>"One of the great untold stories of this administration is how hard it fights to buck the conventional powers-that-be (Yes, I hear Lindy and Bowser laughing it up at this line)."

I love how you talk like you know exactly what they're thinking, like you just had lunch with them.
Fighting the powers-that-be....like Congress?
The President doesn't sit in a bubble, and even though he is our Commander in Chief, I can't say I feel that he is well suited to this task in his arrogance. A man with binge drinking in his past ( a reformed alcoholic), a Born-Again Christian, CIA ties and loyalty, silver spoon fed, absent for one year from his military service, covering up this boo-boo or that (ENRON, Carlysle Group ad nauseum), one who dumps his stocks before his company goes bust NEEDS to be checked and double checked by those representatives of OURS that make SURE he doesn't go off half-cocked.
It's the way our government is set up.
By our wise forefathers.

GWB wants to change all that.
Make new rules. And run a dictatorship.
Over our dead bodies...yeah, right.

Truth be known, I'd much rather see Colin Powell as the Commander-in-Chief.
Even Condosleeza!

>"As such, Congress has been thrown into the back seat - where it belongs when dealing with matters of National Security, which is constitutionally the President's domain."

Bullshit!
National Security embraces many avenues, many departments and should respect input from others in the Intelligence field.

>"Congressfolks also blather and blab - they can't help themselves! Every piece of info is used by them to secure more power by encouraging a lobbying force to support them."

And this is EXACTLY what the President and HIS cronies are doing. Taking new, constitutionally illegal steps to enforce and KEEP their "executive"powers.

>"Their staffers and such have often never had a security review or clearance and so congress is one of the weakest links in our national security infrastructure."

Bullshit!
The weakest links in our "national security infrastructure" appear to be convenient NON-sharing of intelligence info between the CIA and FBI.
Arghhhh....