Worst Legal Mind Ever

At a recent congressional hearing, Gonzo demonstrates how he will strangle the Constitution

Back in November of 2004, Alberto “Gonzo” Gonzales was up for nomination for Attorney General of the United States. I had been an on-again-off-again follower of Gonzo’s career for some time and had formed an intense dislike for the man. What really fried my cookies was Gonzo’s signing off on Bush’s state-sanctioned murder of 1) a mentally retarded man, and 2) a couple of men later proved to be innocent.

That Gonzo, who never argued a case before a jury in his life, was to become the nation’s highest law enforcement officer was appalling to me. My response was to start this blog and join the “reality-based” online community. Along with many others of the Indy Weblogs (Independent Bloggers Against the Confirmation of Alberto Gonzales), I emailed, phoned, faxed and telegraphed my (and other) senators with all the reasons why Gonzo should not take the AG’s office. Unfortunately, the dark gods who are in charge of this era of American government saw fit to give Gonzo the green light. The results speak for themselves, or would, if we could get them out of the many undisclosed locations that they have been “extraordinarily rendered” to.

True to form since confirmation, Gonzo has been monumentally inept, if not criminal. He has been disingenuous to members of Congress and plainly out of his depth when questioned about basic things like the meaning of “probable cause” as opposed to “reasonable suspicion.” He’s even on recent record as saying that the Constitution doesn’t say what it plainly says, indicating that he either can’t read or just hasn’t bothered to read the Constitution of the United States. Here’s a recent turn at explaining (or ‘splaining’) his take on the writ of habeas corpus from ThinkProgress.org:

“…during Senate Judiciary Committee hearings (Jan 18, 2007), Attorney General Alberto Gonzales claimed there is no express right to habeas corpus in the U.S. Constitution. Gonzales was debating Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) about whether the Supreme Court’s ruling on Guantanamo detainees last year cited the constitutional right to habeas corpus. Gonzales claimed the Court did not cite such a right, then added,

GONZALES: I will go back and look at it. The fact that the Constitution — again, here is no express grant of habeas in the Constitution. There is a prohibition against taking it away. But it’s never been the case, and I’m not a Supreme — "

[Say that again, Gonzo?]

GONZALES: “There is no express grant of habeas in the Constitution.”


SPECTER: Now, wait a minute. Wait a minute. The constitution says you can’t take it away, except in the case of rebellion or invasion. Doesn’t that mean you have the right of habeas corpus, unless there is an invasion or rebellion?

GONZALES: I meant by that comment, the Constitution doesn’t say, “Every individual in the United States or every citizen is hereby granted or assured the right to habeas.” It doesn’t say that. It simply says the right of habeas corpus shall not be suspended except by —

SPECTER: You may be treading on your interdiction and violating common sense, Mr. Attorney General.

GONZALES: Um.

“Um,” is right, Gonzo.

There you have it, Gentle Readers. Gonzo’s lack of common sense and his willingness to avoid actually reading the Constitution of the United States, plus his legal hair-splitting over readings of Geneva Convention protocols as well as his support of John Woo’s hair-raising theories of extra-constitutional presidential powers make him unique in American legal history, and right up at the top of the list of Worst.Legal.Mind.Ever.

Bush visit triggers cleansing ceremony

You can't make this stuff up. From the BBC (who are notorious for having no sense of humor):

"We will burn incense, place flowers and water in the area where Mr Bush has walked to clean out the bad energy," [Maya leader Morales Toj] said.

Mayas to cleanse site after Bush Visit

Some Mayan groups prepared to welcome Mr BushMaya leaders have said they will perform a ceremony after US President George W Bush visits an ancient site during his trip to Guatemala.

Mr Bush is due at the Mayan ruins of Iximche, some 80kms west of the capital, Guatemala City, on Monday.

His arrival brings him to the fourth nation in a five-state tour of the Latin American region. But Maya leaders said they will have to perform a special cleansing ceremony to clear bad energy left by his visit.

"No, Mr Bush, you cannot trample and degrade the memory of our ancestors," indigenous leader Rodolfo Pocop said, adding, "This is not your ranch in Texas."

Mr Bush is due to visit farm co-operatives and education centres in the Chimaltenango district.

Mr Bush is expected to be welcomed with native dances and to get a guided tour of the ruins of what was the capital of the Kaqchikel Maya people before the 1524 Spanish conquest. But after he leaves, Maya protesters said they would hold a ceremony to restore peace and harmony to the area.

"We reject this portrayal of our people as a tourist attraction," Morales Toj said. "We will burn incense, place flowers and water in the area where Mr Bush has walked to clean out the bad energy," he said.

You go with the veteran's health care system you got

Personally, I was shocked, shocked, I tell you, when I heard about Defense Secretary Gates' firing of Walter Reed Medical Center director Major General George Weightman. It is conceivable that the selection of Robert Gates as SecDef is the single solitary reasonable thing that Bush has ever done. God knows, Rummy would not (and didn't) fire the man responsible for such shoddy treatment of our "troops."

Of course, it took a "liberal" newspaper to bring the abysmal condition of our military's health system to the greater public's attention and start a serious attempt to do something about it. In other words, the liberal press kicked the administration's ass.

As a veteran who has been banged around in the VA system for the last several years, the appalling wait times, aftercare, and domicillary conditions rampant throughout the VA system aren't news to me, nor to the countless veterans that I have run into at various VA facilities in the last six years. Everybody who has ever been anywhere near a VA facility has a tale of woe. And I am not confusing the issue of Walter Reed Hospital with the Veteran's Administration, two separate entities.

The issue at hand, piss-poor aftercare, long wait-times for appointments, a visciously adversarial position on the part of even low-level beaurocrats who make life and death decisions on veterans' eligibility for disability benifits, etc, is prelevant across the board.

Increasing the misery is the fact that the veterans Admiistration is consistantly underfunded even in the face of ever higher mounting casualty numbers in the Middle East. While some sources have claimed that VA funding was increased by 77% under Bush, when you unpack that statement the numbers tell a different story. In the last six years, the VA's budget has increased due to funding for "benefits," survivors' benefits, construction, and disabilities insurance. Actual medical care funding only increased by 18%. The record is clear that while overall veterans assistance has increased in the last six years, the fact of the matter is that even these increases fail woefully to meet demand, and the administration's lying about the number of casualties doesn't help matters much.

From Bob Woodruff's recent ABC special on his experience with The System:

WOODRUFF: According to the Department of Defense, there have been about 23,000 nonfatal battlefield casualties, but that doesn’t tell the full story.

[…]

PAUL SULLIVAN, VETERANS ADVOCATE: These are the big numbers, Bob. 200,000 have already gone into VA for medical care.

WOODRUFF: The official number is that there are only about 23,000 soldiers and Marines who have been injured in this war.

SULLIVAN: What you have are two sets of books. The Department of Defense saying there are 23,000 wounded from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the Department of Veterans Affairs is actually treating 205,000 veterans from these two wars.

[...]

WOODRUFF: You think Americans fully understand how many injured there are in this war?

NICHOLSON: I think it — I think it cuts both ways. I think Americans are always very surprised to know the number of amputations, for example, which is fewer than 600 in total. They’re probably also surprised to know that 200,000 come to the VA for some kind of medical treatment. That’s probably more than they think.

WOODRUFF: You have mental disorders — 73,000; diseases of nervous system — 61,000; symtpoms, signs of ill-defined conditions — 7,000; diseases of musculoskeletal system — 87,000. These are numbers beyond the 23,000.

NICHOLSON: A lot of them come in for dental problems, others come in for a lot of the normal things that people have. We’re providing their healthcare. Some I suppose are because of their service over there. But they weren’t evacuated for that.

WOODRUFF: But they got some kind of injury, some kind of problem because of the war.

NICHOLSON: That’s possible, yes.

Where did Bush find this asshole? The White House tells us:

Mr. Nicholson earned a master's degree from Columbia University in New York, and a law degree from the University of Denver. He practiced law in Denver, specializing in real estate, municipal finance and zoning law. In 1978 he founded Nicholson Enterprises, Inc., a developer of planned residential communities, and in 1987 he bought Renaissance Homes, which became an award-winning builder of quality custom homes.

In January 1986, Mr. Nicholson was elected committeeman from Colorado for the Republican National Committee (RNC). In 1993 he was elected vice-chairman of the RNC, and in January 1997, he was elected chairman of the RNC, where he served for four years, through the elections of 2000

Oh, I see - he sold houses and votes. Well, gee, that qualifies him to run the largest health care system in the world, doesn't it?

Anyway, Bush's latest budget calls for cutting funding of the VA for the next two years, even as war casualties mount. Shameless.