MotherJones.com | MoJoBlog - Social Issues and Political Commentary: June 10, 2007

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June 16, 2007

OSC's Investigation of Rove May be Legit. Very Legit

Now that the Office of Special Counsel is done with Lurita Doan, it's intensifying its investigation of Karl Rove that we're worried is a sham. The scope of the investigation is staggering -- check out the details here.

June 15, 2007

The Military Is Going Nuts

A report released by a congressionally ordered mental health task force suggests that the military's handling of mental health problems in its ranks is even worse than Mother Jones previously reported (with little to no cooperation from the DoD, by the way). According to NPR, 40 percent of troops returning from Iraq or Afghanistan have some sort of psychological problem. Nearly a quarter show signs of serious mental health disorders.

It gets worse: Soldiers reporting psychological problems are not only not helped, but actually get punished for their illnesses. Some are sent to clean the latrines; others, in an image disturbingly resonant of Abu Ghraib, must sit in a corner wearing a dunce camp for long periods of time. At one army base, many soldiers were kicked out of the services following psychological complaints.

The Pentagon doesn't spend enough on mental health services, nor does it train troops, officers or even mental health care providers adequately. Believe it or not, even military doctors aren't well trained about the links between war and PTSD. For reasons NPR's correspondent doesn't address, since the War on Terror began, the few mental health specialists the DoD has "have been leaving the Army, the Marines, and the Air Force in droves." Problem is, neither the soldiers nor their demons miraculously disappear after they are released with inadequate or no treatment. The Pentagon is outsourcing their care—to you and me and the rest of us who oppose the war in Iraq.

Mike Gravel Will Hypnotize You

I've blogged before about how much I love fringe presidential candidates. They definitely make the best videos, from ones where they claim they are the only ones in their party qualified to run for president to ones where they make post-modernist statements about the future of political campaigning.

Now stone-faced Mike Gravel has an entry in the world of crazy videos -- one where he makes it clear he will stare deep into your soul and convince you to vote for him by throwing a rock in a lake. Got that?

Okay, so I don't get it either. But this feels a lot like my college English classes where inevitably the poem I didn't understand was the one most revered by scholars. So Mike Gravel is either crazy or the smartest man to run for president, ever.

Or maybe he just has too much time on his hands.

More Info on Financial Disclosures: Clinton, McCain, Romney All Rolling in Cash

We blogged a while back about the financial disclosures of many of the candidates, noting that some folks -- including Romney, McCain, and Clinton -- were granted extensions in filing their paperwork. We now have more information.

Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton have assets valued from $10 million to $50 million (the massive window is a product of FEC rules) with the former president raking in speaking fees of more than $10 million in just the last year. The bulging bank account comes after the pair left the White House with millions in debt from legal fees. Two days ago I hit Senator Clinton pretty hard for being the "Big Money" candidate in the Democratic primary, so it's worth noting that she's made a bid for some financial transparency -- along with Bill, she has liquidated a family trust worth between $5 million and $25 million that had investments in oil and pharmaceutical companies, military contractors, Wal-Mart, and FOX News parent company News Corp. The cost of avoiding future conflicts of interest (and being hit for investing in decidedly non-progressive entities) is substantial, because of capital gains taxes the Clintons will have to pay.

Elsewhere, filings showed that the McCain family has $24.3 million in assets, almost all held by Cindy McCain and the McCain children. Cindy McCain controls an Anheuser-Busch distributorship in Arizona that is said to be among the largest in the nation.

And former Bain executive Mitt Romney is worth the most out of the bunch, with assets totaling $190 million to $250 million. Yahtzee!

Do Not Pass Go, Scooter Libby. Do Not Collect $200

Perhaps you've heard about this?

Scooter Libby will not be allowed to remain free while his lawyers appeal the 30-month sentence he received after being convicted of lying to investigators during the CIA leak investigation, according to media reports.

The former White House adviser could be sent to federal prison within weeks, according to the Associated Press.

Now the pressure is really on President Bush regarding a pardon -- delaying it until the end of his term, entirely possible if Libby was allowed to stay free during appeal after appeal, is out of the question. Reports say that Team Cheney is pushing for a pardon hard, but the president is ambivalent. Though I think it would make a mockery of the justice system, I'm not sure why he doesn't pardon Libby today -- it's not like his approval ratings can get any lower.

Gonzales Under Investigation for Trying to Influence Aide's Testimony

The problem with investigations is they create new, smaller investigations. That's what Alberto Gonzales is learning, anyway. He's under investigation for possibly trying to influence the testimony of former aide Monica Goodling in the U.S. Attorneys scandal.

Gonzo said in testimony that he never discussed the scandal with other "fact witnesses," and that in fact this lack of discussion was exactly why he had to respond with so many "do not recalls" in response to lawmakers' questions. But in testimony that came after Gonzo's, Goodling said that her boss had a conversation with her around this time about whether or not she should stay at the DOJ. According to Goodling, this conversation made her "a little uncomfortable." Many speculate it was intended to influence her testimony.

What's remarkable about this is that the investigation isn't being taken up by Congress -- it's being instigated by the Department of Justice itself. That means that it's no Democrat-led fishing expedition, but also that Gonzales is being investigated by his subordinates, putting everyone in an awkward position and raising the question of whether the investigation will be effective.

Effective or not, add this to the ever-growing list of scandals at DOJ.

June 14, 2007

Bush DOJ Protects the Strong from the Weak

Jonathan blogged earlier today about how the Department of Justice's shifted its focus away from traditional issues like race and sex discrimination and vote suppression to discrimination against religious conservatives—one of the most kowtowed-to and overrepresented groups in the country. I think he gave short shift to how utterly disturbing the move is. Here are specific examples cited in the Times article, which I will let speak for themselves:

• Intervening in federal court cases on behalf of religion-based groups like the Salvation Army that assert they have the right to discriminate in hiring in favor of people who share their beliefs even though they are running charitable programs with federal money.

• Supporting groups that want to send home religious literature with schoolchildren; in one case, the government helped win the right of a group in Massachusetts to distribute candy canes as part of a religious message that the red stripes represented the blood of Christ.

• Vigorously enforcing a law enacted by Congress in 2000 that allows churches and other places of worship to be free of some local zoning restrictions. The division has brought more than two dozen lawsuits on behalf of churches, synagogues and mosques.

• Taking on far fewer hate crimes and cases in which local law enforcement officers may have violated someone’s civil rights. The resources for these traditional cases have instead been used to investigate trafficking cases, typically involving foreign women used in the sex trade, a favored issue of the religious right.

• Sharply reducing the complex lawsuits that challenge voting plans that might dilute the strength of black voters. The department initiated only one such case through the early part of this year, compared with eight in a comparable period in the Clinton administration.

Palestinian President Dissolves Government

As Hamas and the more moderate Fatah movement battled on the streets of Gaza, President Mahmoud Abbas of the Fatah movement dissolved the government, which had been structured around a Fatah/Hamas power-sharing agreement. He has promised to create an emergency government.

Question is, is it good for the Jews, or bad for the Jews? Part of me believes that this is Israel's (and the neocons') dream come true—Palestinians destroying each other so Israel doesn't have to bother. It couldn't have been hard to see as Israel issued call after call for Arafat and then Abbas to rein Hamas in that eventually something like this would happen. On the other hand, it was also predictable that Hamas—you know, the more radical and better-armed group—would quickly gain the upper hand. The group has conquered nearly the entire Gaza strip. Having Hamas in power is a serious gamble for Israel (or at least Israelis), if this was the country's plan. One thing is for sure: This isn't good for the Palestinians, and it may well lead to a further increase in terrorism worldwide, already up since Bush invaded Iraq.

Guys, this is why you don't wage elective wars in the world's most conflict-ridden region—certainly not while depriving an angry group of its basic necessities because you don't like the results of a democratic election and then turning a blind eye to the consequences.

Giuliani Contradicts Himself in Rush to Blame Dems for Terrorism

Rudy Giuliani's efforts to fit in with the Republican mainstream by, in part, Democrat-bashing is resulting in some ugly contortions. Speaking recently on FOX News, Giuliani slammed Bill Clinton's presidency for making America less safe, saying the administration's attitude towards terrorism was "don't react, let things go."

Not only is that wrong (see Richard Clarke's work) and misdirected, it directly contradicts what Giuliani said just nine months ago, when commenting on ABC's 9/11 docudrama:

"The idea of trying to cast blame on President Clinton is just wrong for many, many reasons, not the least of which is I don't think he deserves it."

One can only hope that if Rudy wins the Republican nomination, the mainstream media will focus on contradictions such as this and what even conservatives say is Rudy's facile understanding of foreign affairs.

There Must Be No More Racism, Then

Maybe the reason why the DOJ's civil rights division is comically lacking in minority lawyers is because, as the New York Times reveals today, the division's focus is on protecting religious conservatives instead of prosecuting racial injustice.

June 13, 2007

Breaking: Two White House Officials Subpoenaed

Sara Taylor, former White House political director, and Harriet Miers, former White House counsel, are being subpoenaed as part of the fired U.S. attorneys investigation. More details from CNN. Emails released late last night by the Justice Department show the pair was deeply involved in the scandal.

You Could Be the Next Senator From Wyoming!

Live in Wyoming? Ever wondered what it's like to listen to Robert Byrd drone on and on in a barely conscious state? Want to ~~shin kick~~ have a few words with Joe Lieberman?

Then it's your lucky day. Over at Wonkette, they've discovered that the Wyoming GOP is honoring the recent death of Republican senator Craig Thomas by posting an application for his job on its website. Jeez, Craig, why'd you die? Your job couldn't have been that taxing. It's basically reality TV show fodder.

Anyway, there's a PDF application that you have to fill out, and apparently it helps if you're a member of the GOP/have served the state of Wyoming previously/have a platform. But whatevs, MoJoBlog readers could probably do a better job than a lot of the goofs currently in Congress. Go give it a shot.

Americans Favor Amnesty by Wide Margins: Poll

Looks like a vast majority of Americans favor preserving the American dream.

A new LA Times/Bloomberg poll shows that two-thirds of Americans support giving illegal immigrants a path to citizenship, assuming they have no criminal record, pay a fine, pay taxes, learn English, and meet other requirements. Those numbers cut across party lines -- roughly two-thirds of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans feel this way.

The immigration bill is dead for now, but these findings bolster the president's claim that the conservatives who opposed it because its amnesty clauses were too lenient on illegal immigrants were nothing more than a very vocal minority far detached from America's mainstream. The population at large apparently feels like Barbara Ehrenreich.

One last note: only 34 percent of Americans favor the much-maligned point system for distributing visas that would weigh professional qualifications and command of English more heavily than having family already in the States.

When Tort Reformers Slip And Fall

So-called "tort reform" is one of the Republican Party's favorite issues, and this administration in particular has done a lot to limit the power of employees and victims of government, industrial and consumer discrimination and negligence to bring lawsuits against employers and corporations.

Like so many things, however, the concept of tort reform is easier to talk about than to incorporate into one's own life. George W. Bush, the nation's tort reform cheerleader, is a good example. When he was the governor of Texas, he also conducted a major tort reform campaign, but he took time out to file a lawsuit against a rental car agency because of an accident involving one of his daughters. According to legal experts, the lawsuit was probably not necessary because the insurance company would have handled the settlement. Bush's attorney said the suit had to be filed because of problems with the insurance company, a statement that is easy for most of us to accept.

Now it is another major tort reformer, Robert Bork, who has filed a lawsuit against New York City's Yale Club because of a fall he sustained there a year ago. Bork claims that the exclusive club failed to provide a handrail or stairs that would lead to the dais from which he was scheduled to speak at a banquet. In trying to ascend, his leg hit the side of the dias, and he whacked his head on a heat register.

Bork suffered a hematoma on his leg. It burst, and he had to have surgery, medical treatment and physical therapy. His lawsuit claims that he suffered "excruciating pain" and continues to walk with a limp.

Eric Turkewitz, who publishes the New York Personal Injury Law Blog, describes Bork's lawsuit as "frivolous," and you can read his reasons here.

Assume, for a moment, that the lawsuit is frivolous. That would make Bork a world-class hypocrite. Now assume that the lawsuit is justified: Does that make Bork a changed man? It will be interesting to hear what he has to say.

Clinton Loads Up on Earmarks, Cementing Status as Big Money Candidate

Because there are few substantive differences between the Democratic presidential candidates on the issues, primary voters are left with less-than-ideal metrics like "likeability" and "who Oprah favors."

I'd like to propose a new and better issue with which to make a distinction: Big Money. That is, Hillary Clinton plays the game of money in politics -- and plays it well -- while Obama opts out, arguing that a political system awash in cash can't possibly serve everyday American citizens. The impetus for this argument comes from an article from today's Hill that reveals "Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) has secured more earmarks in the fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill than any other Democrat except for panel Chairman Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.)." The article goes on to explain the bill has $5.4 billion in earmarks, 26 of which were requested by Clinton, to the tune of $148.4 million in federal spending. (To be fair, most of the earmarks requested by Clinton were also requested by the senior senator from New York, Chuck Schumer.) According to Taxpayers for Common Sense, Clinton secured 360 earmarks in the four years between 2002 and 2006, worth a combined $2.2 billion.

Contrast all that with Barack Obama, who has only one earmark request in the defense bill. It's a request made by several senators on behalf of a Department of Education program for children with severe disabilities.

This shouldn't be mind-blowing stuff. Consider that after Clinton's bid for comprehensive health care reform failed in the nineties, she went on to become the Senate's second-largest recipient of healthcare industry contributions. Or that her advisers "represent some of the weightiest interests in corporate America." Or that she happily takes campaign contributions from lobbyists and special interests, while Obama has pledged to take no money from such folks, even going so far as to return $50,000 in contributions after he discovered the givers were lobbyists.

Clinton is a divisive figure who voted for the Iraq War, occasionally takes ideologically troubling positions, and whose presidency would perpetuate the dynastic nature of America's presidential politics. I'm not saying I can't support her, but I do find it trying. And her willingness to eat from the money trough while other Democrats try to clean up Washington makes it even more difficult.

June 12, 2007

Pace Out at Joint Chiefs of Staff Because of Opposition to War With Iran?

You may have noted late last week that Gen. Pete Pace got bumped as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said the choice to name Michael G. Mullen, chief of naval operations, to the post was a product of how difficult and "divisive" Pace's reconfirmation would have been -- after all, Pace was intimately involved in overseeing the war in Iraq for a number of years and the Democrats in Congress would have had the knives out. Or so the argument goes.

Will Bunch over at Attytood doesn't buy it. He thinks Pace's consistent opposition to military action against Iran was the main problem, and that Cheney and his crew were the leading forces in Pace's ouster. Check out Bunch's thoughts here. Check out Mother Jones' coverage of the possibility of war with Iran here, here, and here.

Duncan Hunter Keeps Bogus Plane Alive Through Earmarks

Presidential candidate and Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter has kept a useless defense project alive for years even though it has been repeatedly rejected by Pentagon officials because the project's maker is a regular contributor to his campaigns, reports ABC News.

An experimental plane that is designed to take off straight up and then fly 700 mph has never gotten more than a few feet off the ground and has crashed four times in four years. Useless, you say? Completely. And the Pentagon agrees. Military analysts have consistently rejected the aircraft as technically flawed since 1986.

So why does the plane continue to be funded? Because San Diego-area congressmen, who have tons of defense interests and contractors to represent, consistently create earmarks to keep it alive. The biggest offenders are presidential candidate Duncan Hunter, former chairman and now ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, and former congressman Christopher Cox, who is now chairman of the Securities Exchange Commission.

Cox received $18,000 in contributions from the plane's creator, DuPont Aerospace. Hunter has received at least $36,000 from DuPont for his congressional campaigns and current presidential campaign.

There will be a hearing on the plane tomorrow -- you have to love Democratic leadership in Congress; oversight exists! -- and Hunter is expected to testify. Representatives from DuPont will be right there with him, which is fitting because together they've bilked American tax payers for millions.

(Hat tip, POGO blog.)

Bill Richardson Has Great Ads, Is Incapable of Answering Questions

If you watched the last ~~GOP~~ Democratic debate, you know Bill Richardson has trouble answering questions that are posed to him. Instead, he tends to recite his resume. Well, his campaign is well-aware of this little problem (how could they not be) and is looking to capitalize on it. Check out Richardson's latest campaign advertisement.

Spotted on Politico.

Update: As the person who manages our News and Politics page, I am aware that Bill Richardson is a Democratic candidate. Apologies for this gaffe.

OSC Recommends Exceedingly Harsh Punishment for Fallen GSA Chief

First the exceedingly troubled Office of Special Counsel nailed General Services Administration chief Lurita Doan for violating the Hatch Act. Then Doan responded that if she was guilty Karl Rove and his crew of goons were guilty too. But even though the OSC is supposedly investigating Rove for potential violations of the Hatch Act, it is unsympathetic to Doan's arguments. In its official recommendation on how to punish Doan, it pulled absolutely no punches yesterday, with OSC chief Scott Bloch writing that Doan's actions were "the most pernicious of political activity" and that he "recommend[s] that Administrator Doan be disciplined to the fullest extent for her serious violation of the Hatch Act and insensitivity to cooperating fully and honestly in the course of our investigation."

Yikes. All that's left now is the denouement: Doan's sentencing by President Bush. Bush is a notoriously loyal man -- is Doan valuable enough for Bush to go out on limb to protect her? Or will he gladly fire a relatively low-level civil servant in the hope that the action takes some of the heat off Alberto Gonzales and all the Bush Adminstration's other scandals?

June 11, 2007

Department of Weird Weapons: The Gay Bomb

Edward Hammond, of the University of California's Sunshine Project, obtained through a FOIA request Pentagon documents that indicated the military had, in 1994, investigated building a "gay bomb." The bomb would release a strong aphrodisiac that would cause the enemy army to become "irresistibly attracted to one another." You gotta give the military points for consistency: They clearly believe, World War II notwithstanding, that homosexuals in the ranks make the military ineffective. The proposal also indicates that conservatives are willing to act on their belief, notwithstanding the dismal success rates of the ex-gay movement, that sexual orientation is not at all innate. But the $7.5-million proposal's creepiness rating is extremely high. Not to mention the implication that being gay or lesbian is the biggest insult an army can bestow on its enemy—that it essentially equals destroying them—is deeply offensive to gays and lesbians, particularly those who've served with honor and distinction.

No Dice on "No Confidence" Vote

It's fish-or-cut-bait time in the Senate. Democrats failed to obtain the 60 votes they needed to conduct a "no confidence" vote on AG Alberto Gonzales. (Best AG AG insult of the day: "This is a little man in a very big job, and he has embarrassed his country and his president in the way he has carried it out," wrote Martin Frost.) Democrats have approved but not issued subpoenas for the testimony of evil mastermind Karl Rove and, well, Harriet Miers. The Dems also have the legal right to impeach Gonzales.

Joining Democrats in calling for the "no confidence" vote were Arlen Specter (Pa.), John Sununu (N.H.), Gordon Smith (Ore.) Chuck Hagel (Ne.), and Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine. Seven more votes were needed.

And, now all but officially a member of the Republican Party, one-time Democratic VP contender Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut voted "no."

Congress Will Demand More Fuel Efficiency from Detroit

Finally, finally, Congress is set to act to demand that American automakers improve the fuel efficiency of their cars and trucks. The Senate is expected to vote in the next two weeks on a bill demanding an average fuel efficiency of 35 miles per gallon by 2020. Left to their own devices since 1985, the automakers have been in reverse: 1987 model-year vehicles averaged 26.2 miles per gallon; last year's fleet averaged 25.4 mpg. Clearly, know-how is not the problem.

But the automakers will say any old thing to avoid changing, even when their declining market share suggests that, from a purely financial perspective, change is necessary. GM's chief begged lawmakers to be "responsible" so as not to "disadvantage the domestic industry." Yet it may well be the lack of fuel efficiency that has put Detroit at a disadvantage in recent years relative to Japanese automakers Honda and Toyota.

GM also lashed out against CAFE, charging that the law "has not accomplished what it set out to do," because American fuel consumption has continued to increase. Here again, lies, bloody lies. The auto industry has lobbied continuously and aggressively against strengthening fuel standards since they were first introduced. And, they've backslid from the efficient cars they made in the 70s and 80s.

Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan (N.D.) reportedly gave the Big Three the schooling they've long needed. "We protected you from CAFE and you lost market share, jobs and money anyway." (GM, Ford and Chrysler lost a combined $16 billion last year and put thousands of Americans out of their jobs.) "You’ve lost," Dorgan said. "Your position is yesterday forever."

Good riddance.

Indefinite Domestic Detention Suffers Major Blow

Just a week after the only two detainees at Guantanamo Bay charged with crimes had the charges against them thrown out by military courts, the only captive in the war on terror held within U.S. borders was freed by a federal appeals court. He was freed only momentarily, but I'll get to that in a second. The more important point is that the judiciary (even the military judiciary) is in revolt, protecting our civil liberties from the Bush Administration's out-of-control war on terror tactics.

The ruling today pertains to Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, a Qatari national who was studying computer science in Peoria, Illinois, until his December 2001 arrest for allegedly being an al Qaeda agent. The federal government chose not to put al-Marri through the court system reserved for all other incarcerated people, instead labeling him an enemy combatant and keeping him at a naval brig for South Carolina for four years. Much of that time was spent without charges or any sense of when his detention would end.

The court did not find Al-Marri innocent. Instead, it found that civilians arrested in this country -- not abroad -- and held domestically -- not at Guantanamo -- cannot be held indefinitely and eventually tried in a military tribunal system that parallels the regular court system but offers fewer rights and operates in secrecy. On a macro scale, the ruling says you can't round people up in the United States, call them terrorism suspects, and then hold them in shady places while making shady claims about trying them in shady courts. It's a victory for anyone who didn't want to see a Children of Men scenario play out within our borders.

But because the court didn't find al-Marri innocent, it is ordering him from the military custody he was previously in into a different state of the government's choosing. He can be charged in the civilian court system, he can be deported, he can be held as a material witness, or he can be released. But he can't be held in military detention any longer. Wrote the court:

"To sanction such presidential authority to order the military to seize and indefinitely detain civilians...even if the President calls them 'enemy combatants,' would have disastrous consequences for the Constitution... We refuse to recognize a claim to power that would so alter the constitutional foundations of our Republic."

Powell Calls for Guantanamo to be Closed

Ah, Meet the Press: What is it about little Timmy Russert that makes politicians drop their juiciest little morsels on his show? This Sunday it was former Secretary of State Colin Powell's turn to make waves on the show. The big news is that Powell called for Guantanamo to be shut down. The continued detention—sans lawyers and, in most cases, charges—of 365 men, Powell said, has "shaken the belief that the world had in America's justice system." Powell expressed faith in that system, arguing that the country "has 2 million people in jail, all of whom had lawyers and access to writs of habeas corpus…. We can handle bad people in our system."

Powell, who as chairman of the Joint Chiefs during the Clinton administration helped draft the disastrous "Don't ask, don't tell" policy, also titillated news whores and homosexuals everywhere when he implied that the policy may need to be revisited. It was "an appropriate response to the situation back in 1993. And the country certainly has changed," he said. However, unlike his successor as chair of the Joint Chiefs, John Shalikashvili, Powell stopped short of denouncing "Don't ask, don't tell." (More recently, chairman Peter Pace called homosexuality immoral. And, yes, it is hard to keep a chairman of the Joint Chiefs for long in these troubled times.)

Powell's final move to separate himself from the Bush administration he once served came as he announced that he hasn't decided whether to support a Republican or a Democrat in 2008. That's great, but I can't help but wonder why Powell, who's evidently a competent and decent guy, didn't know better than to serve under Bush and Cheney in the first place.

The Hits Keep Coming: New Screw Up at Dep't of Justice

Cameron can add another scandal to the already long list he provided in his last post about the Department of Justice. According to a study done by the Washington Post, the "Bush administration increasingly emphasized partisan political ties over expertise in recent years in selecting the judges who decide the fate of hundreds of thousands of immigrants, despite laws that preclude such considerations."

Yup, just when you thought Alberto Gonzales' fiefdom couldn't get any more screwed up, they pull this out of a hat. Turns out half of the judges the Department of Justice appointed to the immigration bench lack any sort of qualifications, and one-third are clear GOP apparatchiks. One is the former treasurer of the Louisiana Republican Party, one was a participant in the "Brooks Brothers riot" that stalled the recount in Florida, and one is a former White House domestic policy adviser and anti-porn crusader. Hardly the qualities one hopes for in judges that have to interpret the nation's voluminous and often incredibly detailed immigration laws.

The judges are appointed indefinitely, and combine to deport nearly a quarter million immigrants a year. Think of the damage these folks could do. Just another example of how the Bush Administration has turned the federal government into a bastion of conservatism, ignoring qualifications, expertise, and long-accepted hiring rules in the process.

June 16, 2007

June 15, 2007

June 14, 2007

June 13, 2007

June 12, 2007

June 11, 2007

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