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ARTICLES FROM CURRENT ASTROLOGERS

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Bianca
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« Reply #15 on: March 09, 2008, 10:47:16 am »

                                     








by Alex Miller-Mignone
After the ideological, puritanical excesses of John Ashcroft (he of the exposed-breast-covering of the statue of Justice), and the incompetent, vacillating “leadership” of Alberto Gonzales (the gentleman with the serious recall deficiency), avid Bush-watchers were eagerly anticipating what further horrors could be visited upon the American public in the form of George W. Bush’s third Attorney General. They have not had long to wait.

The son of Russian immigrants, Mukasey is the 81st Attorney General of the United States, and only the second person of Jewish faith to hold the office. He is a former Chief Judge of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, where he served for 18 years. In this capacity he was involved in the trials of both Omar Abdel Rahman, whom he sentenced to life in prison for his part in a plot to blow up the United Nations building; and of Jose Padilla, the US citizen accused of terrorist activities, whom he ruled could be held as an enemy combatant, but was entitled to legal representation. His record of support for the administration was thus mixed, and his selection as a replacement for the disgraced Alberto Gonzales was at first greeted with cautious optimism and approval, until it became clear that Mukasey would not be any more forthcoming than his predecessor on the legal status of “enhanced interrogation” techniques such as waterboarding.

During his confirmation hearings in October 2007 and the follow-up inquiries, Mukasey refused to make any definitive written or oral statements on the subject of what exactly constituted torture, an illegal act under US law. When the specific issue of waterboarding was raised, Mukasey skirted it, affirming that he could not comment on the procedure’s legality until he had read and absorbed the Justice Department’s classified internal memos on the subject and its legal ramifications, which he could not do until he was confirmed as Attorney General. Following his testimony on October 16, a flurry of letters from the Senate Judiciary Committee attempted to pin down Mukasey on the issue, to no avail. Committee Chairman Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) expressed himself “deeply troubled” by Mukasey’s resistance to expressing an opinion on waterboarding in advance of his confirmation. He did, however, manage to wring a concession out of the embattled nominee to the effect that in future, any congressional or White House inquiries regarding the disposition of ongoing prosecutions be handled only by the AG or Deputy AG, and not by lesser staff, in an attempt to avoid the sorts of political interference into investigations occurring under Gonzales’ watch.
« Last Edit: March 09, 2008, 10:48:55 am by Bianca » Report Spam   Logged

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