Cheney: You Don’t Need To Know

Oh, for God's sake! How much more evidence does Congress need to begin impeachment proceedings against the Vice (emphasis on vice) President? Read this and weep for the rule of law that the neo-cons were so certain Clinton had ground into dust. HA! I made myself laugh!

In response to CREW's lawsuit over access to what should be public records, we learned that Vice President Cheney's lawyer told the Secret Service that visitor logs were his records, not theirs. That meant Cheney could prevent any public access. Before you read the AP article, know CREW's position according to our counsel, Anne Weismann: "The latest filings make clear that the administration has been destroying documents and entering into secret agreements in violation of the law."

Bush hires Halliburton/KBR to build detention camps in USA

Halliburton's former engineering and construction subsidiary has a contingency contract with the Department of Homeland Security to construct detention facilities in the event of a national emergency, according to WND columnist Jerome Corsi.

As Corsi reported last week, President Bush recently signed a little-reported National Security and Homeland Security Directive granting extraordinary powers to the president in the event of a declared national emergency, apparently without congressional approval or oversight.

Houston-based KBR was awarded an initial $385 million contract in January 2006 for one year, with four one-year options extended into 2007. KBR held a previous emergency detention contract with ICE from 2000 to 2005.

ICE spokeswoman Jamie Zuieback told Corsi the primary intent of the contract was to build temporary detention facilities that could be used in the event of a mass migration crisis, but she confirmed the facilities could be employed in national emergencies, including natural disasters.

"The idea of the KBR contract is to support the Army Corp of Engineers in case we experienced a sudden mass immigration and we had to respond quickly," she said. "We would need immediate detention facilities in the form of temporary housing that would enable us to determine if the large numbers of illegal immigrants were political or economically motivated, or if they were criminals or terrorists."

Corsi reported last week the May 9 directive signed by Bush concentrates an unprecedented amount of emergency authority in the office of the president, specifying the chief executive would have the authority to direct "National Essential Functions" of all federal state, local, territorial and tribal governments, as well as private sector organizations in the event of a national emergency.

The directive loosely defines "catastrophic emergency" as "any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy or government functions."

The KBR contingency contract appears to give ICE the ability to have detention facilities constructed under the president's direction in response to a national emergency as declared under the new directive.

ICE's Zuieback said she was not familiar with the directive, and at her request, Corsi e-mailed her the link to the White House's posting of the directive.

The White House has not responded to a request for comment on the story about the directive.

Woman on an Oxygen Machine Dies After Energy Firm Switches off Power

Folole Muliaga, a 44-year-old mother of four, died within two hours of the electricity being switched off at her home in the northern city of Auckland.

Police said they were investigating the circumstances of Mrs Muliaga's death.

The power company, Mercury Energy, said it had been unaware any disconnection would put her life at risk.

Relatives of Mrs Muliaga, a schoolteacher, said she had been off work since February with a heart and lung condition.

Because of this, the family claim, she had fallen behind with her energy bills.

'Deeply sympathetic'

When a company representative arrived at the house to disconnect the supply, they said they impressed upon him her dependency on the machine to stay alive.

Mrs Muliaga's son Letitaia, 20, said the employee showed no compassion.

"He said he is here doing his job and he's here to cut the power off," he was quoted by local media as saying.

Another relative, Brendan Sheehan, said that almost immediately Mrs Muliaga started to suffer breathing difficulties and collapsed.

Paramedics were called but she died within two hours of the power being cut, he added.

Mercury Energy said it was "deeply sympathetic" about the death, but disputed that its contractor had been made aware of Mrs Muliaga's condition.

"We were simply unaware that loss of electricity to the household was putting a vulnerable customer at risk," general manager James Moulder said.

Police Inspector Bruce Bird said the authorities were investigating the incident, but he added that it was too early to speculate on possible criminal charges.

State Owned Enterprises Minister Trevor Mallard also warned against pre-judging the outcome.

"I do think it is important that the facts are established before people rush to judgement," he said.