Writing Life

Have you read this front-page Washington Post article on the latest development in the clash between the Congress and the Administration regarding those pesky fired U.S. Attorneys? I hope you’ve had your coffee this morning and that you enjoyed the last bit of freedom before you went to sleep last night. For this thought, enunciated in a new Bush Administration policy, effectively crowns George W. Bush king. So much for our Declaration of Independence, the Revolutionary War, the Constitution and those quaint years between then and now.

This new power says that once a president invokes executive privilege in a Congressional contempt process, the entire game stops immediately. The situation would be encountered if Congress cites an individual or agency with contempt for not complying with legally issued Congressional subpoenas for documents or testimony. Contempt charges are normally handled by a U.S. attorney, but the new policy is that since the Justice Department and U.S. Attorneys are part of the Executive Branch, itself an extension of the President/Executive, they can’t by definition ignore a claim of executive privilege. They’re bound by what the Executive says and hence may never proceed against the Administration.

This flies in the face of separation of powers! This thinking isn’t actually new, it’s as old as the oldest dictatorship. I thought this country was based on the rule of law and justice for all? It seems that the entire Executive Branch of government is exempt from any law, once executive privilege is claimed.

Congress has another option, as the article states. It has an “inherent contempt” process, whereby it can hold its own trials and jail those found guilty of contempt. It hasn’t been used since the 1930s, but the precedent and power is there. Also, this can go to the Supreme Court, which sadly has shown deference to the current president.

The American system deserves better than to be perverted by these radical fascists ensconced at the White House and the Old Executive Office Building. And for those who think fascist is too strong a word, go look it up and then compare it to today’s headlines across the country. It’s time to impeach. It’s time for revolution. It’s time to depose King George. We did it before and it’s time to do it again. Let’s take back our country now.

This New York Times article on US Attorneys and Democratic investigations clearly illustrates why Attorney General Alberto Gonzales must resign. It further shows how far trust has fallen in the American system. After Watergate, you just couldn’t trust your government. Over the ensuing years, trust was built up again, but never to the heights at which it had been. You knew you could trust your government some of the time, not trust it others, and at least I felt there was a relatively clear demarcation between when I could trust and when I should distrust.

The Bush Administration has destroyed any semblance of trust from most Americans. Over the last six years, we have seen secrecy, denials then admissions, political firings of US Attorneys, and resurrecting previous lies as though newfound truths. On the last item, I only have to note White House Press Secretary Tony Snow’s triumphant return from cancer surgery yesterday. At the podium, in response to a question about former CIA Director George Tenet’s book on Iraq, Snow had the unmitigated gall to say that President Bush and his Administration never ever once tried to tie Saddam Hussein to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Countless videos, newspaper articles, transcripts and the like disprove this notion, but the Administration still sells the Kool Aid and more often than not, the press corps drinks it happily.

Now, returning to the NY Times article mentioned at the top, this article talks about Democrats who were prosecuted by Bush Administration US Attorneys. Some who were acquited start off the article, wondering if their prosecution was political or an honest mistake. Some believed they were prosecuted purely because they were Democrats and that similar Republican officials were let off the hook. The Justice Department has said there is no basis to this and points to high-level Republican prosecutions, such as former Congressmen and currently incarcerated Duke Cunningham (R-CA 50) and Bob Ney (R-OH 18).

All Democrats certainly aren’t angels, nor are all Republicans corrupt. My point is that the political firing of US Attorneys by Attorney General Gonzales has undermined my faith in believing the Justice Department’s statement that they fairly investigated everyone, regardless of party affiliation. In some cases, I think they probably did. In others, perhaps not. But, the uncertainly is so high that the system crumbles underneath the weight. And contributing to that weight is the Attorney General himself.

Please resign Mr. Gonzales. You say your most earnest desire is to serve your country. To best serve, as Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) said publicly during your recent testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, you should resign.

In testimony today, scandal-plagued Attorney General Alberto Gonzales blew his chances. If this is how he was prepped for several weeks, he might want to ask for their resignations before he gives his. Senior White House officials, speaking off the record, said watching today’s televised hearing was like “clubbing a baby seal.” Others said Gonzales went down in flames. (For more, see Raw Story’s post.) Even far-right Republican Senator Tom Coburn (Oklahoma) explicitly called for Gonzales to resign, to his face, noting that “the best way to put this behind us is your resignation.”

Stay tuned as we wait the results. Typical Washington events occur after 5 PM and especially after 5 PM on a Friday so as to avoid some of the news cycle. However, this’ll be a biggie. Stay tuned for other potential resignations, e.g. Paul Wolfowitz (Iraq War architect and current World Bank president). And, there’s always something cooking with Abramoff’s Republicans, Rep. Doolittle (R-CA 04).

Update: Great article from the New Republic. Nice analysis of today’s hearings, check it out.

Tomorrow, at 10 AM, in room 216 of the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, DC, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing entitled “Department of Justice Oversight.” The lone witness is Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. What is both striking and uplighting is the use of the word oversight. I and my fellow Americans haven’t seen any overslght from the U.S. Congress since the Bush Administration came to power in 2001. The rain showers of the past few days will clear, but forecasters say the wind will remain. Let’s hope it helps blow the cover off the blatant abuses of this Justice department under this Attorney General and this President.

I’m sure I’ll post more on this, but two things I wanted to mention today. First, Republican Senators Arlen Specter (PA) and Lindsey Graham (SC) have said that Gonzales has a tough uphill battle to save his job. They have been on talk shows and in the press saying that same talking point over and over. I almost feel, and this is the paranoid in me, that they’re setting it up for a win that would strengthen Gonzales. That is, they’ll claim the Attorney General did pull his own career out of the fire and saved himself. With the buildup of the grave nature of the situation by Senators Specter and Graham, this so-called win will help propel the Attorney General beyond further reproach.

Second, over the weekend, the White House, and especially Vice President Cheney, have said that they wholly support Attorney General Gonzales. This isn’t anything new as they’ve backed him since the scandal erupted. However, with the revelation of Presidential advisor Karl Rove’s potential involvement in the firings of the US Attorneys, the loss of years of Rove’s official email, and the potential loss of up to 5 million President-record emails at the White House, the stakes are getting higher. On CBS News’ Face the Nation program, Cheney said, “This took place inside the Justice Department. The one who needs to answer to that and lay out on the record the specifics of what transpired is the attorney general, and he’ll do so.” This must be part of a strategy to both distance the White House (and Bush, Cheney and Rove) from the scandal and continue to bolster the opacity and impenetrability of the White House.

After tomorrow’s hearing and in the coming days, we shall see what develops. There is hope for real transparency in government decision-making. There is hope that Justice is blind, not Ambition.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales got caught in another lie today. Previously, he claimed not to have been involved in the firings, since he’s just the CEO of a 110,000 person organization. But, turns out, he was at the meeting and signed off on several firings in November of last year. See ABC News, MSNBC and the Associated Press for more.

And, just for kicks, here’s the type of US Attorneys that are “loyal Bushies,” to use the words of the disgraced and resigned Chief of State to Mr. Gonzales.

Tick-tock, time is getting short for Mr. Gonzales. Will he resign this weekend or next week?

Once Alberto Gonzales has resigned and others held accountable in the White House and the Justice Department, the Administration and Congress should get together and rehash the entire system of how U.S. Attorneys are selected and for how long they will serve.

I understand the need for political appointees in various positions throughout the government. It makes total sense, especially as political appointees help implement the policy of the Administration.

Justice, the concept not the department, should not be at the whim of the policy choices of the current Administration. We are a nation of laws; laws that are meant to apply to everyone, equally. US Attorneys (USAs) investigate and prosecute people based on those laws. And it should be on those laws alone.

The system can work, as we saw with Republican USAs prosecuting convicted former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-CA 50). Democratic USAs have prosecuted Democrats as well.

The system can also fail. Two problems we saw in some of these recent firings were Republican USAs being removed by a Republican Administration for investigating Republicans (Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA)) and unethical conduct of a Republican Senator (Pete Domenici of New Mexico) and Republican Congresswoman (Heather Wilson of New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District) contacting a Republican USA about his investigation of Democratic state officials.

I’m not sure what the solution is. Perhaps allow a President, in consultation with the US Senate, to appoint all 93 USAs at the beginning of their term, but not at any other time. But even that seems a bit partisan in that were USAs from the previous Administration bad and in need of being replaced? Can USAs be filled by a pool of career, and thus not political, staff? Let’s hope there’s a serious attempt to revamp our USA selection and retention system.

Announced as breaking news on all the major news channels, Bush called scandal-plagued Attorney General Alberto Gonzales today, offering his support and saying he doesn’t want Gonzales to leave. This after 3,000 pages of Justice Department documents were released last night that have already released a few more nuggets, especially around dismissed Arkansas-based US Attorney Bud Cummins. Cummins was dismissed to make way for a political friend of Karl Rove, senior advisor to Bush and sometimes referred to as Bush’s brain. The replacement US Attorney, Tim Griffin, not only was a Rove friend, but he has spent his entire career as an opposition researcher for Republicans. He did this job of digging up or manufacturing dirt about Democrats for the RNC and for Rove himself. For more on Griffin, see TPM and a Arkansas Times article from 28 Dec 2006.

Now, Bush’s call could be viewed in two ways: (a) real support and signaling that he will fight to keep his former personal attorney and friend from Texas or (b) he sets the stage for Gonzales to say he’s leaving and thanks the president for his support but it’s best for him to go. Option (b) lets Bush save face and look like a good-ole-boy. Only time will tell whether Gonzales resigns, is forced out, or stays on. Let’s hope this is resolved soon, like this week!

[Update, 4:19 pm] White House offers to allow Rove and Miers to testify, but it won’t be under oath, will be in private session (not for public) and there will be no transcript or notes allowed. WTF. I mean, literally, WTF! I’m amazed that White House Counsel (Gonzales’s old job, by the way) Fielding could actually make such an offer without bursting out laughing. Sen. Leahy has said this probably isn’t good enough but that they’d revisit it after hearing sworn, open testimony from Justice Department officials.

[Update, 5:55 pm] Bush press conference. Bush says continues to support Gonzales, nothing wrong was done, Gonzales to testify before Congress and his aides will “talk” to Congress (off the record). He came out swinging and tried to blame it all on partisanship by Democrats. I guess he forgot that Republican Senators and Congressman have called for Gonzales to go too. Seems like more of a bipartisan issue to me. Of note: he said toward the end that the Justice Department recommended removing the 8 attorneys and the White House accepted those recommendations. To me, that seems cagey language that helps set up an excuse for the White House and Bush. Also, I can’t believe he used the word “kleiglights”, when referring to Congressional testimony. I didn’t think he knew words that big.

[Update 6:32 pm] He just doesn’t get it, does he? George, no one elected you king or emperor. You’re the President of the United States, not King George. You don’t want Congress, one of the equal partners of our government, to tell you how to run the Executive, so don’t you tell them how to run the Legislature. You don’t get to have your way all the time. Sorry, nah-gonna-happen.

[Update 8:59 pm] Go go Senate Judiciary Chair Patrick Leahy (D-VT): “Testimony should be on the record and under oath. That’s the formula for true accountability.”

The Politico breaks that the White House is considering replacements for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales:

Among the names floated Monday by administration officials are Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and White House anti-terrorism coordinator Frances Townsend. Former Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson is a White House prospect. So is former solicitor general Theodore B. Olson, but sources were unsure whether he would want the job.

More to come tonight, if there’s an update.

Update [8:45 PM] White House involved in firings of US Attorneys from the beginning. New emails released by the Justice Department detail the depth of involvement of members of the Administration. The White House hasn’t released any documents, email or authority to let officials testify, though that might be coming soon. Unless they try to short-circuit the whole process by having Gonzales step down. I’m willing to think Gonzales will be gone before this Friday.

Gonzales-Gate or Attorney Gate continues with new revelations about US Attorney Carol Lam’s (San Diego) investigation of imprisoned former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-CA 50) and others surrounding that case. Lam was looking into then Appropriations chair Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA 41) and the #3 person at the CIA. After notifying DC about her efforts, the very next day Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Chief of Staff (the now resigned Kyle Sampson) sent a note to Gonzales that Lam needed to be replaced ASAP.

Update [9:16 AM] You’d think they’d get their lies straight before they talked to the public. Now it appears that US Attorney David Iglesias (New Mexico) was a Department of Justice recognized and rewarded expert on election fraud prosecutions! You might remember Iglesias as the US Attorney who was fired not too long after Sen. Domenici (R-NM) and Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM 01) called him personally to inquire about pending cases the US Attorney was investigating (ethical violations, some might see criminal possibilities as well).

Update [9:21 AM] CQ Politics had a great story late last week on the attorney scandal, noting the especially damaging nature of this scandal for Bush than others in the past. In this case, three extensions of the president, Karl Rove, Harriet Miers and Alberto Gonzales are all deeply involved and there is on-the-record proof that shows each discussed this matter with Bush. These are his deepest and closest advisers, who go all the way back to Texas with him, prior to the presidency.

While Bush fled DC to head to the Camp David retreat (leaving around 2:12 PM this afternoon), his damaged FBI released a report about … prepare to get scared folks … terrorists! Argh! Run, hide, be very afraid! Don’t think about Attorney General Gonzales and his national security letters or his firing of US Attorneys! Don’t think about Karl Rove’s involvement! Don’t think about Valerie Plame and her being outed as a secret agent by Dick Cheney and his cabal! Don’t think about the additional troops being added to the additional troops being added to the “surge” in Iraq. [It went from 21,500, then 4-5,000 more were added, and as of last night, the request is around 30,000.] Just think about terrorists! Since they’re driving our kids on buses!

Oh, no, wait. It appears that there is no credible evidence that they are driving our kids. The FBI said this themselves, while they were announcing that our kids were about to be slaughtered by terrorist bus drivers! Now, I used to ride the bus to school, and those drivers were scary. But, I’m waxing nostalgic not offering commentary.

WTF! This is a blatant attempt to scare America so that it doesn’t focus on the REAL CRIMES COMMITTED BY GEORGE W. BUSH AND HIS CRONIES. It’s time to clean house. Impeachment, trials, jail time, resignations galore. Let’s clean up this Administration and return America to its greatness as a beacon of liberty and freedom. Not to the world but to its very own citizens who have been forced to cower in the dark these long six years.

Update: And shame on the media for being the mouthpiece of our dictatorship. Where’s the critical analysis and calling the Administration on their blatant attempt to distract the American people? The rights secured by journalists in the US and across the world, rights won with their sweat, tears, and sometimes very blood. Do your job!

In a flash from ABC News, new emails have surfaced about who came up with the idea to remove U.S. Attorneys (USA). On Tuesday, White House spokesmouth said the idea was former White House Counsel Harriet Miers idea and that it was rejected immediately by the Department of Justice. Now, it appear that the idea came from Presidential Brain Karl Rove, and it came in early 2005. Additionally, Alberto Gonzales, who denied knowledge of mass firings, discussed just such a full purge of the US Attorneys before he was even confirmed as Attorney General.

See ABC News for their story. And don’t forget, it’s time for Mr. Gonzales to resign. He should set the example and be one of the first to resign or face charges or impeachment.

I was waiting for someone besides myself to make this connection. I was involved (professionally and personally) with New Mexican Attorney General Patricia Madrid’s campaign for the U.S. House seat in the state’s 1st Congressional District. When I heard that the incumbent in that seat, Rep. Heather Wilson (R), had called U.S. Attorney David C. Iglesias about cases he was investigating in the state, I wondered if there was a political connection to Wilson’s very tight race against Madrid. It seemed political, but I wondered if I was just too close to the story. Here’s a quote from a piece by Congressional Quarterly:

The case was particularly important to Wilson’s political future because it had previously been handled by state Attorney General Patricia Madrid, her Democratic challenger in one of the closest races of 2006. Indictments before Election Day would have allowed Wilson to campaign on the notion that federal prosecutors had succeeded in bringing charges when Madrid did not — for partisan reasons, in the incumbent’s view.

Rep. Wilson (R) won by only 897 votes (out of about 211,000 cast). She’ll have a hard time in 2008. Several articles also note that Sen. Domenici (R), who also called the U.S. Attorney’s office, was grooming Wilson (R) to fill his seat. Domenici himself is now in trouble and several have said he might retire or face a much tougher fight for his seat that was expected just a month ago.

I just watched the sham news conference with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. That this man could go out in front of the cameras and say the things he did, wow, that takes a ton of chutzpah. First, he used the classic Washington passive construct of “mistakes were made”. When pressed about those mistakes, they were made by his chief of staff who resigned yesterday. Gonzales then said he accepted responsibility for all actions that occur in his department, the Department of Justice. However, he then immediately reiterated that DOJ is huge, that decisions are delegated, and that he doesn’t have real-time knowledge of everything that’s going on. So, he’s responsible but it’s not his fault that others didn’t tell him what was going on. He seems to want it both ways: he’s responsible but he’s not to blame.

I’m also disgusted with yet another Bush appointee, after they’ve been caught in lies and scandals, saying that they’re aware there are problems and that they’ll address them. Why should we trust them to find and fix the problems that they ignored or hid in the first place? External oversight, through Congress or some other non-Administration panel is necessary.

Gonzales hasn’t yet been called to account for his organization’s abuse of National Security Letters, subverting innocent Americans’ privacy rights. That mixed in with the US Attorney scandal should put the final nail in the argument that Gonzales Must Go.

And I mean everyone. The blogs, the newspapers, TV, pundits galore! About what? The US Attorney scandal that’s plaguing the Department of Justice, the Attorney General, the Office of Counsel to the President, Karl Rove, and Bush himself. What’s interesting is that Attorney General Gonzales abruptly cancelled his travel plans today. That’s usually never a good sign. Well, it’s a good sign if he resigns… Stay tuned to the blogosphere and news reports today!

The White House is blaming Harriet Miers for the scandal. Former White House Counsel and Supreme Court nominee Miers is the latest to be thrown under the bus by this administration. Won’t anyone up there accept blame? Come on Alberto, be one of the first on the 1600 Block of PA Ave to fess up!

Update: TPM has a timeline of this story that’s worth a look.

Reading through my various news sources this morning, I ran across several stories that I wanted to highlight for today:

• The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said that verification and access to Iran’s nuclear program is one of kind, meaning that Iran has hidden and obfuscated its program for more than 20 years. That requires Iran to have stronger fines and sanctions against it. I totally agree with the IAEA pronouncement, let’s hope it gets implemented soon. I wonder if this will set a precedent that can be applied once Israel’s documented yet undeclared nuclear weapons program is brought into the light. With around 200 nuclear bombs, Israel has a formidable program that is unmatched by anyone in the region. I don’t believe in developing, deploying or using nuclear weapons, so I’m not singling out Israel for having such weapons. I’m singly them out for the very real double standard applied to one country vs. another, which creates animosity and the apparent desire to follow in Israel’s footsteps by building a covert nuclear weapons program.
• Take a look at Jackson Diehl’s op-ed in today’s Washington Post for its utter lack of morality and conscience. Diehl writes about Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA 29)’s resolution describing the mass slaughter of Armenians by a pre-nascent Turkey. Academics, diplomats, some Turkish nationals, the European Union and Armenian-Americans have been demanding that these events be called what they really were: genocide. Turkey has pushed back hard, saying there was no genocide and even going as far as to prosecute those who question the official Turkish line. Diehl’s argument is that Turkey is more important as an ally of the US in the region than placating Rep. Schiff and Speaker Pelosi’s Armenian constituents. This argument is so vacuous as to almost defy response. His flippant remarks set my head spinning, such as when he writes “Here is a debate that only could occur in Washington”. Note that there are Armenian-American constituents in many other districts of the United States, not focused solely in Schiff or Pelosi’s districts, so the desire for such a resolution isn’t just from 2 out of 435 areas. Also, is it right to slide under the rug over a million killed in order to ease relations with Turkey today? It brings to mind the horrific, stupid and ludicrous claim by Iranian President Ahmadinejad, when he called the Holocaust into question. The world, which would like to work with Iran to quell its nuclear program and any of its reprehensible actions, didn’t say oh, ok, let’s just ignore that statement because it would allow us to engage with Iran more easily. No, the US, Europe and others blasted the Iranian President, as they should! And what about Saddam Hussein’s massacres in Iraq. Should we have slide them under the rug in order to bring peace and democracy to Iraq? Diehl’s last sentence was the final straw, “Yet if Turkey is to become the stable, Western-oriented democracy that it aspires to be, its politicians will have to learn, at least, to react the way everyone else does to nonbinding House resolutions: that is, with a shrug.”
• Update: Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM 01) makes it official: she too called the US Attorney before his firing.
• Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) continues to step in it. After declaring that he had no idea what reporters were talking about, he now says that he did in fact call a US attorney in New Mexico about investigative cases about local Democratic officials. Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM 01), who narrowly beat a challenge back from state Attorney General Patricia Madrid last November, also contacted the same US attorney about the same cases. Unethical behavior? According to Congressional Ethics Rules, yes. Illegal behavior? That remains to be seen, though to this writer it seems likely. I’m waiting now for Domenici to say that yes he called him, yes he mentioned the case, but no he didn’t mean to coerce the US attorney when he asked him to hurry it up.

Take a look at the ever widening Walter Reed scandal and now the revelations about the firings of US Attorneys. The most corrupt administration, ever, hands down. More to come, I’m sure, just keep watching your TV and browser.