In Which We Learn That Cheney Had Reasons For What He Did

Mike Allen of The Politico excerpts the Cheney interview with John King on CNN:

Asked Sunday on CNN if he thinks President Obama "has made Americans less safe," former Vice President Dick Cheney said: “I do."

Looking slimmer and relaxed, Cheney told John King on “State of the Union” that Bush administration policies on detention and interrogation of suspected terrorists – some of which were immediately modified by Obama — “were absolutely essential” to preventing another 9/11-style attack.

"I think that's a great success story. It was done legally. It was done in accordance with our constitutional practices and principles," the former vice president said. "President Obama campaigned against it all across the country. And now he is making some choices that, in my mind, will, in fact, raise the risk to the American people of another attack.

The usual suspects emit the usual emoting, but I think Cheney is just having trouble letting go and believes he is still Vice President:

"It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We're about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don't remember anything else I said. Watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy."

Or maybe Cheney thinks he has become Secretary of State:

"I don't think it was by accident that al Qaeda decided to test the new prime minister, Gordon Brown, immediately. They watch our elections as closely as we do, maybe more than some of our fellow citizens do. They play our, you know, allies. They do everything they can to undermine security in the world. So let's not forget you're hiring a president, not just to do what a candidate says he or she wants to do in an election. You're hiring a president to be there when the chips were down."

One man's fearmongering is another man's honest difference of opinion.  Or woman's.

MORE:  End Al Gore's fearmongering on the environment?  Don't be daft.

[end of thread]

Comments

[BR]

Beautiful description, daddy.

I once joked that Caesar's wife should have kept him in bed that day :)

[Daddy]

Last Volcano Update for the evening;

The local rag, ADN.com says the 'event' spit out material and smoke to about 15,000 feet, but technically was too weeny to qualify as a real 'eruption.' That is a good thing in my view, but if you read some of the comments of the posters to the story they are angry it was so weeny and are now calling it Mt I-doubt, not Mt Redoubt. (Not good to mock Mother Nature if you ask me)

This">http://www.avo.alaska.edu/activity/Redoubt.php">This site provides much better photos of today's mini-eruption if you click around a bit.

Geologically this is just a pin-prick of an event. From what I am told by eyewitnesses of Mt Pinatubo, there it was so horizon to horizon big that initially you didn't realize what you were looking at, and St Helen's photo's to me look like an A-bomb. From my kitchen window this 10,000 foot mountain at 90 miles distance looks almost exactly like holding a Hershey's Chocolate Kiss between your thumb and forefinger at arms distance, and eyeview-wise placing it exactly upon the horizon. The plume is coming out just from the top right just like that little wrapper thingy, and extends straight up about 1/2 of the height of the Kiss itself before it levels out horizontal and dissipates towards the southeast.

Sorry if I got you guys all excited, but when the wife glanced out the kitchen window after dinner and saw this plume all prominantly sillouetted against a beautiful and clear orangish-pinkish sunset, we all got excited. It is certainly the biggest 'event', eruption whatever, that has occurred since Redoubt started rummbling a few months back, so that certainly contributed to perking my interest. Anyhow, we are pretty well prepared for the real thing should it happen, and appologies Porchlight, that on your Ides of March Birthday, I couldn't make the analogy using Mary Jane Peanut Toffee Kisses, but had to resort to the Chocolate Hershey variety to make my point. And "that fault, Dear Brutus, lies not in the stars, but in ourselves."

Happy Birthday!

[kim]

Good luck, daddy et famille.
===========================

[kim]

Heh, John Roberts might get after the birth certificate business. He's had his ear bent.
=========================================

[kim]

I've said all along that lacking any other statutory means of checking eligibility that it is ultimately the Supreme Court's responsibility, and I was tremendously disappointed when they wouldn't even look at it. Maybe that's about to change.
=======================================

[kim]

Box 7c
That is the key.
=================

[kim]

His mother sailed the seven seas,
Oh, where, oh where was he born?
=====================================

[kim]

Mount AIG is about to erupt. Half a billion in bonuses; many billions of tax dollars sent overseas, all seven of 'em.
====================================

[kim]

Robert Kaplan has a fine geopolitical article in Foreign Affairs about the Indian Ocean and more. Found through RCP.

I love it. Summers and the Administration are touting stocks. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Hey, the market's just a poll anyway; we can manipulate it.
==================================

[pagar]

Kim, do you have a link on the John Roberts Info? The thing that puzzles me most about the birth certificate mess is that the courts keep saying American voters don't have the right to question it. I just can't understand that, or how any American could say it doesn't matter to them. But most of all, I don't understand why watching Obama spend millions to prevent discovery doesn't bother most Americans.

[BR]

Hi! I've been so busy, I haven't been able to read the news. What's this about John Roberts ! :)

[Elliott]

Daddy, I believe you are correct. From an overview of Herculaneum:

The largest villa, the so-called Villa of the Papyri, is widely believed to have been owned by Julius Caesar's father-in-law, L. Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus.

I don't doubt it was Calpurnia's father, Roman naming customs being what they were.

As to your sign off, Pliny the younger strikes me as the closer (and happier) historical parallel, since you are providing us such excellent first hand accounts. The only downside is you will be called upon to serve the emperor about 20 years hence.

[Daddy]

Thanks for the research Elliot,

Sorry I missed you overseas. I'm looking forward to waking up tomorrow and seeing if anything new is going on. Geologically this is a very fun place to live. Nite nite.

[PaulL]

Did Palin cause Mt. Redoubt to erupt?

[Old Lurker]

OK it's almost 8:45. Do you know where your freedom (as defined in that flawed document, the Constitution) is?

WaPo reports Obama will start using the 13M email addresses assembled in the campaign to push the budget through, starting today. Obviously it will help them with CardCheck too. The campaign continues, I suppose.

Capital is still hiding. Mattress is getting lumpy but we adapt.

[Jane]

Daddy,

Those pix are spectacular. Thanks for that link. If anyone missed it I put the LUN

[SWarren]

Roberts appeared dismissive, said he could not discuss it.
From Seattle Times:

At one point during the audience question period, Orly Taitz, a woman from Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., said she had documents proving that President Obama was not born in the United States and thus could not be president. While audience members laughed, she said she had half a million signatures of people demanding the Supreme Court hear the matter.
Roberts cut her off by saying that if she had documents with her, she should give them to security officers. He also said he could not discuss the issue.

LUN

[Bill in AZ]

0845 Fascist Directive:
Dutifully propagandized by ABC News (radio).

1) "Outrageous!", "Outrageous!", "Outrageous!". Various taped responses to AIG bonuses by various useful idiots in government/media. The purpose of this talking point is to dumb down the muddle to where they will welcome, nay, Demand! nationalization of AIG, then banks, then...
Hugo would be proud - probably a bit jealous.

2) Still hitting the wunnerful Obama economy meme. Some quarter hour tracking poll out there must have determined this one needs more effort. Polls aren't done to see what people think, they're done to see how well thinking has conformed to fascist propaganda.

I am guessing these are "developed" 0845 Fascist Directives" from the previous day - note the taped "impromptu" responses that amazingly all use the same word. And for the fact they are on the radio at 0500 AZ time, which is now 0800 fascist daylight time on the east coast. President Zero needs to turn that around faster.

[narciso]

There is something beautiful and majestic about nature, which can turn terrifying if there's an actual erruption, a tornado, a hurricane. Ultimately. our arrogance that we can really affect nature significantly, the cornerstone of AGW should give us pause.
My Philly friend, of which I've referrenced
before is one of the those population growth, global warming devotees, despite his generally conservative outlook. Stay safe up there Daddy/Flynn.

Now from the sublime to the ridiculous, we have that other plume of hot air, Barney Frank,'credentialed idiot emeritus' blowing his stack at AIG. TRying to scare aware all the progress made last week. Seriously, did we have this economically illiterate on our side, at the top levels of Congress back in 2005-06. I tend to doubt it.

[kim]

Thanks, SWarren, nice catch. I had only a hint of it at another blog. One wonders why Roberts can't discuss it, and one wonders why he thinks she should pass off her documents to the nearest plastic cop.
========================================

[kim]

Barney Frank is running scared, too. I believe Cheney laid the some of the roots of the crisis at his and Dodd's doors. We all knew it, but it's news to the newsboys.
======================================

[Rick Ballard]

It appears that Frank is the anti-AIG fairy godwhatever on this edition of the 0845 Fascist Directive two minute hate. Goldman Sachs is getting dragged closer to the AIG fire. Doesn't AP understand that GS has a firm rental agreement on Zero?

[verner]

It's official, CNN realy does mean the Communist News Network!

Their candidate is a veteran TV broadcaster and morning talk show host, Mauricio Funes, whose Facebook page lists his political views as “other.” Funes, 49, a former correspondent for CNN en Español, was recently recruited by the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), the revolutionary group-turned-mainstream political party that is favored by polls to win the presidency in a vote scheduled for March 15....

[kim]

OK, TCO, we need your opinion of the AIG bailout.
================================================

[SWarren]

Kim, I can see why Roberts can't discuss it, as it may come before his court. Heh, as if that's likely when the courts so far just dismiss every petitioner for "lack of standing" I don't understand it--does anyone in this country have standing??
I give Taitz credit for what she is doing but apparently the Courts just don't want to touch it. Grrr. Frustrating!

[Cecil Turner]

Those pix are spectacular.

Yeah, but it just looks cold to me. I don't miss it (and I certainly don't miss listening to my wife gripe about it). But at least they've got enough snow for a traditional Iditarod . . . which is good, I guess. Cheers.

[Old Lurker]

"OK, TCO, we need your opinion of the AIG bailout."

And we had been so free of the F word.

[kim]

Again, why does Roberts say he 'can't' discuss it. Does he mean 'won't' because he doesn't know enough about the issue, or does he mean 'can't' because he's coerced or otherwise restricted? And who coerces the Chief Justice?

I know I suffer confirmation bias about this issue.

Pagar, the reason the populace isn't outraged by the money being spent to prevent discovery is that they don't know it. Remember, this issue has been marginalized by the Alinskyites to the fringe. It is 'crazy' to talk about it.

So why, at this stage of the game, is he spending the money? What is he hiding? I don't think it is an unknown father, though it may be. Weren't the two married?
=======================================

[Cecil Turner]

This quote is more than a bit ironic:

Rep. Barney Frank charged Monday that a decision by financially strapped insurance giant AIG to pay millions in executive bonuses amounts to "rewarding incompetence."

He'd certainly be an expert on that, wouldn't he?

OK, TCO, we need your opinion of the AIG bailout.

As long as he can blame it on a Republican, I'm sure he'll be sounding soon.

[Rick Ballard]

A little honest reporting is coming out concerning the slap delivered to Team TurboZero by the G20. It sounds as if Merkel has "just say no" down pat. I wonder if she's getting ready to announce that Afghanistan is too expensive?

[kim]

Well, SWarren, if he's refusing to discuss it because it may come before his court, how can he talk about anything publicly? Your idea may be the reason, but if so, then something may be cooking.

Ah, confirmation bias is almost as much fun as denial. How soothing it is.
====================================

[Charlie (Colorado)]

The AIG bonuses are part of the normal comp plan, and AIG is contractually required to make the payments. Unless Congrefs has suddenly discovered the constitutional power to abrogate contracts and revise compensation plans, this is just preening.

[narciso]

Kim, you know enough not to encourage him by now, he's proven himself useless in three fields, law, economics, and foreign policy and history; techincally four. People misunderstand the role of regulation in this disaster. Rules that favored the goal of home ownership through the use of these complicated debt instruments were encouraged, any criticism of same, was seen as racism. Any effective regulation, would have to take into account the permutations of the Scholes equations, that the quants didn't even fully understand. This was the 'doomsday weapon' the mathematical version of the cobalt lined bomb, that wrecked the economy. The timing still strikes me as very suspicious, though, occurring this close to an election.

[kim]

Also, it may be that active duty members of the military have standing. They've an oath to the Consitution, too. That's why I was so demoralized that a credible commenter here thought that the active duty plaintiff in one case should resign his commission before suing about it.
=============================================

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Hmm. Just caught the end of a discussion with Rove on Fox saying the White House can't legally co-ordinate a private PR campaign, ie, the thing they announced. Anyone know more details?

[kim]

Sure it's preening, Charlie, but it is politically effective outraged preening, and may serve to deflect interest in Frank as a co-author of the crisis. And note how everyone is ignoring the role of the Congressional Black Caucus in it. We're all post racial now, right?
=======================================

[Ranger]

This http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/16/america/16assess.php>article is starting to get some attention. It seems that Team Barry is now worried that all the anger at Banks and Wall Street may have consequences. Maybe they should have thought about how they were going to need all those bankers and traders to keep money flowing in the economy before they decided to turn them into Public Enemy #1. And, of course, since the author is Adam Nagourney, there is no indication at all that Obama and his crew have been stoking this anger for political gain.

The Obama administration is increasingly concerned about a populist backlash against banks and Wall Street, worried that anger at financial institutions could also end up being directed at Congress and the White House and could complicate President Barack Obama's agenda.

[kim]

This White House has all the evils projected by the left onto the Bush White House. And we all knew it was coming. They telegraphed it.
========================================

[kim]

Hmmmm, quotes from Axelrod concerning himself with 'populist anger'. Why am I wincing, Ranger?

And it's just disgusting the way they equate 'energy independence' with green alternatives. Whatever happened to 'Drill Now'?
======================================

[fdcol63]

" ... And we all knew it was coming. They telegraphed it. .."

Indeed, kim. I saw a FOX News poll recently where the anchors were claiming the following statistic as a positive reinforcement of Obama's job approval ratings:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,480054,00.html

"More than half of voters (53 percent) think Obama is currently meeting expectations and another 14 percent say he is exceeding them."

He's meeting or exceeding my own expectations .... but certainly not in a positive way.

I expected the worst out of him, and he's delivering.

[Ranger]

Hmm. Just caught the end of a discussion with Rove on Fox saying the White House can't legally co-ordinate a private PR campaign, ie, the thing they announced. Anyone know more details?

Posted by: Charlie (Colorado) | March 16, 2009 at 10:11 AM

He is probably refering to the Hatch Act (IIRC) which prohibits using government property or government time for political purposes. The same thing that prevents an alderman from sending his office staff out during government time to poster and canvas for their campaign also prevents the White House from organizing a political PR campaign. That is why there is a seperate national level party and leader who is not an elected official, so there can be a co-ordinated national political campaign without violating the law.

[Jane]

Hmm. Just caught the end of a discussion with Rove on Fox saying the White House can't legally co-ordinate a private PR campaign, ie, the thing they announced.

Ugh I really wanted to hear that. This working thing is over rated.

[kim]

Interesting, fdcol63, but dated. That poll is two months old. I was made wary by the fact that 60% thought Obama's cabinet selections were good or excellent.
==========================

[narciso]

It's funny, in the ironic sense, how there was this brouhaha, over the supposed
'campaign to get Joe Wilson' cooked up by Rove and Libby and the tooth fairy, as related by Cooper, and Calabresi & co, whereas attacks on Cramer, who really has been full of himself, "but Stewart pot calling kettle, come in, kettle" Santelli, et al, that's considered SOP, and there's
nary an outrage. It's not new though, sadly, it's was called 'la coletilla' and was used to marginalize and silence the great pre revolutionary paper, El Diario de La Marina, the Wall Street Journal analog.

[Old Lurker]

No problem, Charlie, just use the BK hammer like mortgage cramdowns.

[clarice]

The End of Obamamania is Nigh! Repent!
"The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows that 36% of the nation’s voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-two percent (32%) now Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of +4, his lowest rating to date (see trends)."

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll>Plus Four

[Extraneus]

I like this one from Clarice's link:

"Democrats are now more likely to invest in the stock market, but the preferences of other investors have not changed over the past week."

What does that mean? The dumb ones are really gullible, or the smart ones realize the wrecking has ended?

Nice chart there, too.

[Semanticleo]

Cheney had 'reasons for what he did'?

Well now, that's an amazing realization, Maguire. Did the Dalai Lama promise you you'd achieve total consciousness on yer deathbed, as well?

[Extraneus]

Of course, "realize" is too strong a word, even for the smart ones. "Think" or "feel" would probably be more apt.

[Rick Ballard]

Narciso,

It appears as if the dirty socialist sludge regard Orwell's 1984 as a blueprint for success. The key to a really effective two minute hate per the 0845 Fascist Directive is absolute control of the media. That's one reason they picked Rush as Target 1 and also explains (to a certain extent) why the tactic cannot be effective until AM radio is brought to heel. I believe a part of Zero's drop in polls can be explained by negative public reaction to the commie bastard's personalization of opposition. Clinton successfully ran a permanent campaign operation but the internet wasn't the factor then that it is today and people actually read and believed party organs such as the tabloid Times.

The President may use his email list of idiots to reach 14 million slack jawed admirers (until they grow weary - and they will) but Rush and the rest of the conservative crew reach more than 30 million people per week. They are perfectly capable of ridiculing the buffoon in the WH to the point of overcoming the 0845 Fascist Directive quite easily.

I find the blowback pretty entertaining. We can only hope that the dirty socialists continue to exert themselves to the maximum.

[kim]

Clang, Leo misses the point. Hey, aren't you on the Brownshirt email list? Get busy propagandizing us.
=============================================

[clarice]

Ras reports in that same study that more US workers belong to the investor class than to a union and that only 9% of non union workers want to join one:
"Monday, March 16, 2009 Email to a FriendAdvertisement
Union members tend to believe that most workers want to join a labor union. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 47% of union members hold that view while only 18% disagree.

But those who don’t belong to a union hold a different perspective. By a 56% to 14% margin, they believe that most workers do not want to belong to a union.

As for personal preference, only nine percent (9%) of non-union workers would like to join a union. Eighty-one percent (81%) would not.

Even among those who are worried about losing their jobs in the near future, only nine percent (9%) would like to join a union. There is also no difference in a desire for union membership between those whose firms are hiring and those who are laying people off. "

[PaulL]

Kim,

Nothing is ever going to come of the birth certificate so you might as well drop it.

[PaulL]

I am surprised that Obama thinks that texting his supporters will translate into them actually working for him to get bills passed. Now maybe if he could text them booze and smokes.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

I am surprised that Obama thinks that texting his supporters will translate into them actually working for him to get bills passed.

That's nothing compared to the surprise he's about to get.

[kim]

You are probably right, PaulL, but for sure nothing will come of it if I, and others, drop it. The issue will become more important as Obama's incompetence and flimflammery become more apparent. Once the populace understands that he'll say anything for temporary political cover, they'll wonder about the most fundamental lie of all. And it's an easy solution to a lot of problems that Obama is only worsening. It's obvious to even the dullards that 'fixing' healthcare, energy, and education is a distraction to the credit and consumer confidence problem. It worsens them. Fact.

The evidence that he was born in Hawaii is thin. The evidence he was born elsewhere is even thinnner. Was he even born? No documents to prove it. QED.
====================================

[narciso]

It's a quixotic effort, besides you'll end up with Biden, no at malicious but equally clueless, or Pelosi, right about now I'd settle for that 'reformed' Klansman Robert Byrd; aka Cornelius Sales.

[kim]

Well, if it were you or me without a birth certificate, we'd be nonentities. Hey, come to think of it, that's what he is, an Axelrod Mirage.
=========================================

[kim]

Nope, narciso, Obama's ineligiblity does not elevate Biden or Pelosi; I think it mandates a new election.
=========================================

[SWarren]

Hey Kim,
Your thoughts? -- Synchronized Chaos.

However, a new study by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee could turn the climate change world upside down.

Scientists at the university used a math application known as synchronized chaos and applied it to climate data taken over the past 100 years.

"Imagine that you have four synchronized swimmers and they are not holding hands and they do their program and everything is fine; now, if they begin to hold hands and hold hands tightly, most likely a slight error will destroy the synchronization. Well, we applied the same analogy to climate," researcher Dr. Anastasios Tsonis said.

Scientists said that the air and ocean systems of the earth are now showing signs of synchronizing with each other.

Eventually, the systems begin to couple and the synchronous state is destroyed, leading to a climate shift.

"In climate, when this happens, the climate state changes. You go from a cooling regime to a warming regime or a warming regime to a cooling regime. This way we were able to explain all the fluctuations in the global temperature trend in the past century," Tsonis said. "The research team has found the warming trend of the past 30 years has stopped and in fact global temperatures have leveled off since 2001."

LUN

[kim]

Romney/Palin '09. Heh.
=========================

[kim]

Tsonis and Koutsoyiannis have very interesting stuff about chaos and climate, SWarren. Some of it in the archives at climateaudit.org
====================================

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

Scientists at the university used a math application known as synchronized chaos and applied it to climate data taken over the past 100 years.

I'm afraid there is a scientific consensus that mathematical models are not appropriate in climate science..................................................................
......unless they support AGW and lead directly to more funding.

[narciso]

Did you read Shelley's Heart by Charles McCarry, you'd see why I'm a little nervous
about the possible permutations of this. And Romney isn't worthy of carrying Sarah's pumps, may make a decent Treasury Secretary.

[DebinNC]

Last night Insty had a link labeled "150 tea parties scheduled". They were divided by state, then city, and most of the dates were, unsurprisingly, April 15. I wonder if the "BO pledge drive" is mainly a way to mobilize/direct counter-protestors to the tea parties? Will "get in their face" be the marching order of the day?

[PaulL]

That's nothing compared to the surprise he's about to get.

Do you have something specific in mind, Charlie?

[DebinNC]

BO in Sept.: "Argue with them; get in their face"

[boris]

Synchronized Chaos

Probably a better approach than using linear models. Chaotic systems, like climate, can't be predicted but choice of appropriate model can improve understanding of the forcing functions.

[kim]

Maybe so, narciso, but Romney has a reputation for economic and financial competence. That's what is needed to fix the credit markets and restore consumer confidence.

First, though; show me the certificate.
===========================================

[kim]

More I love it about Summers touting the stock market. Though it wasn't really his fault, someone should point out that he was in charge at Harvard when the Endowment Fund made its critical errors.

Trust Summers about the economy? In a pig's eye. He knows the dangers of talking ingenuously.
=======================================

[matt]

Romney's as bad as any of them, as far as I'm concerned. His work at Bain disqualifies him from any high office. Bain were masters of buying up crummy companies, loading them up with debt and prettying them up, and then unloading them as fast as they could on unwitting shareholders. Crooks. His Olympic job came at the expense of two very good men who did all the groundwork and who were railroaded by the FBI.

[narciso]

Mitt strikes me a little too like Don Draper, two slick by half, in addition for such a big M & A specialist, he chose not to take the big risk, in quitting in New Hampshire. I don't hold Mormonism against him, that was one of the reasons I hated Huckabee, In retrospect, McCain should have done the same, committing his (well his wife's fortune) and get off this silly
public financing kick. Hoisted by his own petard. Would I take him over the current occupant, in a New York minute,

[RichatUF]

Charlie (CO)-

Anyone know more details? [from a page or so back, took me a while to track some of this stuff down]

Straight forward, the sort of "grassroots lobbying" campaign the President has announced is probably a violation of 18 USC 1913; however, the Lobby Disclosure Act (which amends 18 USC 1913) seems to not include "grassroots lobbying" activities although relevant IRS regulations do. My guess is that the administration's safe harbor is "no controlling legal authority" because the campaign would be conducted by members of the White House Office or Executive Office of the President as part of their duties and my bit of google research indicates that there has never been an charges brought on this statute and punishment under the LDA appear to be civil in nature.

the law-

No part of the money appropriated by any enactment of Congress shall, in the absence of express authorization by Congress, be used directly or indirectly to pay for any personal service, advertisement, telegram, telephone, letter, printed or written matter, or other device, intended or designed to influence in any manner a Member of Congress, a jurisdiction, or an official of any government, to favor, adopt, or oppose, by vote or otherwise, any legislation, law, ratification, policy, or appropriation, whether before or after the introduction of any bill, measure, or resolution proposing such legislation, law, ratification, policy, or appropriation...

Rove has mentioned the illegal nature of Obama's permanent campaign before and I've hoped someone with better skills than I have would have researched it and written it up.

Moreover, this campaign is the sort of casual lawlessness that I've come to expect of the Obama Administration and portends poorly for how they will account for the 3 600 000 000 000 dollars they'd like to see pass through their hands in the next budget.

[J.M. Heinrichs]

For those interested in the Herculaneum Library, you might find more info here: http://www.herculaneum.ox.ac.uk/index.html

Cheers