In late 2002, the Bush Administration sent me an extremely odd nastygram on exquisitely fine White House stationery. In the letter (below), Vice President Dick Cheney's in-house attorney, David S. Addington, made multiple implied legalistic threats while citing case law that conveniently ignored the existence of a little thing called "The First Amendment." It was a classic bullying tactic, doubtless initiated by the late gorgon Second Lady Lynne Cheney. I promptly called the ACLU, who found the entire thing so absurd, they initially thought I was making it all up. But the White House confirmed the letter, which naturally sparked a big kerfuffle in the national media – including articles in The New York Times, Washington Post, New York Post, and more. The hub-bub was very short-lived however, due to to the launch of a little mishap called the Iraq War.