The hearings have recessed for lunch. Via Human Rights First which is liveblogging the confirmation hearing:

Durbin: Images of Abu Ghraib are likely to be with us for a lifetime. Scandal to US are likely to be with us for decades. Yesterday we payed tribute to Congressman Matsui – who was sent to a Japanese internment camp. That painful time in US history is still recounted as a shameful chapter – as Abu Ghraib will.

Second area of abuse – interrogation that went too far. You conceded that they might have started at Guantanamo and made it to Iraq. Would you also concede that your decision to call in the definition of torture opened up a permissive environment for torture that had been held as unacceptable for decades?

Where's my lockbox? The Bush Administration once again proves itself to be disingenuous at best, and a liar at worst. Remember Bush saying there were no plans to cut social security benefits for retirees? Now an e-mail from Karl Rove Deputy Peter Wenner surfaces.

Human Rights First has a blogger providing real-time legal analysis on the Alberto Gonzales confirmation hearing scheduled to begin at 9:30am. This is a great resource to understand the subtleties of the hearing. Avi Cover, the blogger, was the author of the Human Rights First report that examined Gonzales’ record and was also a part of the legal team for Rasul, the main plaintiff in the Guanatanamo Bay Supreme Court case decided in June 2004.

Update: The White House refuses to release additional Gonzales documents. Via Raw Story.

The confirmation hearings for Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General begin today. Alan Berlow, who authored the Atlantic Monthly article on Gonzales' role as clemency advisor to President Bush when he was Governor of Texas recaps Gonzales role as Facilitator in Chief in Salon:

When Alberto Gonzales briefed George W. Bush on the cases of Texas death row inmates up for clemency, his memos were so shabby they seemed intended solely to make it easy for Bush to send prisoners to their deaths.

...Now that conventional wisdom has focused attention on "moral values" as our paramount national concern, it might be worth spending a few minutes considering how President Bush's nominee for attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, dealt with one of those values -- human life -- on 57 occasions.

The Washington Post analyzes Gonzales' record in an editorial today:

Need we say more?

But remember, sometimes the devil you know....

by TChris

The President’s second term doesn’t officially commence until January 20, but there’s little reason to suspect that he’ll experience the kind of “hundred day honeymoon” that presidents often enjoy, even if he believes his narrow victory constitutes a mandate. Since the election:

● He’s offered a miserly (although steadily increasing in the face of ridicule) amount of money to tsunami victims while proposing to spend $40 million on “an inauguration extravaganza”;

● He’s nominated Bernard Kerik to run Homeland Security, who withdrew in the face of mounting scandals;

● He’s nominated Alberto Gonzalez for AG, despite the central role Gonzalez played in support of torturing detainees; and

● He’s insisted on privatizing social security without suggesting a way to pay for such a potentially disastrous plan.

Not an auspicious beginning.

(Feel free to add to the list. It’s fun for the whole family!)

by TChris

Stung by last year's decision of the House ethics committee to deliver three admonishments to Tom DeLay for his ethical lapses, House Republicans assured that their misdeeds would evade committee scrutiny this year by requiring a majority vote of the equally divided committee before an ethics complaint can be investigated. While House Republicans backed away from the other efforts to undermine ethical standards that TalkLeft discussed here, they are not in complete agreement as to the wisdom of yesterday's action.

The chairman of the committee, formally the Standards of Official Conduct Committee, Rep. Joel Hefley, R-Colo., said there is "no question" that the move will weaken ethics enforcement. He said he would work to roll back the change. "It's a bad mistake," he said.

While Hefley may have the courage to vote in favor of investigating complaints against Republicans, he knows that he won't have that opportunity. His term is expiring, and he's not counting on his colleagues to keep him in the post.

"I assume that I'm going to get booted," he said.

Our elected officials in Congress get back to work today as the 109th Congress officially opens. On the agenda: More aid for Tsunami victims.

In an open letter to Attorney General nominee Alberto Gonzales, 225 religous leaders from a variety of faiths have joined together to demand that Gonzales denounce all torture. The signers represent Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh leaders from across the United States. Also represented are Latino religious leaders, some of whom are evangelical Christians, like Gonzales. The letter will be released at a press conference today. Here's some of the letter:

As a self-professed evangelical Christian, you surely know that all people are created in the image of God. You see it as a moral imperative to treat each human being with reverence and dignity. We invite you to affirm with us that we are all are made in the image of God – every human being. We invite you to acknowledge that no legal category created by mere mortals can revoke that status. You understand that torture – the deliberate effort to undermine human dignity – is a grave sin and affront to God. You would not deny that the systemic use of torture on prisoners at Abu Ghraib was fundamentally immoral, as is the deliberate rendering of any detainee to authorities likely to commit torture.

We urge you to declare that any attempt to undermine international standards on torture, renditions, or habeas corpus is not only wrong but sinful. We are concerned that as White House counsel you have shown a troubling disregard for international laws against torture, for the legal rights of suspected "enemy combatants," and for the adverse consequences your decisions have had at home and abroad.

Here's what they want Gonzales to renounce:

In a surprise move, Republican leaders met tonight and decided to abandon their attempt to revise the ethics rules. Also, Tom Delay moved to reinstate the rule that provides that an indicted member of Congress must step aside. He thought it was giving the Democrats too much ammunition:

Republicans gave no indication before the meeting that the indictment rule would be changed. Even more surprising was DeLay's decision to make the proposal himself.

Jonathan Grella, a DeLay spokesman, said DeLay still believed it was legitimate to allow a leader to retain his post while under indictment. But Grella said that by reinstating the rule that he step aside, DeLay was "denying the Democrats their lone issue. Anything that could undermine our agenda needs to be nipped in the bud."

House speaker Dennis Hastert made the motion to retain the current rules. He said while he believed the change was appropriate, it was becoming " a distraction."

Atrios has the details of the proposed ethical rule changes the Republicans intend to introduce tomorrow. His synopsis:

So, the House Republicans support a rule change which will let them:

• Take bribes!

• Fix parking tickets!

• Have sex with House pages!

AmericaBlog has more. [hat tip Daou Report]

The ACLU has issued a report on Attorney General nominee Alberto Gonzales. We encourage all Senate staffers to read it. In a press release today, the civil liberties group urges Senators to conduct probing and firm questioning of Gonzales.

The ACLU lists the primary areas of concern about Gonzales, and includes the Texas Clemency Memos:

The now infamous Texas "clemency memos" drafted by Gonzales for then-Governor Bush, which almost uniformly fail to mention key factors in each case, including evidence of innocence, that supported granting clemency to death row inmates.

An additional area not mentioned by too many other groups:

Whether the White House Counsel's office supported the Musgrave-Allard version of the Federal Marriage Amendment, which would have banned not only same-sex marriage rights, but civil union status as well.

The ACLU does not take a position on political appointees--only Supreme Court justices. It does, however, analyze their civil liberties records. As to Gonzales, the organization notes: