Gonzales as attorney general frightening (Kaul)

[struggle4progress]

<snip> He's almost sure to be confirmed as attorney general, which is frightening but not surprising.

Frightening, because he seems a man who brings nothing of his own conscience to his job as the nation's chief law enforcement officer. He will follow the orders given him.

Not surprising, because the revelations of our mistreatment of prisoners in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo produced so little outrage in this country. Torturing prisoners? So what. It's a war.

Yet there's not a friend of the United States on the planet who did not shake his or her head in dismay at the pictures of those prisoners being treated like animals and worse by American troops. <snip>

http://springfield.news-leader.com/opinions/today/0122-Gonzalesas-283913.html

[TheFarseer]

1. Better as Attorney General than Supreme Court Justice

What can he do worse than Ashcroft? It's like a kick upstairs. Come on, who did you think he was going to nominate - Al Sharpton? I don't think it's such a bad thing.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[notadmblnd]

3. heres parts of an article about him answering

the questions he was asked at the confirmation hearing.

snip

WASHINGTON Officers of the Central Intelligence Agency and other nonmilitary personnel fall outside the bounds of a 2002 directive issued by President George W. Bush that pledged the humane treatment of prisoners in U.S. custody, Alberto Gonzales, the White House counsel, said in a document.
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In written responses to questions posed by senators as part of their consideration of his nomination to be attorney general, Gonzales also said a separate congressional ban on cruel, unusual and inhumane treatment had "a limited reach" and did not apply in all cases to "aliens overseas."
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His written responses, totaling more than 200 pages on torture and other questions and made public Tuesday by the committee's Democrats, offered one of the administration's most expansive statements of its positions on a variety of issues, particularly regarding laws and policies governing CIA interrogation of terror suspects.
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Last month, at the urging of the White House, congressional leaders scrapped a legislative measure that would have imposed new restrictions on the use of extreme interrogation measures by intelligence officers at the CIA and elsewhere. Gonzales said in the newly released answers that he had not been involved in the lobbying effort.
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"But it's notable," Lederman added, "that Gonzales is not willing to tell the senators or anyone else just what techniques the CIA has actually been authorized to use."

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/01/19/news/abuse.html

[theresistance]

4. Someone should throw Gonzales into one of

Abu Ghraib's torture rooms and see if he likes it...No one can justify torture. If it's okay for the American's now to get info and stop attacks etc, then it must have been okay for the Gestapo in France to get info and stop attacks etc...

[teryang]

5. Does anyone really think this matters any more

The signal is clear. Power is consolidated by the fascist right. The Congress is a rubber stamp bought and paid for. Does anyone really not know that this man is a torture advocate and responsible along with the rest of the goosesteppers for dismantling the system of international and domestic law?

Most people, even conservatives, with any education realize that the main stream media are spinning garbarge and that we are dealing with a militaristic oppressive regime, even if they don't call it fascism.

It really doesn't matter what the uniformed rabble thinks, they are always last to get the message, when they finally realize they too have become victims.

[struggle4progress]

6. Even life and death fights against fascists have a substantial ...

... political dimension; otherwise, ruling class control of the instruments for mass-producing consciousness would be completely irrelevant.

I agree that extremists are consolidating their power but do not agree that they have succeeded completely to consolidated it.

The proper avenue for resistence to this consolidation is political. Every political controversy provides an opportunity to educate and organize people. It is true that the political center will shift only slowly. It is also true, however, that some existing alliances are heavily strained and that we have at present unique opportunities to restructure the American political landscape.

So IMHO political fights are critically important, not for their own sake but instead because of what we can accomplish through them

[teryang]

7. I agree but I didn't see any fight

Appreciate Boxer's effort, as I have the courageous people that stand up to the movement from time to time.

I agree with you in principle of course. I'm very exposed politically right now and frankly, looking for a way out. Most government rules, laws and procedures now are becoming a mere front for the raw exercise of power by the strong against the weak. Our liberty is threatened in a very tangible way, so it is quite ironic to hear the term bandied about so cavalierly. I admire the courage of those who stand up to it. In relative terms I'm not feeling too strong as I watch the government and corporations just roll over the the weak and vulnerable.

I think that the creation of mass consciousness phase is over. The consolidation of power now is so complete that the ridiculous nature of public propaganda now is a matter of indifference to those running the show.