Swept Under the Rug Saturday: Take a Cold Shower to Wash Away the Dirty

Against our advice and that of their own consciences, the Senate Judiciary Committee is poised to send the nomination of former Judge Michael Mukasey to the full Senate floor for a vote. I wish I could understand where they're going with this one. There are already concerns about the legal definitions of key terms, like "torture," "subpeona power," and "separation of powers," and placing another Bush Administration yes man in a key position like Attorney General is asking for more of the same. He has already gone on record to say that if the Congress were to attempt to enforce the subpeonas that it has already issued against the administration, that the Justice Department would not be obligated under the law to enforce those subpeonas. So who would be? The military? (This article mentions the legal limbo of CIA interrogators if anyone presses the torture thing.)

Anyway, the Judiciary Committee appears to have completely caved, mainly due to the "terrorist" threat again. Senators Schumer and Feinstein are trying, along with the other members of the committee who vote in favor of Mukasey to be added to our new list of Republicrats. I am beginning to think that instead of being worried of the potential ramifications if the broken clock is right again for the second time, but the implications of they themselves being designated terrorists and forced to endure that treatment. Bush is clearly in support of the part-time Guiliani campaign adviser, mentioning him in the first sentence of his weekly radio address.

Oh, and for the record, note the interesting wording of Guiliani's response in the first Republican debate. You know, when they're answering the rhetorical "terrorists are at Gitmo, and the DoD is worried about more attacks, what do you do?" question? Notice where Guiliani puts the "not" "I wouldn't tell them to torture" rather than "I would tell them not to torture."

Anyways, please contact the various members of the Judiciary Committee to voice your disapproval.

Some are pretty worked up over the torture issue, but I am far more worried about the subpeona issue.