So much for wishful thinking – I guess after last week’s disappointments I should have learned my lesson by now, but I still keep hoping for some good news from the States. Instead, John Ashcroft is replaced as Attourney General by one of the few people in the world (bar Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden and Robert Mugabe) who seems to have an even lower regard for the notions of freedom and civil rights than he does.

Ignore the fact that Alberto Gonzales is hispanic, and that thus his appointment is a great step towards high-office recognition for one of America’s largest minorities, the guy’s a nutter with scant regard for either international or US domestic law.

There is more worrying stuff on Gonzales’ poor judicial record at The Blue Bunny of Battle and Obsidian Wings (both links via Waffle).

This is not a promising development for Bush’s second term, although some are prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt for fear of worse alternatives. The US appears trapped between the Devil and the deep blue sea.