TrueBlue

You gotta love this guy!  First, he gets the boss’s support–then it turns out he flat-out lied to Congress about his role in firing the U.S. attorneys.  Truly, the gift that keeps on giving. I hope Patrick Leahy, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, thinks about inviting him to testify under oath.  Every now and then, politics provides some great spectacle. This scandal is a beaut.

Ok, I know it won’t stop the war.  It won’t even redeploy American troops.  But the recent House resolution finally said something to the President about ending the war.  And make no mistake: Bush didn’t like it.  He had to come out swinging, immediately.  And for those of you (us) who really don’t like the resolution, and even tried to defeat it–like Dennis Kucinich and United for Peace and Justice–just think about what Bush would have said if the resolution had gone down.  “My congratulations to the House for understanding that we can put no strings on this noble effort and our brave fighting men and women . . . . .” The anti-war side would have looked even more ridiculous, which is really saying something.

Here’s an important piece of history.  The American people turned against the Vietnam War in late 1967, before the Tet offensive of early 1968.  And it still took another eight years, until 1975, to end the war.  It’s really hard to stop a war, even an unpopular one.  We should feel good about the resolution, and help the Senate pass one too, and enjoy making Bush veto something.  This is an important first step.

I suppose it’s old news: FBI spies on American citizens going about their lawful business.  but every time it happens, there’s much talk about how the Bureau has “overstepped” bounds and “neglected” to report its “mistakes.”  History helps us see that the Bureau constantly does this, and always chafes at the bit of constitutional protection.  Here’s the piece I published in Newsday (Long Island) earlier this week.
Never let a civil right get in the way

Under Patriot Act, the FBI continues its deliberate, sordid tradition of snooping on citizens

BY WARREN GOLDSTEIN

March 19, 2007

So the Federal Bureau of Investigation has engaged in “errors,” “mistakes,” “slipshod” record-keeping and “improper” use of the Patriot Act between 2003 and 2005, says the agency’s inspector general.

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III acknowledges a serious problem, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales says these are serious issues and President George W. Bush says, “Those problems will be addressed as quickly as possible.” All, the inspector general included, close ranks around the idea that these abuses were due to errors, rather than intent.

Nonsense. Only Americans’ profound historical ignorance about the FBI - and willingness to suspend critical faculties - can give this argument a shred of legitimacy.

In the three years covered by the inspector general’s report, the FBI issued 143,000 national security requests, collecting information from banks, credit, telephone and Internet companies, and many others on more than 52,000 people. That’s 130 letters a day, counting Sundays.

(more…)

Ah, if only it were so simple. But something cool did happen this week, as the American Historical Association, the largest organization of historians in the world, voted by a very large margin, as in more than 75% in favor, for an anti-war resolution passed at the AHA’s annual meeting in January. (See my post on the subject, War and the Historians–January 8, with a link to TrueBlue’s own speech on the resolution.) Despite a good bit of blog activity (on the AHA’s own blog) opposing the resolution in favor of professional neutrality–often argued with principle, skill, and seriousness of purpose, I should add–the vote came as a surprise to me, at least.

I am delighted, however. In order to stop this awful war, we need everyone to be raising voices, officially and unofficially, partisan and nonpartisan. Some of my colleagues worried, and probably still do worry, about the precedent set by this resolution. I worry more about the precedent of morally serious, thinking professionals taking a pass on the great public issue of the day.

I know, I know–he’s the perfect picture of an incompetent hack, protecting Presidential power to do just about anything, helping to solidify GOP strength among Latino voters, and still managing to tick off his boss for gumming up the works. “Al’s got work to do up there,” acknowledges the President. As I write on Thursday afternoon, I think I can hear the sound of sawing.

But listen, Democratic senators, he’s become the gift that keeps on giving! He writes memos justifying torture; fights Congressional oversight, and exposes this Administration for the sleazy, secretive, and anti-Constitutional bunch they really are. He could be the biggest gift to liberals, the ACLU, and to the Constitution since Richard Nixon’s bagman John Mitchell–who did jail time for Watergate offenses. (I never thought I’d post a Wikipedia entry, but I did read it first, and it’s pretty accurate; the links are great; and given the recent attack on Wikipedia by the creationist Conservapedia - check out their entry on dinosaurs here–I thought it was worth sticking up for. If you disagree, let me know.)
And liberals of a certain age will admit to a certain pleasure, shall we say, as the Nixon citadel crumbled in the Watergate summer of 1973. But I think the current batch of Administration scandals are fun not just because we’re watching the implosion of a government built on imperial self-righteous arrogance–but because they have revived a little Constitutional spirit and gumption among our elected officials, who undertook oaths of office to defend the entire Constitution, not just Article II, Section I (the part dealing with the President). So I think Alberto Gonzales is the Truebluest friend of the Constitution we’ve got right now, at least until November 4, 2008.

So, Trueblue friends, lighten up! Long live Attorney General Gonzales!