the meetings, said it is "ridiculous" that it has taken six years to see who attended the meetings. He described the energy task force as an early indicator of "how secretively Vice President Cheney wanted to act."

Waxman said he was not surprised to see the prevalence of energy industry groups on the list of meetings. "Six years later, we see we lost an opportunity to become less dependent on importing oil, on using fossil fuels, which have been a threat to our national security and the well-being of the planet," he said."

Or Learning From History?

"The development of a new energy policy was Bush's first major initiative after he took office. He turned over responsibility of it to Cheney, a former chairman of Halliburton Co., a Dallas-based energy services firm.

Mindful of the disastrous fate that befell Hillary Rodham Clinton's unwieldy health-care task force, which included about 500 staff members and 34 working groups, Cheney kept his energy task force small and lean. Instead of a 1,300-page report, he aimed for something much shorter: The final product was 170 pages."

Cheney of Command

Veep Dick Cheney was quoted in Baghdad today as saying "There is a lot going on. It's an important time. There is a lot to talk about." The Veep has clearly got a grasp of the obvious in light of events in the last 36 hours:

- With two suicide car bombs killing 25 people near Ramadi on Monday, the provincial security chief said, dealing a blow to a city recently considered a showcase for the strategy of integrating former insurgents into the Iraqi security forces.
- With a deadly bombing killing 14 in Irbil, 215 miles north of Baghdad showing how even relatively safe areas of the country are not free from violence.
- With the U.S. military saying two children were among five people killed when a helicopter fired at militants operating an illegal checkpoint and planting a roadside bomb near Mandali.
- With Four Iraqi journalists killed in their car near the northern city of Kirkuk by militants
- With airstrikes called in by U.S. Special Forces soldiers fighting with insurgents in southern Afghanistan killing at least 21 civilians and one coalition soldier.

Blue BY U?

BYU Campus Protests Dick Cheney Speech
Monday, April 2nd, 2007 at 1:50pm
PROVO, Utah

Some students and faculty on one of the nation's most conservative campuses want Brigham Young University to withdraw an invitation for Vice President Dick Cheney to speak at commencement later this month.

Critics at the school question whether Cheney sets a good example for graduates, citing his promotion of faulty intelligence before the Iraq war and his role in the CIA leak scandal.
The private university, which is owned by the Mormon church, has "a heavy emphasis on personal honesty and integrity in all we do," said Warner Woodworth, a professor at BYU's business school.

"Cheney just doesn't measure up," he said.