The Stupid Party

It’s hard to know exactly when the Republican Party assumed the mantle of the “stupid party.” . . .

George W. Bush joked at a Yale commencement: “To those of you who received honors, awards and distinctions, I say, well done. And to the C students I say, you, too, can be president of the United States.”

From the New York Times.

And then, there's the Donald.

Zombie Porn Hunters

[I]n 2005 when Attorney General Alberto Gonzales set up an Obscenity Prosecution Task Force, which ultimately focused on prosecuting fetish, bestiality and so-called fringe porn.

Six months into the Obama Administration, the task force is still in business and is still headed by a former U.S. Attorney for Utah under President Ronald Reagan, Brent Ward.

From Politico.

The task force was accused of venue shopping for conservative juries by arranging FBI stings that ordered allegedly obscene materials in conservative rural jurisdictions and then securing adult porn obsenity indictments in those places. A key finding that juries must make in adult porn cases to reach a guilty verdict is the determination that the material is obsene in light of "community standards." (A subject addressed at length in this recent article.)

Adult porn prosecutions had virtually vanished prior to the creation of the task force by the Bush Admininistration in 2005, in the wake of changing community standards and appellate court rulings that provided strong free speech defenses to prosecutions. Adult obsenity cases also took a back seat in prosecution priority because they are victimless crimes involving consenting adults. The federal government even regulates the adult porn industry's record keeping requirements in order to simplify child pornography prosecutions, where there are far fewer legal defenses because child sexual abuse is a serious crime and is considered inherently involuntary. But, in the wake of the task force, which has led programs for state and local prosecutors on prosecuting adult obsenity case, as well as conducting its own prosecutions, the trend has reversed.

Convictions have even been secured for a comic book depicting child porn in a clearly drawn rather than photograph derived way, and for obscene, unillustrated written pornography.

The link above relates a sting set up by the Task Force where materials were ordered from a New Jersey company in Montana and an indictment was issued last August (under the George W. Bush Administration). This May, the Obama Administration quietly assenting to a judge's ruling change the venue in the case to New Jersey, where a conviction is likely to be much harder to secure due to the differences in the jury pool.

The case also sheds interesting light on another not widely known fact. There are many types of prosecutions that courts have held that the federal government has the power to make (such as prosecutions of cases under federal law for crimes where there have been acquittals in state trials, prosecutions for mere intentional failure to file a tax return without other tax charges, and prosecutions for check fraud under $75,000), that internal Justice Department policies direct its attorneys not to bring. One of those policies involves the kind of case brought by the Task Force in the Montana case:

[A]n internal Department of Justice policy. . . . dating to 1979 or earlier and included in the U.S. Attorney’s Manual, says postal obscenity cases “should not ordinarily” be filed in the district where an undercover agent had materials sent unless the defendant had some other contacts with that district.

Violations of these policies are not directly subject to judicial review, but failures to follow these policies might prompt new statutory or judicial rulings against the practices that could limit Justice Department bargaining power and legal rights in future cases. One reason the Justice Department may have dropped its appeal to the 9th Circuit in the Montana case, in addition to a change in administration policy, may have been to avoid the chance that a binding appellate court precedent limiting Justice Department power would be created.

Some of these Justice Department policies, which in principal can be changed at the whim of the Attorney General, amount to part of the unwritten constitution of the United States (a concept attributed in the English context to Walter Bagehot, which has increasing relevance in U.S. law and politics).

There are other political considerations in these cases as well:

Obscenity cases are politically sensitive for the Obama Justice Department because the deputy attorney general, David Ogden, was criticized by Republicans during his confirmation for his past legal work for Playboy and other purveyors of sexually explicit material. . . . The U.S. Attorney who brought the [Montana obsensity] case last year, William Mercer, had close ties to the Bush administration and in an unusual arrangement served as the No. 3 official at the Justice Department. In addition, complaints from [Obsensity Task Force leader] Ward about alleged resistance to bringing obscenity cases reportedly played a role in the firings of at least two of the U.S. Attorneys whose dismissals by Bush in 2006 sparked controversy and investigations.

Adding a new political dimension to the saga, the case filed against Goldman last week was assigned to Judge Joseph Greenaway Jr. of Newark, a Clinton appointee. In June, Obama nominated Greenaway to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit. The Senate has not yet acted on the nomination.

The reasons that U.S. Attorney appointments should be political, the counterarguments, and the federalism concerns implicated by these prosecutions are explored in another recent piece of legal scholarship.

Obama Good For Stock Market

Index ------Jan 20, 2009--May 4, 2009--% Change

NASDAQ ------1,440.86----1,763.56--- +22%
S&P 500 -----805.22--------907.24--- +13%
Dow Jones ---7,949.09----8,426.74--- +6%

From here.

When President Bush took office on January 20, 2001, the NASDAQ was at 2,770.38, the S&P 500 was at 1342.90, and the Dow Jones was at 10,587.60.

Bush Appointees Out Of Work

"Only 25 to 30 percent of 3,000 political appointees who served President George W. Bush have found work."

From here.

George W. Bush Short On Forgiveness and Mercy

All of the 189 pardons granted by George W. Bush were granted merely relieved an individual of the collateral effects of a crime for which the sentence was fully served, in 170 cases, for minor offenses producing sentences of not more than two years in prison, and almost two-thirds of the time after a sentence including no prison time at all.

Seventeen more pardons were for drug offenses that carried longer sentences, and eight of the eleven commutations granted by George W. Bush were for drug offenses. In the case of each of the eight drug offense commutations, long sentences had already been served for the crime of conviction.

Just one of the pardons, and three of the commutations, were for non-drug offenses that carried significant sentences (more than three years in prison). Only one of the pardons (for someone who had been out of prison for thirty-five years) and three of the commutations (the border patrol agents) involved an individual sentenced to a term of more than three years for a non-drug crime.

The final figures on President Bush’s clemency record establish that he granted fewer pardons and commutations than any two-term president since Thomas Jefferson, and fewer per term than any full-term president since John Adams, with the exception of his father. Statistically, he is tied with his father for the lowest favorable grant rate for pardon petitions (9.8%), and his grant rate for commutations barely registers (.012%). While he pardoned fairly regularly through out his two terms, 76 of his 189 pardons and seven of his eleven commutations were granted in his final year.

President Bush received more clemency petitions than any president since FDR (not counting petitions received pursuant to general grants of amnesty), and he denied more. In eight years, he denied almost 7500 commutation and 1800 pardon requests, three times the number denied by Bill Clinton. . . .

All of the 189 pardon recipients had fully served their sentence, and almost 2/3 of them were convicted more than 20 years before they were pardoned. Twenty-five grants went to people whose convictions were more than 35 years old, and nine were convicted in the 1940’s and 50’s. Only a handful of grantees were convicted fewer than ten years before they were pardoned. Two pardons were awarded posthumously (one accidentally).

By far the most frequently pardoned offenses fall into the general category of theft and fraud. But President Bush also pardoned 35 drug offenders and 12 people convicted of a firearms or explosives offense. In addition to the usual complement of bootleggers (11), tax evaders (8), and car thieves (7), there are bank embezzlers, forgers, counterfeiters, mail thieves, gamblers, illegal dumpers, draft dodgers, endangered species and election law violators, and the obligatory odometer cheat. Only one of the 189 was convicted of an immigration law violation, and President Bush appears to have granted no pardons to avert deportation.

In the main, the offenses pardoned were minor ones, as evidenced by the fact that few of those pardoned spent any significant amount of time in prison, and more than two thirds spent no time in prison at all. Only 19 of the 189 spent more than two years in prison, and 17 of these were convicted of drug offenses. (The other two were an S&L fraudster sentenced to three years, and an armed bank robber sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment in 1964.) . . .

Very few pardon recipients appear to have been well known outside of their communities . . .though one recipient was recommended by a former state governor and a retired federal judge. David McCall . . . was recommended by U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson. Charles Thompson Winters, who was pardoned posthumously, was well known in the Jewish community as an ardent supporter of the young state of Israel. . . .

[O]nly five or possibly six of the 189 pardon grants went to people of color, including African-Americans. Four of the eight drug commutations went to African-Americans.

From here.

The most notorious of his eleven commutations was that granted to Scooter Libby, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff who was convicted of misconduct in connection with the Valerie Plame investigation and sentenced to two and a half years in prison. Only two of the other ten commutations (granted to border control agents) were related to controversy over the underlying case. The other eight reduced the length of already lengthy drug sentences.

Of the 11 individuals whose sentences were commuted by President Bush, eight were convicted of drug offenses in the early 1990s (in one case 1989), and three of them were within a few months of release from prison by the time their petitions were granted. Six of the eight had served more than 14 years in prison, and a seventh had served all but a few months of his 9-year sentence. The eighth drug commutee had served more than half of a 14-year prison sentence.

Notably, the drug sentencing guidelines under which the inmates receiving commutations were granted have been disavowed by the United States Sentencing Commission, declared to be non-binding by the U.S. Supreme Court, and have been the subject of considerable legislative action to make them less harsh.

The Scooter Libby case is briefly summarized as follows:

The prison sentence of I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby has been commuted by United States President George W. Bush. Libby is the former chief of staff for U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, and was at the center of the CIA leak scandal, where the identity of former CIA agent Valerie Plame was allegedly leaked to the media by White House officials.

Bush's intervention ensures that Libby will not serve jail time, however Libby must still pay a US $250,000 fine and undergo two years of probation. In a statement, Bush said, "I respect the jury's verdict. But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive. Therefore, I am commuting the portion of Mr. Libby's sentence that required him to spend thirty months in prison."

He continued, "My decision to commute his prison sentence leaves in place a harsh punishment for Mr. Libby. The reputation he gained through his years of public service and professional work in the legal community is forever damaged. His wife and young children have also suffered immensely. He will remain on probation. The significant fines imposed by the judge will remain in effect. The consequences of his felony conviction on his former life as a lawyer, public servant, and private citizen will be long-lasting."

A federal court convicted Libby of perjury and obstruction of justice on March 6, 2007, and sentenced him to 2 1/2 years in prison. Bush issued the order to commute Libby's prison term after a federal appeals court ruled that Libby could not delay his prison term while his case was on appeal.

The case of the border patrol agents is briefly summarized as follows:

On his last full day in office, President George Bush issued commutations for former U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. These were notably commutations and not full pardons. . . The commutations will end the jail time on March 20, 2009. Ramos is serving an 11-year prison sentence; Compean is serving a 12-year term. They were convicted of shooting and wounding Osvaldo Aldrete Dávila (who was unarmed) in El Paso County, Texas. After the shooting, the officers were accused disposing of shell casings, lying to their supervisors, and filing a false investigative report.

The White House issued a statement that made clear that this was mercy and not forgiveness for the crimes: “The president has reviewed the circumstances of this case as a whole and the conditions of confinement and believes the sentences they received are too harsh and that they, and their families, have suffered enough for their crimes . . Commuting their sentences does not diminish the seriousness of their crimes. Ramos and Compean are convicted felons who violated their oaths to uphold the law and have been severely punished.”

They will remain convicted felons and face the ongoing restrictions accorded that status in terms of gun ownership, employment etc.

The assistance of a lawyer was not helpful in securing a pardon. Fewer than eighteen of the pardons came without a recommendation from the Justice Department, and between eight and none of the commutations were recommended by the Justice Department.

George W. Bush did not make any general grants of amnesty, although a notable grant of amnesty was contained in legislation related to the treatment of Guantanamo Bay detainees which was approved by Congress and supported and signed by the President. The pertinent part of the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 provides (empahsis added):

SEC. 1004. PROTECTION OF UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PERSONNEL ENGAGED IN AUTHORIZED INTERROGATIONS.

(a) Protection of United States Government Personnel- In any civil action or criminal prosecution against an officer, employee, member of the Armed Forces, or other agent of the United States Government who is a United States person, arising out of the officer, employee, member of the Armed Forces, or other agent's engaging in specific operational practices, that involve detention and interrogation of aliens who the President or his designees have determined are believed to be engaged in or associated with international terrorist activity that poses a serious, continuing threat to the United States, its interests, or its allies, and that were officially authorized and determined to be lawful at the time that they were conducted, it shall be a defense that such officer, employee, member of the Armed Forces, or other agent did not know that the practices were unlawful and a person of ordinary sense and understanding would not know the practices were unlawful. Good faith reliance on advice of counsel should be an important factor, among others, to consider in assessing whether a person of ordinary sense and understanding would have known the practices to be unlawful. Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit or extinguish any defense or protection otherwise available to any person or entity from suit, civil or criminal liability, or damages, or to provide immunity from prosecution for any criminal offense by the proper authorities.

(b) Counsel- The United States Government may provide or employ counsel, and pay counsel fees, court costs, bail, and other expenses incident to the representation of an officer, employee, member of the Armed Forces, or other agent described in subsection (a), with respect to any civil action or criminal prosecution arising out of practices described in that subsection, under the same conditions, and to the same extent, to which such services and payments are authorized under section 1037 of title 10, United States Code.

George W. Bush had far less expansive pardon powers when he was Governor of Texas and used even those limited pardon powers sparingly (full documentation of his use of the pardon power as Governor is available through the Texas State archives). "George W. Bush during his six years as governor of Texas presided over 152 executions, more than any other governor in the recent history of the United States." His review of pardon requests during his term as Governor was often cursory. Relying upon a law review article, one source states that, "during his prior term as Governor of Texas, George W. issued fewer pardons than any Texas Governor since the 1940s (16 up to January 2000, as opposed to 70 for his immediate predecessor Ann Richards, 822 for 2-term governor Bill Clements, and 1048 for John Connally, Texas governor from 1963-69)." George W. Bush commuted just one death sentence while he was Governor of Texas, that of Henry Lee Lucas who died three years later of natural causes. Lucas confessed to many murders that he could not possibly have committed.

All three of the federal executions since 1963 took place during the Bush Administration. There have been no executions pursuant to a U.S. military court martial since 1961.

National Debt Top $10 Trillion Today

The national debt has crossed the $10 trillion mark today. That's $10,000,000,000,000.

George W. Bush and his Republican colleagues (like John McCain) took over in 2001, the debt stood at $5.7 Trillion.

So President Bush added $4.3 Trillion (and counting) in his eight year debacle.

The bailout bill increases the debt limit to more than $11 trillion.

GWB Approval Rating 19%

George W. Bush currently has a 19% approval rating.

Shorter SOTU

The full text of the State of the Union address delivered Monday is here, but the real version is burdened by Washington speak, political conceits and unnecessary applause. So here is the shorter version:

Things have been getting better because Americans are great. But our economic future is uncertain.

Let's cut taxes and furthermore let's not let tax cuts expire. Taxes are bad and I'll veto them.

My budget make 151 cuts for a total of $18 billion and the budget will be balanced several years after I'm out of office.

It is the policy of the executive branch to ignore the intent of the legislative branch when implementing the budget.

I want to reorganize the federal housing bureaucracies and allow state housing agencies to issue tax-free bonds to help homeowners refinance their mortgages.

End the bias in the tax code against those who do not get their health insurance through their employer, encourage health savings accounts, develop association health plans for small businesses, and promote health information technology. Medical malpractice plaintiffs lawyers screw everything up, so we should make it harder for victims of medical malpractice from bringing lawsuits.

The No Child Left Behind Act is great, and so are private schools despite the fact that they are going out of business in droves. Let's spend $300 million to send kids to private schools because public schools suck.

Free trade rocks. Please pass trade treaties with Colombia, Panama and South Korea, because we don't make imports pay tariffs but other countries tax our exports which isn't fair because American stuff is the best stuff. Free trade will end terrorism and drugs and put politicians I don't like in other countries out of work. Americans will lose their jobs as a result so we should send them back to school to get new jobs.

Clean coal, renewables and nuclear power are the answers to our energy problems. So are better batteries and biofuels and energy efficiency. We should spend money for environmental measures in India and China.

Spend money on physical sciences research. Medical research is O.K. too except that medical researchers are unethical scum who want to destroy, buy, sell, patent and clone human life, all of which are evil.

Please vote in my ultra-conservative judicial nominees.

We should use federal funds to support religious charities.

Katrina screwed New Orleans so I'm going to hold a diplomatic meeting there.

We spend too much money on old people and sick poor people.

The solution to immigration is a big fence on the Mexican border, more border patrol agents, more raids on workplaces, guest worker programs, and "a sensible and humane way to deal with people here illegally."

Democracy abroad is good and extremist Islamic terrorists are evil.

The war in Afghanistan is a good thing for the Afghans because the bad guys are terrorists, so I'm sending 3,200 more troops.

We sent more troops and civilian aid officials to Iraq because the bad guys there are terrorists and they were winning. Now we're winning and the Sunni Iraqis are fighting terrorists and the Iraqi government has more troops. Everything is much better in Iraq now. Soldiers are great, keep funding the war in Iraq. And, we're slowly ending the surge. Everything is going to work out in Iraq even though its fucked up now.

Peace in Israel would be great.

Iran's rulers are irrational evil people who live terrorism and want to blow us to bits with nuclear weapons. Fuck with us and will fight back.

Terrorists are out to get us, but fail because we violate civil liberties by illegally spying on you. If we have to stop illegal spying the terrorists will get us.

Genocide in Sudan is bad. We should bribe countries to be democratic, end corruption and respect the rule of law. Lots of people would starve if we weren't so generous. We should buy crops that aren't made in America to help farmers abroad. We should spend lots of money money to fight malaria and AIDS.

We should more on Veterans and reform the VA and being nice to military families.

Everything's going to turn out fine.

Nothing surprising here.

W on the Second Amendment

The Solicitor General's brief in the District of Columbia Second Amendment case sets forth this conservative administration's position on the constitutional bite associated with the Second Amendment. The quote below is from the table of contents of the brief:

Argument
A. The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess firearms, including for purposes unrelated to militia operations
1. The text of the Second Amendment, and its placement within the Bill of Rights, strongly indicate that the Amendment protects an individual right.
2. The Second Amendment’s reference to the necessity of a “well regulated Militia” does not limit the substantive right that the Amendment secures.
B. Like rights conferred by surrounding provisions of the Bill of Rights, the individual right guaranteed by the Second Amendment is subject to reasonable restrictions and important exceptions.
1. Congress has authority to prohibit particular types of firearms, such as machineguns.
2. Congress has substantial authority to ban the private possession of firearms by persons whom Congress deems unfit to keep such weapons.
3. Congress has authority to regulate the manufacture, sale, and flow of firearms in
commerce.
C. The Court should remand this case to the lower courts to permit them to analyze the constitutionality of the D.C. laws at issue under the proper constitutional inquiry.

Thus, in a nutshell, there is an individual right, but it may be "well regulated." The brief asks for a remand based upon its analysis, effectively punting on the issue of the constitutionality of the District's especially strict municipal ordinances, while establishing a standard that would uphold essentially every federal gun control law as constitutional as a reasonable regulation of the right.

The Bush Tax Cuts And Income Inequality

A dramatic increase in income inequality began when the Bush tax cuts were implemented. The number that falls as it goes to the right is the income share of the bottom four income quintiles of Americans. The number that rises as it goes to the right is the income share of the top American income quintile.

From here.

Spooks To Prez: Iran Not A Threat

The New York Times explains:

An administration that had cited Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons as the rationale for an aggressive foreign policy — as an attempt to head off World War III, as President Bush himself put it only weeks ago — now has in its hands a classified document that undercuts much of the foundation for that approach.

The impact of the National Intelligence Estimate’s conclusion — that Iran had halted a military program in 2003, though it continues to enrich uranium, ostensibly for peaceful uses . . . [has put] the main argument for a military conflict with Iran . . . off the table for the foreseeable future. . . . [National Security Advisor] Hadley said the drastic reversal in the intelligence agencies’ knowledge about Iran’s weapons programs was based “on new intelligence, some of which has been received in the last few months.”

Let us hope that Congress listens to these facts in the 13 months left of George W. Bush's administration. There is no execuse now to start a new war with Iran.

W less popular than Nixon

George W. Bush is the least popular President of the modern era.

Just Say No To Michael B. Mukasey For AG

Michael B. Mukasey is not fit to be our Attorney General and the U.S. Senate, which Democrats control, should not confirm him. Any candidate for the job who states that the President is entitled to ignore a constitutional statute for any reason doesn't deserve the job.

The President has a duty to faithfully execute the law. If our chief law enforcement officer doesn't understand that, then the game is up, and we can forget about living in a democracy.

WTF! Bush Opposes Seat Belts.

On October 16, 2007, President Bush appointed Bobby Orr as the acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for National Transportation Safety. Who is Bobby Orr? One of the leading opponents of seatbelts in the country.

[S]he has campaigned for years against mandatory seat-belt laws, which she claims are “about making everyone collaborators with the culture of death”. . . . For example, in March 2001 at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference Orr urged President Bush to move quickly to decertify automobiles that come equipped with standard seat belts. And the next month, in an op-ed in the Washington Post, Orr cheered a proposal by Bush to eliminate a clause in federal employees’ insurance policies that required them to use safety belts while driving on work-related business. Said Orr, at that time the Director of the Family Research Council: “We're quite pleased because driving a car is not a disease. It's not a medical necessity that you have it.” . . .

Last year, Bush appointed . . . Jackie Keroack, to head the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Formerly the head of a Christian driving academy in Colorado Springs that also counseled against using seat belts. . . .

Reached by email, Orr referred questions [about her 2001 Op-Ed] to the Office of Public Affairs, which said she was simply supporting President Bush’s policy.

Wonderful! Bush in a nutshell: Health insurance for kids bad. Seat belts bad. Medical research with stem cells bad. Kangaroo courts good. Torture good. Illegal spying good. Invading countries based on dubious intelligence good. Lying to a grand jury not very bad.

UPDATE: Egg on my face. Damn though, it sounded so plausible. Unbossed is the most serious site I visit on a regular basis, almost, and it wasn't even April, so I didn't even bother to look.

Same Actions, Different Results

In Colorado, when someone believes God has bestowed on honor on him, and that causes him to dress up and kill people, he ends up dead.

In Washington, when someone believes God has bestowed on honor on him, and that causes him to dress up and kill people, he draws a federal paycheck.

Listening To The Wrong People On Gitmo

The Denver Post, citing the New York Times as its source, argues that Guantamo Bay remains open because President Bush has relied on two of the least well regarded members of his administration for advice.

President Bush should have listened to Robert Gates in January as the newly appointed defense secretary repeatedly urged that the American prison in Cuba be shut down as quickly as possible. The facility holds nearly 400 detainees, suspected in some way of being complicit with terrorists.

Gates argued the prison had such a tainted reputation abroad that any legal proceedings held there would be seen as compromised. It was a view supported by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other officials who discussed moving Guantanamo detainees to U.S. military brigs. . . .

[I]n the end, objections by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Vice President Dick Cheney carried the day . . . and the prison remains open.

Why is it so hard for President Bush to realize that he should listen to his own Secretary of Defense and Secretary of State, rather than to his disgraced Vice President and Attorney General, in matters of national security?

Alberto Gonzales has lost the support of almost every Democrat in Congress (he did't have support from many of them in the first place), and a number of Republicans in Congress, because documents disclosed by the Justice Department make clear that he lied to Congress about the dismissal of eight U.S. Attorneys. The Inspector General of the Justice Department has revealed that while Gonzales has been AG, the Justice Department routinely broke the law by spying on American citizens even though their powers to do so legally were greatly expanded by the PATRIOT Act. Even his staunchest supporter, Colorado's own Ken Salazar, has been forced to start to come to terms with the fact that his friend is a crook.

Dick Cheney is one of the least popular men in the United States today. According to a CBS News/New York Times Poll taken March 7-11, 2007 of 1,362 registered voters, just 18% have a favorable opinion of the Vice President, while 48% have an unfavorable opinion of him. His Chief of Staff, Scotter Libby, is a convicted felon. There is a strong implication that Libby leaked a covert agent's identity at the behest of his boss. Cheney has been the strong voice in the administration for torture and against the rule of law, from the beginning. He's offered to resign, but the President, unwisely, didn't take him up on the offer.

President Bush is not innocent. The better angels of his administration have repeatedly and resolutely urged him to do the right thing. He received a bold warning that an attack on Americans by Osama bin Laden was coming and did nothing. The CIA and State Department told him that the aftermath of the Iraq invasion would turn out as it in fact has turned out. His generals told him that they didn't have enough troops at the beginning of the Iraq War to conduct it properly. High officials in the administration have told him that his regime of torture and extralegal detention to fight a "war on terrorism" was wrong and perhaps even made him a war criminal. He has remained determined in the face of advisors giving him the chance to do the right things, to instead harm our country.

George W. Bush Executioner

The large number of people executed in Texas while George W. Bush was Governor of that state is well known. Less well known is the fact that all three federal executions after 1963 have taken place while he was in office.

There are currently 9 men on the military's death row (the last military execution was in 1961) and 45 men and 1 woman (Angela Johnson) on the federal civilian death row. Of those on federal civilian death row, 24 were sentenced to death while George W. Bush was President. Four of the men on civilian death row are currently having their sentences reconsidered by the courts. Three more, who were scheduled to be executed in May of 2006 are having the method by which they are executed considered by the courts.

Everyone on federal death row is there for some form of aggravated murder. Statutes allow the death penalty in a small number of cases even where a victim has not been killed, but the death penalty has been carried out in such a case since 1963. The possible non-homicide grounds for the federal civilian death penalty are:
* Espionage
* Treason
* Trafficking in large quantities of drugs
* Attempting, authorizing or advising the killing of any officer, juror,or witness in cases involving a Continuing Criminal Enterprise, regardless of whether such killing actually occurs.

A small number of states, in theory, permit the death penalty for reasons other than aggravated murder (treating perjury causing execution as a form of murder). They are:

* Treason (Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana)
* Train Wrecking (California)
* Aggravated Kidnapping (Idaho, Kentucky)
* Aircraft Hijacking (Georgia)
* Capital Drug Trafficking (Florida)
* Capital Sexual Battery (Florida)
* Aggravated Rape of Victim Under Age 12 (Louisiana)

White House Ignores Spooks On Iraq

A 30-page National Intelligence Estimate completed in April cites the "centrality" of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and the insurgency that has followed, as the leading inspiration for new Islamic extremist networks and cells that are united by little more than an anti-Western agenda. It concludes that, rather than contributing to eventual victory in the global counterterrorism struggle, the situation in Iraq has worsened the U.S. position.

From the Washington Post.

The National Intelligence Estimate sums up the conclusions of the nation's sixteen intelligence agencies. The White House has been ingoring that advice, publicly. Indeed, it has directly contradicted what we are hearing from our nation's intelligence agencies by claiming that the Iraq War has made us safer.

President Bush, aided by hawks Rumsfield and Cheney, has profoundly undermined our national security, with a foolish war, and have been unable to admit their grievous mistake.

Torture Is Bad

The Bush Administation is still wrong on torture, even in its latest version. It is wrong, and it is wrong to immunize the administration from civil lawsuits to prevent it or remedy it. The Washington Post explains why as well as I would.

His Fraudulency II

After his narrow and disputed election in 1876, President Rutherford B. Hayes "his fraudulency" by the opposition in Congress.

Our sitting President Bush won both of his elections in similar circumstances. But, Bush deserves the title of "His Fraudulency II" for another reason -- his five years of lies about the connections between Iraq and the 9-11 attack which were an important factor in his re-election, and which he has finally disavowed in the last week.

The details are portrayed starkly by Bill in Portland Maine in his Cheers and Jeers Post at Daily Kos