White House Threatens Veto Over Congress's FOIA Bill

    And the Democrats go marching on this time towards more open government bills which did pass through the House today, but the Bush Crime Family, struck back with the dreaded veto threat. I am so shocked!

   The Democrats did have hefty support from the Republican side of the aisle so they managed to pass some legislation that would force many of the government's agencies to become more responsive to the Freedom of Information Act requests that they get every year. The FOIA request generally run into the millions.       Source

Associated Press

The House also easily passed bills to require donors to presidential libraries to identify themselves — an issue as Bush prepares for his own library — and to reverse a 2001 Bush decision making it easier for presidents to keep their records from public scrutiny.

Finally, lawmakers approved a bill to strengthen protection for government whistle-blowers. They cited the failure to expose faulty intelligence about prewar Iraq in expanding protections for national security officials. Employees of federal contractors, airport screeners and government scientists facing retaliation for objecting to political influences are also covered.

The White House, citing the Bush's constitutional prerogatives, warned that the presidential records bill would be vetoed if it reached his desk. The White House issued a second veto warning on the whistle-blower bill, saying it was unconstitutional and compromised national security.

The votes were 390-34 on the presidential library bill; 333-93 on the presidential records bill; 308-117 on the FOIA legislation and 331-94 on the whistle-blower bill.  

   It is funny how Bush can remember his constitutional prerogatives when it comes to keeping his illegal and more than likely immoral details of record a secret, but he forgets about the constitution when dealing with the war in Iraq and the treatment of his own citizens. Not to mention the many laws that he fails to remember when it serves his own interest to have a memory lapse.

    IMPEACH! INDICT! IMPRISON! the S.O.B.

 

Technorati tags: White house, FOIA, Congress, Bush, whistle- blowers

Attorney General Gonzales On His Last Days?

   It has been another one of those days for me which is why there has not been to much of anything posted here.

mcjoan over at the Daily Kos has an interesting look at the Alberto Gonzales press conference that he had on Tuesday and what some of the faithful are saying about it.

    It is indeed time for Gonzales to pack his bags and to leave his office for what would hopefully be a real Attorney General instead of a stooge for the White House.

    One White House mole going down, who's next?

mcjoan:

Given the efforts of the White House to stress a "growing rift" between Bush and his long time loyal lackey, and these mass desertions by the GOP, Gonzales's days in office can probably be numbered on two hands.

Alberto Gonzales should have never been confirmed as Attorney General two years ago. The issue driving this blog and all those who joined with us in opposition to his appointment was a critical one: torture.

The morally satisfying end of his tenure would have been impeachment over that issue. But his forced resignation over the Prosecutor Purge would ultimately prove as satifsying. For he would be ousted because of his repeated elevation over the political interests of the White House over the rule of law.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), the administration's most faithful legislator, said "the appearances are troubling" for Gonzales. "I'm concerned," Cornyn said with Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) at his side. "This has not been handled well." The best Cornyn could offer Gonzales: "In Texas, we believe in having a fair trial and then we have the hanging."

Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire on Wednesday became the first Republican in Congress to call for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' dismissal, hours after President Bush expressed confidence in his embattled Cabinet officer.

And how about the punditry? He's lost that most non-shrill of the DC punditry, Ruth Marcus at WaPo:

In his now famous "overblown personnel matter" column in USA Today last week, Gonzales wrote, "While I am grateful for the public service of these seven U.S. attorneys, they simply lost my confidence." (Or did he mean Kyle Sampson's confidence?)

It's time -- past time -- for the president to say the same, perhaps more quietly and more politely, about his friend, his counselor and his failed attorney general.

 

Technorati tags: Alberto Gonzales, Prosecutor Purge, impeachment