Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie.

A nation of laws(but only the ones I like)

I generally think that presidents have the right to build the cabinets of their choosing, so long as the people they appoint are willing to abide by the limits set by the U.S. Constitutional.

Michael B. Mukasey, the nominee to replace the constitutionally deficient Alberto Gonzales as U.S. attorney general, crosses that line.

Consider this exchange between Mukasey and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, the Rhode Island Democrat (quoted from The New York Times):

“Is waterboarding constitutional?” Mr. Mukasey was asked by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, in one of the sharpest exchanges.

“I don’t know what is involved in the technique,” Mr. Mukasey replied. “If waterboarding is torture, torture is not constitutional.”

Mr. Whitehouse described Mr. Mukasey’s response as a “massive hedge” since the nominee refused to be drawn into a conversation about whether waterboarding amounted to torture; many lawmakers from both parties, as well as civil liberties and human rights groups, have said it is clearly a form of torture. The administration has suggested that it ended the practice after protests from Capitol Hill and elsewhere, although it has never said so explicitly.

“I mean, either it is or it isn’t,” Mr. Whitehouse continued.

Waterboarding, he said, “is the practice of putting somebody in a reclining position, strapping them down, putting cloth over their faces and pouring water over the cloth to simulate the feeling of drowning. Is that constitutional?”

Mr. Mukasey again demurred, saying, “If it amounts to torture, it is not constitutional.”

“If it amounts to torture….” If? IF???????

So, based on this short exchange, it appears as if the president has found exactly the kind of enabler he needs as attorney general, a yes man on a par with Gonzales, a man who will interpret the law to mean whatever his boss thinks it should mean.

Is it torture? Well, it depends upon what you mean by torture.

Should Mukasey be confirmed? I guess it depends upon what you mean by confirmed.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

E-mail me by clicking here.

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

Runner’s diary, Thursday

Tweaked my lower hamstring today, but managed to get in three miles. I was hoping to do three outside, come in and stretch and finish with two on the treadmill, but the better part of valor today was to stop and not aggravate the hammy and maybe create a bigger problem. So a little rest is in order.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

E-mail me by clicking here.

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

Unlucky 13 — for the GOP

President George W. Bush’s veto of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program is going to stand — for now — because 13 more Republicans could not be convinced to do what was in the best interest of the nation’s children.

Opponents argue that the expansion of the SCHIP program would extend it to some middle-income families, and possibly some upper-income families.

My response is so what. Health insurance in this country is a travesty and government has — or at least it should have — a responsibility to do everything it can to ensure that as many people are covered as possible. SCHIP is not a perfect program, but it is a necessary stop gap until we all wake up and realize that a single-payer, national plan is necessary.

Shame on the president for his veto and on those members of the House of Representatives and the Senate who voted to uphold it.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

E-mail me by clicking here.

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.