The paranoia of the neoCon element has exposed itself in the fear of foreigners mantra, as has been shown in previous posts.
In our law a "foreign corporation" means a corporation from another state of the United States; which is not a derogatory term it is merely a descriptive form.
The law that a foreign corporation imposes upon itself, its "bylaws", can govern it within a new state if it registers in that new state and its foreign bylaws are not illegal in that new state.
An "alien corporation" is a corporation incorporated in another country outside of the United States.
This illustrates that neoCon paranoia about "foreign law" has not prevailed in our great nation in the past, and it certainly should not now.
The neoCons Cornyn and Sessons are the type that yell "get off my lawn kid" and the type to keep their window blinds pulled shut and mistrust all their neighbours whom they think are out to do them harm.
They are phoney; when the Bush II regime wanted to really, really give foreign nations sway in the United States by letting a Taliban supporting Dubai take over ports and military hardware producers, they did their rubber stamp mantra.
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Friday, July 17, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Obama Loses My Vote For Re-election?
According to the Juneau Empire, where I once worked before many of you were born, the Obama Administration has reversed the Clinton Administration and is going to allow logging in the Tongass National [Rain] Forest:
The loggers won't stop with a little logging, and the foreseeable damage they will eventually do is far, far greater than what would have been done at ANWR, which was a lot of damage.
The forest floor in the Tongass in places is two feet thick moss, soft as the best beds in the world in my opinion, and the REM sleep you get while resting on a hike there is out of this polluted world.
In some places when it rains in the Tongass, which is frequent in a 90 inches per year rain forest, the rain does not touch that carpet, that forest floor, because the canopy is so much like a thick umbrella.
I remember looking up and way, way up there was a thickness of green and other colours, but no blue sky; yes so thick with tree life one could not see the sky in places.
Anyway, this logging contract was the last straw for me; when I heard this, after all the placating of the war criminals and the placating on a thousand other fronts in the name of "bi-partisanship", I went activist.
Unless Obama reverses the Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack on this abortion of justice, I will actively campaign against Obama's re-election because "President Obama supported the roadless rule in his campaign" (ibid).
I will do this protest from the Tongass area itself, because I am going to go there to blog from there, and "inhabit a tree house" to live in while I attempt to stop the logging rape of the earth's largest temperate rain forest.
Anyone know any groups planning to go there too?
The party I will support in the next election will not be republican; it will be green, constitutional, independent, or anything else but republican or democrat if the democrats do not stop this.
The U.S. Forest Service agreed Monday to sell timber to a Ketchikan mill in a roadless area of the Tongass National Forest after the Obama administration's approved the sale.(Juneau Empire). If you have not been to the Tongass, it is much like Big Sur, except with fewer people and no roads, and it is the "Earth's largest remaining temperate rainforest".
Orion North timber sale is the first such awarded since Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced in May he would personally review all timber sales in roadless areas of national forests in the next year.
He's doing that while the Obama administration takes some time to review the Clinton-era Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which banned road-building on about 58 million acres of national forest land nationwide but has been challenged since it was issued.
The loggers won't stop with a little logging, and the foreseeable damage they will eventually do is far, far greater than what would have been done at ANWR, which was a lot of damage.
The forest floor in the Tongass in places is two feet thick moss, soft as the best beds in the world in my opinion, and the REM sleep you get while resting on a hike there is out of this polluted world.
In some places when it rains in the Tongass, which is frequent in a 90 inches per year rain forest, the rain does not touch that carpet, that forest floor, because the canopy is so much like a thick umbrella.
I remember looking up and way, way up there was a thickness of green and other colours, but no blue sky; yes so thick with tree life one could not see the sky in places.
Anyway, this logging contract was the last straw for me; when I heard this, after all the placating of the war criminals and the placating on a thousand other fronts in the name of "bi-partisanship", I went activist.
Unless Obama reverses the Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack on this abortion of justice, I will actively campaign against Obama's re-election because "President Obama supported the roadless rule in his campaign" (ibid).
I will do this protest from the Tongass area itself, because I am going to go there to blog from there, and "inhabit a tree house" to live in while I attempt to stop the logging rape of the earth's largest temperate rain forest.
Anyone know any groups planning to go there too?
The party I will support in the next election will not be republican; it will be green, constitutional, independent, or anything else but republican or democrat if the democrats do not stop this.
Terrorism & Hate Crimes Merging?
The right wing neoCons are talking insurrection and murder in casual settings:
She thinks not getting elected means the voters are practising "tyranny" so she will shoot some of them?
Wow, one thing is quite obvious, getting elected is not an easy thing for them any more, because the people see them for what they are now that the daze of 9/11 is wearing off.
Pat Buchanan advocated that Mr. Palin should water board his was-to-be son in law until he stopped struggling and was dead because he said he would not vote for Sarah Palin.
It is obvious that these neoCons take elections seriously, but they crave power much more than that, so they advocate violence to take power the people will not give to them any more at the ballot box.
These dark rhetorical machinations lead to the types of murders which Senator Leahy said are increasing:
The neoCon infection must be stopped because it is far worse than the swine flu; but one wonders if the "policy differences doctrine" will subvert American justice once again?
"We have the chance to fight this battle at the ballot box before we have to resort to the bullet box," Crabill said. "That's the beauty of our Second Amendment rights ... Our Second Amendment rights were to guard against tyranny."(VA GOP Catherine Crabill). If she does not get elected by the voters at the ballot box, she will take up "the bullet box" and shoot somebody is her message.
She thinks not getting elected means the voters are practising "tyranny" so she will shoot some of them?
Wow, one thing is quite obvious, getting elected is not an easy thing for them any more, because the people see them for what they are now that the daze of 9/11 is wearing off.
Pat Buchanan advocated that Mr. Palin should water board his was-to-be son in law until he stopped struggling and was dead because he said he would not vote for Sarah Palin.
It is obvious that these neoCons take elections seriously, but they crave power much more than that, so they advocate violence to take power the people will not give to them any more at the ballot box.
These dark rhetorical machinations lead to the types of murders which Senator Leahy said are increasing:
... a recent report by the Leadership Conference for Civil Rights found that a hate crime is committed somewhere in America nearly once an hour.(Senator Leahy Says Stop Hate Crime). It is a crime to incite a riot, and a right wing radio host was indicted for urging his audience to kill some judges.
This is a national disgrace.
The number of hate groups in America ballooned by over 50% between 2000 and 2008 ...
The neoCon infection must be stopped because it is far worse than the swine flu; but one wonders if the "policy differences doctrine" will subvert American justice once again?
Cornyn Sessions About "Thuh Lahw" - 2
In the first series on one of the psychotic mantras of the neoCons, who have infested the republican party, we pointed out that our nation was substantially founded on the law of foreign powers at war with us at the time we adopted their law.
Pursuant to the supreme law of our land, the U.S. Constitution, Senator Cornyn and Senator Sessions need to know this about any treaty we adopt:
Thus The UN Ban on Torture and The Geneva Conventions are the supreme law of our land, and all state constitutions and judges are bound by that law, not merely instructed by it.
There are many, many treaties we have entered into over the years and we are none the worse for it, because it is wholesome to all nations who participate in dialogue to reach a mutual agreement for the good of many.
Pursuant to the supreme law of our land, the U.S. Constitution, Senator Cornyn and Senator Sessions need to know this about any treaty we adopt:
This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.(US Constitution, Article VI, emphasis added). Even the constitutions and statutes of every state are made subject to foreign law when we put those laws into treaties, and the congress ratifies such treaties and the president signs them.
Thus The UN Ban on Torture and The Geneva Conventions are the supreme law of our land, and all state constitutions and judges are bound by that law, not merely instructed by it.
There are many, many treaties we have entered into over the years and we are none the worse for it, because it is wholesome to all nations who participate in dialogue to reach a mutual agreement for the good of many.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Cornyn Sessions About "Thuh Lahw"
The neoCon mantra flows from their never drought limited but always polluted Hypocrisy River, which is always flowing through the home towns of Senator Cornyn and Senator Sessions; both of whom are from the "patriot states" who followed the president of the rebellion, Jefferson Davis.
Their mantra I speak of is "activist judges are bad people", even while their Supreme Conservatives, whom they gleefully put on the federal bench for life, are doing the activist judge thingy.
One thing "activist judges" do, according to these cornyservatives, is resort to the law of foreign nations when making their decisions.
Like when we were at war with a foreign nation that was killing us left and right because that nation wanted to keep us in subjection to all of its laws.
We adopted all of their common law, which we still rely on to this day, and which we still call the "common law"?????
That "common law" of that foreign nation we were sworn to defeat in war was mentioned in our Bill of Rights:
At least until the constitution was written, signed, and then ratified by the 13 states or colonies; until U.S. elections took place, U.S. judges were appointed, U.S. courts were financed, states were accepted into the United States, the common law was adopted as U.S. law, and then somebody sued somebody.
The "common law" mentioned in the U.S. Constitution is the "common law" of the foreign nation we were at war with, the foreign nation we were killing on the battle field, the foreign nation that was invading and killing us.
And gasp of all gasps, the "rules of the common law", like the common law itself, were judge made laws of courts rather than of legislators. Oh Lordy!!!!!!!!!!!
But since the foreign nation we were at war with had some good law, we adopted the good law of that foreign power as our own.
We also adopted some bad law from other foreign nations we were not at war with too; for example, some foreign nations that believed in slavery; and we adopted the law of some foreign nations that believed women should not vote too.
Bottom line time.
Hey cornyservatives, you guys are fool arse holes and you are talking through the wrong orifice, surrounded by the wrong sphincter.
Take the counsel of Albert Einstein who said "Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler".
I won't belabor the point if you shut up Cornyn.
Their mantra I speak of is "activist judges are bad people", even while their Supreme Conservatives, whom they gleefully put on the federal bench for life, are doing the activist judge thingy.
One thing "activist judges" do, according to these cornyservatives, is resort to the law of foreign nations when making their decisions.
Like when we were at war with a foreign nation that was killing us left and right because that nation wanted to keep us in subjection to all of its laws.
We adopted all of their common law, which we still rely on to this day, and which we still call the "common law"?????
That "common law" of that foreign nation we were sworn to defeat in war was mentioned in our Bill of Rights:
In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.(U.S. Constitution, Seventh Amendment, emphasis added). Guess what? There were no U.S. Courts, no U.S. common law, no U.S. "rules of the common law"; no congress, no congressional laws, no judiciary, and no president.
At least until the constitution was written, signed, and then ratified by the 13 states or colonies; until U.S. elections took place, U.S. judges were appointed, U.S. courts were financed, states were accepted into the United States, the common law was adopted as U.S. law, and then somebody sued somebody.
The "common law" mentioned in the U.S. Constitution is the "common law" of the foreign nation we were at war with, the foreign nation we were killing on the battle field, the foreign nation that was invading and killing us.
And gasp of all gasps, the "rules of the common law", like the common law itself, were judge made laws of courts rather than of legislators. Oh Lordy!!!!!!!!!!!
But since the foreign nation we were at war with had some good law, we adopted the good law of that foreign power as our own.
We also adopted some bad law from other foreign nations we were not at war with too; for example, some foreign nations that believed in slavery; and we adopted the law of some foreign nations that believed women should not vote too.
Bottom line time.
Hey cornyservatives, you guys are fool arse holes and you are talking through the wrong orifice, surrounded by the wrong sphincter.
Take the counsel of Albert Einstein who said "Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler".
I won't belabor the point if you shut up Cornyn.
Leahy Says "Stand Up To Hate Crime"
Dear [Dredd],
Just last month, a white supremacist opened fire in the National Holocaust Memorial Museum, killing security guard Stephen T. Johns only a few blocks from the Capitol. What a tragedy.
Any hate crime -- even just this one -- would be too many. But in fact, a recent report by the Leadership Conference for Civil Rights found that a hate crime is committed somewhere in America nearly once an hour.
This is a national disgrace. That's why today Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and I introduced the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, long championed by Senator Ted Kennedy, to tackle the scourge of hate crime in America. Our bipartisan legislation has been stalled in Congress for over a decade, but enough is enough: now is the time to finally expand federal enforcement against hate crimes.
...
If passed, the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act would strengthen anti-hate crime laws already on the books. Specifically, this long-overdue legislation will:
With the Senate poised to vote on the hate crimes bill, now is the time to speak out.
It's time to finally enact this bipartisan anti-hate crime legislation, but we need to lock down 60 votes to secure its passage. Please e-mail your Senators today.
The number of hate groups in America ballooned by over 50% between 2000 and 2008, during which time Congress repeatedly failed to send Senator Kennedy's Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act to the President's desk. This alarming trend is simply unacceptable in 21st Century America.
With your help we can finally expand federal jurisdiction over hate crime cases, offer federal protection and support to all victims of hate-motivated violence, and ensure justice is served upon those who commit this exceptionally repugnant form of crime.
Sincerely,
Patrick Leahy
U.S. Senator
P.S. The Senate will decide whether or not to include the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act as an amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill soon, so please e-mail your Senators right now to avert a Republican filibuster!
Just last month, a white supremacist opened fire in the National Holocaust Memorial Museum, killing security guard Stephen T. Johns only a few blocks from the Capitol. What a tragedy.
Any hate crime -- even just this one -- would be too many. But in fact, a recent report by the Leadership Conference for Civil Rights found that a hate crime is committed somewhere in America nearly once an hour.
This is a national disgrace. That's why today Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and I introduced the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, long championed by Senator Ted Kennedy, to tackle the scourge of hate crime in America. Our bipartisan legislation has been stalled in Congress for over a decade, but enough is enough: now is the time to finally expand federal enforcement against hate crimes.
...
If passed, the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act would strengthen anti-hate crime laws already on the books. Specifically, this long-overdue legislation will:
* Allow federal authorities to more easily investigate and prosecute crimes motivated by race, color, or beliefs;Over 300 law enforcement, civil rights, religious, and professional organizations from around the country have weighed in, urging the immediate passage of this measure, as have President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder. Our legislation also enjoys the bipartisan support of Senator Susan Collins, Senator Olympia Snowe, and others in Congress, but some will likely continue to obstruct its passage unless they hear from us.
* Update the law to include crimes motivated by disability status, gender, or sexual orientation; and
* Strengthen federal support for state and local law enforcement agencies in the investigation and prosecution of hate-motivated violence.
With the Senate poised to vote on the hate crimes bill, now is the time to speak out.
It's time to finally enact this bipartisan anti-hate crime legislation, but we need to lock down 60 votes to secure its passage. Please e-mail your Senators today.
The number of hate groups in America ballooned by over 50% between 2000 and 2008, during which time Congress repeatedly failed to send Senator Kennedy's Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act to the President's desk. This alarming trend is simply unacceptable in 21st Century America.
With your help we can finally expand federal jurisdiction over hate crime cases, offer federal protection and support to all victims of hate-motivated violence, and ensure justice is served upon those who commit this exceptionally repugnant form of crime.
Sincerely,
Patrick Leahy
U.S. Senator
P.S. The Senate will decide whether or not to include the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act as an amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill soon, so please e-mail your Senators right now to avert a Republican filibuster!
The Ultimate Penalty For Deceit
I thought I was listening to an extremist radical while I tuned in to "Morning Joe on MSNBC" this morning.
The person I suspected of being an extremist radical said that the United States is heading for a cliff, that he can see 100% of the Gross National Product (GNP) being used to pay the national debt in the near enough future.
He also said that no budget takes this death of the economy of the United States into account.
As it ends up, he is not an extremist radical even though his words were, he is the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee.
We have not been merely kidding ourselves as a nation since the last budget surplus at the end of the last century (1999), instead, we entered the 21st Century deceiving ourselves into thinking that our choice of wars, since it was good for the military oil complex, was good for the United States.
The reality, however, is more like as goes California so goes the nation.
California is struggling against bankruptcy as the military oil complex counts my money and your money which it has plundered from us.
The person I suspected of being an extremist radical said that the United States is heading for a cliff, that he can see 100% of the Gross National Product (GNP) being used to pay the national debt in the near enough future.
He also said that no budget takes this death of the economy of the United States into account.
As it ends up, he is not an extremist radical even though his words were, he is the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee.
We have not been merely kidding ourselves as a nation since the last budget surplus at the end of the last century (1999), instead, we entered the 21st Century deceiving ourselves into thinking that our choice of wars, since it was good for the military oil complex, was good for the United States.
The reality, however, is more like as goes California so goes the nation.
California is struggling against bankruptcy as the military oil complex counts my money and your money which it has plundered from us.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Global Climate & Homeland Insecurity
A recent report will catch the attention of anyone who can focus enough to see down the road further than their nose:
The Bush II Cheney oil barons have made the entire world less safe and secure with their spill baby spill illusions, deceit, and outright lies.
We can now define "fit" in the notion of "survival of the fittest" as being cosmic adults rather than military oil complex destroyers of the earth.
By the way, have you taken the duct tape and plastic off your windows yet?
The next post in this series is here.
"The CNA Corporation brought together eleven retired three-star and four-star admirals and generals [they lost it so use The Wayback Machine Version] to provide advice, expertise and perspective on the impact of climate change. CNAC writers and researchers compiled the report under the board's direction and review.(National Security & Threat of Climate Change [they disappeared it so here is The Wayback Machine Copy]). Evidently this means that the military oil complex will not have to generate faux wars to gorge themselves with plunder.
The report includes several formal findings:
* Projected climate change poses a serious threat to America's national security.
* Climate change acts as a threat multiplier for instability in some of the most volatile regions of the world.
* Projected climate change will add to tensions even in stable regions of the world.
* Climate change, national security and energy dependence are a related set of global challenges."
The Bush II Cheney oil barons have made the entire world less safe and secure with their spill baby spill illusions, deceit, and outright lies.
We can now define "fit" in the notion of "survival of the fittest" as being cosmic adults rather than military oil complex destroyers of the earth.
By the way, have you taken the duct tape and plastic off your windows yet?
The next post in this series is here.
Email From The President To Dredd
Good Morning,
Yesterday, Judge Sonia Sotomayor made her opening statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee and moved another step closer to taking a seat on the United States Supreme Court. In case you missed it, watch the video of her opening statement here:
Judge Sotomayors Opening Statement
As President, there are few responsibilities more serious or consequential than the naming of a Supreme Court Justice, so I want to take this opportunity to tell you about the qualifications and character that informed my decision to nominate Judge Sotomayor.
Judge Sotomayor's brilliant legal mind is complemented by the practical lessons that can only be learned by applying the law to real world situations.
In the coming days, the hearings will cover an incredible body of work from a judge who has more experience on the federal bench than any incoming Supreme Court Justice in the last 100 years. Judge Sotomayor's professional background spans our judicial system — from her time as a big-city prosecutor and a corporate litigator, to her work as a federal trial judge on the U.S. District Court, and an appellate judge on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
And then there is Judge Sotomayor's incredible personal story. She grew up in a housing project in the South Bronx — her parents coming to New York from Puerto Rico during the Second World War. At the age of nine, she lost her father, and her mother worked six days a week just to put food on the table. It takes a certain resilience and determination to rise up out of such circumstances, focus, work hard and achieve the American dream.
This character shined through in yesterday's opening statement: Watch the video.
In Judge Sotomayor, our nation will have a Justice who will never forget her humble beginnings, will always apply the rule of law, and will be a protector of the Constitution that made her American dream and the dreams of millions of others possible. As she said so clearly yesterday, Judge Sotomayor's decisions on the bench "have been made not to serve the interests of any one litigant, but always to serve the larger interest of impartial justice."
In anticipation of today's first round of questioning, I hope you'll share this email widely, because Judge Sotomayor's confirmation is something that affects every American. It's important for these hearings to be about Judge Sotomayor's own record and her capacity for the job — not any political back and forth that some in Washington may use to distract you. What members of the Judiciary Committee, and the American people, will see today is a sharp and fearless jurist who does not let powerful interests bully her into breaking from the rule of law.
Thank you,
Barack Obama
UPDATE: Since receiving this email I have learned that your administration has gone back on a campaign promise and is allowing damage to the largest United States Forest, the largest temperate rain forest on earth, by reversing the Clinton order that no roads be built in nation forests for logging.
That shows that your care for health is not as informed as it most certainly should be, because the forests are the lungs of the earth, and without them forget about good health for this planet and the life on it.
Get real.
Yesterday, Judge Sonia Sotomayor made her opening statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee and moved another step closer to taking a seat on the United States Supreme Court. In case you missed it, watch the video of her opening statement here:
Judge Sotomayors Opening Statement
As President, there are few responsibilities more serious or consequential than the naming of a Supreme Court Justice, so I want to take this opportunity to tell you about the qualifications and character that informed my decision to nominate Judge Sotomayor.
Judge Sotomayor's brilliant legal mind is complemented by the practical lessons that can only be learned by applying the law to real world situations.
In the coming days, the hearings will cover an incredible body of work from a judge who has more experience on the federal bench than any incoming Supreme Court Justice in the last 100 years. Judge Sotomayor's professional background spans our judicial system — from her time as a big-city prosecutor and a corporate litigator, to her work as a federal trial judge on the U.S. District Court, and an appellate judge on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
And then there is Judge Sotomayor's incredible personal story. She grew up in a housing project in the South Bronx — her parents coming to New York from Puerto Rico during the Second World War. At the age of nine, she lost her father, and her mother worked six days a week just to put food on the table. It takes a certain resilience and determination to rise up out of such circumstances, focus, work hard and achieve the American dream.
This character shined through in yesterday's opening statement: Watch the video.
In Judge Sotomayor, our nation will have a Justice who will never forget her humble beginnings, will always apply the rule of law, and will be a protector of the Constitution that made her American dream and the dreams of millions of others possible. As she said so clearly yesterday, Judge Sotomayor's decisions on the bench "have been made not to serve the interests of any one litigant, but always to serve the larger interest of impartial justice."
In anticipation of today's first round of questioning, I hope you'll share this email widely, because Judge Sotomayor's confirmation is something that affects every American. It's important for these hearings to be about Judge Sotomayor's own record and her capacity for the job — not any political back and forth that some in Washington may use to distract you. What members of the Judiciary Committee, and the American people, will see today is a sharp and fearless jurist who does not let powerful interests bully her into breaking from the rule of law.
Thank you,
Barack Obama
UPDATE: Since receiving this email I have learned that your administration has gone back on a campaign promise and is allowing damage to the largest United States Forest, the largest temperate rain forest on earth, by reversing the Clinton order that no roads be built in nation forests for logging.
That shows that your care for health is not as informed as it most certainly should be, because the forests are the lungs of the earth, and without them forget about good health for this planet and the life on it.
Get real.
Your Cheating Heart Will Tell On You
However, your good heart or hearts will make a cosmic adult out of you, no matter what your age may be.
This child received a second heart at the age of two, grafted onto her birth-heart, to help her weak heart with its workload.
After a number of years, the birth-heart had healed itself, and the helper heart was removed and presumably went somewhere else to help another person.
This happy story seems to me to be one fairly powerful microcosm to the macrocosm where saving all nations will be done by saving our environment, which is the heart of all nations .
All the good hearted nations will have to pull together and be grafted in to help the nations who do not have a strong and healthy environmentally oriented heart, yet.
Eventually all nations will grow strong in the understanding that our heart is our environment, and it must stay strong and healthy if we are to continue to live on this planet.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Is The Law Off The Table?
Richard Nixon and those of his ilk, such as Pat Buchanan on MSNBC's Morning Joe, think that law is politics and politics is law when politicians are the ones being investigated.
The reasoning goes, you can't prosecute for torture because it would implicate Bush II and Cheney and therefore it would be political witch hunting, not the enforcement of law.
That theory was blown out of the water and proven false with the Libby prosecution during the Bush II years.
Cheney had covered up successfully and the consequence was that only Scooter Libby was prosecuted.
The big story there is that the jury had no issue with it being a political vs a legal case, and indicated in interviews after the unanimous verdict for conviction that they would have found Cheney guilty too, without any "its a political issue" notions hijacking those proceedings.
Chuck Todd of MSNBC likewise does not get it because he seems to think the only prosecution possible is a political prosecution.
Todd and Buchanan have a slippery slope floating around in their minds, which slides into the banana republic pit where politicians are above the law because the law is not on the table because everything is a "policy decision".
Bush II operatives flagrantly and egregiously violated the law time and time again with impunity, Scooter Libby being only one of them.
Obama is said to want to review the murder of 2,000 Afghans committed by the Bush II apparatus there in Afghanistan.
So again, if he does so is the law off the table; or will torture and murder only be exposed in an "open government" policy; but never prosecuted because of a "no prosecutions for policy differences" policy?
If the law is off the table and egregious criminal actors are not prosecuted for those crimes, the United States will suffer greatly, once again, in world opinion as a direct and certain consequence of that failure to prosecute.
The mature nations of the world know a banana republic when they see one.
And Americans know it even better.
The reasoning goes, you can't prosecute for torture because it would implicate Bush II and Cheney and therefore it would be political witch hunting, not the enforcement of law.
That theory was blown out of the water and proven false with the Libby prosecution during the Bush II years.
Cheney had covered up successfully and the consequence was that only Scooter Libby was prosecuted.
The big story there is that the jury had no issue with it being a political vs a legal case, and indicated in interviews after the unanimous verdict for conviction that they would have found Cheney guilty too, without any "its a political issue" notions hijacking those proceedings.
Chuck Todd of MSNBC likewise does not get it because he seems to think the only prosecution possible is a political prosecution.
Todd and Buchanan have a slippery slope floating around in their minds, which slides into the banana republic pit where politicians are above the law because the law is not on the table because everything is a "policy decision".
Bush II operatives flagrantly and egregiously violated the law time and time again with impunity, Scooter Libby being only one of them.
Obama is said to want to review the murder of 2,000 Afghans committed by the Bush II apparatus there in Afghanistan.
So again, if he does so is the law off the table; or will torture and murder only be exposed in an "open government" policy; but never prosecuted because of a "no prosecutions for policy differences" policy?
If the law is off the table and egregious criminal actors are not prosecuted for those crimes, the United States will suffer greatly, once again, in world opinion as a direct and certain consequence of that failure to prosecute.
The mature nations of the world know a banana republic when they see one.
And Americans know it even better.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
The Holder Of The House Of Cards
We have discussed the struggle Eric Holder has as U.S. Attorney General, here, here, and here.
In some ways it is a more difficult struggle than the one President Obama faces.
I think Holder understands that, but I do not think that Obama understands it in the focused manner that Holder does.
Obama does not understand it because he is surrounded by political advisers who seek to placate under the guise of bi-partisanship on the issues Holder has to deal with.
Add to that the fact that Holder is surrounded by advisers who do not have a political perspective, but instead they have a much narrower focus which is "nobody is above the law".
Newsweek reports that there is serious consideration within the Attorney General's Office about appointing a special prosecutor to deal with the Bush II regime's torture of prisoners within their custody.
That Newsweek article is a good one to be sure, however, it frames the stage as a scene with a struggle between Holder and Obama.
I am certain that Obama will go along with Holder if Holder does in fact appoint a special prosecutor to deal with the subject matter.
A.G. Holder will do well to choose the independent prosecutor very, very carefully.
Not as the White House political advisers would, but as those who know that the rule of law is far more important in the long run than any one administration is.
The next post in this series is here.
In some ways it is a more difficult struggle than the one President Obama faces.
I think Holder understands that, but I do not think that Obama understands it in the focused manner that Holder does.
Obama does not understand it because he is surrounded by political advisers who seek to placate under the guise of bi-partisanship on the issues Holder has to deal with.
Add to that the fact that Holder is surrounded by advisers who do not have a political perspective, but instead they have a much narrower focus which is "nobody is above the law".
Newsweek reports that there is serious consideration within the Attorney General's Office about appointing a special prosecutor to deal with the Bush II regime's torture of prisoners within their custody.
That Newsweek article is a good one to be sure, however, it frames the stage as a scene with a struggle between Holder and Obama.
I am certain that Obama will go along with Holder if Holder does in fact appoint a special prosecutor to deal with the subject matter.
A.G. Holder will do well to choose the independent prosecutor very, very carefully.
Not as the White House political advisers would, but as those who know that the rule of law is far more important in the long run than any one administration is.
The next post in this series is here.