These comments are astounding. Former Attorney General who served during the Bush 1 administration, and ex-Republican governor of Pennsylvania, is the latest person to address the overly politicized nature of the Justice Department under this President Bush; http://www.thebulletin.us/site/news.cfm?newsid=18949851&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=576361&rfi=6 Excerpt from the news article.... Thornburgh was severly criticized by Republican members of the committee for testifying. It is astounding that a person with long term Republican credentials, and a former Attorney General would find it necessary to address concerns about the Justice Department under Bush II. Between the allegations of the Justice Department okaying elements of torture provided by the President and Vice President, okaying a reduction in privacy rights to investigate for terrorists, overruling the efforts of Conservatives within the Department to establish a balance between investigating terrorism and protecting individual rights, and the astonishing level of politicization of the department.....the Justice Department moved dramatically in the direction of dictatorships in administering a body of law that is one of the fundamental bases of American democracy. The sum total of allegations and investigations; the absolute stonewalling from the administration with regard to revealing information concerning these issues, and the aggregate evidence of incredible levels of a rollback of American democratic principals, protection of the individual and a fair unpoliticized administering of the law is an incredible story. I'd love to hear conversations from candidates that address these issues. Again, though, when a former Republican Attorney General has to address these potential abuses it is a remarkable statement as to the twisted way in which the Department of Justice operated over the last 7 years.
And how completely negligent (dare I say criminally negligent) the Congress both Republican and Democratic have been. I mean, they just recently passed HR 1955 which is so blatantly unconstitutional...
I don't know what HR 1955 is but when a former, and fairly recent Attorney General has to speak out against this Dept. of Justice, it speaks to how off base and skewed the dept became under this administration.
Why am I not surprised? One day we will all wake up but it will be too late and we will have no one to blame but ourselves.
You should make it your business to know what HR 1955 is. It's being called the "thought crime" bill.