Letters to the Editor
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I hate to bring this up again but I'm going to
People in law enforcement care deeply about their own jobs. I can see why it's so upsetting to see prosecutors fired for apparently political reasons.
Whenever law enforcement jobs are at risk, we always see some big emotional campaign to save them.
I'm still trying figure out how the DOJ under Janet Reno managed to find two Libertarians who were growing medical marijuana in secret in Beverly Hills but couldn't manage to find six Democrats who were selling it openly in West Hollywood.
In other words -- yes there is a problem with politics in the DOJ, but the problem goes a lot deeper than a few prosectors losing their jobs.
The whole federal justice system is fucked up, and I think the War on Drugs is a big part of it.
This is the most incarcerated country in the world. We have so many people locked up in this country, we can't even afford to keep them according to normal standards of human rights any more.
But please, let's keep obsessing about these poor highly paid law enforcement officials losing their precious high profile jobs.
Think of all the dangerous drug kingpins they could have put in prison by now.
The War on Drugs could have been WON by now, if only those poor federal prosecutors hadn't been fired.
The outrage, oh the outrage!
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One this is clear from Gonzaeles's testimony...
That Gonzales is either unquestionably the most politically corrupt Attorney General in the history of his position, or the most incompetent. It is hard to understand how he, at every level, seems to fail to grasp any understanding of how the Justice Department operations and the people who serve beneath him.
Instead of running the Justice Department to serve the needs of the American people, Gonzales apparently believes that it is his job to further the power of the GOP, whether by firing attornies investigating corruption or by groundless accusations of voter fraud in swing districts. By continuously blaming the actions of his aides while at the same time pleading ignorance of their decitions, he has proven beyond any doubt that he no longer can serve with the confidence of the public.
One thing is clear, though. He is not the people's attorney. He is continuing on serving the interests of George Bush and his administration, regardless of the harm that he has inflicted to the rest of the nation. It will be many years to repair the harm that he has done to our courts and justice system.
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either/or...
Gonzales is either unquestionably the most politically corrupt Attorney General in the history of his position, or the most incompetent
Both, I'd say... his corruption makes competence completely outside the realm of possibility. Having people like him in charge of the US justice system is pretty much like electing an ayatollah Pope; someone who rejects the basic principles of a system cannot convincingly pretend to manage it honestly. And that's true for everyone who continues to be associated with the Bush-era GOP, as far as I'm concerned.
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Weathering the storm?
This just in : forecasters predict an unusually heavy storm season this summer. In Abu's shoes, I would particularly fear storm number 7 (Goodling, with immunity) and number 11 (Karl).
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Why stop?
Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, a former state judge, spent his time rehashing the false comparison to the Clinton administration's request for the resignations of all of the U.S. attorneys after Bill Clinton took office in 1993. "Was that a crime?" he demanded indignantly. "No," said Gonzales.
If Gonzales has done nothing wrong, why stop now? Surely there are more prosecutors who could be fired.
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Some radical action is necessary
The collusion between the Congress and the administration leads one to believe that nothing is going to happen to anyone in this administration short of forcible removal from office.
Everyone is in everyone's pockets, financially, politically or otherwise.
It is a completely corrupt government and to ask for anything like reform is like trying to ask a tiger not to hunt. It's impossible.
I believed before that it could happen, and have been sadly disabused of any notions like that. It is a fantasy.
Nobody in Washington truly gives a damn about what the American people want, need or feel.
Let's face it, we elected them, they don't care anymore-they've got their lifetime job, so shut up already.
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Just wondering...
Anonymous said:
But please, let's keep obsessing about these poor highly paid law enforcement officials losing their precious high profile jobs.
Does this mean you are shilling for the Worst President Ever, or does it just mean you don't understand what is going on?
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I had same conclusions, listening to Republicans yesterday
Joe, You're exactly right! I thought the exact same thing about the Repubs at the Gonzales Judiciary hearing yesterday! What idiots! It got so bad, that everytime a Repub was up, I would go back to vacuuming until I saw a Dem was up again. What little I could bear to listen to from the Repubs was hilarious! I hate to be prejudiced, but every time I'd hear a Repub start to speak with a Southern twang, I knew the questions and comments were going to be even more laughable. That one Repub talking about the Clinton firings (like ALL Presidents do, Dem or Repub, when they begin their first term after an outgoing Pres from the opposite party) was especially hilarious, if it weren't so sad and pathetic. I thought, MAYBE he does know better than what he was saying, but I'm afraid the constituents who would vote for him, will fall for his ruse every time, anyway, so why bother telling the truth? Besides, whatever he was saying would only be reinforced over and over again by Fox and by Rush and by the other Repub spokesperson, so what chance would his constituents have in ever finding out the truth anyway?
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An old saying -
People who say, "I hate to say this but..." rarely do.
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If this is how the Banana Republicans want it...
then it will interesting to hear what they have to say if turnabout happens.
2008, Democratic president, and a NEW attorney general. Then the new AG can figure out how to rig elections, put the pressure on to prosecute Republicans and conservatives around the country, and make America's justice system one giant Kangaroo Court.
How fast will they be screaming bloody murder?
But then the Democrats aren't a bunch of despotic dictatorial Banana Republicans, they actually BELIEVE in democracy and rule of law, and so they won't sic the new AG on the Republicans, will they?