Alberto’s Harvard Class (’82) Places Ad in Washington Post.

[Pirate Smile]

Daily Kos:

Alberto’s Harvard Class (’82) Places Ad in Washington Post.
by Ioo
Tue May 15, 2007 at 05:22:03 PM PDT

Alberto's Harvard Class of 1982 paid to have an advert in the Washington post today

http://speciousreasoning.com /...

Ioo's diary :: ::

(EDIT) I made the image smaller, click for a fill view.

Here is the text of the letter

Dear Attorney General Gonzales:

Twenty-five years ago we, like you, graduated from Harvard Law School. While we arrived via many different paths and held many different views, we were united in our deep respect for the Constitution and the rights it guaranteed. As members of the post-Watergate generation who chose careers in law, we understood the strong connection between our liberties as Americans and the adherence of public offi cials to the law of the land. We knew that the choice to abide by the law was even more critical when public officials were tempted to take legal shortcuts. Nowhere were we taught that the ends justified the means, or that freedoms for which Americans had fought and died should be set aside when inconvenient or challenging. To the contrary: our most precious freedoms, we learned, need defending most in times of crisis.

So it has been with dismay that we have watched your cavalier handling of our freedoms time and again. When it has been important that legal boundaries hold unbridled government power in check, you have instead used pretextual rationales and strained readings to justify an ever-expanding executive authority. Witness your White House memos sweeping aside the Geneva Conventions to justify torture, endangering our own servicemen and women; witness your advice to the President effectively reading Habeas Corpus out of our constitutional protections; witness your support of presidential statements claiming inherent power to wiretap American citizens without warrants (and the Administration’s stepped-up wiretapping campaign, taking advantage of those statements, which continues on your watch to this day); and witness your dismissive explanation of the troubling firings of numerous U.S. Attorneys, and their replacement with others more "loyal" to the President’s politics, as merely "an overblown personnel matter." In these and other actions, we see a pattern. As a recent editorial put it, your approach has come to symbolize "disdain for the separation of powers, civil liberties and the rule of law."

As lawyers, and as a matter of principle, we can no longer be silent about this Administration’s consistent disdain for the liberties we hold dear. Your failure to stand for the rule of law, particularly when faced with a President who makes the aggrandized claim of being a unitary executive, takes this country down a dangerous path.

Your country and your President are in dire need of an attorney who will do the tough job of providing independent counsel, especially when the advice runs counter to political expediency. Now more than ever, our country needs a President, and an Attorney General, who remember the apt observation attributed to Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." We call on you and the President to relent from this reckless path, and begin to restore respect for the rule of law we all learned to love many years ago.

THE SIGNATORIES ARE ALL MEMBERS OF THE HARVARD LAW SCHOOL CLASS OF 1982

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/5/15/20236/4328

[Colobo]

1. Wow... Gonzo is owned by his own class...

It's... sad...

[Pirate Smile]

5. It is sad that it is necessary but I'm damn glad they did it.

He is a disgrace.

[Kikosexy2]

28. Copies should be...

sent to him, Chimpie, dicky, the whole criminal bunch and Congress...Excellent!!

[Trajan]

2. One word ...

Sweet .....

[Pirate Smile]

3. It is - I love the letter.

[Mira]

4. Powerful and sobering - who would have believed it a year ago K&R

[dogindia]

50. s w e e t

[pacalo]

6. Recommended. I love it.

[Supersedeas]

29. I'll second that sentiment.

[C_U_L8R]

7. Where's the Bar Association?

they must be awfully embarrassed and ashamed of this whole fiasco/
I hope tp see them stand up for the integrity of their profession.
What little's left.

[murielm99]

9. I've wondered about that, too.

Does the Bar Association seem to have a political leaning these days, either right or left? Or, have they remained neutral?

Are there any Bar Association members on DU?

[Fiatjustitia]

16. D.C. Bar Association...

The D.C. Bar Association is an integrated Bar, i.e. a lawyer practicing in the Capitol has to be a member.

Here is a link to the website of the District of Columbia Bar - a search for his name yielded no indication he is a member.

http://www.dcbar.org/

[Divernan]

15. There are literally thousands of different bar associations. Attys. don't have to belong to any

of them. Lawyers can practise a lifetime without joining a single bar association.

Every county and state has its own bar association. Then there are bar associations, sometimes known as lawyers' guilds focused on ethnic or religious affiliations (the Decalogue Society for Jewish lawyers; the Catholic Lawyers' Guild; associations for Hispanic, Black, Native American lawyers). There is a National Association of Asian Pacific American lawyers, and 50 local state Asian Pacific American bar associations. There are different bar assiciations for defense lawyers, and criminal defense lawyers, family law practitioners and women lawyers. The are bar associations for lawyers focused on energy law, or federal communications law, family law, ad inifinitum. There is an association just for black lawyers working for the Department of Justice.

Bar associations are a network for professional contacts & development. Many laymen think that bar associations are involved in licensing and oversight of lawyers. They are not. There is a complex network of courts in the US, and the individual courts set the standards for admitting individual lawyers to practise within/before them. To practise in any court within a state, one must pass the state's bar examination (yes, nitpickers, there are obscure exceptions, but they also involve having passed SOME state's bar exam, and then being sponsored to appear in another state's court for a limited time/purpose, etc.) The bar exam is administered by the state's Supreme Court, which also sets standards for and monitors compliance with continuing legal education requirements, and annual renewal of licenses. My state's Supreme Court has oversight responsibilities & disciplinary power over the ethical behavior of all lawyers licensed by the state.

Even if one passes the bar of a state, one must still be admitted to the state court, by filling out an application and obtaining sponsorship by another lawyer admitted to practise before that court. There are separate admissions required for state and federal courts, as well as the three levels of federal court (federal district court, circuit appellate court, U.S. Supreme Court).

[L. Coyote]

8. K&R Wish they called for their resignations too

[babylonsister]

10. Very delicious. I don't think it will make a difference, but this has to make

Gonzales feel like shit. And it must make the folks who signed this feel like they're doing something GOOD! I think so, too.

[libodem]

11. What a beautiful piece of work

the letter puts it so succinctly. All of that needs to be said. We've been had by Neocons.

[intheflow]

12. K&R. Wish we could run this in every paper in the US.

Wish one of them would figure out a way to sue him that would be tantamount to impeaching him.

[AtomicKitten]

13. ouch ...

[bleever]

14. I am grateful to these people for speaking up publicly.

Thank you, Harvard Law class of 1982.

[The Backlash Cometh]

17. There's not much that Harvard has done that has made me feel proud of them,

but, this time I have to admit, they're showing the kind of leadership we sorely need.

No Ivy League should assume too much, anymore. If you produce selfish bastards, then you need to do something to protect your name.

[myrna minx]

18. Wow. I have high esteem for the Harvard class of 1982.

Gonzales should be disbarred.

[Catchawave]

19. Beautifully written message to a Bush minion....

much like a Keith Special Comment....smart with zing

[supernova]

20. Right on, Harvard Law Class of 1982!!

I haven't thought much about them before, but this makes me respect them A WHOLE LOT!

[gillamonster]

21. K&R

[Straight Shooter]

22. Gonzales is a traitor to the ethical standards of the legal profession. n/t

[doublethink]

23. Short & Sweet ... To-The-Point ...True .....

A quick 'eye opener' for those with a short attention span. Recommend passing this letter on to everyone we know. Peace. K&R.

[Senator]

24. K&R

[xxqqqzme]

25. '...Your failure to stand for the rule of law,

...takes this country down a dangerous path.'...

Amen to that!

[progressoid]

26. Why oh why do they hate America?

[leftwingnut]

27. That is fucking great! Thanks for posting.

I probably would never had read it if you had not posted it here.

[DemoTex]

30. Damn! Two on the list from where I now live: Greenville, SC.

Jeanette Anderson Winn
Greenville, SC

Marshall Winn
Greenville, SC

[Carolina]

37. I know, I thought the same thing

Greenville, SC is in a more conservative part of the state and a usual mecca for repukes (Bob Jones Univ and all), so the Winns caught my eye.

I, too, am an SC transplant living in Columbia

edited for typos

[KamaAina]

31. Figures he'd be a Harvard man

Mit schadenfreude,

K-A
Yale '85

[southerncrone]

39. Yale, you have 41 & 43 to your credit. Don't down Harvard!

[KamaAina]

40. 43 went to Harvard *Business School*

they accepted him *after* he'd already proven what a he was at Yale.

As to 41, sinister, sure, but not a . Made Phi Beta Kappa, in fact. Must be Babs who passed on the gene.

[southerncrone]

45. Points duly noted. I have lost respect for both of those Ivy League schools

after some of the scum that have come out of them. They have done themselves & their other graduates (such as yourself) no favors in conferring degrees upon the likes of 43 or Gonzo! (ANY school that would confer a degree of ANY sort to *, cannot have any credibility at all. The fool cannot put together a decent sentence!) These schools have simply proven that their highly tauted degrees can in fact be purchased instead of earned. These are the "premier" universities of our nation. They should have held their graduates to a higher standard and not have given into the power of the $ alone. I agree, that 41 is much sharper than his name sake fruit, but he still casts a negative shadow back upon his alma mater.

These neocons have succeeded in debasing everything in our country to $ value alone. This is IMHO one of their worst offenses.

[Dystopian]

32. Thank you for posting this!....k&r.....eom

peace~

[Truth2Tell]

33. I knew I recognized a name on there from somewhere...

Gary Fallon:

http://www.hcmp.com/Profiles/gmf.html

Seattle Mortgage Bankers Association; Director, 1992, 1995 to 2000; President, 1998-1999.

Washington Mortgage Lenders Association; Associate Director.

Washington Mortgage Lenders Association/Seattle Mortgage Bankers Association; Current Chairperson, Legal/Legislative Committee.


I recognized this guy as a major advocate for uber "Bankruptsy law" type legislation here in Washington State.

I would've pegged him as a complete reactionary Bushbot - at least a Repuglican - but then I don't know him personally, so what do I know?

[Greyhound]

36. He caught my eye as well. I think that it is likely that he is a conservative at least,

if not a Republican. It just might be that he is one of those that values right and wrong over party affiliation. There are still a few left.

Maybe he is just a good lawyer and argues his clients position regardless of personal feelings.

In any case, he got this one right.

[muntrv]

34. Gonzo acts like a Regent Law School graduate, not Harvard.

[snappyturtle]

35. Beautiful! But I'm afraid the sentence structure and wording

may be beyond Alberto's understanding!

[live love laugh]

38. This is inspiring! Unless he's totally psychopathic, this should put him to shame. nt

[libodem]

55. They are all shameless

they never apologize or say they are sorry or act ashamed. They are all psychopaths.

[YDogg]

41. This is f'ing great.

[Infomaniac]

42. I'm Kvelling. I know one of the signatories.

I will have to congratulate her. Very powerful letter.

[sellitman]

48. Tell her how proud we are of her on DU.

[Infomaniac]

54. I will.

I am awfully damn proud of her for signing.

[illinoisprogressive]

43. Wow. I hope he reads this. It is a stunning letter.

[whistle]

44. You know what I think...Alberto Gonzales doesn't give a shit what his

...fellow classmates think of his conduct as Attorney General. Gonzales is just another arrogant neocon and is corrupt to the bone marrow! I say fuck him...impeach the bastard.

[blossomstar]

46. Oh my God, there is hope.

[thickerstrings]

47. The best thing I've read all day.

The reason you're walking funny today, Mr. Attorney General, is that you just got your ass handed to you.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

49. And still, the weasel continues to scratch his

nuts and gnaw at the seeds of democracy...

[proud patriot]

51. Good for them

[FloridaJudy]

52. Probably why Bush prefers Regent grads

Those Harvard lawyers are a bunch of UnAmurikan Terrurists. They can't be counted on to shred the Constitution when The Commander Guy finds it convenient.

[peacetalksforall]

53. I hope this letter can (someday) be entered in to (something) as evidence or

testimony. This letter is a keeper.

In thinking about this, if I were writing a history of this administration, I would use this letter as a pivot point for weaving the story and chronology. I would open with it and go back forth and lead up to the decision to write this letter. It should be written long or short, but plain so that it could be required reading in the education system to define what we need to preserve and are/were in danger of losing.

Every day I love my Constituion and Bill of RIghts more. We were making such good progress. Why aren't more people raging in fury at what has been done to it?

Someone - please write a book - write plenty of books.

How a group of 'arrogants' decided to OWN the country and make the rest of us stupid and submissive by marching over us and ripping our privacy and rights away from us with tricks, lies, and thefts.