Cleared for Weird

The eye sees only what the mind
is prepared to comprehend
--Henri Bergson

It is impossible for a man to learn
what he thinks he already knows
--Epictetus
_________________

Our friend Publius of MilBlog recently mentioned his security clearance was still active. This got Ranger thinking about Operational/Security clearances and classified information.

Clearly there is a need for classification of documents, sources, collection activities, etc., for military operations. This same conslusion can be made for national level operations of the federal government, but here is where Ranger loses his way. If the Federal government can hide behind the protective cloak of secrecy and the need for security, then why, too, don't the states operate in a like manner?

How have the national leaders become exempt from the democratic principle of transparency, which is the basis of democratic thought and action? When our highest elected official claim Executive Privilege, how do we the voters ever gain the needed intelligence to make meaningful election booth choices?

The concept of "need to know" is the basis of classified security programs. If the citizens foot the bills, then we have the right to know everything our leaders do in the official execution of their duties.

We the People need to be cleared for weird -- we have a need to know.

Not Your Privilege to Claim

"next to of course god america i
love you land of the pilgrims' and so forth oh
say can you see by the dawn's early my
country tis of centuries come and go
and are no more what of it we should worry
in every language even deafanddumb
thy sons acclaim your glorious name by gorry
by jingo by gee by gosh by gum
why talk of beauty what could be more beaut-
iful than these heroic happy dead
who rushed like lions to the roaring slaughter
they did not stop to think they died instead
then shall the voice of liberty be mute?"

He spoke.  And drank rapidly a glass of water

--godamerica i love you (1926), e.e. cummings

"President Bush, in a constitutional showdown with Congress, claimed executive privilege Thursday and rejected demands for White House documents and testimony about the firing of U.S. attorneys (Bush Defies Demand for Files.)"

Would somebody advise Ranger where to find this concept of executive privilege in the Constitution of the U.S.? Possibly it has been added to the Bill of Rights without a popular vote, led by legal eagle Legislative Man Cheney.

The GWB White House plays fast and loose with every aspect of constitutional rights except when using questionable-to-non-existent legality to justify their positions. Except this executive privilege is not based in law.

Impeach GWB if he won't comply. He serves the citizens as well as anyone else on Capitol Hill, and is not beyond the rule of law. And being strictly executive, he doesn't even have weasel room to straddle fence, as weasel Cheney attempts to evade the rules.