A partial list of violations of the law that no longer are crimes

t sickens me to think that Zoe Baird and Kimba Wood were disqualified as choices for Attorney General because of nanny taxes and yet we get Attorneys General who believed in stomping on the Constitution (Ashcroft), approve of voter suppression and torture as well as lie to Congress and reporters (Gonzales) and who think torture is only torture if it is done to him, won’t prosecute or investigate crimes committed by the Executive Branch and now thinks that not all violations of the law are crimes (Mukasey).

Thanks for that last one, Senators Schumer and Feinstein.

Whether you look at the “regular” definition of the word “crime” or even the legal definition, you will find the most basic “violation of law” as part of the definition.

But this isn’t just to point out that the current Attorney General is willing to say that not every crime is a crime in trying to stretch the boundaries of reality so far as to not prosecute...um....hmmm....what’s the word....oh yeah....crimes by members of his own Justice Department, it is to wonder just what other crimes, I mean “violations of the law” are just peachy keen according to the man who only holds the title and position of the nation’s top law enforcement official.

• We know that violating the fourth amendment (which is of higher authority that “a law”) is not a crime;


• We know that ignoring subpoenas by Congress is not a crime (disclaimer: IOKIYAR);


• We know that politicizing the internship program at the Justice Department is not a crime;


• We know that waterboarding another individual isn’t a crime (unless it is done to him);


• We know that destroying taped evidence of torture, after being ordered not to), is not a crime;


• We know that top Executive Branch officials ordering torture isn’t a crime;


• We know that suppressing people’s right to vote is not a crime;


• We will probably soon find out that violating FEC campaign finance rules is not a crime (again, IOKIYAR);


• We also know that violating the habeas corpus rules is also not a crime;


• We know that lying to Congress is not a crime; and


• For good measure, covering for the President himself over potential crimes, er, “violations of law” that the President may have committed is most certainly not a crime.

I’m sure that I missed more than a few, but I am glad that having a funny sounding name or names that sound similar to names that sound funny are worthy of indefinite detaining or “errors”. And living in a house that wasn’t even the house that SWAT teams were supposed to be looking for is their own fault when they are raided or wrongfully arrested.

Torture. Fabricate evidence to invade another country. Violate laws in hiring and firing practices. Suppress the vote illegally. Violate the fourth amendment. Blow the cover of a covert CIA operative and an entire network of people working on WMD issues. Break campaign finance laws. Ignore subpoenas.

Go ahead - those aren’t crimes and there certainly is a precedent for not being prosecuted.

Just don’t wear a shirt that has a cartoon robot on it while trying to fly or, even worse, wear a t shirt that says “Give Peace A Chance”. Because those are not only most certainly not in any way violations of the law, but are also crimes.