[Mb-civic] ACTION: Ask Senators to Oppose Gonazales!

[ean at sbcglobal.net]

Note from Mha Atma:  You can quickly and easily take the following 
action on line.  BUT if you wanna be more effective, also CALL your 
two US SEnators and ask them to OPPOSE the Gonzales 
nomination.  You can get their names and numbers by going to 
www.congress.org  and typing in your zip code.

Following this alert, is another short and important action 
opportunity!
	
Alberto Gonzales Nomination In Bigger Trouble Than 
Expected! Send Your Senators Letters Opposing Gonzales' 
Confirmation
TAKE ACTION
Urge your senators to vote "no" this week on the confirmation of 
Alberto Gonzales as the next Attorney General.  Click here (or copy 
and paste) to send a letter now!
http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=16842&action=1
516

Momentum is building against the confirmation of George W. Bush's 
nominee to the position of Attorney General - and you can help.

Alberto Gonzales was so evasive and uncooperative during his 
Senate confirmation hearing that several previously-supportive 
members of the Judiciary Committee changed their minds. 
Ultimately, all eight Committee Democrats voted against Gonzales' 
confirmation, and his support in the full Senate appears to be 
slipping as a result.

The full Senate vote - the one that will decide whether or not Alberto 
Gonzales becomes our nation's chief law-enforcement officer - is 
likely to take place this Thursday, February 3rd. Write both your 
senators now to let them know you don't want an Attorney General 
who has failed to show independence, provided legal justifications 
for torture, and waffled and dodged when asked about his positions 
on basic principles of human rights and the rule of law.

Click this link to take action:
http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=16842&action=1
516

Want more reasons to write? Consider the record:

As counsel to the President, Alberto Gonzales has been a prime 
advocate for new and dangerous presidential powers as well as 
greater Executive Branch secrecy, part of an effort to shield the 
Bush administration's claims from review by Congress and the 
courts.

He helped craft and defend the Bush administration's policy of 
detaining "enemy combatants," including U.S. citizens, without 
charges, counsel or judicial review. By an 8-1 majority, the Supreme 
Court concluded that this policy violates basic constitutional 
principles.

He was a key architect behind the creation of military commissions 
that sidestep U.S. criminal law, the Uniform Code of Military Justice, 
and the laws of war.

He has urged President Bush to reject warnings from U.S. military 
leaders and instead loosen restrictions and definitions of torture, in 
the process unraveling six decades of U.S. leadership on human 
rights.

He has been the White House point-person in the President's 
ongoing effort to pack the federal judiciary with far-right judges.

He carelessly mishandled his solemn responsibility to advise then-
Governor Bush on clemency applications from inmates awaiting 
execution, repeatedly leaving out crucial information that literally 
may have saved a life (e.g. failing to note that the defendant was 
mentally ill or that the defendant's lawyer slept through the trial).

Alberto Gonzales should not be the Attorney General of the United 
States of America. Write your U.S. Senators today  Then, tell your 
friends to write their senators, and have them tell their friends to do 
the same. It will be very difficult to stop Gonzales' confirmation, but 
we must try to get as many votes against him as possible over the 
next few days. A large number of "no" votes will be a powerful 
repudiation of his policies and will encourage members of Congress 
to hold his   past and future actions up to greater scrutiny and 
accountability. 

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"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."
   ---   George Orwell


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