Attorney General nominee Alberto Gonzales has called the Geneva Conventions “obsolete” and “quaint”. What do you guess he thinks about that old-timey scrap of paper known as the Bill of Rights?

You’re going to have to guess. According to CNN, “the White House has refused to provide copies of his memos on the questioning of terror suspects” to the Senate committee responsible for holding hearings this week on the Gonzales nomination.

Personally, I’m guessing that this refusal itself provides all the information we really need about Gonzales’ views. The Republicans have 55 seats in the Senate. The most vital thing for the Bush administration now is to keep the American people in the dark.

(You can find your senators here. The Judiciary Committee will hold hearings on the Gonzales nomination starting Thursday. One of my senators, Mike DeWine, is a member of the committee. I’ll bet he’d love to hear from me.)

The Attorney General might be called the Chief Prosecutor of the United States. Some people think it’s appropriate for him to be focussed more on getting the bad guys and not so much on protecting the rights of the accused. After all, we have the courts and judges to look out for everyone’s rights.

George W. Bush will appoint many federal judges during the next four years. He will almost certainly name several new Justices of the Supreme Court. Surely they will protect what the Attorney General disrespects?

As Tom Negrino reminds us at Backup Brain, Bush’s model Justices are Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. Tom points out this informative page about those two Justices, titled “Ten Things President Bush Doesn’t Want You To Know About Scalia and Thomas.”

Scalia opposes efforts to desegregate schools.

Thomas favors state-sponsored religion.

Scalia supports sex discrimination.

Thomas would allow the president to effectively waive due process rights.

Scalia and Thomas oppose Family and Medical Leave.

Scalia and Thomas support executing the mentally retarded.

Scalia and Thomas support brutality against prisoners.

Scalia and Thomas support criminalizing consensual sex.

Scalia and Thomas oppose federal environmental regulation of polluters.

Scalia and Thomas would allow states to discriminate against the disabled.

Details, and a printable PDF poster, at the site.

Bumper stickers, t-shirts, hats and such for the next four years.

www.dontblamemeivoted4kerry.com

www.beatbushgear.com

Anti-Bush products from CafePress.com. (Warning: some rough language.) CafePress is an internet merchant that makes and sells products for independent content providers. Some of those producers provide pro-Bush products.

I may need the American Traveler International Apology shirt. It says, in many languages, “I’m sorry my president’s an idiot. I didn’t vote for him.” So true.