Saturday, February 3, 2007
[1468 - Johann Gutenberg, printer, dies]
[1811 - Horace Greeley, editor, politician, born in Amherst, New York]
[1894 - Norman Rockwell, artist, born in New York City]
[1907 - James A. Michener, novelist, born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania]
[1944 - U.S. troops capture the Marshall Islands]
[1950 - Klaus Fuchs arrested for passing atomic bomb information to Soviets]
[1959 - Plane crash kills Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, Big Bopper]
[1973 - President Nixon signs Endangered Species Act into law]
Generally Wrong
When the Senate confirmed Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General of the United States, the Senate and the public had serious reservations about Judge Gonzales, who while serving as White House Counsel had advised President Bush after 9-11 that he was above the law when it came to the treatment of those he chose to label as enemy combatants or terrorists. We now had a chief law enforcement officer who thought that the Geneva Conventions (that those of us who served in military relied on as the gold standard for the treatment of prisoners) somehow did not apply to al-Qaida or the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. Judge Gonzales had also defended the administration's policy of detaining terrorism suspects indefinitely in Guantanamo without access to lawyers or courts until the Supreme Court rejected that imperialist notion. We wished the new AG well, however, until we could see what he would do with his office.
Final grades are in now, and it is time to see how General Gonzales has fared. Our AG has continued in his former role as White House counsel acting as an advocate for the expansion of the executive power of the president, and as apologist for President Bush's excesses and overreaching assumptions of authority. Although he pays lip service to his duty to protect the civil rights of citizens, his actions in support of domestic spying and data mining show his true colors. He has made a practice of stonewalling the Congress, nor has he been forthcoming in any pubic forum. Most recently the AG has taken to purging US Attorneys who have been too hot on the trail of the widespread corruption in the current administration. General Gonzales gets an F for his performance, and should resign.
William's Whimsical Words:
Remember that the last loyal and true servant of the President (instead of the People) who went over to the Department of Justice (and who shall remain nameless except for his initials: John Mitchell) ended up in federal prison.
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