Just for fun

I don't expect a damn thing to come from this, but it's fun anyway, especially considering where it happened. From Reuters:

A grand jury in South Texas indicted U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and former attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Tuesday for "organized criminal activity" related to alleged abuse of inmates in private prisons. ...

The grand jury in Willacy County, in the Rio Grande Valley near the U.S.-Mexico border, said Cheney is "profiteering from depriving human beings of their liberty," according to a copy of the indictment obtained by Reuters.

The indictment cites a "money trail" of Cheney's ownership in prison-related enterprises including the Vanguard Group, which owns an interest in private prisons in south Texas.

Former attorney general Gonzales used his position to "stop the investigations as to the wrong doings" into assaults in county prisons, the indictment said.

Thanks to the folks at Crooks and Liars for the tip. They have up a video clip of the report of the local TV station that apparently broke the story.

Footnote: David Kurtz at Talking Points Memo says the news accounts "don't seem to implicate Cheney or Gonzales directly in any wrongdoing." In Cheney's case that's true and perhaps he's named as an unindicted co-conspirator. But the description of Slagzone's role could easily describe obstruction of justice.