And it happened more rapidly than I thought. Conyers has asked for a resolution to bring contempt charges against Harriet Myers and Joshua Bolten.
These are criminal contempt charges. As noted below, the DOJ will not enforce criminal contempt charges. Naturally, progressives will blame Democrats, not the Bush Justice Department, for allowing Myers and Bolten to get away scot free. Remember the rule: No matter who does what, we must ALWAYS hate the Dems. Any other reaction is thoughtcrime.
UPDATE: Did I call the shot, or what? I don't mean to pick on Brad Friedman, one of the handful of truly great bloggers. (My faves being Josh Marshall, Brad Friedman, Larisa Alexandrovna and Marcy Wheeler.) But his readers are vile. One of them even refers to John Conyers as "Demo-CONyers," a DemoCon being the equivalent of a neocon. This, after John Conyers brought contempt charges against Bolten and Myers!
Basically, most "progressive" venues have turned into Dem-hate orgies. Which means that such sites should (objectively speaking) now be considered tools of the Republican Party.
13 comments:
Joseph,
Perhaps Mukasey, as part of his confirmation, will be asked if he would enforce such a subpeona?
I mean enforce the citations of contempt. (Sorry, I'm not at home and am in a hurry!)
Boy, wouldn't THAT be a good idea? But we already know what Mukasey would do...
Joseph,
Good for Conyers, and good for the country as well. Sadly, you're right--there will still be the Dem-hate, even though Conyers is doing EXACTLY what should be done.
Now...will the Republicans who protest this suffer? Will the MSM hold them to account? Will the Purists? The possiblity is probably nil.
That said, there should be calls going to Conyers to congratulate him and also the give him support.
have you heard anything about this joseph?
House passes the "Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act"
House Passes Thought Crime Prevention Bill
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7243
It passed the House 404 - 6, on October 23, 2007
There were 22 abstentions
The six Nay votes:
Rep. Neil Abercrombie [D, HI-1]
Rep. Jerry Costello [D, IL-12]
Rep. John Duncan [R, TN-2]
Rep. Jeff Flake [R, AZ-6]
Rep. Dennis Kucinich [D, OH-10]
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher [R, CA-46]
This bill is to reinforce Homeland Security laws with tighter Orwellian values.
Sounds like it is directed towards anyone who doesn't believe the official fairy tales of certain events and in general. I have heard nothing about this in the press.
Big Brother: House passes the "Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act"
House Passes Thought Crime Prevention Bill
by Lee Rogers
Global Research, November 2, 2007
The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed HR 1955 titled the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007. This bill is one of the most blatant attacks against the Constitution yet and actually defines thought crimes as homegrown terrorism. If passed into law, it will also establish a commission and a Center of Excellence to study and defeat so called thought criminals. Unlike previous anti-terror legislation, this bill specifically targets the civilian population of the United States and uses vague language to define homegrown terrorism. Amazingly, 404 of our elected representatives from both the Democrat and Republican parties voted in favor of this bill. There is little doubt that this bill is specifically targeting the growing patriot community that is demanding the restoration of the Constitution.
concerned in SF
`SEC. 899F. PROTECTING CIVIL RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES WHILE PREVENTING IDEOLOGICALLY-BASED VIOLENCE AND HOMEGROWN TERRORISM.
`(a) In General- The Department of Homeland Security's efforts to prevent ideologically-based violence and homegrown terrorism as described herein shall not violate the constitutional rights, civil rights, and civil liberties of United States citizens and lawful permanent residents.
`(b) Commitment to Racial Neutrality- The Secretary shall ensure that the activities and operations of the entities created by this subtitle are in compliance with the Department of Homeland Security's commitment to racial neutrality issued in an Department-wide Memorandum on June 1, 2004.
`(c) Auditing Mechanism- The Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Officer of the Department of Homeland Security will develop and implement an auditing mechanism to ensure that compliance with this subtitle does not result in a disproportionate impact, without a rational basis, on any particular race, ethnicity, or religion and include within its annual report to Congress required under section 705.'.
(b) Clerical Amendment- The table of contents in section 1(b) of such Act is amended by inserting at the end of the items relating to title VIII the following:
It appears that this bill is for getting a grant to do research on why people react violently to our government and it's people. The paranoid part of me "knows" that this is going to be used to study the ALF, Earth First and other left leaning environmentalists than groups committed to do harm to People not property. Makes me think of the white supremacist in Texas who was making Sarin nerve gas and was given less time that one of those Teens who set ablaze some hummers in california. And in both cases no BODY was hurt.
Dumb legislation or part of the 9/11 commission recommendations?
FWIW (not necessarily all that much), it looks like the one commenter you singled out at BRAD BLOG was, until recently, very much Cannon-esque in his scorn for those who would bash the Dems. Looks like he's now turned a page. Much to my surprise, actually.
Read way back and you'll find him defending the Dems, charging that they can only do so much with Reps, in charge, and otherwise using similar rhetoric to JC's in excoriating those who'd blame Dems for not doing enough.
Something's changed. Him? Or the Dems? We report, you decide.
Well, most of the comments I saw were pretty bad. And not just on you site -- also the reaction to your work on DU. I mean, jeez -- this is how they respond to Conyers bringing contempt charges! As recently as a year and a half ago, Conyers would have been practically worshiped for that action.
So, yeah, something has changed. At any rate, I'm certainly not blaming YOU Brad.
But I do know that when Dem-hate becomes the political default position, the Republicans benefit. Always.
Joseph,
You were right--it didn't take long for the long knives to come out and start on Conyers.
It's bad enough when the MSM just plain ignored the story. It's worse in the sense that Conyers is doing what needs to be done, but it is not enough for some.
I have a guess on the rise in Dem hate...call it the dark side of instant gratification. Many who voted the Democrats in last year expected Bush to thwarted and carted off in chains in less than three month.
Reality check--that did not happen. And it was not even possible. Any actions taken to hold Bush to account take time, and with less than two years left, the Dems face numerous obstacles, both within their party and without.
I know, we keep hearing, "What about Nixon? Look at how fast that all happened!" Well...sorry to bust the bubble, but there were MORE Dems in Congress then.
It took the Repubs four years to investigate and impeach Clinton, even though they had won control of both houses two years after Clinton's election (and they had a stronger majority). Has everyone forgotten this?
The Democratic majority is not great in the House. It is razor thin in the Senate. With these factors, it's a miracle that anything is done.
But Dem hate obscures all of this in favor of sound and fury. Would it be too much to ask if some of that could be directed at SHAMING the Republicans into supporting actions to hold this Administration accountable? Remind them that they spared no expense to investigate Clinton because of "rule of law"? That they are supposed to be the moral party--but they are supporting the most immoral President in American history?
To the Dem haters out there...Dem hate takes the focus off the Republicans and allows them to walk away unscathed. And if you think I'm wrong, remember 2000. The lead-up to that election featured Gore getting it from ALL sides, with a strong dose of Dem-hate directed at him.
Result? Look around.
Not too long ago Conyers agreed to have his wrists slapped for probable ethics violations related to his using his staff for non-official business -- things like babysitting and running errands. Democrat Dr. Cyril Wecht, as Medical Examiner of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, has been under federal indictment for allegedly using his staff for the same kinds of things. Wecht was indicted in January 2006, Conyers made his peace in late 2006. If I may paraphrase General Buck Turgidson: "Mr. President, I smell a syllogism."
If the DOJ will bring criminal charges of fraud against a popular and powerful Democrat for mickeymouse nano-technical 'violations' (like, "Ms. Withers, will you stay until 4:45 to let the caterer deliver the blintzes and knishes order, please?");
and If it's the easiest thing in the world to shake down a vulnerable staff member who will turn against the newly-seated Democratic Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee (who also happens to be a 'surviving' member of Chairman Peter Rudino's House Jusiciary Committee which voted to impeach Nixon);
Then, isn't it easy to conclude that Chairman Conyers understood that the DOJ, via its FBI, asked him politely to STFU about certain things and to mind his table manners according to Speaker Pelosi's Play Book of Etiquette?
(I'm from Pittsburgh and I know Dr. Wecht, who went through the same thing 20 years ago, but wasn't indicted, and mererly agreed to pay money for the 'non-official' uses he made of the coroner's lab. Former Pennsylvania governor and US Attorney General Richard Thornburgh (Republican), who's Wecht's lawyer in the case, testified in the House that the Wecht case was politically motivated, mean and dirty.)
It's obvious to me that Dr. Wecht's being indicted in early 2006 was a warning shot to a lot of Democrats; in effect, his case was like the butterfly's flapping its wings in Chile and making a hurricane in the Atlantic. DOJ seeded the clouds by firing unsupportive US Attorneys and replacing them with attorneys who made their Faustian bargains at the stained and stinky hems of Monica Goodling's garments.
Luckily, the antidote was the October surprise of pagefuckergate and Hastert's gracious silence.
I'd write more (of the same), but I must go vote now...
At the risk of sounding paranoid, I must say anyway that I noticed comment posters at many blogs would "act normal" for awhile. Then, hoping you had built up a trust toward their opinions, they would jump right off the cliff - probably hoping to take some with them. It just seems that they are "acting normal" for longer now.
Miss P.
I think progressives are terrified of Republicans. That's why they waste all their energy attacking their fellow Democrats. They're chickenshits, afraid to face the real enemy.
Some of these so called "vile progressives" are not progressives but Rovian trouble makers. Geesh! The constant name calling and sniping makes this site tiresome.
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