Posted 11:30 by Evan

Well, Kudos

The Democrats on the Judiciary Committee did, in fact, stand up on their hind legs and say No.

A big thank you to Senators Leahy, Kennedy, Biden, Feingold, Schumer, Feinstein, Kohl and Durbin.

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Posted 11:10 by Evan

December of the Eternal September?

AOL quietly announced that it will no longer provide USENET access to its users.

Eleven damn years too late.

(Not that I'm bitter or anything. . .)

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Posted 19:49 by Evan

No.

At DailyKos, Kos and his fellow bloggers have posted an open letter to all US Senators calling for their opposition to Alberto Gonzales's nomination for Attorney General, and they have asked for other bloggers to sign on as well.

I'm not what you could call a big fish in the blog pond. I'm not even a guppy. At best, maybe I'm one of those weird little bugs that crawl on the surface, but if the trivial little ripple I'm capable of making is of any use to Kos, then I'm glad to make it.

As the prime legal architect for the policy of torture adopted by the Bush Administration, Gonzales's advice led directly to the abandonment of longstanding federal laws, the Geneva Conventions, and the United States Constitution itself. Our country, in following Gonzales's legal opinions, has forsaken its commitment to human rights and the rule of law and shamed itself before the world with our conduct at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib. The United States, a nation founded on respect for law and human rights, should not have as its Attorney General the architect of the law's undoing.

In January 2002, Gonzales advised the President that the United States Constitution does not apply to his actions as Commander in Chief, and thus the President could declare the Geneva Conventions inoperative. Gonzales's endorsement of the August 2002 Bybee/Yoo Memorandum approved a definition of torture so vague and evasive as to declare it nonexistent. Most shockingly, he has embraced the unacceptable view that the President has the power to ignore the Constitution, laws duly enacted by Congress and International treaties duly ratified by the United States. He has called the Geneva Conventions "quaint."

This man should be defeated. The venality of the Republican Party virtually guarantees that he won't be, but at least the Democrats can stand up on their hind legs and say No! Maybe we can't stop evil, but we should by God try.

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