Politics - Gonezalesgate, Mary Beth Buchanan Edition

Senator Patrick Leahy

Now, Senator Leahy does not look like a happy man. In fact, I'd go so far as to say he looks downright irascible. Not the sort of person you'd want to piss off. Especially not now when he's chairing the Judiciary Committee.

I daresay one Mary Beth Buchanan, hitherto U.S. Attorney for Pittsburgh and vaunted "rising star" of the current establishment is destined to find out, and in short order, all the nuances of "irascible".

Perhaps the best example of the Bush administration's law enforcement priorities is Mary Beth Buchanan, formerly the U.S. attorney for the Pittsburgh area. Ms. Buchanan is widely considered a rising star in the Republican party. Her career has been carefully incubated in the Bush Justice Department, both under first Attorney General John Ashcroft, and under Gonezales.

Buchanan's most famous case as attorney general was "operation pipe dreams," in which some 2,000 law enforcement officers spent $12 million in taxpayer dollars collaborating to arrest 55 people for selling glass-blown bongs over the internet. The trophy in those arrests was actor/comedian Tommy Chong. Despite having no criminal record, Buchanan went after Chong with zeal, because, she said, he had glamorized the use of marijuana in his movies. Chong received the harshest sentence of any of those arrested.

Buchanan was also the first U.S. attorney to take up Attorney General Gonzalez's challenge to go after pornographers. She filed precedent-setting charges against the porn producer Extreme Associates, a company that isn't even located in her district. It was the first time the federal government has brought an obscenity case in more than a decade. Her case was later thrown out in federal court.

What the fuck is this worthless skank doing in the Justice Dept.? Dope and porn? With all the real crimes occurring around us, she's focused on dope and porn? Oh, yeah, I forgot - she was hired by the most worthless skanks around and has faithfully fulfilled their agenda.

Thanks to reader Jim for putting me on the trail of skanky harpy-in-training Buchanan. Credit to Maru for the monicker Gonezales. Details here.

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