Death to the Constitution (Gonzales) By Thomas L. Walsh

[Demeter]

OpEdNews

Original Content at http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_thomas_l_070127_death_to_the_constit.htm


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January 27, 2007

Death to the Constitution

By Thomas L. Walsh

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales mounted a pogrom to weed out specific United States Attorneys. As many as seven U.S. Attorneys have been given their walking papers recently. What reason would Gonzales have to replace these people? ....This administration is understandably nervous as to where these corruption investigations, long ignored by the formerly Republican-led congress, might lead. One hardly needs to ask why.

Their concern is well warranted. It ratcheted up yet another notch with the recent notification of long-time Bush hatchet man and former Deputy Secretary of the Department of the Interior J. Stephen Griles that he too is facing possible indictment in the ongoing Jack Abramoff scandal.

On a separate front, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs Culley Simpson led an unprecedented attack against many of the nation's top law firms. Their offense....? Having the nerve to provide, on a pro bono basis, legal protection warranted by our constitution to people who have been under government detention for up to five years, without formal charges. Countless attorneys consider this administration's conduct on this matter to be a direct violation of our constitution....While administration officials attempted to distance themselves from Simpson's inflammatory tirade, to their everlasting shame, neither Mr. Bush nor Defense Secretary Gates fired Simpson on the spot.


And what did Alberto Gonzales, the nation's top lawyer, have to say about this? He told Arlen Specter that "The Constitution doesn't say that every individual...or citizen is...assured the right of habeas corpus."

Specter was incredulous, and asked Gonzales to explain how the Constitution could bar the suspension of a right that didn't exist? Once more we witness incredible incompetence from people in high positions within this near mortally crippled administration.
.....


Authors Bio: The writer graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1962 with a B.A. in Journalism/Communications. After serving a stint in the United States Marine Corps, he embarked on a successful 36-year sales/sales management career with 3M Company and Lanier Worldwide, culminating in retirement and relocation in 1999 from Southern California to Driggs, Idaho, in the Teton Valley. Walsh and his wife Wynne Ann work in the wintertime as alpine ski instructors at Grand Targhee Resort, west of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He writes for several magazines, as well as a regular column in the Idaho Falls Post Register, the second largest paper in Idaho.

[kenny blankenship]

1. A Pre-emptive Saturday Night Massacre?

Gives us an idea of how worried they are.

[enough]

3. Yep.

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. It's not going to work.

What has been done, can be undoned. Especially as public pressure to remove George Bush escalates.

[asjr]

2. Quite frankly, I consider Gonzales to

be the scariest of the entire administration. He does not think for himself. He just blindly follows orders no matter how off-the-wall.

[enough]

4. Scathing article about Gonzales by John Dean at FindLaw

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20070126.html

The Controversy over Curtailing Habeas Corpus Rights: Why It Is a Bad Day For The Constitution Whenever Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Testifies

In the history of U.S. Attorney Generals, Alberto Gonzales is constantly reaching for new lows. So dubious is his testimony that he is not afforded the courtesy given most cabinet officers when appearing on Capitol Hill: Congress insists he testify under oath. Even under oath, Gonzales's purported understanding of the Constitution is historically and legally inaccurate, far beyond the bounds of partisan interpretation.

No wonder that with each appearance he makes on Capitol Hill, Gonzales increases his standing as one of the least respected Attorney Generals ever, in the eyes of both Congressional cognoscenti and the legal community. His most recent appearance bordered on the pathetic.

snip>

[Mrs. Ted Nancy]

6. I have to disagree

Mr. Dean is wrong when he said that Gonzo's appearance "bordered on the pathetic". It was REALLY PATHETIC. Also, I don't think Gonzo minds looking pathetic before Congress. He has his head so far up W's ass that he is unable to notice.

[enough]

7. kick