Justices accepting "gifts" C & P

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  • J. Dillon
    Senior Old Salt # 650
    • Oct 1999
    • 5756

    Justices accepting "gifts" C & P

    A C& P from the NY Times

    Op-Ed Columnist: Don't Torture Yourself (That's His Job)

    January 6, 2005
    By MAUREEN DOWD



    Washington

    The Associated Press headline that came over the wire
    yesterday said it all: "Gonzales Will Follow Non-Torture
    Policies."

    You know how bad the situation is when the president's
    choice for attorney general has to formally pledge not to
    support torture anymore.

    Alberto Gonzales may have been willing to legally justify
    something that was abhorrent to everything America stands
    for, but it's all relative. Given that Mr. Gonzales is
    replacing the odious John Ashcroft, Democrats didn't seem
    inclined to try to derail the Hispanic nominee, even though
    his memo fostered the atmosphere that led to disgusting
    scandals in Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo.

    Just to get things started on the right foot, though, Mr.
    Gonzales planned to go the extra mile and offer the quaint,
    obsolete Senate Democrats a more nuanced explanation of why
    he called the Geneva Conventions "quaint" and "obsolete."

    Before he helped President Bush circumvent the accords and
    reserve the right to do so "in this or future conflicts,"
    you had to tune in to an old movie with Nazi generals or
    Vietcong guards if you wanted to see someone sneeringly
    shrug off the international treaty protecting prisoners
    from abuse. ("You worthless running dog Chuck Norris! What
    do we care about your silly Geneva Conventions?")

    How are you to believe Mr. Gonzales when he says he's
    through with torture? His mission is clearly to do whatever
    he thinks Mr. Bush wants.

    All gall is divided into parts, so what's next?

    The
    Commerce Department nominee promising that giveaways to big
    business will be done with subtlety?

    The Environmental Protection Agency nominee promising that
    the toxin content in water will never rise to Yushchenko
    level?

    It's comforting to start the new year in the hands of a
    party that cares so much about morals and values.

    Tom DeLay and oily House Republicans inaugurated their new
    term by gutting ethics rules just in case any of them get
    caught in whatever misconduct they are plotting.

    Rummy continued on his oblivious, dissembling path,
    refusing to admit that he's tapped out the Army and broken
    the Army Reserve with what Lt. Gen. James Helmly, the
    frustrated chief of the Army Reserve, calls "dysfunctional"
    policies. We've gotten so numb on Iraq that when eight
    American soldiers and over 80 Iraqi police officers get
    killed, when the governor of Baghdad gets assassinated, and
    when our puppets plead with Mr. Bush to delay the
    elections, it all seems like just another week of
    pre-election maneuvering.

    In The Los Angeles Times, we learn that Bush fave Supreme
    Court Justice Clarence Thomas "has accepted tens of
    thousands of dollars worth of gifts since joining the high
    court, including $1,200 worth of tires, valuable historical
    items and a $5,000 personal check to help pay a relative's
    education expenses."

    A guy we pay nearly $200,000 a year can't pop for his own
    tires? Whatever happened to the dignity of the robe? At
    least we know where our possible future chief justice
    stands: on the side of personal corruption.

    "He also took a free trip aboard a private jet to the
    exclusive Bohemian Grove club in Northern California -
    arranged by a wealthy Texas real estate investor who helped
    run an advocacy group that filed briefs with the Supreme
    Court," the paper said.

    The L.A. Times reviewed the disclosures of all nine
    justices for the years 1998 through 2003 and found that
    "Thomas accepted $42,200 in gifts, making him the top
    recipient. Next in that period was Justice Sandra Day
    O'Connor, who accepted $5,825 in gifts, mostly small
    crystal figurines and other items."

    Clarence Thomas follows Antonin Scalia's lead on the law.
    Why not also on ethics? Justice Scalia defended taking his
    relatives on a ride on Air Force Two to Louisiana with Dick
    Cheney to go duck hunting, even though the v.p. had an
    important case before the court, by saying that it would
    have been a "considerable inconvenience" to fly commercial.

    Going through a blistering confirmation hearing where his
    inappropriate behavior was questioned didn't teach Clarence
    Thomas much. Can we hope for anything better from Mr.
    Gonzales after he's waved through to be the man in charge
    of enforcing our laws?
    Senior Ole Salt # 650
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