Gonzales Aides Violated Federal Law

Yesterday, the Justice Department's internal investigation unit submitted their report on the department's hiring practices under Attorney General Gonzales, and it was not good. The report accuses high-ranking members of the Justice Department as not only violating department policies, but also violating federal law.

The report accused several department members as lawbreakers (Kyle Sampson, Jan Williams and Susan Richmond), but singled out Monica Goodling (pictured above) as perhaps the most egregious violator of policy and law.

Goodling (and the others) used political affiliation as a litmus test for employment. She used questioned like "What do you admire most about George Bush?" and "How long have you been a Republican?" to include or exclude applicants during the hiring interview.

A good example is when she refused to hire an attorney with terrorism experience because his wife was active in the Democratic Party. Instead, she hired an attorney with much less experience because he was a Republican.

As for Attorney General Gonzales, the report determined that he probably was not aware of what was going on. Gonzales seems to think the report exonerates him. I don't. The report didn't prove him innocent, it just didn't find enough evidence to prove him guilty.

But even assuming he didn't know Goodling was violating the law, I have to wonder why he didn't know. Did he turn his head because he didn't want to know? Or was he just incredibly incompetent? Personally, I think he turned his head and gave tacit approval of the law-breaking.

Current Attorney General Mukasey assures us that the Justice Department no longer is doing this sort of thing. But then, this is the AG who can't figure out whether water-boarding is torture. Can we really believe him?

Bush Lies About Allowing CIA To Torture Prisoners

Our president is once again lying to the American people. On Friday, Bush told us again the United States "does not torture people". The man must be a pathological liar. Why else would he still be lying when the evidence proving the lie has already been made public?

Does he really think "waterboarding" is not torture? Does he really think striking prisoners on the head is not torture? Does he really think exposing prisoners to extreme temperatures is not torture? I have to assume that he thinks it would be OK for a foreign power to do these things to captive Americans, since it is "not torture".

I think Bush probably knows (and just doesn't care) that the rest of the civilized world considers these things to be torture. He has been lying to them just like he lied to Americans. At the same time in February 2005 that Bush was telling everyone that the U.S. would no longer torture prisoners, he instructed Attorney General Gonzales to write a couple of secret memos to the CIA giving them explicit authority to torture prisoners.

Last week, the New York Times discovered these memos and made them public. To write these memos at the same time he was telling the world just the opposite thing, shows his basic dishonesty. But this shouldn't surprise anyone. He has lied repeatedly -- starting with the reasons for the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

He either thought Americans were too stupid to find out, or he has a "King complex" and thinks he can do whatever the hell he wants to do without consequences. Why haven't Democrats started impeachment proceedings against him (and Cheney)?

Even if the proceedings could not be finished before he left office, it should still be done. It should be done so future president's know they cannot flaunt the Constitution, U.S. laws and international treaties. It should be done so we can start to regain our respect in the eyes of the rest of the world.

Justice Department Investigating Gonzales

It took them long enough, but it looks like the Justice Department is finally going to investigate Alberto Gonzales. Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine wrote Senator Leahy a letter, telling him that they are going to look into whether Gonzales lied in his testimony to Congress. Senator Leahy had requested the investigation.

Fine said in his letter to Leahy, "You identified five issues and asked that we investigate whether the statements made by the attorney general were intentionally false, misleading, or inappropriate. The OIG has ongoing investigations that relate to most of the subjects addressed by the attorney general's testimony that you identified."

I'm not going to get too excited about this though. The department is dragging out the investigation on the prosecutor firings, and I expect they'll probably do the same with this one. It's pretty obvious to anyone with ears that Gonzales lied to Congress, but Bush's Justice Department won't want to embarrass him or the Republicans before the upcoming election.

Republicans have never been too good about investigating themselves. I imagine we'll have to wait until a Democrat is in the White House to get a real investigation.

Gonzales Still Hanging On

Evidently Alberto Gonzales thinks the American people are stupid. He's preparing to once again go before a congressional hearing because he politicized the Justice Department, and fired several attorney's so he could replace them with loyal Bushites. So what does he say?

Instead of resigning, as anyone with an ounce of morality or dignity would do, he says he's "decided that the best course of action was to remain here and fix the problems." Can you believe that? The man most responsible for trying to destroy the Justice Department (outside of Bush), now wants us to think that he's going to "fix" it. Obviously, this guy has no sense of shame.

Considering his past actions, I don't want Gonzales trying to "fix" the Justice Department. He will only wind up causing further damage. He needs to resign, and let someone with a much better sense of justice and ethics try to fix the mess he has made.

Senator Schumer hit the nail on the head when he said, "There are probably only two people on Earth who think the attorney general ought to stay: Alberto Gonzales and President Bush. As long as he's in charge, the Justice Department, the rule of law and America will suffer."

Gonzales "No Confidence" Vote Set For June

The Senate has finally decided to have their "no confidence" vote regarding Attorney General Gonzales in June. I was hoping they would have the vote this week, but Senate Democrats are not feeling too brave right now (you can see how they wussed out on the war-funding bill). So I guess we'll have to settle for June -- hopefully EARLY in June.

Meanwhile, the merry-go-round of blame is still going on among Justice Department officials over just who compiled the list of U.S. Attorneys to be fired for political reasons.

Monica Goodling said Kyle Sampson made the list. Sampson said Alberto Gonzales made the list. Gonzales said Paul McNulty made the list. Personally, I think they're all lying to protect the White House. I believe the list was made by Karl Rove at the request of Bush.

I think the whole lot of them, from Bush on down are guilty and should be punished.

Is This The Week Alberto Gonzales Resigns ?

This may be the week that ends Alberto Gonzales' tenure as U.S. Attorney General. That's what Senator Arlen Specter believes. On CBS' Face the Nation, Sen. Specter (R-Pennsylvania) said he thought Gonzales would avoid the black mark of having a Senate "no confidence" vote.

Specter said, "Votes of no confidence are very rare. Historically, that is something which Attorney General Gonzales would like to avoid. I think that if and when he sees that coming, he would prefer to avoid that kind of a historical black mark."

And that is just what Democrats in the Senate are planning. Senators Schumer (D-New York) and Feinstein (D-California) are calling for a "no confidence" vote on Gonzales as early as this week. It would be a nonbinging resolution, but it would put even more pressure on Gonzales who has to work with the Senate (and it would look bad in the history books, as Specter says).

Of course, Bush says that Gonzales still has his full confidence and support, even after his pitiful appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee. During that appearance, he told the Senators over 170 times that he "could not recall" incidents. I don't think he could recall anything but his name that day. If nothing else, he should resign for "medical" reasons - his total lack of a functioning memory.

I'm not sure one of Bush's loyalists could do anything bad enough to get Bush to ask for his resignation, but a majority of the Senate seems to have had enough of Gonzales. When a "no confidence" vote is taken, it looks like enough Republicans will join the Democrats to get the resolution passed.

His participation in the unjust and purely political firing of several U.S. Attorneys was bad enough, but last week we learned just how low Gonzales is willing to stoop for his master, George Bush. We now know he was willing to go to the hospital to try and pressure a seriously-ill John Ashcroft into signing off on Bush's unconstitutional surveillance plan (and you know the plan had to be bad if even Ashcroft thought it was unconstitutional).

I hope the Senate proceeds with the "no confidence" vote and anything else they could do to get Gonzales to resign. He is an embarrassment to the Department of Justice, the state of Texas, and to our nation as a whole.

The cartoon above was by Mike Keefe in the 5/18/07 Denver Post.

Bush Thinks Americans Are Stupid

The noose is tightening around Attorney General Gonzales regarding the unjustified political firings of eight Justice Department Prosecutors. It's starting to look like he will be the "Scooter Libby" of this scandel. Like Libby was, Gonzales will soon be tossed under the proverbial bus to protect others in Bush's White House circle - perhaps even Bush himself.

It's becoming obvious that although Gonzales pulled the trigger on the firings, Bush's White House cadre planned and ordered the whole mess. Now that this has become obvious, the Senate Judiciary Committee rightfully wants to question Karl Rove and others in the White House.

Bush knows he can't allow that to happen, or more heads would roll than just that of Gonzales. So what does he do in the face of increasing demands? He wants his henchmen to lie to Congress!

In a letter from his counsel to Leahy, Conyers and Specter, we find this very interesting sentence:

Such interviews would be private and conducted without the need for an oath, transcript, subsequent testimony, or the subsequent issuance of subpoenas.

There is only one reason to hold the testimony in private without keeping a record and without the witnesses being sworn to tell the truth. Bush is planning on Rove and the others telling Congress a bunch of LIES, and he doesn't want it coming back to bite him in the ass.

Bush obviously thinks Americans are stupid enough to swallow these lies, or he would not even propose such an outrageous plan.

Congress should not fall for this Bush cover-up. His White House cronies should testify, and the testimony should be under oath and in public. If Congress accepts anything less, then they will be a party to the cover-up.