Angel Of Bush

Senate Judiciary Chairperson Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and House Judiciary Chairperson John Conyers (D-MI) have subpoenaed documents as part of an investigation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, primarily for his political firings of prosecutors. That certainly sounds bad for the Bush administration, which has so much to be ashamed and worried about. But it's easy to lose track of all of this administrations' wrongdoings. A Congressional subpoenae, however, is something that should strike fear into the collective heart of the Bushies. These Republicans are experts at double-talk and good old-fashioned stonewalling, but the jig is up, isn't it?

Apparently not.

Incredibly, the White House has chosen to "invoke executive privilege." I'm not a lawyer so I have no plans of filling my blog with legal arguments about why this is absurd. But that's exactly what it is. These people are totally out of control, and in my view their lack of respect for due process, the separation of powers, and simply Congress itself (they don't like oversight) is indicative of Fascist tendencies among our dear president and his people. A mental construction exists within their hive mind that is not good for our young republic. They see the office of the president as being akin to a CEO. I'm tempted to say "king" but it's not accurate. In our global economy, where a tiny group of primarily white men take advantage of cheap labor and impotent international law around the world, the CEO is the new king. It's the office to which megalomaniacs aspire. Bush and Cheney see themselves as the CEO's of America, and their contempt for oversight is indicative of a disturbing world view. In government, a certain amount of transparency is needed, and oversight by another branch is vital to the health of the system. The USA is not a corporation. That's why Cheney and company look so damn annoyed when our elected officials ask for, or subpoenae, testimony and documents. In their eyes, the House and Senate Judiciary Committees are akin to fire inspectors or aldermen that have no importance to them as they go about the business of making a shitload of money.

They may be cowards in Congress (as the vote to give Bush war powers in 2003 clearly showed), but they don't like to be pushed around. The subpoena stalemate will end up with contempt citations and eventually a court battle about, what else, oversight and the separation of powers. An article I read earlier has a good quote from Judiciary Chairman John Conyers. According to him, the Bushies have shown, "an appalling disregard for the right of the people to know what is going on in their government."

In other news, Bush was also painfully well-zinged by a group of high school students. An organization called Presidential Scholars, which is made up of high school honors students, met with Bush at the White House East Room on Monday, June 25. One of the 50 scholars, a young woman, gave Bush a handwritten letter. The letter pleaded with Bush to put an end to the use of torture, which "violates the human rights" of terrorism suspects. The letter also said that the group of young scholars "believe we have a responsibility to voice our convictions." Here's what the letter said, in part:

We do not want America to represent torture. We urge you to do all in your power to stop violations of the human rights of detainees, to cease illegal renditions, and to apply the Geneva Convention to all detainees, including those designated enemy combatants.

Absolutely outstanding in my book. These kids are heroes to me. And the way the Bushies responded reveals them even further to be liars. The White House press release on the subject said in part, "The president enjoyed a visit with the students, accepted the letter and upon reading it let the student know that the United States does not torture and that we value human rights." The problem with that is that the US supports torture.

In The Bush Torture Memos by James Bovard, he writes:

President Bush is proposing to medievalize the American legal code by permitting the use of coerced confessions in judicial proceedings. This is one of the most stunning proposals in U.S. political life since Franklin Roosevelt banned private ownership of gold in 1933.

An August 1, 2002, memo, which redefined U.S. torture policy, became known as the Bybee memo, after Jay Bybee, the head of the Office of Legal Counsel. The memo was titled “Standards of Conduct for Interrogation under 18 U.S.C. §§ 2340–2340A” (the U.S. anti-torture act) and was “akin to a binding legal opinion on government policy on interrogations.”

Rather than a strict interpretation of the law, the Bybee memo was a Torturers’ Emancipation Proclamation... the Justice Department revealed that overzealous interrogators had little or nothing to fear from the law.

The most important aspect of the White House's policy on torture is that it allows for it in certain circumstances, and that determination is left up to the president. In other words, Bush claims the right to authorize the use of torture. Dean Harold Koh of Yale Law School said about this, "If the president has commander-in-chief power to commit torture, he [must also have] the power to commit genocide, to sanction slavery, to promote apartheid, to license summary execution."

Simply put, Bush sees himself as above the law, sort of floating there like a benevolent angel. Rule of law exists, but he can flutter down and waive it if he deems it necessary.