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A Taste of the Future in Obama’s Justice Department

Expect more politically driven prosecutions and brazen denials of misconduct with Team Obama.

by
Anonymous

Bio

November 18, 2008 - 12:40 am
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Should we be surprised that the Department of Justice sees no problem with misleading a member of the United States Senate? On September 19 and October 16, I wrote about the plans to criminally target Republican activists and candidates engaged in perfectly legal activity that the partisan career lawyers in the Civil Rights Division did not like. Apparently, Senator Lindsey Graham sent an inquiry to the Justice Department asking about the September 19 posting. In a response dated October 22, Keith Nelson, principal deputy assistant attorney general of the Office of Legislative Affairs, denied that any such activity was going on and claimed that “the Department does not persecute individuals for legal political activities.” Really?

In the September 19 posting I pointed out that sources who attended an election training session this summer at Justice specifically were told that the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division intended to prosecute anyone it considered to be engaging in voter “intimidation” or “oppression.” I have seen the materials from the conference that substantiate that claim. One of the deputy chiefs, Mark Blumberg, told some attendees that anyone sending a mailer to voters telling them that you must be a citizen to vote was engaging in voter suppression and should be hauled before a grand jury. Mr. Nelson denies that occurred, stating that “the anonymous blog inaccurately describes the content of the presentations and comments” made at the training session. However, Mr. Nelson did not attend the training session and my sources did — and the Civil Rights Division did precisely what I predicted in my September 19 column.

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32 Comments, 32 Threads, 1 Trackbacks

  1. 1. TDelaney

    The Justice Department is also in the tank for Obama. Lets watch it when he fires all 70 Federal Prosecutors just as Clinton did without so much as a whimper from the Main Stream Media. Remember that Bush tried to replace just a handfull of prosecutors which was his right and spent the next 4 years being investigated by that Windbag H Waxman. (some of the prosecutors ironically were being dismissed for lack of enforcement of voter fraud. How about that?)The voter fraud this year by Acorn and biased Secretarys of State was breathtaking but make no mistake. Our community organizer in chief is laying the foundation to steal elections for many years to come. I hope someone will have the nerve to report on this hijacking of our electoral system.

  2. 2. anonymous 2

    thank you. thank you also to pajamas media for letting you post this anonymously, likely the way many will have to go in the next few years precisely because of what you highlighted.

    sucking more and more for those who believe in being law abiding and playing by the rules. :(

  3. 3. RE

    Trends seem to suggest that ‘progressives’ would like to lead us in retrogressing towards a society where the state is supreme – a combination of Orwell’s ‘1984‘ and Huxley’s ‘Brave New World‘.

    Huxley at least provided a place for free thinking people to find refuge. But given the tone and tenor of the Left, I don’t believe such a option is in their plan. They seem much more like modern day Jacobins, whose claim to fame is the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror. At any rate, the war against individual liberty is on (and has been for some time).

    The frog in a pot of heating water anecdote is very well known, but how many people who acknowledge it actually stop to consider that they them self just might be that storied frog?

    Too few, I’m afraid.

  4. 4. fred

    Let us remember that the Justice Department did nothing to investigate and prosecute those people in the federal government, whether appointed or elected, who were leaking classified information to the media about operations, methods, and events pertaining to our prosecution of war against the jihadis. For that matter, it would seem that President Bush didn’t push this thing enough.

  5. 5. RE

    Another grossly under-reported disturbing trend is the redefinition (reclassification?) of crimes as felonies. This represents a seizure of sovereignty from the states and a greater concentration of power and control in Washington. It’s bad news.

  6. 6. anton

    And the water is rapidly approaching boiling!

  7. 7. Susan Says

    Of course we can all shed tears for the sullying of our Justice Department, but the real question is what is the fate of the Supreme Court under Obama’s administration? If that doesn’t make one weak in the knees, nothing will.

  8. The Obama Justice Department will have to work really hard to even come close to the laundry list of ethical and criminal misconduct that took place there under John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzalez.

  9. 9. tanstaafl

    Congress has stalled ratification/approval of many of GW Bush’s appointments to federal judgeships, in some cases, the stalling has lasted for years, Congress failing to give an up or down vote, failing to give any vote at all.

    Now BHO will have quite a slate of appointments to make.

    Recollect that the first words out of Obama’s mouth when Rick Warren (Saddleback Church) asked him which Supreme Court justice he would not have appointed…”Clarence Thomas”.

    The entire process of using appointments to judgeships as a political tool and winding up with clearly agenda driven judges who will gladly subvert their duty of interpretation of the law and “legislate from the bench”…is one of the more subtle and appalling nails in the coffin of our system of government. Colin Powell, the guy who endorsed BHO at the 11th hour (didn’t want to be left out of the DC social circuit) more or less admitted that he couldn’t bear any more Roberts or Alito type appointments to the SC (w/o naming them, of course).

    Many of this go round’s Presidential contenders (especially the final two) seemed quite happy to ignore the nation’s immigration laws in the name of “compassion” or something. (I guess since Slick Bill got away with perjury in 2 cases, state and federal, “the law” doesn’t mean much anymore)

    The Hispanic bar in the state of Arizona has gotten through a measure where legal documents can no longer describe someone arrested who is found to be in the country illegally as an “illegal immigrant”. What shall we call them now ? …”Our good friends from Mexico (unfortunately) caught with one hand in the cooky jar and one hand holding a gun” ?

  10. 10. Red Badger

    ….and people thought the Spanish Inquisition was bad……..

  11. 11. Kirk

    People get the government they deserve. I think the trouble people are having is acknowledging how far the average American citizen has fallen. We’re so collectivly weak, powerful groups are taking everything from us and we bleat like sheep but do nothing. Our freedom, the collective wealth of the middle class, the wealth even of the next generation is being taken because our government is so corrupt its part of the assault, not our defense.

    Very soon if you want to express opposition to the government, you’d better do it in the bathroom, with water running, like a cold war East German.

  12. SUICIDAL BIG BIASED MEDIA
    Network television and print news outlets have put doctrine above profitability. They are in free fall as a result:

    http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com/2008/11/big-biased-media.html

  13. 13. David Thomson

    The politically correct U.S. Justice Department literally seems comparable to the Nazis or the Communists. There is little evidence that it has any interest in protecting the constitutional rights of the citizenry. This is especially true of those who are white and Republican. Please note the silence concerning the misbehavior of ACORN during the recent presidential contest and utter indifference towards the credit card fraud committed by the Obama campaign. Heads would most assuredly be rolling if the McCain people acted in a similar manner.

  14. 14. Whitey

    I don’t get what the problem is. The justice department investigated this guy Tam Nguyen because of a letter he sent out. That’s not what he’s being prosecuted for, he’s being prosecuted for lying to the investigators. So this whole notion that the justice department is in the bag for Obama rest on this prosecution? you people are delusional.

  15. 15. Andrea

    Thank you, I have been waiting for someone to mention this. Why hasn’t the voter fraud been mentioned since the election. And this intimidating Obama stuff that has been going on for a long time needs to be spoke of in public! I have seen enough movies and read enough accounts where the government takes over. The United States of America was not created to do that.

  16. 16. Peter the Sub Guy

    14. Whitey wrote:
    I don’t get what the problem is. The justice department investigated this guy Tam Nguyen because of a letter he sent out. That’s not what he’s being prosecuted for, he’s being prosecuted for lying to the investigators.

    Peter replies: The whole thing you don’t get is that the letter should not have caused an investigation in the first place. And the so-called ‘lie’ the Rep is accused of committing is telling the investigators “I was not intimidating any voters.” But if you can be investigated for sending out a perfectly legal first ammendment approved letter to your constituents, then the investigators can assume it is for the purposes of intimidating voters and therefore, whatever you say is a lie.

    If you own a blue car and a Federal investigastor decides your car is red, then when you tell the investigator your car is blue, you are lying in that investigato’s eyes, and should therefore be charged with a felony. It doesn’t matter that what you said was true by any other sense of the word, just that the investigator has decided you lied to him.

    Funny how you can be charged with a ‘crime’ when being investigated for something that is not a crime, huh?

    This whole incident is just the tip of the spear of what is to come in the next 4 years.

  17. 17. Peter the Sub Guy

    14. Whitey wrote:
    you people are delusional.

    Peter responds:
    And you are in denial.

  18. 18. nlcatter

    Political Appointees are NOT “FIRED”

    You GOpers are such MORONS!

  19. 19. Robert Hurley

    There seems to be a whole lot of paranoia here

  20. 20. anonymous

    Red Badger,

    Nobody ever expects the Spanish Inquisition.

    But I expect the future to look more like this.

  21. 21. Susan Says

    Will Obama even need to use the Justice system? I’m thinking he was giving his street thugs, the Black Panthers, a trial run on election day. Did he ever disavow what they did? I never heard a peep did you? Of course all of this will only come to pass if we as Americans allow it to and stand idly by while freedom after freedom are stripped away. Are there any true patriots left willing to take a stand or are we all too milquetoast at this point.

  22. 22. Robert Hurley

    Susan Says – Please stick to the facts. Where is the connection between Obama and the Black Panters? There was one incident involving one Black Panther at a precinct in Philadelphia that went overwhelmingly for Obama and there was no connection with Obama. If you are going to make things up, at least be more inventive!

  23. 23. Jim Baker

    The flaw in the John Galt scenario is that there is no secret place to live here in Colorado. So, Ayn Rand, without a place to hide, what do we do about the looters now? I guess we will have to experience the whole cycle of government by coercion. As long as there are still crumbs to steal, most folks won’t care about liberty at all. Only when the lifestyle of the folks gets radically worse, will they turn on these collectivists. Until then, hide your property as best you can.

  24. You’ve got balls man, I’ll give it to you.

    Remember Bush? Gonzalez? Who politicized the justice department first?

    Be kidding me with this; seriously. If this is the fiction that the right intends to propagate over next four years; better fire your editors.

  25. 25. GCA

    Remember Clinton, the biggest influence peddler of all time, who fired all of the U.S. Attorneys? And his incompetent AG, Reno? Name one politically motivated prosecution by the Bush Justice Department.

    Perhaps the most telling aspect of this post is that the author finds it necessary to remain anonymous. Did anyone on the left have any such fear of political retaliation during the last eight years? Don’t think so.

  26. 26. Whitey

    Peter the Sub Guy:

    The issue was investigated because the letters bore Letterhead from the “California Coalition for Immigration Reform.” Obviously, some of the receipients felt intimidated and reported it. Because they were stupid enough to use his campaign’s bulk mailling registration number, investigators were led to him. When asked, Tan Nguyen lied to investigators denying that he sent out the letters.

    The letter (pdf): http://www.ocregister.com/newsimages/news/2006/10/20document.pdf

    http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1324802.php

  27. 27. Steve P.

    Red Badger: “….and people thought the Spanish Inquisition was bad……”

    It was bad. Thousands of innocent people were mercilessly tortured and murdered by violent, crazed fundamentalist Christians simply for being liberal or refusing to betray their faiths.

    Are you really comparing the Spanish Inquisition to an Obama Justice Department? Or are you just being glib? Or do you simply not understand that the fundamentalist nutcases that form the base of the Republican Party would love to usher in a new Inquisition if they had the oportunity?

    If you want to talk about institutionalized leftists state-sponsored oppression, there are countless examples from which to draw. The Inquisition is not one of them.

  28. 28. Dave in Texas

    While I”m not willing to go the ‘end of the world as we know it’ route, I do fear one thing–

    We already know, because of constant leaking and lack of cooperation with Bush, that most if not all our federal agencies, INCLUDING law enforcement, are riddled with lefty bureaucrats who would like nothing better than permanent liberal power at the top.

    It’s the narrow-shouldered, high voiced beta males, the weasels who backstab you while smiling at you, that I worry about. Blumenthal is the archetype. Emmanuel less so.

    For these kinds of men, power is everything, and anything is permissible to get it and enhance it and keep it.

    Obama thrives on being helped by ‘fellow travelers’, by people who believe what he believes and don’t have to be told what to do.

    American traditions are expiring rapidly, and the left can’t wait to slam the door on those that remain.

  29. 29. first history

    I don’t understand the fixation on Tan Nguyen (a small fish) when you are missimg the most obvious political persecution of Republicans–Senator Ted Stevens. His persecution for missing paperwork demonstrates the comtempt the Justice Department has for the Ameican people. By not supporting the President and the party, DOJ cost the Republicans a fine leader and America a true hero.

  30. 30. Jeff

    Obama’s Justice Department is going to mirror him and his leftist illuminati cabinet. It will be a bunch of back-stabbers who are only out for their own interests.

  31. Nevertheless, the article makes for interesting discussions on the whole anonymity issue of online teaching and learning, and I’m looking forward to hearing my students’ responses to this.

  32. 32. JACK ORR

    Crooked chicago cops are in the mob their trying to cover up for them for they wont get the friends in trouble, and crooked cops are screwing with all my lawyers for they wont pay for their crimes, dont come to this corrupt city.

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