Loose cannons lose canon

The vice president of the US does NOT have the power to make foreign policy on his own. He does NOT have the power to start wars on his own. The president does not even have sole discretion in these matters, at least not on paper. The story that Cheney is pulling strings to get us into a shooting war with Iran has been bubbling around the blogosphere for a few days now but not much heard elsewhere. When I searched the news, only blogs and partisan press sources touched the story. Echo chamber or not, my repetition of this alarm is due.

How certain are we that Darth Veep is up to something? How alarming is it? The original source is Steve Clemmons in the Washington Note, much respected by my most trusted writers like Josh Marshall. But is anyone outside the liberal circle concerned? One web zine, far enough to the right that it has to devote pages to refuting assertions that it is obsessed with the threat that immigration poses to our America ethnic purity, is convinced and packs this story of reckless warmongering in with a fairly complete broadside against the undemocratic operation of this administration. And while I have avoided reading him lately because he is so damn depressing, I always double check a story with middle eastern players and consequences by reading Juan Cole's take on the matter: he considers Clemmons absolutely credible.

So this is way beyond wingnut zeal and incompetence. This activity of the Cheney gang, as distinct now from the rest of Bush's cabinet, is extremely dangerous and probably impeachable. If 72% of polled Americans think the administration has driven the war on Iraqis into a ditch, what are they going to say about a war on Iranians? Cheney shows neither knowledge or respect for the laws that define his role in government. Efforts to impeach Cheney have a broad base but they should be supported and accelerated and the conspirators and sycophants Cheney planted among DoD and other agencies should be purged...he is just that bad for us.

Is anybody out there listening? Or would you all just rather not know about this? If we ever elect this kind of "leadership" again, we could loose not just our soldiers and our stature as a benign power, we could loose world peace entirely. What does it take? The current war really has not come home for most Americans, financially or in the form of any other hardship. But by the time grievous personal effects of war are felt in the suburbs, we will be totally screwed.

------ light posting alert --------

I have to wire, plumb and install a couple of hot water heaters this weekend and I have wrecked my schedule to put this post up. If a miracle happens and I finish the homework, I have a much less echochamberish post in draft...but right now, things are leaking in the basement....