Bruce Fein instead of Mukasey?

doomsy at the liberal doomsayer tipped me off to this letter from bruce fein in last sunday's nyt...

To The Editor:

Re “Clinton Plans to Consider Giving Up Some Powers” (news article, Oct. 24): The American Freedom Agenda, an organization of conservatives founded last March 20 to restore checks and balances and protections against government abuses, requested all presidential aspirants, including Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, to sign an American Freedom Pledge.

They were asked to renounce the following powers if elected: torture; presidential signing statements; indefinite detentions of American citizens as enemy combatants; military commissions that combine judge, jury and prosecutor; spying on American citizens in contravention of federal statutes on the president’s say-so alone; kidnapping, imprisoning and torturing suspected terrorists abroad; executive privilege to shield the executive branch from Congressional oversight; prosecuting journalists under the Espionage Act for exposing national security abuses; listing organizations as terrorist groups based on secret evidence; suspending the writ of habeas corpus during the conflict with international terrorism; and invoking the state secrets privilege to deny victims of constitutional wrongdoing any judicial remedy. Senator Clinton has balked at signing the pledge, as have all other candidates except Representative Ron Paul.

Bruce Fein
Chairman, American Freedom Agenda

a little bit about the american freedom agenda, an organization i hadn't heard of but am very glad to see operating...

The American Freedom Agenda’s (AFA) mission is twofold: the enactment of a cluster of statutes that would restore the Constitution’s checks and balances as enshrined by the Founding Fathers; and, making the subject a staple of political campaigns and of foremost concern to Members of Congress and to voters and educators. Especially since 9/11, the executive branch has chronically usurped legislative or judicial power, and has repeatedly claimed that the President is the law. The constitutional grievances against the White House are chilling, reminiscent of the kingly abuses that provoked the Declaration of Independence. The 10-point American Freedom Agenda would work to restore the roles of Congress and the federal judiciary to prevent such abuses of power and protect against injustices that are the signature of civilized nations. In particular, the American Freedom Agenda would: Prohibit military commissions whose verdicts are suspect except in places of active hostilities where a battlefield tribunal is necessary to obtain fresh testimony or to prevent anarchy; Prohibit the use of secret evidence or evidence obtained by torture or coercion in military or civilian tribunals; Prohibit the detention of American citizens as unlawful enemy combatants without proof of criminal activity on the President’s say-so; Restore habeas corpus for alleged alien enemy combatants, i.e., non-citizens who have allegedly participated in active hostilities against the United States, to protect the innocent; Prohibit the National Security Agency from intercepting phone conversations or emails or breaking and entering homes on the President’s say-so in violation of federal law; Empower the House of Representatives and the Senate collectively to challenge in the Supreme Court the constitutionality of signing statements that declare the intent of the President to disregard duly enacted provisions of bills he has signed into law because he maintains they are unconstitutional; Prohibit the executive from invoking the state secrets privilege to deny justice to victims of constitutional violations perpetrated by government officers or agents; and, establish legislative-executive committees in the House and Senate to adjudicate the withholding of information from Congress based on executive privilege that obstructs oversight and government in the sunshine; Prohibit the President from kidnapping, detaining, and torturing persons abroad in collaboration with foreign governments; Amend the Espionage Act to permit journalists to report on classified national security matters without fear of prosecution; and; Prohibit the listing of individuals or organizations with a presence in the United States as global terrorists or global terrorist organizations based on secret evidence.

american freedom agenda's principals are...

- Bruce Fein

- Bob Barr

- John Whitehead

- Richard Viguerie

some heavy-duty conservatives there, for sure, but preserving our constitution is certainly not a left-right, conservative-liberal, democratic-republican issue...

oh, btw, doomsy thinks that fein should be nominated for attorney general in place of the increasingly beleaguered mukasey... i don't disagree...

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More on the National Guard and emergency preparedness

a follow-on to an earlier post about the problems of emergency preparedness following the tornadoes in kansas...

since hurricane katrina, i have been convinced that the bush administration has deliberately disrupted and obstructed our country's capability to respond to natural disasters... the strength of my cynicism leads me to believe it is part of a purposeful strategy to convince us that our government is not either equipped, willing or able to provide anything in the way of comprehensive assistance in time of citizen need... it's all part of the socially-darwinian, on-your-ownership society and the on-going dismemberment of any type of implied or explicit social contract... they are QUITE capable, however, of telling you what you talked about on the phone last night with aunt jane...

According to a recent report by a congressional commission, nearly “90 percent of Army National Guard units in the United States are rated ‘not ready,” largely “as a result of shortfalls in billions of dollars’ worth of equipment.” A January Government Accountability Office analysis found that the Pentagon “does not adequately track National Guard equipment needs for domestic missions” and as a consequence, “state National Guards may be hampered in their ability to plan for responding to large-scale domestic events.”

if that indeed is the strategy, it's working quite nicely...

(thanks to think progress...)

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The Katrina-zation of Kansas

heckuva job, george...

The rebuilding effort in tornado-ravaged Greensburg, Kansas, likely will be hampered because some much-needed equipment is in Iraq, said that state’s governor.

Governor Kathleen Sebelius said much of the National Guard equipment usually positioned around the state to respond to emergencies is gone. She said not having immediate access to things like tents, trucks and semitrailers will really handicap the rebuilding effort.

we're fighting 'em over there which means we don't have shit available to help ourselves over here...

(thanks to think progress...)

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