Arkansas Blog

It's stuff like this (Constitutionally aware lawyers/activists) that gives me hope we might make it through the worst president EVER with our country intact.

As for deputy assistant blah blah...I wouldn't expect anything else from monkeyboy's peons. Clearly, Bush butt kissing is the primary requirement for employment in monkeyboy's crew...it even trumps unbelievable incompetency. (According to Novack (damn), Condi' is so incompetent at her job...well, he's writing about it.)

Mark Pryor must be proud that he voted for the Torture Act of 2006 and his unflinching support for every violation of constitutional rights dreamed up by Bush, Ashcroft, and Gonzales.

"that he was dismayed that lawyers at many of the nation's top firms were representing prisoners at Guantánamo Bay'

This mind set always prefers the mock judges, lawyers, courts of the Star Chamber or of those in the Third Reich.

I work for a large firm that is currently attempting to represent these men that the MisAdministration believes don't deserve the protection of the law. It is a shameful act by our President that in over a year only one of our attorneys has been able to receive the initial security clearance required to speak with the detainees. Worse is the fact that the interrogators often present themselves as pro bono attorneys to encourage the detainees to speak. Of course, that means when pro bono attorneys actually do attempt to assist the detainees, the men are unwilling to assist in their own defense because they don't know who is a real attorney attempting to provide them the same protections we would expect if we were held without being charged. I'm proud to say that I work for a firm that pursues justice though the MisAdministration may fall.

I'd personally like to thank everyone who voted for Bush.

May your children find themselves detained as you support the detention of others.

Charles D. Stimson, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs

What can I say but...fascist statement of the week.

Remember his name when we load up a boat for a long ride to the Hague.

His statement make little sense considering a lawyer has no real ability to represent a detainee. Boggles the mind how cruel a fascist with near absolute power can be even when no (not yet) real threat to that power exists.

And thank the blog comments for keeping fascist enabling Senator Pryor on top of the list of responsible politicians for this most disgraceful nightmare.

ATLien,

Thank you so much, for your firms service. Folks like you might just give me a renewed appreciation for lawyers. :)

Do you blog about this experience? Does your firm or others see any change (reversal) coming from the Dem congress.

My wife reminds me daily that I'm not very smart. Before we met 24 years ago, no telling how ignorant I was. And no doubt Prouster will be happy to confirm that I'm still as dumb as a bag of hammers.....

But for all my life I thought the one great thing about the United States of America was that all men were created equal. I'll admit as I grew older I realized it's more of a saying than a reality.

Ever since Tom Jefferson penned that line back in 1776 in the Declaration of Independence, America has been trying to live up to those words. The pendulum swings back and forth now and then, but in the last 230 years witch burnings are down, equal rights for women and blacks are up and crippled folks can get into our public buildings more and more often.

Unfortunately, gays are still not equal, our new Mexican work force gets shit on in Rogers and far too many citizens would be happy if Gonzales burned every detainee in Gitmo to a crisp in Jesus name.

Now, back to what I grew up believing....with no help from my parents, I grew up thinking that when it came to a court of law...all men and women were indeed equal. If my kin in the Baptist church didn't get it....I at least thought our courts got it. But then along comes Bush.

America is not great unless the worst pornographer, or cross-dressing trannie, or school yard weenie wagger, or serial killer or Gitmo detainee are given their full rights as a human being under our Constitution, in front of a judge and jury. America will lose the one leg it's standing on unless everyone is treated equally under the law.

By kidnapping, denying habeas corpus, torturing, killing and conducting secret trials, America has become no better than the worst of the stink pot 3rd world countries we love to ignore.

We are no nation under God, we are no longer a Republic, we are no longer indivisible, we cannot claim liberty and justice for all.

If we are willing to give up our own liberties while failing to fight for the liberties of others, no matter how vile or disgusting they may be, then let Osama have the whole shooting match.

I would rather see us fall to such a level due to a successful invasion of our land, than watch as we do it to ourselves. Fight! Or give up....but do something quickly...we're living in misery.

Mark Pryor, If you or any of your staff read this then GROW A PAIR, quit the shy boy mumblings, step up to the Plate, GET THE GODDAMN HEARINGS STARTED, so we can watch scum like Stimson squirm in his witness seat as you and fearless other Senators uncover one conspiracy after another and dole out more and more subpoenas so that they stir up a wind leaving this most corrupt thing on the face of the Earth, the Bush Administration.
_

Dear DBI,

I agree and have been confused and depressed. Every time I think Bush won't or can't do anything more to destroy and denigrate the United State Constitution and the office of President of the United States, he and his brains, Cheney and Rove, prove me wrong with a new stupidity, disaster or unilateral war.

Before Nixon and Bush, I actually believed that any man who was elected to the office of President of the United States would rise to the demanding challenge. Bush has definitely proven that belief a total fallacy. I've thought hard lately about how can Bush totally ignore his disastrous mistakes and believe that stubbornness can make up for bad decisions.

I finally have arrived at an answer. Bush, Rove and Cheney do not believe in the Constitution. The only reason they even professed a belief was to gain power and to take the oath. Look at the last six years. Bush and Cheney live in abject fear of upholding their oath and allowing the Constitution to work. They are convinced that the Constitution will fail. Rove just doesn't care either way. He got then elected twice.

Bush and Cheney are not totally stupid. They know their actions and the results lost them the midterm elections and that their stubbornness is ensuring another "Dark Ages" for the Republican party. They just don't see that they have any option. They can't rely upon the U.S. Constitution, and the U. S. Government because, it their minds, the Constitution and Government will fail. The only reason it has lasted 220 years without their "improvements" is a fluke.

So Bush ignores every piece of advice and with a P.R. blitz to beat the last bit of backing from his flagging and dwindling supporters to escalate the number of occupation troops in Iraq and in the same breath vows to veto any bill that calls for the Federal Government to negotiate for lower drug prices. To Bush 'bipartisanship' means "You do what I damn well want and I will too."

In essence XLIII has said, "I'm the President . . . and you're not!" When Chevy Chase it would be funny with George Bush it isseroius. Only recentlyhave his once Republican friends (like Chuck Hagel) realized that Bush was addressing them and not just their perceived real enemy, the Democrats.

doc, I've probably read as many biographies of presidents as anyone else...I was born a nerd and will die one too.

Assuming there will be people to read and write in the future after Bush, there are a butt-load of Pulitzer Prizes for anyone who can accurately capture the Bush years in print.

If a biographer the caliber of Robert Caro, Michael Beschloss or Doris Kearns Goodwin gets a hold of the Bush story, in 10 years we may get a clue of what these last 6 years has been about.

For all 42 men before George W. Bush, the office of President has been a sobering experience. Small men became bigger, shy men became bolder, crooked men....

Well...maybe that's a 50-50 toss up, but each man that has been in that position appears to have felt something, a call to greatness, a desire to do better than the one before him. At least a big effort to be remembered fondly, with respect for their abilities and commitment to the job.

While it is not fully apparent what Bush & Cheney had in mind, you can pretty much scratch all the reasons I listed above.

I'm willing to go out on a limb and say I believe Bush & Cheney have no plan to be President and Vice President repectively. I think we've laid around the house while they took over our government. Bush isn't the President, he's the Manager, while the evil Dick Cheney is our new owner.

Guess what...elections are just things that employee a lot of people, feed the Republican owned media a shit-pot load of money and keep us sheeple busy year around.

How Dick laughs at all the tough words Pelosi, Biden and Kennedy are throwing around. It's like his dogs plotting to steal the Lexus.

Bush is a week or so away from privatizing the Iraqi oil and guess who gets 70% of Iraq's oil profits? Oh...would it be American oil companies? YES! Big Oil Wins!

Now he's fired shots over the bow of Iran and Syria.....Guess whose going to own their oil too? US...A..or at least US oil companies. Well, the big dog gets all the bones.

And we're the biggest big dog on the planet. No need for that nice guy crap any more. Our message to the world is screw you...all your bases are belong to us!

Maybe I could buy into this world domination thing except it's grinding up our kids and hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians. Next time you fill your tank think of little bits of our dead soldiers flesh going into your tank.

Think of little baby Iraqi brains clogging up your fuel filter. I would gladly walk if America cut off all oil exports tomorrow. I'm ready to bite the big one now and get it over with.

But if I just solved our oil import problems, we're still stuck with Bush & Cheney and they don't plan on going anywhere. Are they smart enough to hang on?

You don't measure the intelligence of pure evil....so I'm afraid we're in a tight spot. As Larry David would say, a pretty pretty pretty pretty pretty pretty pretty pretty tight spot.