Guess who will replace Ashcroft?

[Technosoul]

Guess who will replace Ashcroft? Here are some clues.

He has had a long term friendship with the Bushes.

He works now as a legal adviser to the President and was the person who drafted the famous legal reason why terrorists and combatants held at prison camps in Cuban island are NOT protected by international laws which otherwise would apply to military captives who represent a government or country.

He served on the Supreme Court of Texas.

Originally he arrived here from Mexico and joined the military to gain citizenship and a grant that allowed him to attend a decent university, he became a busness lawyer for a while, then became a judge, and later joined the current White House staff in their legal department.

[Section 8]

I believe his name is Alberto Gonzalez.

[gr8fuldaniel]

The Torture guy. Alberto "AbuGhraib" Gonzalalez.

We need to find someone to remove the skid mark stains from the Bill of Rights, left by Ashcroft.

When torture boy leaves we will need to remove the blood stains from it.

[The Dunedan]

Keep your powder dry, guys. This is gonna be ugly.

[harumscarum]

I am just glad that Apostle Ashcroft is gone. I for one welcome our New Mexican overlord. :)

I am going withhold judgment until he gets into office and makes some decisions.

[rcne]

He is the first Hispanic to hold a cabinet post. Balance of the diversity that is America.

Get over it.

Maybe some of you need P.E.S.T. sessions. They're free till the end of the year - for all you self denial freaks.

[The Dunedan]

Race has nothing to do with it!
This man has advocated and justified TORTURE, and has written repeated suggestions to the DoJ on how to circumvent the Constitutional protections against such things.

[harumscarum]

I was not trying to be racist, just funny (I will have to work on that). I have no problems with the new guy. I think everyone is jumping the gun and going to continue another 4 years of bashing everything the gov does.

[Technosoul]

Originally posted by harumscarum, I was not trying to be racist, just funny (I will have to work on that). I have no problems with the new guy. I think everyone is jumping the gun and going to continue another 4 years of bashing everything the gov does.

Also, with the new policy for helping undocumented workers the means for gaining rights and a potential citizenship ( often by joining the military which needs more people) the new canidate for high office should serve as a prime role model for those seeking to come to America and making their dreams of success come true.

[PatrickHenry]

Originally posted by rcne, He is the first Hispanic to hold a cabinet post. Balance of the diversity that is America.

Umm. What about Henry Cisneros? Housing Secretary under Clinton? Funny, while looking up Cisneros(who lied to the FBI but got a Presidential pardon) I came on this: http://www.americanpatrol.com/index.html

Turns out Gonzales' parents were illegals. Do you think his Justice Department will try to stem the tide?

[Technosoul]

Patrick, are you kidding, stem the tide. You are talking about a gaint tidal wave and we now have a few people with hand brooms trying to sweep the water backwards. That gaint tidal wave has already flooded most south western cities. You are in it over our heads. So best to learn how to swim instead of allowing the facts to drown you. Our economy must simply learn how to float on that sea of humanity which is now the standing water, you have no drainage plan that is workable.

In the latter days of America a great tidal wave of humanity has washed over the great cities and men who once pofitited in that city shall wing thier hands with much weeping and moaning.
The Bible told me so.

But fear not these happenings, for they bring with them a true work ethic, a ture sense of faimily unity, and they bring with them the Ameircan Dream that many of the rest of us have lost site of. That is good, perhaps it will restore Ameirca to it original idealism, perhaps we will re-learn what all that means if we watch and learn. It is the wave of the future.

Cool eh?
but PS - that does not mean I support Bush's recomendation for the replacement of Ashcroft.

Technosoul.

[Suburbanite]

Bush doesnt even pretend to care anymore.

[Technosoul]

Suburbanite - well, you certainly are not a person of many words. Most of the time.

Pretend to care about what?

Indeed he is not a great pretender, at least I found him to be rather predictable concerning what he does care about, which is not what I care about.

[RickSp]

I admire Gonzale rising from humble origins.

I don't admire his advocacy of torture, ignoring international law, or his contempt for the basic rights of American citizens. Oh, yah he was also once a lawyer representing Enron.

He may be personally less odious than Aschroft, but his beliefs and actions are reprehensible at best.

[Leebert]

Originally posted by Suburbanite, Bush doesnt even pretend to care anymore.

Agreed.

A friend of mine made a good point back during the party conventions. We had read an article about what was going on behind the scenes...politicians holding "fund raisers" for various causes where lobbyists and business and special interests could "donate" hundreds of thousands of dollars to get valuable face time with said politicians. My friend's comment was, "Man, it used to be that these people had to hide their unscrupulous activity. They don't even try anymore...it's blatant and out in the open. And for some reason, the majority of Americans don't even care."

I'm seriously distressed here. Just what the hell is going on with our country? It's like everything has been turned upside down. In many ways we have become the bad guys...the ideals and qualities we once were known for are now routinely trounced upon by the very people sworn to uphold them. Meanwhile the majority of Americans still feel like we are the greatest country in the world and we can't understand how anyone could hate us or how our lifestyles could be so detrimental to the world. Our government is rapidly bankrupting us both in the literal sense and in the idealistic sense all in the name of mainting the staus quo for those that are in power.

The curent administration has masterfully cowed our nation with a mix of nationialism and fear. Most American's seem unable to make the distinction that to criticize our president and his actions in Iraq has NOTHING TO DO with hating/loving America or supporting the soldiers that are over there being forced to do his dirty work. We somehow fail to see that it has been our own agendas and unscrupulous behavior in dealing with other countries that has inflamed hatred towards us. An now, an entire race of people has been villified. They hate us and want to kill us because they hate freedom. Has anyone stopped and really thought about how rediculous that sounds? What a crock of sh*t. Wake up America...how can you allow yourself to be pandered to in such a way? Do you truly believe that they are so different from us? Do you truly believe that the average Muslim doesn't desire to live a life of happiness with their family in relative peace, comfort, and safety just like you and I? It's time for you to admit that this country is complicit in the anger directed towards us. It is time for us to swallow the bitter pill that we have done wrong...very wrong. We are not the innocent, righteous country our administration is trying to paint us as and you know it.

Someone please say it ain't so!

[gr8fuldaniel]

The Village Voice Mark Fiore Hello Alberto Attorney Extraordinaire November 18th, 2004 12:15 PM

Turn your volume on.
Check out Albertos qualifications.

[Texans 4 Furors]

Originally posted by harumscarum, I am just glad that Apostle Ashcroft is gone. I for one welcome our New Mexican overlord. :) I am going withhold judgment until he gets into office and makes some decisions.

This guy was actually writing the policy. Asscroft was just a front man. Be afraid. Be very afraid. This guy basically defined "enemy combatant" designation. Oh, you don't like it? Ascroft and Gonzalas say you are "aiding 'the terrorists'". I hear Cuba is nice this time of year.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...-2004Jun22.html

"Gentle soul" my @ss...

[gr8fuldaniel]

UN Slams Bush for his Atty General choice.
Common Dreams is offering this story from Inter Press, which is a subscription site.

Common Dreams [SIZE=3]U.N. Report Slams Use of Torture to Beat Terror [/SIZE] by Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS - No country can justify torture, the humiliation of prisoners or violation of international conventions in the guise of fighting terrorism, says a U.N. report released here. The 19-page study, which is likely to go before the current session of the U.N. General Assembly in December, does not identify the United States by name but catalogues the widely publicized torture and humiliation of prisoners and detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan by U.S. troops waging the so-called ”war on terrorism.” <clip>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - According to Francis A Boyle, who teaches international law at the University of Illinois, ''As White House counsel, Alberto Gonzales originated, authorized, approved and aided and abetted grave breaches of the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions of 1949, which are serious war crimes.” ''In other words, Gonzales is a prima facie war criminal. He must be prosecuted under the Geneva Conventions and the U.S. War Crimes Act,'' Boyle told IPS. In any event, the U.S. Senate must reject his nomination, because, as a presumptive war criminal, Gonzales is not fit to be attorney general of the United States, he continued. ''Should Gonzales travel around the world in that capacity, human rights lawyers such as myself will attempt to get him prosecuted along the lines of what happened to (former Chilean dictator) General (Pinochet,'' said Boyle, author of 'Destroying World Order'. Jordan J Paust, law foundation professor at the University of Houston, agrees with Boyle's thesis. ''The denial of protections under the Geneva Conventions is a violation of the Geneva Conventions, and every violation of the laws of war is a war crime. Complicity in connection with war crimes (such as aiding and abetting the denial of protections) is also criminally sanctionable,'' Paust told IPS. Thus, it appears Gonzales is reasonably accused of international criminal activity, he added, although he has the human right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law that provides basic human rights to due process protections, ”that he chose to deny others with respect to the military commissions at Guantanamo Bay” (where Washington detains terror suspects). ''Whether or not Gonzales is guilty, the taint in this instance is surely enough to require that he not be confirmed in any U.S. governmental position, especially since the Bush administration has stated that it is still the policy of the United States to have a government under law and to promote the rule of law and human rights -- rights that are reflected also in the Geneva Conventions,'' Paust added. ''Making Alberto Gonzales the attorney general of the United States would be a travesty,'' says Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights. ''It would mean taking one of the legal architects of an illegal and immoral policy and installing him as the official who is charged with protecting our constitutional rights. The Gonzales memo paved the way for Abu Ghraib,'' Ratner said in a statement issued Thursday.