Kremlin justice in the U.S.

[babylonsister]

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-chait19apr19,0,2446688.column?coll=la-opinion-rightrail

Kremlin justice in the U.S.
The U.S. attorney scandal is part of a larger Bush administration offense -- using law enforcement as a tool of the ruling party.
April 19, 2007

AS ATTY. GEN. Alberto R. Gonzales takes to Capitol Hill to testify today, it's worth keeping in mind what this whole imbroglio is really about. It's not about whether Gonzales and his minions lied to Congress and the public. (They did, repeatedly.) It's not even about whether the Justice Department improperly fired federal prosecutors. (It did, of course.) It's about whether the Bush administration sought to subvert democracy by turning the federal judicial system into a weapon of the ruling party.

Many people think of democracy as free elections, some other basic rights (like free speech) and not much more. But really, that's only the beginning. There are plenty of countries that have free and fair elections and yet are clearly not democratic because their ruling parties have a permanent, immovable hammerlock on power.

One key thing that separates strong democracies (such as the United States) from weak democracies (such as Russia) is that the latter use the police power of the state as a tool of the ruling party. Russian President Vladimir V. Putin doesn't mind throwing his enemies in jail or sending out the police to break up protests.

I realize that the United States is not becoming Russia. But isn't this behavior, in a sense, what the Bush administration stands accused of? If true, it's an incredibly serious violation.

The prosecutor scandal first surfaced in New Mexico, where Republican officials and the Bush administration repeatedly pressured the U.S. attorney to bring electoral fraud charges against Democrats before the election. The prosecutor, David Iglesias, refused and, suspiciously, was subsequently fired.

But President Bush may have had more success elsewhere in cases that have gotten less publicity. In Wisconsin last year, for instance, a federal prosecutor indicted an appointee of a Democratic governor on a charge so spurious that a federal appeals court unanimously threw out the conviction this month, calling the evidence "beyond thin." But the conviction, and the appearance of corruption, played a major role in November's gubernatorial race. The U.S. attorney in Wisconsin who brought this flimsy case had originally been targeted for dismissal by the Bush administration but was later removed from the list of those to be fired.

Communications professors Donald Shields and John Cragan have found that, since Bush took office, U.S. attorneys have investigated or indicted 298 Democratic officeholders and only 67 Republicans. This massive disparity, which I have not seen any Republican even try to explain, is deeply suspicious.

more...

[tom_paine]

1. K & R for the powerful and treasonous heart of Loyal Bushevism

If Americans and America cannot find enough will (and attention span) to stop and resist THIS, thenit is only a matter of time before someone, probably George P. Bush, comes along and finishes what Chimpler started.

End of story.

[damntexdem]

2. High crimes and misdemeanors.

Now what should be done about them?