The Days of our Discontent....

A snapshot of the week ahead.... former congressman Henry Hyde (R-IL) will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom this morning. Perhaps in recognition of his relentless crusade against women's right to choose, or, as the House of Representatives chief prosecutor in President Clinton's impeachment proceedings over his adulterous affair with a White House intern.

Of course....hypocrisy, thy name is GOP..... during the Clinton witch hunt Hyde admitted to Salon magazine in 1998 that he had carried on a five-year sexual relationship with a much younger married woman that ended when Hyde's wife found out about it.

And.... tomorrow morning the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on the confirmation of Michael Mukasey, The Decider's nominee for attorney general. With spineless Democrats like Dianne Feinstein (CA) and Charles Schumer (NY) giving the nod to Mukasey, it seems assured he'll gain the approval of the committee and the full Senate later this month. So, we'll have another attorney general who can't say if waterboarding torture is illegal.... it's still what the meaning of is, is.

Mukasey should have asked Evan Wallach, he explains it all in his piece today "Waterboarding Used to Be a Crime." (WaPo)

He reminds us that after "World War II, we convicted several Japanese soldiers for waterboarding American and Allied prisoners of war." Of course, under the Bush administration, the days of national moral behavior are just a memory .... perverted by a flurry of The Decider's directives and his last political-enabler, attorney general Alberto Gonzales.

Looks like this isn't the week that will restore our tattered national honor.

The Contemptable White House

We're finding out that the Justice Department evidently works best at night.

We already know about the nighttime bedside visit to the very ill attorney general, now we hear of another after-dark arm twisting... "U.S. Attorney Became Target."

"John L. Brownlee, the U.S. attorney in Roanoke, testified that he was at home the evening of Oct. 24 when he received the call on his cellphone from Michael J. Elston, then chief of staff to the deputy attorney general and one of the Justice aides involved in the removal of nine U.S. attorneys last year." (WaPo)

This wasn't a social call. It was the night before the government secured a plea of "guilty" from Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of the addictive painkiller OxyContin "that was the direct or partial cause of 146 deaths in 2000 and 2001 and possibly 318 others during that period."

Elston, at the behest of the drugmaker, urged Brownlee to "slow down."

To his credit, Brownlee didn't slow down.... and, eight days later Brownlee's name appeared on a list compiled by Elston of prosecutors that officials suggested be fired.

You can be sure Attorney General Gonzales if asked about this episode will don his baby-seal-being-clubbed face and say he didn't know this was going on in his Justice Department.

But, as we are starting to find out, someone does know what is going on.

The prince of darkness, Vice President Cheney.

When Gonzo was queried by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) about who sent him on the nighttime visit Ashcroft's bedside, he would only respond he was "acting on behalf of the president".... a catchall phrase meaning he wouldn't say.

But, according to The New York Times op ed piece of July 29, when Gonzales was still the White House counsel and the Justice Department refused to endorse a continuation of the wiretapping program because it was illegal, that..... "Unwilling to accept that conclusion, Vice President Dick Cheney sent Mr. Gonzales and another official to Mr. Ashcroft's hospital room to get him to approve the wiretapping."

There it is, flat out. Dirty Dick behind the devious trick.

When asked by Larry King two nights later about the NY Times editorial and his involvement in hospitalgate, Cheney replied.... "I don't recall....."

We need to have a Letterman list of ways the White House gets around accountability.... "executive privilege" would be high on the list, followed by "I don't recall."

While Gonzo has proven himself to be the White House political lackey, and The Decider a reckless punk using the country as his fiefdom.... the real black hand propelling events is Dirty Dick. Congress needs to impeach this lawless White House crew.... starting with the chief instigator and manipulator.... Cheney.

Making It Up As He Goes...

Sometimes it's better to just let a person's own words make the case.... which in this instance is the testimony of Attorney General Gonzales before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) was asking Gonzales about the night in 2004 when he showed up at the hospital bedside of his predecessor, John Ashcroft, to try to get him to overrule his deputy, James Comey, and reauthorize Bush's secret program of warrantless electronic eavesdropping that the Justice Department had concluded as constituted was illegal.

In "Bedtime for Gonzo," by columnist Eugene Robinson, he recounts Gonzales' weaselly explanation to the Committee "for why he would think it appropriate to buttonhole a sick man in his hospital room, regardless of the issue." (WaPo)

"There are no rules governing whether or not General Ashcroft can decide 'I'm feeling well enough to make this decision,' " Gonzo said. When Specter pointed out that Ashcroft had already turned his powers over to Comey, Gonzo replied, "And he could always reclaim it. There are no rules."

"While he was in the hospital under sedation?" Specter interrupted, before giving up on getting a straight answer.

When Gonzales was pressed by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on who sent him on that Mafia-movie errand to the hospital, all this friend of George would say was that the visit was "on behalf of the president of the United States."

Oh yes, King George would definitely approve of such tactics. Gonzales' testimony sums up the philosophy of the Bush administration.... "There are no rules".... the rules are whatever they say they are.

Send Gonzales Packing

We're rooting for Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) leading a group of Senate Democrats calling for a special counsel for a "Gonzales Perjury Probe," and, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman, Patrick Leahy (D-VT) "Senator May Seek Gonzales Perjury Probe," as they finally say about Gonzo's glaring lack of integrity in upholding his office, enough is enough. (WaPo)

No matter how Gonzo shaves the truth trying to rewrite history over his actions and testimony on the unconstitutional warrantless surveillance program and the Patriot Act.... the only outcome for Gonzo's scurrilous actions should minimally be losing his job as Attorney General.

How is it that Gonzo with his ambulance-chaser tactics, a nighttime sickbed arm twister as the then-White House Attorney, rose to become Attorney General, turning the legal system into The Decider's political playground?

How? Because the former Republican-controlled Congress rubber stamped whatever Bush mandated, and he wanted his buddy's pudgy finger on the scale of justice.

Everyone.... except the White House... even most GOP lawmakers after witnessing Gonzo's unethical performance, would breathe a sigh of relief to see him depart.

The sooner the better.

Bush, the King of Trumps

While recent events in Pakistan and D.C. may seem unconnected, they actually have a common theme... political power.

In Pakistan, the "Supreme Court Reinstates Judge". (WaPo)... Chief Justice Chaudhry, that is, who President Musharraf had accused of misconduct and removed.

The timing was.... well, suspect. When Chaudhry was removed, he was "reviewing and preparing to rule on several cases challenging Musharraf's plans to orchestrate a new five-year term for himself before upcoming parliamentary elections."

The Supreme Court ruled that the removal was illegal and Chaudhry was reinstated today.

The legal struggle has been framed as between the two branches of government. Bowing to the ruling, Pakistan's Prime Minister Aziz said, "We must all accept the verdict with grace and dignity reflective of a mature nation, this is not the time to claim victory or defeat. The Constitution and the law have prevailed and must prevail at all times."

Now, let's contrast this rather stirring outcome with the White House dispute with our legislative branch of government.

Invoking a new assertion of Bush's executive authority Thursday in the dispute over the firing of nine U.S. attorneys.... "Broader Privilege Claimed" is the latest White House maneuver.

Bush's executive branch doesn't worry about the judicial branch slapping their hand since their grip on that branch is so total.... the "Justice Department will never be allowed to pursue contempt charges initiated by Congress against White House officials once the president has invoked executive privilege." (WaPo)

Allowed?

And, the reason they are so arrogantly confident?

As it turns out, House and Senate contempt citations must be submitted to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia... the legal branch.... Attorney General Gonzales is Bush's boy and will do his bidding, and the majority on the Supreme Court is in the White House pocket.

This latest administration move is such a sweeping negation of the separation of powers it is important to quote fully a senior White House official on their consensus opinion: "A U.S. attorney would not be permitted to bring contempt charges or convene a grand jury in an executive privilege case, and a U.S. attorney wouldn't be permitted to argue against the reasoned legal opinion that the Justice Department provided. No one should expect that to happen."

Mark J. Rozell, professor of public policy at George Mason University calls the White House policy "astonishing."

"That's a breathtakingly broad view of the president's role in this system of separation of powers, Rozell said. "What this statement is saying is the president's claim of executive privilege trumps all.

Trumps the Constitution.

Trumps Congress.

Trumps the rule of law.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) said the administration is "hastening a constitutional crisis." And Henry Waxman (D-CA) added, that the administration "makes a mockery of the ideal that no one is above the law.... I suppose the next step would be just disbanding the Justice Department."

It's shocking to realize that the "mature" democracy of strife-torn Middle Eastern Pakistan is functioning and protecting its separation-of-powers government, while above-the-law Bush and Cheney's unholy alliance is ripping the guts out of ours.

A ruthless, unprincipled power grab orchestrated by shadow president Cheney. Congress must act, NOW.... while they still are the third branch.