...and he complains of activist judges?

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, in a speech to be delivered to the American Enterprise Institute, states that federal judges are not qualified to issue rulings that affect national security policy, and should defer to the will of the President in such matters. In the same speech, he chided judges that "apply an activist philosophy that stretches the law to suit policy preferences."

Well. Isn't that special?

I am not really worried about the AG or his impact on much of anything, (he is on his way out the door in two years or less), but he has a lot of room to talk about "stretching the law to suit policy preferences". His boss is the guy who attempts to make his own laws, in the form of signing statements, and generally feels that he, and his actions, are above the legal system and possibly the Congress when it suits them.

What we are looking at is not simply the ravings of a neo-con AG and the administration he represents, it is a philosophy that appeals to people who are frustrated by having to live within the framework of laws and legal precednts that we have commonly accepted as the way we do business. I am not blaming the President, the AG, or anyone for this frustration, but those are the rules. There is a way to change them, through legislation, (admittedly not likely given the makeup of the legislative branch), or amending the Constitution. These people don't want to have to go through that, I mean, can't you simply see that they are right and those who don't agree don't matter?

I too, am frustrated by the same system.

But I am willing to live with the results that the present rules produce, like them or not, until things come around, (and they most generally do). To hear the AG, who also notes that judges who interpret the laws, "actually reduce the credibility and authority of the judiciary", we might see his attitude as accepting the word of a police or government officer as true fact and find all accused guilty and save a lot of time and money. He does not see that he too, reduces the credibility of the judiciary by relegating them to the role of yes men (or women).

Looking at things from a historic perspective, things are pretty cramped for those who make laws and decisions on how to enforce them. The founding fathers probably had no idea of how times would change over the centuries, and it is possible that some adjustment in the Constitution is called for.

But not by these people, and not just because they say so.

The AG's deportment is a lot like a toddler who is not getting his way, and jumping up and down and screaming until someone appeases him/her in some way.

I predict that AG Gonzales will be something akin to the next Bill O'Reilly ort Rush Limbaugh, one of those who does nothing but gripe that things are not going how they want them to...