Ashcroft, Evans Resign From Bush Cabinet
 

WASHINGTON - Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites) and Commerce Secretary Don Evans resigned Tuesday, the first members of President Bush (news - web sites)'s Cabinet to leave as he headed from re-election into his second term.


The resignations were announced by White House press secretary Scott McClellan, who said Bush had accepted the decisions of both secretaries.


"The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved," Ashcroft wrote in a five-page, handwritten letter to Bush.


"Yet I believe that the Department of Justice (news - web sites) would be well served by new leadership and fresh inspiration," said Ashcroft, whose health problems earlier this year resulted in removal of his gall bladder.


"I believe that my energies and talents should be directed toward other challenging horizons," he said.


Both Ashcroft and Evans have served in Bush's Cabinet from the start of the administration. Evans, a close friend of Bush's from Texas, wrote, "While the promise of your second term shines bright, I have concluded with deep regret that it is time for me to return home."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...e/bush_cabinet

Now lets pray they are not replaced by even worse people.

Good riddance to both. Ashcroft's replacement could be worse, but I'm not so sure about Evans. We need a real free trader in that position, not someone with neanderthal economic views.

My sources tell me that Arkansas Govenor Mike Huckabee will be appointed to something in the Bush cabinet, I'm not sure what though. Go Arkansas!

Sources: Gonzales to replace Ashcroft
NBC says Bush will announce successor on Wednesday

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Co...es_hmed.h2.jpg

WASHINGTON - President Bush has chosen White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, a Texas confidant and one of the most prominent Hispanics in the administration, to succeed Attorney General John Ashcroft, sources close to the White House said Wednesday. I would not rule out an announcement today,” White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Wednesday.

Separately, two administration officials told the Associated Press that the longtime Bush friend, who served with him in Texas, was the likely successor to Ashcroft. He would be the first Hispanic attorney general. Another leading candidate was Bush’s 2004 campaign chairman, former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6451896/

Got this email a few days ago:

http://emailimages.ctsg.com/ImageLib...n/gonzales.JPG
We are writing to you so early in the New Year to ask you to call your Senator and demand that he or she oppose the nomination of Alberto Gonzales for Attorney General. Alberto Gonzales is currently White House Counsel, and in this role he wrote and approved memos for President Bush that led to the incidents of torture and abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, at the Guantanamo Bay detention center and across the world.

Mr Gonzales created a convoluted legal argument excusing the administration from applying the Geneva Conventions or the protections of the Bill of Rights to those that they claim are terrorists. This denies both due process to these individuals, so that they have no recourse to the courts or to any hearing to even try to establish their innocence or for their guilt to be proven. It also stretched the definition of what is and is not torture beyond what any reasonable person could accept. The result was the infamous photos from Abu Ghraib shown above.

Now the Senate will holding a confirmation hearing for Alberto Gonzales on Thursday, January 6. Please take action now - call your Senator at 1-202-224-3121 and demand that they refuse to nominate a supporter of torutre as US Attorney General.