george bush's first attorney general john ashcroft in one of his first post 9/11 acts was to issue a directive to federal agencies that flipped the presumption of freedom of information act requests. the presumption of the act is information ought to be free and government records belong to all of us and citizens should not see anything unless there is a very good reason that particular record has to be withheld. john ashcroft flipped a that and informed agency directors you don't have to release government record if you have any arguable basis for withholding them and if you are in any doubt about it don't worry, we will be sent you. that was the administration's approach to the freedom of information act. the aclu and others in 2003 made a freedom of information act request, to unclassified the guantanamo base operating manual with facility and lists of modest amenities and the nuts and bolts of prison operations. the pentagon prevented its disclosure for four years. it was wiki leaks that posted it on line in 2007. the bush administration post 9/11 rounded up over a thousand mostl

thanks for joining me tonight, bart. >> thank you. >> bart, on the john ashcroft bedside scene, i want to read you this passage from the cheney book, cheney writes, "the president called the attorney general who was in george washington university hospital in washington, d.c., and explained that the program was going to lapse without department of justice approval. the attorney general said that he would sign the documents and the president asked andy card and al gonzalez to take the package to him. card and gonzalez drove to the hospital and went into the room where they found department attorney general comey already present. it became immediately clear that ashcroft had changed his mind. he said that he would not sign the documents, he also indicated that because of his health issues, he had delegated all the responsibilities of his office to deputy attorney general comey. card and gonzalez departed with the unsigned documents in hand." bart, that is the cheney book account of what happened in what became a defining moment in the bush presidency. what do you make of that? you've stu

liberty or lady freedom but she actually has a different name she's a top our nation's capital john ashcroft famously covered up her breasts at the justice department she's our goddess of law of war of agriculture in front of all those various buildings and pretty much everything else on state capitals all over the country the founders took her so seriously they named her by feminizing the name of christopher columbus they named her columbia. and they thought that the work of government was such a sacred trust seriously sacred work the work of the goddess that people who dedicated themselves to that work shouldn't in any way be able to gain benefit from their sacred work so they would have no representation no dog in the political game because it was such sacred work and so they named a place where these serious honest best among us representatives of this new we the people thing that they created called the government of the united states would work and live they named it after the goddess it's called the destructive goddess or more formally the district of columbia that idea of pure ideal

frank rich who calls americans who wouldn't take on the torture and gitmo good germans to call john ashcroft the best of the mall. paul krugman who committed religious believers islamic extremists, maureen dowd who equate to the male domination of the catholic church to the taliban and the bush administration that we really are in a theocracy and the arizona shooter and the anti-immigration antiillegal immigration law was meant by linda greenhouse with an image that came out of nazi germany. so i think that the times and the left as a lot to answer for and may be because the internet people get more slashing and attention to it allows you to make a precise analogy about something the government of nazi germany did it again to get precise analogy and make it stick and then lowercase it's fair game hunt. r. dee very critical piece of him. you know, i would return to the question was -- there you are. i don't think anybody says that there has to be equal members and says 42% of the population of the news room has to be xx1 on balance it is better to make an effort to have this kind of a newsroo

she did not like john ashcroft. she did knocks lot -- she did not like the war in iraq. when i think of history of the last eight, this will loom pretty large, and that is terri schiavo case, a case about a sick woman in florida he should make the medical decisions, an issue of judicial independence, but it was also about a very sick person and who should make decisions for her, her family or the government. this was the kind that justice o'connor's husband was slipping into alzheimer's disease, so it was not an abstract issue for her either. we have now seen the last three justices to leave the court, justice o'connor, justice souter, and justice stevens./ three more different people you will never meet, justice o'connor, former majority leader, dominates every room she walks into, justice stevens, a widely antitrust lawyer from his chicago, david souter, the reclusive, eccentric bachelor from new hampshire. so little in common, but what do they have in common? they are all republicans and they all left the supreme court deeply alienated from the contemporary republican

frank rich who calls americans who wouldn't take on the torture and gitmo good germans to call john ashcroft the best of the mall. paul krugman who committed religious believers islamic extremists, maureen dowd who equate to the male domination of the catholic church to the taliban and the bush administration that we really are in a theocracy and the arizona shooter and the anti-immigration antiillegal immigration law was meant by linda greenhouse with an image that came out of nazi germany. so i think that the times and the left as a lot to answer for and may be because the internet people get more slashing and attention to it allows you to make a precise analogy about something the government of nazi germany did it again to get precise analogy and make it stick and then lowercase it's fair game hunt. r. dee very critical piece of him. you know, i would return to the question was -- there you are. i don't think anybody says that there has to be equal members and says 42% of the population of the news room has to be xx1 on balance it is better to make an effort to have this kind of a newsroo

frank rich who calls americans who wouldn't take on the torture and gitmo good germans to call john ashcroftbest of the mall. paul krugman who committed religious believers islamic extremists, maureen dowd who equate to the male domination of the catholic church to the taliban and the bush administration that we really are in a theocracy and the arizona shooter and the anti-immigration antiillegal immigration law was meant by linda greenhouse with an image that came out of nazi germany. so i think that the times and the left as a lot to answer for and may be because the internet people get more slashing and attention to it allows you to make a precise analogy about something the government of nazi germany did it again to get precise analogy and make it stick and then lowercase it's fair game hunt. r. dee very critical piece of him. you know, i would return to the question was -- there you are. i don't think anybody says that there has to be equal members and says 42% of the population of the news room has to be xx1 on balance it is better to make an effort to have this kind of a newsroom div

she didn't like john ashcroft. she didn't like the way the war on terror was being conducted. and above aurblings justice o'connor -- and above all justice o'connor was alienated by an event about the terri schiavo case. it was an issue of judicial independence. but it was also about a very sick person. who should make decisions for her? the family or the government? this was at that time when her husband was slipping into the grip of alzheimer's disease. so it was not an entirely abstract issue for her either. we have now seen the last three justices to leave the court, justice 0 -- o'connor, justice suitor, and justice stevens. three more different people you will never meet. . they reflect a more conservative party very and i thing you see that in the last five or six years of the supreme court, whether striking down the time -- the gun control law, and the signature decision of the roberts corp., citizens united, which is really the beginning of the end, or the beginning of the total deregulation all all campaign finance laws in this country. stephen breyer, hardly a hyste

she didn't like john ashcroft and the way that the war on terror was being conducted and the war in iraq, and above all, justice o'connor was alienated by an event, and that's the terri schiavo case. that was a case about -- as i'm sure you remember, a very sick woman in florida. who was should make the medical decisions, there was an issue of independence there. it was also about a sick person, who should make decisions, her family or the government? this was the time that justice o'connor's husband was crippling into alzheimer's disease. it was not entirely abstract issue for her either. and we have now seen the last three justices to leave the court, justice o'connor, justice souter, and justice stephens. three more different people you will never meet, justice o'connor, the tall, rangy charismatic politician, former majority leader of the arizona state senate, dominates every room that she walks into. justice stephens, john paul stevens, the antitrust lawyer from chicago. david souter, the reclusive, i say this lovingly, the eccentric bachelor from new hampshire. who do they have in