ave the nation

I want my country back.

Last week, Harriet Miers (a lawyer, former White House counsel and failed U.S. Supreme Court nominee), didn't just refuse to answer certain questions based on executive privilege when subpoenaed by the House Judiciary Committee, but instead, acting on orders from the White House, she refused to show up, period. What do you suppose would happen if you or I ignored a subpoena?

Before that, Vice President Cheney refused to comply with national security oversight, asserting he was not part of the executive branch, after having previously claimed executive privilege to avoid being required to disclose with whom he met behind closed doors in crafting the country's energy policy. (Anyone remember Enron and Kenny Boy?)

Before that, Bush commuted the sentence of Vice President Cheney's chief aide, Scooter Libby, which he received for lying under oath and obstructing justice in the investigation into the outing of a WMD CIA asset.

Before that, a principle imbedded in the common law in America long before it became statutory- one that dates back to the Magna Carta- habeas corpus was thrown to the wind by this administration.

Before that the prohibition against torture contained in the Geneva Conventions was called "quaint" by then White House counsel, now Attorney General and chief law enforcement officer of our nation, Alberto Gonzales, who has also testified that no civil liberties abuses were committed by the FBI in its use of its anti-terror powers, even while, in the months preceding his testimony, he had received reports detailing at least six legal and/or procedural violations. This was after testifying to Congress that there were no major disputes concerning the NSA eavesdropping program, although he had been present at the bedside of a hospitalized Ashcroft in an attempt to override dissent in the Department of Justice and a refusal to sign off on the program.

Whatever your party affiliation, all of this should trouble you. There should be nonpartisan outrage at the abuse of our laws and our justice system and at the packing of the Department of Justice and our courts with religious zealots and corporatists and then daring us to go to those very courts and ask for justice.

Our country has been stolen from us, or did we just hand it to them because we were too busy watching Paris Hilton to pay attention?

Do you want it back? I do. Barbara Erickson Westlake Village