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On Gonzalez
resignation
To the Editor,
With the advent of Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez’s resignation,I thought it
important to review the duties of attorney general, and how their careful
execution impacts our lives. The Attorney General represents the United States
in cases argued in the Supreme Court, many of a Constitutional nature. There
have been many recent abrogations of our Constitution, and the new Attorney
General will need to be a thoughtful, experienced person who can separate
him/herself from the layers of cronyism that currently exist in the highest
level of government.
Our First Amendment rights, allowing freedom of speech, have been abrogated by
the creation of “First Amendment Zones,” which prevent Americans from being
seen/heard during their protests. Our media has been complicit in this by not
reporting on these zones.
Our Fourth Amendment rights, preventing unreasonable search and seizure, have
been abrogated through the “Warrantless Domestic Spying Program.” Those of you
who say you have nothing to hide forget the days of J. Edgar Hoover, Joseph
McCarthy and Richard Nixon. Our private conversations and communications are
just that-private. If we are deemed to be a threat to the safety of our
country, then procuring a warrant shouldn’t be a problem.
The Fifth Amendment-indictment by a grand jury-and Sixth Amendment-right to a
trial by peers and speedy trial-have been made virtually impotent in the “War
on Terror.” There are thousands of men and boys being held in Guantanamo Bay
without being charged, without legal representation. Jose Padilla, who was
arrested after 9/11, was only recently charged, and he is a U.S. citizen.
Mainstream Americans who think this doesn’t apply to them have missed the
passage of the “Military Commissions Act” — which gives the President the
ability to deem as an “unlawful enemy combatant” anyone who “engages in
hostilities against the United States.” Given the broad brush used to define
this, I could conceivably be determined to be an unlawful enemy combatant.
The Eighth Amendment Protects us against “cruel and unusual” punishment. There
is abundant evidence that torture of our detainees is widespread and routine,
as documented by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Seymour Hersch, the
International Red Cross, and our own FBI. Furthermore, the Bush administration
has issued memos affirming its right to torture our prisoners, and George Bush
himself has appended a “signing statement” to an anti-torture bill passed by
Congress.This has done extensive damage to our reputation across the world.
The violation of “Separation of Powers” as defined by our Constitution is
evidenced by the 800 signing statements issued by the Bush Administration,
basically making these laws not applicable to the White House.This is more
signing statements than the previous 42 Presidents combined. It is also a step
away from democracy and a step towards a dictatorship.
Virtually all the safeguards that were written into our Constitution to prevent
our democracy from descending into tyranny have been violated repeatedly by
George Bush and Dick Cheney: Our freedom of expression has been repeatedly
violated, in order to keep Americans in the dark as much as possible; the Bush
administration repeatedly spies on its political enemies; it sees nothing wrong
with denying a trial to those it captures, throws into dungeons and has
tortured; it has repeatedly asserted its immunity from having to respond to
Congressional investigations; and by repeatedly firing federal employees who
fail to go along with its political agenda, it has turned the executive branch
of our government into a crass system devised solely for the furtherance of its
own power and political goals. Our Congress has been, for the most part,
impotent in acting as a watchdog for its’ constituents.
I hope that the President puts some thought into his
appointment of Attorney General. It is a critical time in our country’s
evolution, and we need this to be a practical, and not political, appointment.
Beth Dawson,
Red Oak
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