By Richard B. Schmitt
The Los Angeles Times

Proposed rules would let the attorney general sign off on ‘fast tracking’ death penalty appeals.

Should this man really be given more responsibilities (actually, ANY responsibilities)?

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department is putting the final touches on regulations that could give Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales important new sway over death penalty cases in California and other states, including the power to shorten the time that death row inmates have to appeal convictions to federal courts.

The rules implement a little-noticed provision in last year’s reauthorization of the Patriot Act that gives the attorney general the power to decide whether individual states are providing adequate counsel for defendants in death penalty cases. The authority has been held by federal judges.

Under the rules now being prepared, if a state requested it and Gonzales agreed, prosecutors could use “fast track” procedures that could shave years off the time that a death row inmate has to appeal to the federal courts after conviction in a state court.

The move to shorten the appeals process and effectively speed up executions comes at a time of growing national concern about the fairness of the death penalty, underscored by the use of DNA testing to establish the innocence of more than a dozen death row inmates in recent years.

Amid the public debate, the number of people executed in the U.S. has declined steadily since the mid-1990s.

California and several other states have moratoriums on lethal injections, stemming from legal challenges. Opponents say the way the states administer a three-drug lethal cocktail unnecessarily risks excessive pain for the inmate and therefore violates the constitutional bar against cruel and unusual punishment.

read more HERE

If he’s setting up the legal system in Iraq, God help the citizens there!

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, under fire at home with calls for his resignation, is spending some time in Iraq.

The Justice Department said that Gonzales arrived in Baghdad on Saturday for his third trip to Iraq to meet with department officials who have been there to help fashion the country’s legal system.

“I am pleased to see firsthand … the progress that the men and women of the Justice Department have made to rebuild Iraq’s legal system and law enforcement infrastructure,” Gonzales said in a statement released by the department.

His optimistic assessment came despite the frequent sectarian lawlessness and killings in the country.

More at YahooNews

by Jane Mayer
The New Yorker

A rare look inside the C.I.A.’s secret interrogation program.

In March, Mariane Pearl, the widow of the murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, received a phone call from Alberto Gonzales, the Attorney General. At the time, Gonzales’s role in the controversial dismissal of eight United States Attorneys had just been exposed, and the story was becoming a scandal in Washington. Gonzales informed Pearl that the Justice Department was about to announce some good news: a terrorist in U.S. custody-Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the Al Qaeda leader who was the primary architect of the September 11th attacks-had confessed to killing her husband. (Pearl was abducted and beheaded five and a half years ago in Pakistan, by unidentified Islamic militants.) The Administration planned to release a transcript in which Mohammed boasted, “I decapitated with my blessed right hand the head of the American Jew Daniel Pearl in the city of Karachi, Pakistan. For those who would like to confirm, there are pictures of me on the Internet holding his head.”

Pearl was taken aback. In 2003, she had received a call from Condoleezza Rice, who was then President Bush’s national’security adviser, informing her of the same news. But Rice’s revelation had been secret. Gonzales’s announcement seemed like a publicity stunt. Pearl asked him if he had proof that Mohammed’s confession was truthful; Gonzales claimed to have corroborating evidence but wouldn-t share it. “It’s not enough for officials to call me and say they believe it,” Pearl said. “You need evidence.” (Gonzales did not respond to requests for comment.)

read more HERE

by Joe Conason

While politicians of both parties have repeatedly denounced Alberto Gonzales for public mendacity and abuse of office, a few of them finally have stepped up to do what must be done. On July 31, Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., and several colleagues - including four former prosecutors - filed a resolution directing the House Judiciary Committee to open an impeachment investigation of the attorney general.

The logic of Inslee’s initiative is inescapable to anyone who has been listening to the congressional complaints about Gonzales. If legislators from both branches and both parties believe that the attorney general has repeatedly deceived Congress and the public about matters of importance, if they believe that he has committed those deceptions under oath in the Capitol, and if they believe that the president will do nothing to remedy these wrongs, then impeachment is their only serious response.

So far, the Democratic leadership - and the Republicans who likewise suspect the attorney general of grave offenses - have carefully sidestepped this obligation. Instead they urge the appointment of a “special counsel” to probe the accusations of perjury against him.

For anyone who remembers the awful excesses of the Clinton impeachment and the punishment inflicted on the Republicans in the next election for their pernicious zealotry, such caution is understandable. But the burden of confronting the attorney general’s abuses cannot be shifted onto the White House. George W. Bush will take no action against his old pal “Fredo,” who retains his confidence (and who knows far too much about this president and this administration to be discarded anyway).

read more HERE

The extraordinary secrecy surrounding the spying operations revealed in Alberto Gonzales‘ Senate testimony is not aimed at al-Qaeda, but at the American people.

The dispute over whether Attorney General Alberto Gonzales committed perjury when he parsed words about George W. Bush’s warrantless surveillance program misses a larger point: the extraordinary secrecy surrounding these spying operations is not aimed at al-Qaeda, but at the American people.

There has never been a reasonable explanation for why a fuller discussion of these operations would help al-Qaeda, although that claim often is used by the Bush administration to challenge the patriotism of its critics or to avoid tough questions.

On July 27, for instance, White House press secretary Tony Snow fended off reporters who asked about apparent contradictions in Gonzales’s testimony by saying:

“This gets us back into the situation that I understand is unsatisfactory because there are lots of questions raised and the vast majority of those we’re not going to be in a position to answer, simply because they do involve matters of classification that we cannot and will not discuss publicly.”

Discussion closed.

Please do read the rest at Alternet

From TPM:

It’s hard to keep track of every distinct controversy sparked by Alberto Gonzales’s testimony last week to the Senate Judiciary Committee, but Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) is trying to make sure one particular element of scandal doesn’t fall by the wayside.

In response to questioning by Durbin and Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Gonzales said it was “not so clear” that five interrogration techniques — painful stress positions, use of dogs in interrogation, nudity, mock execution, and the infamous waterboarding — were ruled out by President Bush’s recent executive order on CIA interrogations. Today, Durbin sent a letter to Gonzales asking him to make sure that’s really what he meant to say. The letter uses a somewhat confusing formulation about whether the administration thinks the use of such techniques on U.S. personnel is legal, but that’s simply a way of drawing out whether the Bush administration has created a loophole in its interpretation of the Geneva Conventions.

Full text below the fold.

Here’s Durban’s letter:

Read more »

By LARA JAKES JORDAN and LAURIE KELLMAN
Associated Press Writers

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Alberto Gonzales conceded Wednesday he used confusing language when describing national security efforts during recent Senate testimony, seeking to set the record straight about the government’s terror surveillance program and clear questions about his credibility.

His letter to leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee, stopping short of an apology, came as congressional Democrats agreed to give the government greater authority to spy on foreign terror suspects - but only temporarily and by limiting Gonzales’ role in deciding how the power is used.

The Bush administration is urgently pushing Congress to revamp a 1978 law to detect terror plots overseas, but it has faced sharp criticism of the FBI’s misuse of terror investigation tools and widespread skepticism about Gonzales’ honesty.

More at the AP

Listen to these people. There’s your 20 some %. They’re out there…….. stupid as can be.

By Amy Goldstein and Carrie Johnson
Washington Post

The night before the government secured a guilty plea from the manufacturer of the addictive painkiller OxyContin, a senior Justice Department official called the U.S. attorney handling the case and, at the behest of an executive for the drugmaker, urged him to slow down, the prosecutor told the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday.

John L. Brownlee, the U.S. attorney in Roanoke, testified that he was at home the evening of Oct. 24 when he received the call on his cellphone from Michael J. Elston, then chief of staff to the deputy attorney general and one of the Justice aides involved in the removal of nine U.S. attorneys last year.

Brownlee settled the case anyway. Eight days later, his name appeared on a list compiled by Elston of prosecutors that officials had suggested be fired.

Brownlee ultimately kept his job. But as Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales confronts withering criticism over the dismissals, the episode in the OxyContin case provides fresh evidence of efforts by senior officials in the department’s headquarters to sway the work of U.S. attorneys’ offices.

Justice Department officials said it was not unusual for senior members to weigh in on major criminal cases, and a spokesman, Dean Boyd, said the department “encourages healthy internal debate and discussion on complex cases like this one.”

read more HERE

Today, Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) introduced a resolution to begin an impeachment inquiry into the Attorney General (see the resolution here).

The resolution would require the House Judiciary Committee to investigate whether the Attorney General committed high crimes or misdemeanors. Inslee explained during a press conference today: “we are pursuing an investigation prior to filing for the actual articles of impeachment… frankly, it affords the Attorney General due process, something he did not afford his [U.S. attorneys] when they were fired.” Specifically, the investigation will focus on the firing of U.S. Attorneys, the abuse of FISA courts and subsequent covering up of those abuses, and the perjury allegations from his Congressional testimonies.

Here’s how it would work. The first battle, of course, would be convincing the House leadership to bring the resolution to a vote. Then the resolution would be voted on by the entire House. If approved by a majority, the House Judiciary Committee would then investigate whether impeachment would be appropriate. That committee would then report its findings to the House, which would vote on whether to approve articles of impeachment. Then, if the vote succeeds, the case heads over to the Senate for trial.

More at TPM

You’ve probably all heard about the letter that Specter said was due by noon today from the administration, re: Gonzales testimony. Bet me they’ll get the “magic letter” and everything will be all cleared up. Snarlin Arlen probably helped write it.

And if Sen. Specter (R-PA) is still on the fence about where to go next, he might consider this: 70% percent of those polled -including 49% of Republicans- think that Congress is right to investigate Gonzales.

From TPM:

Here’s a little more information on that mysterious letter from the administration expected by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA).

After a classified briefing on the NSA’s wiretapping program yesterday, Specter said that he expected a letter on the subject by noon today — the letter, supposedly, would help explain the attorney general’s questionable testimony on the program. Specter, however, indicated nothing as to what he expected the letter to say.

In today’s White House press briefing, Tony Snow provided precious little information. He only said that the letter, which will come from the Justice Department, is still forthcoming, probably in the next several hours. He would say nothing about the letter’s contents except that it will answer a number of questions that Specter had about Gonzales’ testimony.

So we continue to wait.

From NBC’s Mike Viqueira
cross posted at The Huffington Post

A group of House Democrats will introduce a resolution calling on the Judiciary Committee to begin impeachment proceedings against Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) will sponsor the measure. It will be dropped in the hopper tomorrow.

It’s too early to say whether it will actually get anywhere.

Here’s the text of resolution…

RESOLUTION
Directing the Committee on the Judiciary to investigate whether Alberto R. Gonzales, Attorney General of the United States, should be impeached for high crimes and
misdemeanors.
1 Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary shall
2 investigate fully whether sufficient grounds exist for the
3 House of Representatives to impeach Alberto R. Gonzales,
4 Attorney General of the United States, for high crimes
5 and misdemeanors.

Interesting article over at RAWSTORY.

Any surprised visitors in the audience?

Attorney General helped cover up Bush drunken driving conviction

Defenders and detractors of US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, pictured 24 July 2007, on Sunday stepped up their rhetoric over whether President George W. Bush’s embattled top lawman should be prosecuted for possibly lying to Congress.

Alberto Gonzales’s difficult relationship with the truth has led to calls for a special prosecutor to investigate claims that the attorney general perjured himself during Senate testimony. But as the Washington Post points out Monday, Gonzales and honesty have had a shaky relationship stretching back more than a decade.

“Whether Gonzales has deliberately told untruths or is merely hampered by his memory has been the subject of intense debate among members of Congress, legal scholars and others who have watched him over the years,” report the Post’s Dan Eggen and Amy Goldstein. “Some regard his verbal difficulties as a strategic ploy on behalf of a president to whom he owes his career; others see a public official overwhelmed by the magnitude of his responsibilities.”

Gonzales’s apparent willingness to dissemble in order to protect himself or President Bush stretches back to at least 1996, when he intervened to prevent then-Gov. Bush from serving jury duty in Texas, the Post notes. Not until its second-to-last paragraph, however, does the Post article remind readers that by not serving jury duty in the drunken driving case Bush was able to keep his own drunken driving conviction a secret for several more years.

“He’s a slippery fellow, and I think so intentionally,” University of Texas public affairs professor Richard L. Schott told the Post. “He’s trying to keep the president’s secrets and to be a team player, even if it means prevaricating or forgetting convenient things.”

By Stuart Grudgings

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House accused congressional Democrats on Friday of waging a crusade to bring down U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales after lawmakers sought a perjury probe against him.

The criticism came a day after testimony by FBI Director Robert Mueller raised questions about Gonzales’ credibility under questioning by Democratic lawmakers.

Mueller told a congressional hearing he had serious reservations about a warrantless domestic spying program that Gonzales testified drew little disagreement within the administration.

Ratcheting up the bitter rhetoric between the administration and the Democratic-controlled Congress, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Senate Democrats were determined to get Gonzales.

“They have deliberately had this crusade against him to try to destroy the attorney general,” Perino told reporters.

Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York brushed off charges his party was trying to destroy Gonzales. “For sure, he has already destroyed himself,” Schumer said in a statement.

Gonzales has been under attack for months over what Democrats say was the politically motivated firings of U.S. attorneys last year and over his testimony to Congress about the warrantless spying program.

read more HERE

Ok OK OK……..we’ve friggin established he’s a liar……times infinity.

WASHINGTON - The head of the FBI contradicted Attorney General Alberto Gonzales‘ sworn testimony and Senate Democrats requested a perjury investigation Thursday in a fresh barrage against the truthfulness of President Bush’s embattled longtime friend and aide.

In a third blow to the Bush administration, the Senate Judiciary Committee issued subpoenas to compel the testimony of Karl Rove, Bush’s chief political adviser, in connection with its investigation.

“It has become apparent that the attorney general has provided at a minimum half-truths and misleading statements,” four Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote in a letter to Solicitor General Paul Clement calling for a special counsel to investigate.

“I’m convinced that he’s not telling the truth,” added Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

More at YahooNews