Crime of the Century (“About those documents, Mr. Cheney…”) [Update]

(11 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

From the Washington Post, this rather discouraging tidbit:

A federal judge yesterday rejected the claim by a coalition of historians and nonprofit groups that Vice President Cheney intended to illegally discard some of his official records, and instead accepted the pledge of a senior White House aide that key Cheney documents and other materials will be transferred as required to the National Archives.

Emphasis mine.

Can you hear them laughing yet? Cheney even threw his back out, he was laughing so hard, and he’s attending the inauguration in a wheelchair — probably something else he’ll be chuckling over, thinking that years later historians and citizens will see the poor bastard in a wheelchair and say "Oh, how can the people of the time be so mean to a decrepit old invalid?"

Well, they’ll probably leave out the "decrepit" bit.

According to the WaPo piece about the records,

"The Court expects," she said, that White House officials "will, in good faith, comply with the representations that their officials have made, by way of testimony, in this case." As a result, she granted summary judgment on the White House’s behalf and lifted a five-month-old injunction mandating the preservation of Cheney’s records.

I can imagine that the laughter that suddenly erupted in the White House, amid much whooping and hollering and back-slapping high-fiving howls, probably scared a couple of cats and stray passers-by.

I mean, seriously — the Bush White House? "will, in good faith, comply with the representations that their officials have made"?

The judge then lifted a five-month-old injunction mandating the preservation of Cheney’s records…WHY? Why not leave it intact?  Why open the door for them to lessen the potential consequences? This Administration has NEVER acted in good faith — EVER.

~sigh~

Oh, fine. Let’s just listen to some music and quietly reflect on the complicity of the People and the Press for not being outraged enough at this travesty of justice and democracy.

Crossposted to ePluribus Media, DailyKos and Docudharma.

Update: I’d left out the Wonkette image and reference to Dick’s October 2006 industrial Shreddin’ episodes. You can fill in the blanks with the “fire in the VP office” stuff from last year…or was that the year before…?