yet another independent commission has been appointed. are we approaching any records yet? why don’t we just add a fourth branch of government (not counting the already existing fourth, industry) the independent commissions branch. sure! it can investigate the other three all year round. lobbyists can put the screws to them, the senate can vote on who exactly to investigate, the president can veto any findings… it doesn’t inspire much confidence when your government needs to continually investigate itself does it?

anyhow, as expected, the independence of the commission is questionable at best. billmon breaks it down here. main point: they have no subpoena power and thus can only review evidence deemed “relevant” by the executive agency heads themselves. and in case you were concerned about how these independent findings might effect the polls (it’s an election year in case you had somehow forgotten) don’t worry! the findings wont be released until five months after the election. whew, that’s a relief.

meanwhile bush is interviewed on meet the press this morning, bringing his revisionist history straight to the masses. what a populist! will tim russert ask him the hard questions? we shall see. but as some pundits are finally starting to mention, the press themselves are not without fault in all this. perhaps the press ought to appoint a commission of investigative reporters to look into it.