Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Holder on Osama: We’ll Be Reading Miranda Rights to His Corpse

Eric Holder is the best Attorney General to grace the Justice Department in nearly ten years. If one compares his performance to that of Gonzalez and Ashcroft, he is a god-sent.

Yet the Republicans continually try to score political points and simply hate him.

Quite frankly, I hope Osama bin Laden does stand trial. I hope every family member and friend that lost someone on September 11, 2001 gets the chance to stone him to death. I don't know if that sentence can be rendered yet, as it is usually humanely defined through lethal injection, but, stoning would be too good for him.



U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder testifies at the U.S. House Appropriations Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday.

Larry Downing/Reuters

Maintaining a terrorist in 'detention' does not secure him away in prison forever. Holding a trial removes any doubt they will ever be released again. The Republicans don't WANT to 'get it.' They rather be at war forever and keep the terrorists as POWs. That is not how reality works, they know it, but, they don't care. If the war ended tomorrow, the terrorists homelands would have the right to demand their return. Honestly.

...Law allows indefinite detention

A law Congress passed in 2001 authorizes the administration under the law of war to detain indefinitely those who are deemed enemy combatants. Holder said, if necessary, the administration would use that authority to keep Mohammed behind bars.

“So why are we trying him? Am I missing something?,” asked Rep. John Culberson (R) of Texas. Why put him on trial if the government is going to hold him anyway, he asked.

“You are dealing with a hypothetical that is not going to happen,” Holder countered. He said federal prosecutors would be able to build a solid case and win a conviction against Mohammed through voluntary statements he’s made that can be used against him in court.

Congressman Culberson persisted. “The approach of the Obama administration is that this is a law enforcement action – it is not, we are at war,” said Culberson. “Texans understand that when you are at war the goal is to hunt down your enemy and either kill them or capture them.”

Holder responded that he was aware that the nation was at war. But he added that the administration’s plan to place some terror suspects on trial in civilian federal courts was an important tool in the broader waging of that war....

In case the Washington Post doesn't get it. Eric Holder is the Attorney General, NOT, the War General. I don't believe he has authority over the war theater and the best he can do is estimate the possibility of actually having the pleasure to try him and dispose of his sorry remains.

How come I know that and the Washington Post doesn't?

Oh, wait. I think they are more interested in treating the American electorate like morons by trying to 'make political hey instead.'

U.S. commander says bringing bin Laden to justice remains goal (click here)

Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 17, 2010; 2:05 PM

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said Wednesday that the military would "certainly" try to capture Osama bin Laden alive and "bring him to justice" -- contradicting remarks by a top Obama administration official....


March 15, 2010

AG Holder: DOJ 'On The Right Path' Toward Open Government (click here)

A year after Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. issued new guidelines for releasing public records, Holder said today the department has increased the rate of disclosure—reversing what he called a "disturbing" trend.

In Sunshine Week remarks delivered today in the Great Hall at the Justice Department, Holder said the department remains committed to the principle that “we make openness the default, not the exception” when it comes to public interest in government records.

“While we aren’t where we need to be just yet, we’re certainly on the right path,” Holder said. At another event this morning, Obama officials defended openness policies.

Holder said there’s been an “obvious and encouraging change” in the government’s approach toward the dissemination of information. He praised President Barack Obama’s directive in January 2009 that said, among other things, to resolve doubts in favor of openness and not to withhold information based on speculative or abstract fears....


Bring back the family farm !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Published March 15 2010

Anti-trust law expected to dominate farm hearing discussions (click here)

By: Jerry Hagstrom, Special to Agweek
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to co-host a workshop on agricultural competition and regulatory issues with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in Iowa on March 12 has shown that the Obama administration has a major commitment to stronger enforcement of the Packers and Stockyards Act and anti-trust laws that affect agriculture.


Senior Al-Qaida Planner Killed By U.S. Drone Attack In Pakistan (click here)

By Frank James
According to a U.S. counterterrorism official, al-Yemeni was killed last week in a missile strike in Miram Shah, the main town in North Waziristan, Pakistan.
The U.S. official says al-Yemeni was "an up-and-comer in the terrorist world" and that he specialized in bombs and suicide operations.
The attack last December on a CIA base in Khost, Afghanistan killed seven agency employees.
The U.S. official says al-Yemeni's death would mark "the latest victory in a systematic campaign that has pounded al-Qaida."
That remark squares with comments by CIA director Leon Panetta. In an interview with the Washington Post, Panetta says aggressive CIA actions are crippling al-Qaida.
But Panetta told the Post the terror network continues to look for ways to kill Americans.


Thank you, Dennis. Every life saved is up to us.

It is a good start, Dennis. No one has a crystal ball. We may have done enough with this measure. Time will tell. Filling in the gap to those that are under-insured and uninsured will be an ongoing effort from now until we achieve a good path of reform.

The Right Wing of the political spectrum forgets their constituency is only a breath away from losing their health care insurance. ie: October Fiscal Collapse of 2008

When one is in the top 1% of the nation, they haven't got a clue, NOR, do they want to.



Dennis Kucinich speaks during a news conference to announce his vote on the health care reform.

"Even though I don't like this bill, I've made the decision to support it," he told reporters, "in the hopes that we can move towards a more comprehensive approach once this legislation is done."

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Sign at the Guinness Factory in Dublin, Ireland.

I wish everyone a happy St. Patrick's Day.