[Last year we began running a new feature called "Overlooked," which highlights stories missed or unacknowledged by the larger Propeller community. After a brief hiatus, we're bringing the feature back. Each weekly installment will focus not only on the story but on the community member who posted it. All Propeller members are welcome and encouraged to keep an eye out for important, overlooked stories. If you find such a likely candidate, please send a sitemail to Alexia Prichard.]

Just before the holidays, Propeller member berkeley submitted a story about Congressman Jerrold Nadler, who had called for an independent counsel to investigate the shenanigans of Vice President Dick Cheney and former
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

In a press release dated December 19, 2008, Congressman Nadler cited an interview the Vice President gave on ABC on December 12, 2008, in which he admitted being aware of the waterboarding of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Added Cheney: "And I supported it."

At the time, only Propeller member tehranchik offered a comment, saying: "When is the last time any of us remembers having any kind of control of our government?"

Congress returned from recess Monday, and as stated in this press release, Nadler has "reintroduced a resolution in the House of Representatives demanding that President Bush not issue pre-emptive pardons of senior officials in his Administration during his final days of office."

When I asked berkeley what had drawn her to Nat Hentoff's original story, she had this to say: "Nat Hentoff is one of the few journalists that consistently keeps track of First Amendment issues, so when I remember, I look at his column in the Village Voice. While Propeller has had many articles on the crimes committed by the Bush Administration, Congress and the Press have generally given them a free pass. But here was an actual Congressman, Mr. Nadler, who introduced a bill about Presidential Pardons that I had not seen before. That was reason enough to submit it.... The complicity of Congress for the past eight years was the prime reason they had no stomach for challenging Bush. If they had, they would have been indicting themselves."

[On a side note, Nat Hentoff was fired from the Voice on December 30 after 50 years (!) on staff.]