Inspector General Investigating DOJ For Employee Harassment Of Specific Cases Like Black Panthers

Justice IG probing Black Panther case.  WT.  You heard right.  The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department is actually looking into whether the voting rights section employees have been subjected to harassment, change in responsibilities, or transferred, for working on particular cases. 

Somehow the night stick wielding Black Panther with his comrade stalking a Philadelphia poll station intimidating voters, was petty for the DOJ.   

EXCLUSIVE: Career lawyers overruled on voting case.  WT.   That is correct.  The DOJ bosses blocked the lowly justice lawyers from proceeding, even though default summary judgment against the Black Panthers had already been issued.   

Why?  Obviously because the flagrant violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by the Black Panthers, did not fit political appointeees’ brand of enforcement work.  Laws are to be applied justice blind, right?  Not in the new era of the Obama Justice Department.   

• Attorney General Eric Holder, appointed by President Barack Obama.
• Acting-Assistant Attorney General Loretta King, appointed by President Barack Obama. 
• Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli, Obama school chum from Harvard, number 3 position at DOJ,  raised $500,000 for Obama for president.

When those doing their job properly from within won’t let up, despite being restrained by their masters, the heat is turned up to drive them out.  J. Christian Adams, an attorney in the voting rights division, left after superiors shunned the Black Panther case.  Back Channels: Panther case dismissal needs explanation.  Philadelphia Inquirer. 

Adams wrote that the dismissal of the case “was motivated by a lawless hostility toward equal enforcement of the law.” As for the re-review, “the lawyers who ordered the dismissal … did not even read the internal Justice Department memorandums supporting the case and investigation.”

What’s “most disturbing,” Adams wrote, is “the open and pervasive hostility within the Justice Department to bringing civil rights cases against nonwhite defendants on behalf of white victims. Equal enforcement of justice is not a priority of this administration. Open contempt is voiced for these types of cases.

“Some of my coworkers,” Adams continued, “argued that the law should not be used against black wrongdoers because of the long history of slavery and segregation. … Incredibly, after the case was dismissed, instructions were given that no more cases against racial minorities like the Black Panther case would be brought by the [Justice Department's] Voting Section.”

Christopher Coates, a former ACLU attorney, and now former chief of the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division in the Justice Department, was transferred from his post to South Carolina.  NRO uncovered a troubling mantra at the DOJ that may have been the impetus for Coates’ reassignment.

One of their unbreakable rules is that the VRA shouldn’t be used to protect white voters from discrimination committed by racial or ethnic minorities. 

That is why  Justice Dept. subpoenaed in New Black Panthers case.  WT.   And now EDITORIAL: Black Panther case roars back.  WT.

The overdue need for an investigation centers on the broader question of whether the Obama-Holder Justice Department enforces civil rights laws equally in defense of whites and Asians as it does on behalf of blacks or Hispanics. Ample anecdotal and strong circumstantial evidence indicates it doesn’t. 

But will the investigation expose and penalize the DOJ agenda on selectively pursuing some cases, whereas failing to prosecute overt law-breakers?    Or will political maneuvering thwart the truth?

“Security” patrols stationed at polling places in Philly

November 4, 2008

See:

• http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/sep/13/justice-ig-probing-black-panther-case/
• http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/may/29/career-lawyers-overruled-on-voting-case/
• http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=100
• http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jul/30/no-3-at-justice-okd-panther-reversal/
• http://www.whorunsgov.com/Profiles/Thomas_J._Perrelli
• http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/dec/09/records-ordered-to-explain-panthers-handling/
• http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/192685/coates-speaks-best-he-can/hans-von-spakovsky
• http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20100704_Back_Channels__Panther_case_dismissal_needs_explanation.html
• http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/sep/13/black-panther-case-roars-back/

When People Speak Politics Beyond The Grave

Obituaries and headstones can be so illuminating.

Oh, had Nathaniel Grigsby been alive today.  His request would have been even more vehemently made nowadays, considering the hyper-partisan Democratic party emboldened since 2008.  

The farmer and  Civil War soldier that served in the Indiana Calvary, was a good friend of Abraham Lincoln.  But the behavior of the Democratic Party in the 1800′s made Grigsby enough of a skeptic and disbeliever, that he wanted all those that came after him to beware.

Find A Grave.  Click for biggies.

“N. Brigsby.  DIED April 16, 1890.  Aged 78 Yrs. 6Ms. 5Ds.  2nd Lieut. Co. G. 10th Ind. Cavy.”
Image courtesy of Lisa R. Franklin via http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=25400862.

“Through this inscription I wish to enter my dying protest against what is called the Democratic party I have watched it closely since the days of Jackson and know that all the misfortunes of our nation has come to it through this so called party therefore beware of this party of treason.  Put on in fulfillment of promise to Deceased.”
Image courtesy of Lisa R. Franklin via http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=25400862.

One last time to take a stand.  So the idea of passing on some wisdom has been reprised.  Forget the flowers, send $$$ to anyone running against POTUS!.  McNorman tips us off to Obit: In lieu of flowers, donate to anybody running against Obama in 2012.  WISTV in Columbia, SC.   

Don Unsworth was a lively politically conservative resident of the area, a family man who had a great sense of humor.  He wanted to have the last word through his obituary.  Image and video here.

“In lieu of flowers the family respectfully asks that donations be sent to the American Cancer Society, or to the campaign of anybody who is running against President Barack Obama in 2012.”

“He was not really a big Obama fan,” said his daughter Donna Barnes.

Grigsby and Unsworth are probably slapping down a big high-five on the other side, over their suave manner of reaching beyond the grave. 

Nice to see survivors respectfully honoring the wishes of the dead.  Even for politicking. 

“High-five!”
Image courtesy of http://s169.photobucket.com/albums/u214/mystical_pippin/?action=view&current=highfive.gif.

See:

• http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=25400862
• http://mcnorman.wordpress.com/2010/09/14/forget-the-flowers-send-to-anyone-running-against-potus/
• http://www.wistv.com/global/story.asp?s=13144613&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
• http://wistv.images.worldnow.com/images/13144613_BG1.jpg

Ground Zero Mosque And Neighborhood Retailers Should Be Allowed

Joke of the day.

Also found at Military Spot.

I am appalled that so many of my friends are against the mosque near Ground Zero. We should allow it, in order to promote tolerance.

I propose that a gay nightclub be opened next door to the mosque to promote tolerance in the mosque. We could call it “The Turban Cowboy” or “You Mecca Me Hot.”

Then on the other side could be a butcher shop that specializes in pork.

And then a must across the street — a very daring lingerie store called, “Victoria Keeps Nothing Secret.”

See:

• http://forums.militaryspot.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/6951074/m/761103586/r/895307934
• http://www.123gifs.eu/clowns/
• http://freegif.123gifs.eu/clowns/clown-0009.gif

Low Approval Ratings For Congress Bodes Poorly For Incumbents

The public hates almost everything Congress has done.  WE.  A forthright assessment of Among Recent Bills, Financial Reform a Lone Plus for Congress.  Gallup. 

This is why it is significant.  Job Approval Ratings Low for Both Parties in Congress.  Gallup.

With both Republicans and Democrats in Congress suffering low approval ratings — in addition to the poor ratings for Congress as a whole, it is understandable why voters appear to be in a mood to oust incumbents this year.

“Pitchforks and torches.”
Image courtesy of www.moonbattery.com/…/02/rasmussen_publi.html.

More Gallup cheer.  Low Approval of Congress Not Budging, Now 19%. 

Low congressional job approval is generally associated with large seat losses by the majority party in midterm elections, a sign of potential trouble for the Democrats in 2010.

“What’s that on the horizon?  Millions of taxpayers with torches, pitchforks, and tea bags?!  Good thing I’ve got my Secret Service team.  Jim?  Bill?  Hey, where did they go?”
Image courtesy of http://www.motifake.com/whats-that-on-the-horizon-politics-congress-obama-president-demotivational-poster-51983.html.

See:

• http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/The-public-hates-almost-everything-Congress-has-done-102761814.html#ixzz0zTG029Vp
• http://www.gallup.com/poll/142967/Among-Recent-Bills-Financial-Reform-Lone-Plus-Congress.aspx
• http://www.gallup.com/poll/142898/Job-Approval-Ratings-Low-Parties-Congress.aspx
• http://www.gallup.com/poll/141827/Low-Approval-Congress-Not-Budging.aspx
• http://www.gallup.com/poll/127241/Voters-Issue-Strong-Rebuke-Incumbents-Congress.aspx

Mother Cat Adopts Baby Squirrel That Learns To Purr

When Mother Nature steps in and assigns job re-description.

Mississippi Baby Squirrel Adopted By Mother Cat Learns How to

September 8, 2010

Disappointing Presidential Performance Per Obama Voters

Obama’s electoral coalition is crumbling.  LAT.

What many could foresee in the past, and many others blindly and willfully turned away from, has come to fruition.  President Barack Obama’s magic and supporting swooners are faltering.  What simply is unbelievable, is that it took this long for buyers remorse to become open. 

Some who threw their lot in with Obama expressed a sense of being let down by the man who promised change and pledged to transform the country. Some attributed that to their own lofty expectations and, perhaps, their naivete. Others pointed to what they saw as his lack of focus on the still-faltering economy.

And some suggested they were simply hoodwinked by a smooth-talking politician.

That is what happens when voters do not properly evaluate a candidate before giving their vote to him or her. 

Best admission of being led by a pied piper.

“What I’ve come to the realization is that the president was an absolutely fantastic campaigner. He was a perfect preacher-slash-minister-slash-professor,” said Peter Gallo, a concert promoter in Raleigh, N.C. “He doesn’t have the skill to legislate, to build coalitions. He does not have the skill to bring people in and say, ‘Come on and let’s get this done.’

“Obama.
Image courtesy of http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-165917-.html.

See:

• http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama-coalition-20100912,0,3603453.story

GAO Exposes Misleading Obamacare Claims

Well it looks like Kathleen Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services, has been overstating the benefits of Obamacare, and threatening insurance companies who criticize it with removal from the roster.    

It all started about a year ago.  A Humana Mailer brochure was mailed to Medicare Advantage seniors warning them of the tightening reins on Medicare with Obamacare looming.

Leading health reform proposals being considered in Washington, D.C., this summer include billions in Medicare Advantage funding cuts, as well as spending reductions to original Medicare and Medicaid. While these programs need to be made more efficient, if the proposed funding cut levels become law, millions of seniors and disabled individuals could lose many of the important benefits and services that make Medicare Advantage health plans so valuable.

Medicare was not pleased.  They initiated an investigation of Humana.  Misleading and Confusing Plan Communications to Enrollees Memo from CMS.  

Please be advised that we take this matter very seriously and, based upon the findings of our investigation, will pursue compliance and enforcement actions.

Unable to leave that Humana letter unanswered, HHS made its own brochure and promptly mailed it to Seniors.  But the veracity went tested.  GAO Finds Sebelius Misleading Taxpayers on Health Reform.  Fox Business.   

For example, the GAO says the brochure fails to note that reform actually delivers cuts to the Medicare program, increases Medicare prescription premiums, and cuts payment to doctors. 

The GAO also says the Sebelius brochure made misleading statements about health reform making “improvements” to Medicare Advantage, and that the brochure does not cite the $123 billion in estimated cuts over a ten-year period to Medicare Advantage, which provides services beyond regular Medicare offerings. Medicare Advantage is the private options that about one in five Medicare beneficiaries enroll in.   

And the GAO says the brochure fails to note that “two government analyses have determined that [health reform] reductions in funding for Medicare Advantage may decrease enrollment and result in less generous benefit packages.”The GAO also says the brochure misleadingly tells Medicare recipients that health reform “increases the number of primary care doctors, nurses, and physician assistants” enrolled in Medicare, when in fact, reform only provides incentives for those doctors to voluntarily join or stay in Medicare.

The GAO also says the brochure misleadingly refers to new programs as being available for Medicare recipients, when they are not eligible for these offerings.The GAO also says the brochure fails to acknowledge what the 2010 Medicare Trustees Report says, “that while the financial outlook for the Medicare program is substantially improved as a result of” reform, “the feasibility of long-range improvements is still uncertain, and significant increases in premiums for some beneficiaries may be necessary.”  

But if it isn’t bad enough having the GAO publicly cross check your claims, then apparently it is worse if insurers  publicly clamor because of the rising costs, cutbacks in services, and increased premiums we all pay as a result 0f Obamacare.  They have started to drop policies.  Obamacare bureacracy effect on people is manifesting.

Now Obamacare creators are miffed that any insurer dare practice freedom of speech.   

HHS to insurers: Don’t blame us for your rates.  AP/Yahoo.     

the administration won’t tolerate blaming premium hikes on the new health overhaul law.     

“There will be zero tolerance for this type of misinformation and unjustified rate increases,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a letter to the insurance lobby.   

“Simply stated, we will not stand idly by as insurers blame their premium hikes and increased profits on the requirement that they provide consumers with basic protections,” Sebelius said. She warned that bad actors may be excluded from new health insurance markets that will open in 2014 under the law. They’d lose out on a big pool of customers, as many as 30 million people nationwide.     

 Sebelius: insurers who criticize ObamaCare may get locked out of system.  HA.    

Rarely have we heard a Cabinet official tell Americans to stay out of political debates at the risk of losing their businesses.  It points out the danger in having government run industries and holding a position where politicians can actually destroy a business out of spite.  It also demonstrates the thin skin of our current administration, where Hope and Change means keeping your mouth shut and pretending that everyone is happy while businesses slowly circle the drain.  

Oddly enough, Senator Max Baucus might take his own words a little more seriously.   

“It is wholly inappropriate for insurance companies to mislead seniors regarding any subject—particularly on a subject as important to them, and to the nation, as health-care reform,” Mr. Baucus said in a statement yesterday, playing the role of Congressional censor. “The health-care reform bill we released last week strengthens Medicare and does not cut benefits covered under the Medicare program—and seniors need to know that.”   

Message.  Speak up, and ye shall be sanctioned.   

See:

• http://www.docstoc.com/docs/11854697/Humana-Mailer
• http://cmatest.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/hpms-misleading-mailing-9-2009.pdf
• http://emac.blogs.foxbusiness.com/2010/09/10/gao-finds-sebelius-misleading-taxpayers-health-reform?test=latestnews
• http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/62916
• http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/08/16/bradley-blakeman-obamacare-blue-cross-blue-shield-premiums-consumers-union/
• http://blog.heritage.org/2010/08/04/side-effects-obamacare-causes-some-insurers-to-stop-offering-coverage-for-kids/
• http://blog.heritage.org/2010/09/10/obamacare-and-the-medicare-bureaucracy-a-dangerous-duo/
• http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100909/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_insurance_warning
• http://hotair.com/archives/2010/09/10/sebelius-insurers-who-criticize-obamacare-may-get-locked-out-of-system/  

In The Passenger Lounge

Joke of the day.

In the Passenger Lounge.  Also at Sodahead.

Three strangers strike up a conversation in the passenger lounge in the Bozeman, Montana airport, while waiting for their respective flights.

One is an American Indian passing through from Lame Deer, another is a Cowboy on his way to Billings for a livestock show and the third passenger is a fundamentalist Arab student, newly arrived at Montana State University from the Middle East..

Their discussion drifts to their diverse cultures. Soon, the two Westerners learn that the Arab is a devout, radical Muslim and the conversation falls into an uneasy lull.

The cowboy leans back in his chair, crosses his boots on a magazine table, tips his big sweat-stained hat forward over his face, and lights a cigarette. The wind outside is blowing tumbleweeds around, and the old windsock is flapping; but still no plane comes.

Finally, the American Indian clears his throat and softly he speaks, ‘At one time here… my people were many… but sadly, now we are few.’

The Muslim student raises an eyebrow and leans forward, ‘Once my people were few,’ he sneers, ‘and now we are many. Why do you suppose that is?’

The cowboy removes his cigarette from his mouth and from the darkness beneath his Stetson says in a smooth drawl . . .

‘I reckon that’s ’cause we ain’t played Cowboys and Muslims yet, But I do believe it’s a-comin’.’

See:

• http://www.123gifs.eu/clowns/
• http://freegif.123gifs.eu/clowns/clown-0009.gif
• http://www.sodahead.com/living/passenger-lounge/question-730881/

Memories Of 9/11 Stay Alive

The September 11 Digital Archive.  Peruse the images and accounts at the site.  It will keep alive the memories of the day 2,752 people lost their lives at the World Trade Center in New York, New York, at  the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. 

It is a day to remember the dead.

U.S.A. Stands Strong Still

Image courtesy of http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/US_Flag_Backlit.jpg.

Image courtesy of http://911digitalarchive.org/galleries.php?collection_id=26&page=16.

Image courtesy of http://911digitalarchive.org/galleries.php?collection_id=26&page=16. 

Image courtesy of http://911digitalarchive.org/galleries.php?collection_id=26&page=17.

Image courtesy of http://911digitalarchive.org/galleries.php?collection_id=26&page=21.

See:

• http://911digitalarchive.org/
• http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-11/new-york-nation-to-commemorate-9-11-anniversary-with-ceremonies-protests.html

Quote Of The Day September 11, 2010

Quote of the day.

Michael Palin.  Brainy Quote.

Armageddon is not around the corner. This is only what the people of violence want us to believe. The complexity and diversity of the world is the hope for the future.

See

• http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/michaelpal183551.html
• http://www.gifs.net/gif/index.php3?n=image.php3&image_id=12827&image_name=Speech