Here's the rough outline, from www.wonkette.com/ and why he's been able to do this "on his own" so-to-speak. ". . .the Vice President is refusing to cooperate with a government directory known as the "Plum Book," www.gpoaccess.gov/  which lists government employees. Federal agencies have to comply by listing staffers in the directory, but Dick Cheney's office claimed an exemption for itself, arguing that the "Vice Presidency is a unique office that is neither a part of the executive branch nor a part of the legislative branch.

In other words, employees of the three branches of the federal government have to give staff lists for the Plum Book, but the OVP apparently believes it's not part of any of the three branches. At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, it's one of those horrifying arguments that makes one worry about the integrity of our constitutional system. An important legal ruling is pending over Vice President Cheney's refusal to disclose statistics on document classification and declassification activity. The Information Security Oversight Office, www.archives.gov/  which is responsible for the policy and oversight of the government's security classification system, has asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to direct Cheney's office to disclose these statistics.

Cheney's office provided the information until 2002 but then stopped doing so, J. William Leonard, the director of ISOO, told U.S. News. At issue is whether the office of the vice president is an executive branch entity when it comes to supporting the activities of the president and the vice president. The reporting requirements for disclosing classification and declassification activity fall under a presidential executive order. Possibly: (www.whitehouse.gov/)

"Basically the definition says that any entity of the executive branch that comes into possession of classified information is covered by the reporting requirements," says Leonard. "I have my understanding of what the executive order requires, and I'm going to the attorney general to ascertain if my reading of the executive order is correct."

However, Megan McGinn, Cheney's deputy press secretary, says the vice president's office is exempt. "This matter has been thoroughly reviewed, " McGinn told U.S. News, "and it has been determined that reporting requirements do not apply to the office of the vice president, which has both legislative and executive functions."... ⁽¹⁾

Cheney's office seems to have declared itself some kind of fourth branch of the government. It's legislative, its executive, (and) it's accountable to no one... It's the super branch. In this particular case, the executive branch is required to disclose statistics on document classification and declassification activity to the Information Security Oversight Office www.archives.gov/  - It's about accountability and oversight, two words that seem to send shivers down Cheney's spine. The OVP's creative constitutional interpretation leads it to a convenient conclusion, keeping secret their efforts to keep things secret. Or, more accurately, how much stuff they keep secret.

"No secrets would be revealed, only statistics," says Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists, who urged ISOO to obtain the compliance of the vice president's office last May. "But the office of the vice president is resisting even that minimal level of accountability."

If the attorney general determines that Cheney's interpretation of the executive order is right, Leonard says it would be the final answer. "That's it for me," says Leonard. ISOO is a component of the National Archives and oversees the security classification programs both for the government and the security industry. Leonard reports to the archivist of the United States and is required at least annually to submit a report to the president about the government's classification programs and significant classification and declassification activities.

ISOO is a fairly obscure agency, it's late on a Friday afternoon, and this may seem like trivia, but it's a serious constitutional question, which could have key political consequences. Cheney is basically taking a "it depends on what the meaning of 'executive branch' is" approach to federal law."

The consequences of this outrageous denial, by Cheney, of any higher authority in his capacity as the indirect-director of the Commander-in-Chief-are in violation of the constitutional laws of the Republic. This may work under the Democracy (majority rules) that Cheney wants to establish, but this has no standing under the US Constitution. In this day and time, with so much criminality coming directly from the Junta that now rules this nation - it seems incredible that even Dead-eye Dick Cheney could not be this extreme, when it comes to the restrictions placed upon the major officers of what's left of this government!

Isn't it enough that The White House waited until three months after the elections to announce that despite the voters clearly stated concerns over the war - "the self-appointed decider" remains determined to "Stay the Course" and just add more new blood to the blood-bath, rather than heed the wishes of the American public. Then to have that slap-in-the-face compounded by the supposedly "new congress" that has now waited an additional month and a half to decide that they cannot decide to even allow a debate about the war - much less actually pass "a non-binding resolution" that in effect would censor the president's intentions in the on-going and completely failed war on Iraq! This little trick has allowed the "decider's" policy to already begin - because congress simply could not get its collective act together in time to even hold a vote to forestall the action, which their vote was supposedly intended to effect.

So the Congress willingly ignored the voters, and spit on the sacrifices being made by the troops while failing to grasp the enormity of the criminal endeavor that the War on Iraq has become. Now on top of that-there is the possibility that Cheney has decided that he is in charge of a 4th Branch of America-incorporated, a government that has no room in it anywhere, for the people who are being forced to pay for it. What's next? The North American Union, another "act" wherein the public will not even be consulted-and this time it involves the total destruction of the borders of the USA as a nation state, in favor of some weird kind of trade-agreement that lives only in the black-granite hearts of the global bankers, together with that collection of Pirates that are the New World Order and who are beginning to become seriously criminal in their lust for all that is not yet theirs! ⁽²⁾

Maybe it's too much to ask of our overpaid and seriously compromised congress to get to the bottom of this garbage. Someone needs to remind the remaining 493 members of the former 535 Club, that if they do not soon begin to act against the WAR and against Cheney-then the fires they may have to react to will soon be focused on them. The smokescreen of all the little candidates being trotted out as if they were serious contenders, two years before the contest, will never obscure the blood already spilled or the CRIMES that are already part of history. Have a look at some of what's become of this nation, after the imposition of our new "Empire." ⁽³⁾

It's time to bring an end to these charades. Here's a map of what happened to another country that has been under this kind of attack, especially when the people who lived there were denied the right to contest the occupation of those lands that have been theirs for many centuries! This takeover was supposedly overseen by The United States of America acting as "an honest broker" in the region-for low these many years. Think about this: then ask yourself if you have done all that you can to keep the United States in the hands of the people who built this country and made it prosperous! We have seen how corrupt the US government can be once all the restrictions prohibiting government from abusing its people are removed. The maps below recount what happened over the last 62 years, to a people that were powerless to stop yet another illegal government from doing whatever it wanted with their people and their lands

"A Fourth Branch of government"? - what we need is to use the three branches we have to see to it that the Cheney's & the Bush's of this world are never again allowed within a thousand miles of anything remotely like a government.