he rules 'quietly' - well .... not that quietly

we're all aware of it AND we're all frightened by it. he is rather like THE most evil cartoon character you've ever seen. yet he is real and true pure unadultrated evil

from the wapo a series on the evil one beginning today and continuing through wednesday

part i

'A Different Understanding With the President'

By Barton Gellman and Jo Becker Washington Post Staff Writers

Just past the Oval Office, in the private dining room overlooking the South Lawn, Vice President Cheney joined President Bush at a round parquet table they shared once a week. Cheney brought a four-page text, written in strict secrecy by his lawyer. He carried it back out with him after lunch.
In less than an hour, the document traversed a West Wing circuit that gave its words the power of command. It changed hands four times, according to witnesses, with emphatic instructions to bypass staff review. When it returned to the Oval Office, in a blue portfolio embossed with the presidential seal, Bush pulled a felt-tip pen from his pocket and signed without sitting down. Almost no one else had seen the text.
Cheney's proposal had become a military order from the commander in chief. Foreign terrorism suspects held by the United States were stripped of access to any court -- civilian or military, domestic or foreign. They could be confined indefinitely without charges and would be tried, if at all, in closed "military commissions."........