Justice flies below the radar to get above the law

Thanks for the clarification on that AG Mukasey.

So, a law broken is not necessarily a crime, eh?

Then what do we call it? A transgression? A fuck up? An offense? A reason for a time out?

And shouldn't the justice department, of all the frigging departments in the country, be the one department where even a little lawbreaking, even if it is only "civil service laws," be reason to through someone's ass in the can?

I grew up in a town called New Britain, where transgression of civil service law cost many men their jobs, their careers, their pensions, and in some cases, their health and their lives.

Mukasey is just another suck-up for George Bush.

An incredible judge of character

Bush, meet Mush.

George Bush has relied a bit too readily on his instincts, which have proven to be consistently wrong. Whether it's Pervez Musharaff, Alberto Gonzales, Jack Abramoff or Scooter Libby, Bush, who's had a bit of a character question in his own past, seems unable to recognize honesty, sincerity, morality or nearly any signs of good character.

And so, he becomes the brunt of one little tin tyrant's manipulations. The frat boy gets pranked.

How must it feel to be the mark of someone who is laughed at in his own country? Where do people who are terrorized by a banana republican with a Napoleonic complex find the strength to laugh?

BTW, is it just me, or is today's confirmation of Musharaff's eligibility to run for President by the re-assembled Pakistani Supreme Court remind you of Florida a half dozen years ago?

The shameless, unconscionable, Christ-loving monsters at the top

It's now become clear that the President, and his advisers, will do just what they please, the rule of law be damned. When he wants to start a war, they'll provide false evidence, and slander critics. When he wants to prolong that war, he'll label critics as anti-patriots. When he wants to illegally imprison captives, he'll set up detention centers outside of the reach of US law. When he wants to torture, they'll say, it's not torture, and continue torturing. When he wants to act beyond laws to prevent all these things, he issues signing statements and continues on his despotic way.

I want to thank Colin McEnroe, who on his WTIC radio show yesterday, for pointing to Andrew Sullivan's words on these topics . Sullivan is a former conservative Republican advocate of the war, who has come to a different conclusion these days.

It can't happen here? Well, it has happened here.

The last refuge of a scoundrel

You might muster a little respect for Al Gonzales if he gave this speech in front of a mixed audience who might respond with something other than standing o's.

But the treasonous little coward did what every minion of the Bush/Cheney/Rove triad have recommended, spread your lies to audiences unwilling or unable to discern.

Gonzales laid out his disrespect for the Constitution in a speech filled with bravado and treason. I'm not sure why a criminal would admit to his crimes in a public forum, but the hunger for applause when you're about to fade into obscurity must have something to do with it. Is it front page/top story news? He didn't say anything he hasn't said before, so why wasn't it buried with the bra ads on page 17?

Okay cadets, rise and cheer....or else.

Jesus cured the blind man's eyes with mud

When George Bush accuses his critics of dragging Alberto Gonzales name through the mud he might be doing a disservice to mud. Bush's terse summary of Gonzales career to my ears sounds more like an indictment. According to Bush, Gonzales played a critical role in shaping policy in the war on terror. Says Bush, "The Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act and other important laws bear his imprint." He also helped shepard two conservative Supreme Court justices onto the bench. And by the way, he has led the justice department in making protection of children from internet predators a priority. Now of course, those predators will feel free to prey on our golden-haired progeny.

What he didn't mention is Gonzales critical thinking in executing prisoners on Texas' death role, and his interpretation of the Geneva Convention which allowed our country to torture prisoners. And when Bush shames Congress for pursuing Gonzales for "political reasons," he fails to mention that it was Gonzales who used "political reasons" to fire US Attorneys General.

And of course, Bush, the courageous, walked away from the mics without taking questions.

Colin McEnroe has an interesting Oedipal analysis of Gonzales' own announcement.

Al has not yet gotten what he deserves.

I should go back and look that up.

Creepy Joe Lieberman is so cocksure on so many topics he seems to know little about (uh, supporting an invasion of Iraq and Iran, for example), funny he's so mealy-mouthed about Alberto Gonzales.

Fool me twice, shame on me

I admit to a certain amount of idealistic political naivete, but I don't understand for a minute how Congress can consider even a compromise update of FISA.

I know that Representatives and Senators quake at the idea that the administration would portray them as soft on terror, but this is an administration, may I remind them, which has no respect with the majority of Americans. What's to worry about.

Worse still, this is an administration which as late as yesterday, in a letter from the Attorney General, admitted to using "confusing" language in testimony about secret programs to Congress. Confusing as in misleading.

This is the administration, which in the same Attorney General's testimony, it became obvious that the President was actually keeping more secrets than previously admitted.

This is the administration which has abused it's power at every turn, which has invoked executive privilege whenever it would have to admit wrongdoing, which has used fear as a tool to get its way. There is no need to compromise with this administration.

Where is the lesson learned with the passage of the Patriot Act - rushed through unread by most who passed it - when the administration is pushing to pass important legislation in the rushed final days before an August break.

Don't let Congress do it. Call your representatives and tell them to take their extended vacation without doing more damage to our civil liberties.

Next day note: Nice to see the Times feels the same.

Whitehouse for the White House

Gotta love it when a freshman Senator digs in, does his homework, and shows the Attorney General to be a nincompoop who is complicit in letting the Vice President completely politicize the justice department.

You could smell the flop sweat from the third row in the gallery.

Now it seems essential that he showed good ole Lincoln Chafee the door.