Well, we've got "checks" covered....

To bad we are in serious want of some balances.

Bush tells Negroponte that he can get companies off the hook from reporting laws because the knowledge that the CEO raided the corporate funds to build a beach house in the Bahamas might threaten national security.

Now, as the article points out, sitting Presidents have had the ability to do this since the late 70s. However, given this administration's close ties to corporations like Halliburton and their "reconstruction" efforts in Iraq, as well as the wiretapping scandal and it's relation to the big telecom companies, this is interesting. Now, not only can the Department of Justice not investigate the wiretaps because they can't get clearance, future programs by the big telecoms to provide governmental traces on citizen's phone lines can't even be traced by the large and mysterious paper trail left by the telecoms spending huge sums of money.

Nice. So, exactly, what separates the CIA/NSA from the Soviet-era KGB again?

You know, real Republicans should be in an uproar over this because it represents another broadening of governmental powers, restrictions and control that the Republican party was initially created to work against (an ideology which has been tacitly handed to the Libertarians). However, the Religio-Licans and RepubCo will probably support it because it has the words "national security" and promises that companies might be able to get away with asset-reporting murder if they play along with the Bush administration.

Disgraceful what they've done to this country. Disgraceful.