There is considerable complaining these days from the usual source — Congress — that the Justice Department is “broken” and simply cannot function under Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. This is the same source that tells us just about everything else is “broken,” from our strongest-on-earth military to health care to the world’s climate. Saying these things are “broken” is a way of proposing that a cure is needed, a proposal inevitably made without telling us, in specifics, what’s wrong, what Congress would do to improve it, or, most importantly, how much the fix would cost and who will foot the bill. Perhaps “broken” has become such […]

Much has been made of President Bush’s supposedly wanting a “blank check” to conduct the war in Iraq. One need not be overly enthusiastic about how the war has gone in order to observe that, for whatever else might be said of it, a “blank check” is not and has never been what the President has sought. Instead, he repeatedly (and perhaps unwisely) went to the United Nations to ask for escalating sanctions on Iraq. He got them, usually by unanimous or nearly unanimous votes of the Security Council. When all-too-predictably they failed to stop either Saddam’s aggressiveness or his innumerable violations of […]

MSNBC is carrying an Associated Press story that Cindy Sheehan has “resigned” as an anti-war protest leader. The first three paragraphs read thusly:

“FORT WORTH, Texas – Cindy Sheehan, the soldier’s mother who galvanized an anti-war movement with her month-long protest outside President Bush’s ranch, says she’s done being the public face of the movement.

“‘I’ve been wondering why I’m killing myself and wondering why the Democrats caved in to George Bush,’ Sheehan told The Associated Press by phone Tuesday while driving from her property in Crawford to the airport, where she planned to return to her native California.

“I”m going home […]

Just down the road from my office is Arlington National Cemetery. More than four million people visit the cemetery annually, many coming to pay final respects at graveside services, of which nearly 100 are conducted each week. Brave soldiers from every war in which America has fought – from the Revolutionary War to the current War on Terror, are buried here, in recognition of their profound bravery and sacrifice to protect the lives of their loved ones and freedom for their fellow Americans. More than 250,000 grave sites adorn the rolling hills of Arlington, joining hundreds of thousands more across America, in Europe, and across the […]

There have been five national polls over the last few weeks asking respondents whether they approve or disapprove of the President’s and Congress’s performance. The polls have been taken by CBS/New York Times; Hotline; Fox; Gallup; and Rasmussen. What with his support for the very controversial immigration bill, gas prices climbing every week, the Attorney General on the hot seat, and continuing atrocities in Iraq, you would think the President’s approval rating would be in the tank. And you would be right. The average of the President’s approval in the five polls is 33%. His disapproval averages 61%.

But that’s not […]

In the blog I posted on double standards being used to assess the job-worthiness of Alberto Gonzales, on the one hand, and Janet Reno, on the other, I said that the assault on the Branch Davidian compound during Ms. Reno’s tenure resulted in 58 deaths. That is incorrect. According to Wikpedia and other sources, it resulted in 82 deaths. At least 17 of those killed were children.

I apologize for the error. I am relieved, however, that the correct figure does not muddle, but instead re-inforces, the point of the story.

Congress is preparing to take a vote of “no confidence” in Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. I have previously written about the all but complete disconnect between this sort of political theater and the Constitution, which provides for nothing of the kind. In France, sure. Here……

But I digress. The principal “charges” against the Attorney General are that he has given incomplete, inconsistent and misleading information about the reasons for firing eight United States Attorneys. Let’s assume for the moment (without concluding) that this is true. Let’s also concede that the Attorney General has not sparked what could be called enthusiasm […]