Poor Mr Gonzales

After showing that loyalty to a corrupt SOB was his greatest trait, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is having a bit of trouble finding a new job. Can you imagine that there are law firms that don't want to hire a guy who can't recall...anything?

Attorney General candidate Mukasey: thumbs down

Mukasey's confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee went off the deep end yesterday:

He suggested that both the administration’s program of eavesdropping without warrants and its use of “enhanced” interrogation techniques for terrorism suspects, including waterboarding, might be acceptable under the Constitution even if they went beyond what the law technically allowed.

Technically? Let's look at the Constitution, Article 6:

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land

The article in question may or may not apply to exactly the kind of "extralegal" behavior of President Bush, but its ambivalence doesn't exonerate him (its focus was on superseding state laws and constitutions).

But the whole reason for forming the United States, independent of Britain, was to gain relief from arbitrary exercise of power - power exercised outside the definition of law. Read the grievances in the Declaration of Independence - it's almost entirely a list of King George's exercise of arbitrary power.

The next attorney general needs to have enough respect for law to believe the President is beneath it. That's clearly not Mukasey.

In honor of his resignation...

...a look at a typical day at the Department of Justice, circa 2006. And the saga of "I don't recall:"

Alberto Gonzales, this song's for you

Almost exactly five months after I called his ouster "pending," the world's greatest insult to justice has decided to resign as Attorney General.

Finally, Alberto, this song's for you:

Why is the lying man still in charge of the law?

That, and other fun questions from Jon Stewart and Company. Let's summit this mountain of obfuscation!

Alberto Gonzales, this song's for you

In the Sunday talk shows (the Congressional opinion forecast service), a lot of Republicans are giving a vote of no confidence in Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. And although it's only been the recent scandal of firing U.S. attorneys general for political reasons, it's also worth noting our lead defender of justice's thoughts on the Geneva Conventions ("quaint") and warrantless wiretapping (it's good for us).

So, in honor of the pending ouster of Gonzales and the victory it represents for civil liberties, rule of law, and the American Way, I dedicate this song to you, Mr. Gonzales.

Update 11:15am: (ignore the video, it's the only way I could find this song)