John Ashcroft, Man of Principle (No, Really)

Alberto Gonzales manages continuously to make hi predecessor look like a staunch defender of civil liberties and the rule of law. Considering John Ashcroft was arguably crazy, perfectly happy to spy on peace groups, and offended by a statue's tit, that's saying a LOT.

The latest bit? A story, which responsible journalists would have brought out years ago. At one point, John Ashcroft was sick and in the hospital, so his #2 guy was acting AG. He told the White House they couldn't re-authorize a program the Bush administration wanted because they couldn't justify it's legality. Bush's own hand-picked DOJ folks couldn't justify it. So then the #2 got word from Ashcroft's wife that two guys from the Bush administration were coming over to Ashcroft's hospital room, to try and get him to authorize it. Those two men were Mr. Card and Mr. Alberto Gonzales. For more detail, let me quote from the words of Mr. Comey, who was Ashcroft's #2 in the DOJ. ( A sick man, midnight rides, and manipulative thugs )

John Ashcroft said no, and was willing to resign because of it, along with half the high ranking people in the DoJ, and Bush's head of the FBI. That's astonishing. Not just that there was a line that no, these cronies wouldn't cross. Think about it. The Bush administration was willing to pressure a sick man in a hospital, to keep doing something even their own cronies couldn't justify by any tortured logic. We don't know specifically what the something is, but the indications seem to be it had to do with warrantless wiretapping. And one of the thugs sent to try and pressure the sick man in the hospital is now the Attorney General.

Doesn't that just make you feel safer already?

Impeach Alberto Gonzales. Impeach Dick Cheney. Impeach George W. Bush. Impeach them now.

(hilzoy has more and more.)

For carp, and the Other Lolcats Folks

Today's xkcd is an idea gone too far.

Jerry Falwell

So, he's dead. I find it hard to be terribly upset about this. I know, it's not good of me, the man preached racism and hate for years. And he died wealthy, at age 73, after the peak of his political influence. The damage he did to our politics and our country will take many years to undo, and the worst of the heirs of his ideology are still around. And the media mostly is playing dumb about it, as far as I can see. There's an instinct in America to speak well of the dead, or at least not speak badly of them. And it's admirable to a point, and let the body cool and all, but hiding the things he did in vague words about his being "controversial" is dishonest and does no one any good.

So here's an obituary from the World Socialist Website, and here's an excerpt from Jerry Falwell's autobiography about a batshit crazy prank his dad played, (warning, involves deliberate torture of an animal, his dad was batshit crazy). Seriously completely batshit crazy. And if Jerry Falwell, like most people, modeled his image of God on his parents, especially his dad, no wonder Jerry Falwell's God is completely batshit crazy.

But while that may explain some of his actions, it doesn't excuse them, and it definitely doesn't excuse all the people who helped him rise to a position of power and gave him a soapbox for his craziness and hate.

In the end, I guess I want to feel more conflicted than I do about his death, because I should appreciate everyone's humanity etc etc, but I really don't. The man preached hate that covers, one way or another, me and just about everybody I know, and he parlayed this hate into an enormous political movement that helped us end up with Bush and all that's gone along with him. So no, no sympathy for the dead from me.

I think I may go back and revise this into a conversation with an imaginary person later.