Attorney General John Ashcroft took the stand today in front of the Senate DOJ oversight committee trying to defend the issue of American using torture as an interrogation technique. Much of the questioning swirled around recently leaked memos pertaining to the power of the president to protect individuals accused of committing torture in the name of the war or terror. Here is one of the actual memos . Check out page 31 (28 of the pdf file), it says:

"If a government defendant were to harm an enemy combatant during an interrogation in a manner that might arguably violate criminal prohibition, he would be doing so in order to prevent further attacks on the United States by the Al Qauda terrorist network. In that case, DOJ believes that he could argue that the executive branch's constitutional authority to protect the nation from attack justified his actions."

Basically, the President will protect anyone accused of torture using convoluted logic equating torture to self-defense. First it was preventive/pre-emptive war as self defense and now it's torture as self defense, these guys are so fucking nuts! What isn't self-defense? This is scary, they are using 9/11 as justification for just about anything and everything they want to do. Anyways, the Committee asked Ashcroft to release the memos for review and he refused. They asked him under what authority and he said that it wasn't any particular executive order but that he was just explaining to them that he wasn't releasing them. He, of course, doens't have the authority to explain away his decisions, if he is going to withhold info from Congress he needs to have a reson and the authority to withhold that info. Several members of the congressional panel charged with Justice Department oversight saif Ashcroft's refusal bordered on contempt of Congress, which if prosecuted and convicted can result in punishment of up to one year imprisonment and/or a $1,000 fine.
"Y'all better come up with a good rationale [not to release the memos] or otherwise it's contempt of Congress," Senator Biden warned Ashcroft.

sidenote: does anyone have any opinions one way or the other on the county takeover of park service in Buffalo. It's being planned right now as an effort to balance the city's book and an effort to further consolidate city/county relations. Sounds like a good idea to me as long as it actually happens, many suburbs (like Cheektowaga) are complaining that they shouldn't have to pick up the cost. I think that since they use the economic support of the city (ie: jobs, infrastructure) they shouldn't complain about giving a little back. Here's a couple BuffNews articles: .

Both the NY Times and the Washington Times are reporting on various memos between Pentagon officials and the White House. The memos, issued between 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq, describe how international law regarding the treatment of suspected terrorists and 'unlawful combatants' doesn't apply to US troops. The documents are very telling after the recent scandal at Abu Graihb and amidst continuing allegations or torture and abuse at Guantanamo Bay. As noted by Josh Marshall one passage in the Washington Times is particularly revealing of Administration thought on the matter:

To protect subordinates should they be charged with torture, the memo advised that Mr. Bush issue a "presidential directive or other writing" that could serve as evidence, since authority to set aside the laws is "inherent in the president."

Basically a blanket statement saying the Pres. has "got your back" to anyone accused of committing war crimes in the name of the War on Terror. It's really frightening. These are purely fictitious powers that are specifically not given to the President through the Constitution. Bushco has shown repeatedly that they have little regard to any norms of conduct or the separation of powers. According to them, the President can declare war, hold foreign troops (and in a few cases even Americans) for indefinite amounts of time, and now against all international laws (ie: Geneva Convention) decide what actions by our troops-if any-constitute war crimes.

The last point I'll make is that there was one quote describing how the detainees in Guantanamo Bay are not subject to regulations of the Geneva Convention because they are being held in a US-controlled area. Maybe true, probably not, but the problem is that they have been vociferously claiming for years that these same suspects should not be granted access to due process/lawyers/courts because they are not being held in American territory. Which one is it? Or maybe which one is more important to Bush, the ability to torture with impunity or to hold indefinitely without access to a court? The audacity to claim both "rights" under conflicting definitions is outrageous. These guys gotta go. They are the real terrorists.

A line from a story by Denis Johnson: "...the spring air hit me like a foreinger's breath." Seems apt for our Buffalo situation. Though I've not so much associated spring with garlic or kimchi. Basra the tortoise has for the last two days walked around with a string of poo trailing from his behind. It's weird cause it should be pretty disgusting, but he's so cute he can get away with just about anything. Yesterday, in the garden (we too garden Lucysmom!), we watched him drag it around for like 10 minutes, it was a real conversation stopper. No one could think of anything to say except to comment on Basra and his extension. He did it again this morning. Gross bug! I love to draw and smear with colored chalk sticks. We had four or five of us going at it last night. Trisha came, for barbecue and fun. Great to see her, we need to hang out more. Off to work now, 10 hours of excitement!

this is so totally funny.

This guy builds himself a custom steel-plated bulldozer and proceeds to bulldoze town hall the mayor's house and 5 other buildings. Police "set off three explosions and fired at least 200 rounds at the steel plates welded to the bulldozer, which looked like an upside-down Dumpster. After the third explosion failed, officials cut their way in with a blowtorch..." Crazy dude! The "bulldozer's armor plates consisted of two sheets of half-inch steel with a layer of concrete between them." Of course he then killed himself before the man could get him. Sad, but what a way to go.

• Whoah!** ms. cateyes that's grotesque! I say put his name up for all to see. You have a judgment againt him from a court of law and photo evidence of his obvious total slumlordiness. What a bastard! Like Paul said the same thing happened with the same guy to hodown a couple years ago. If she had published here maybe it needn't ever have happened to you.

Gay pride seemed to have more people than ever. I am constantly surprised to see tha amount of gay people in one day that appear in Buffalo, I wonder if there are just so many gay people here or if we're just louder than in other towns. I mean we're pent up for the winter for so long maybe everybody feels the need to just get up and out. The parade lacked creative floats but had much enthusiasm. I am very egoistic by saying this, but I had like three floats divert their entire attention to me as I was waving off my balcony. It actually made me a bit embarrased, they were the parade, I wasn't the special attraction. I pretend to complain but it was a nice ego booster in these times of post-winter fatness-depression. I need to ride my fucking bike more. I will go before work tomorrow, that's a promise to myself. Go boy go. Ride like the wind. I love riding the bike it's so great. Here we come winds of the East, bear me to Oklahoma. Or at least around town.