And now this...

[godfry n. glad]

http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/news?e=pri&dt=041109&cat=news&st=newsd868lqso4&src=ap

Well... This is what you get folks. George W. Bush and John Ashcroft, the merchants of misery.

Sure, it was in the pipeline already, but now, with the alignment of the houses of governance, they'll put it early on their agenda, so that they'll either sweep it under the rug early, or get another chance at it later.

If they succeed, I wish them both long, painful and debilitating illnesses, wracking and painfully extended deaths, followed by torture and roasting in their hell for eternity.

These people are maliciously evil.

These people wish to extend the agony of the dying.

How sick and perverted can one be?

This is cause for the deepest anger and revulsion I have felt in years. I must step away from this board for a while. I think I'm going to puke at the prospect of four more years of this abomination.

godfry

[D. Scarlatti]

Assisted suicide case at the Court (http://www.goldsteinhowe.com/blog/archive/2004_11_07_SCOTUSblog.cfm#110003235420698977)

This is a good of example of when federalism is inconvenient to conservative ideology. It would be fun to see, ten or twenty years down the line, with Roe v. Wade overruled, conservatives lobbying for a constitutional amendment to ban abortion when the vast majority of states don't.

Anyway, Counsellor Ashcroft is done:

"May God continue to bless, guide, and direct you and your family as you lead America forward in freedom."

[Stephen Maturin]

For anyone who doesn't mind plowing through a 58-page PDF laden with discussion administrative law and rules of statutory interpretation, the court of appeals ruling that the Justice Department is trying to get reversed is available here (http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/F63C3857EBE8263588256E9F007CAC71/$file/0235587.pdf?openelement). The decision was issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, fountainhead of liberal degeneracy, from its citadel in San Francisco.


This is a good of example of when federalism is inconvenient to conservative ideology.

Or at least to current Republican ideology. Genuine conservatives seem to be in short supply nowadays. You wouldn't find to many of them saying that it's a good idea to beat states vigourously about the head and shoulders with the federal Controlled Substances Act.


It would be fun to see, ten or twenty years down the line, with Roe v. Wade overruled, conservatives lobbying for a constitutional amendment to ban abortion when the vast majority of states don't.

Funny you should mention that. I was just reading today's edition of that right wing shit rag known as the Rocky Mountain News and came across this (http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_3314447,00.html). The author, a liberal law professor, says that Roe "is the biggest gift the Republican Party has ever gotten" and that its reversal would be "[t]he best thing that could happen to the Democratic Party * * *."


Anyway, Counsellor Ashcroft is done:

Here's hoping they can find someone just as batshit insane and divisive to replace him. The thought of some intelligent, moderate, reasonable-sounding person advocating for USA PATRIOT and other Bush administration atrocities sickens me to the core.

[godfry n. glad]

The scuttlebut around here is that Ashcroft is stepping down now so he can be put into nomination for an empty Supreme Court justice seat.

I personally don't see it, but I don't know what Dumbya thinks he can do and what he can't.

godfry

[Dingfod]

Man, oh, man, that would suck. First, Ashcroft, then Hatch, then who?

[godfry n. glad]

Man, oh, man, that would suck. First, Ashcroft, then Hatch, then who?


Well, I suppose they could dig up Judge Roy Bean...he'd fit right in....y'know, "Hang 'em first, try 'em later." And a plus is that probably nobody'd notice he was dead in that crowd.

godfry

[Dingfod]

How about Zell Miller (http://nationalreview.com/ledeen/ledeen200411090750.asp) for Secretary of State? Or worse, the rumor mill has it that Condi Rice will replace Powell at State? Do we actually want to have no relationship to any other country in the world?

[Dingfod]

Arrrgh! It just dawned on me, Rudy Giuliani sold out and was kissing Bush's ass to get appointed Attorney Generalissimo.

[Dingfod]

Yahoo!News announces Alberto Gonzales has been selected (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=542&ncid=716&e=1&u=/ap/20041110/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/bush_cabinet) to replace Ashcroft.

[wei yau]

Yahoo!News announces Alberto Gonzales has been selected (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=542&ncid=716&e=1&u=/ap/20041110/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/bush_cabinet) to replace Ashcroft.

From the article:

For instance, Gonzales publicly defended the administration's policy — essentially repudiated by the Supreme Court and now being fought out in the lower courts — of detaining certain terrorism suspects for extended periods without access to lawyers or courts.


He also wrote a controversial February 2002 memo in which Bush claimed the right to waive anti-torture law and international treaties providing protections to prisoners of war. That position drew fire from human rights groups, which said it helped led to the type of abuses uncovered in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.

Definitely something to be concerned about, but I can't tell how much of these actions are based on his perspective of the law and how much is based on how good he is at finding a legal justification for actions that the Administration wanted to undertake.


Some conservatives also have quietly questioned Gonzales' credentials on core social issues. And he once was a partner in a Houston law firm which represented the scandal-ridden energy giant Enron.

In the interest of fairness, I don't see the point to this last bit. He may have been a partner in the firm, but that does not necessarily means he had anything to do with Enron.