The Obama creed: Save American lives, get disbarred

A Justice Department inquiry of Bush administration lawyers who wrote memos authorizing the use of enhanced interrogation techniques of enemy combatants –  such as top Al Qaeda official Abu Zubaydah and other terrorist suspects — has concluded that the authors committed “serious lapses of judgment” but should not be criminally prosecuted.

The report by the Office of Professional Responsibility, an internal ethics unit within the Justice Department, is instead expected to request that state bar associations consider possible disciplinary action, including reprimands or even disbarment, for some of the lawyers involved in writing the legal opinions. One is now a judge on the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Retrieving information that hindered further devastation and loss of life on American soil is now a crime under the reign of Obama.

Until recently, the Obama administration had maintained it would not investigate or prosecute the lawyers. Recently Obama said, “Nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past.”

But Team Obama’s stated refusal to support prosecution of Bush officials never sat well with the leftwing blogosphere, which blew up this week with threats to withhold donations and support from Democrats if investigations aren’t forthcoming, wrote Gary Bauer in an article in Human Events  titled, Prosecuting War Crimes: Will Pelosi Need a Lawyer?

The CIA believes that “the intelligence acquired from these interrogations has been a key reason why al Qaeda has failed to launch another disastrous attack in the West, leading to the discovery of a plot, the ‘Second Wave,’ … to use East Asian operatives to crash a hijacked airliner’ into a building in Los Angeles.”

Waterboarding caused not one death. But three thousand non-combatants died on September 11, 2001. People who showed up for work or boarded a plane on a bright autumn morning.

Yet waterboarding is considered too tough to retrieve the information that saved American lives.

We recommend Debra Saunders excellent column, Los Angeles or waterboarding.

In case you had any doubt about which way the media leans

A bone from the Republic

The daily has an unexpected editorial today regarding the investigative probes of decisions made by Bush officials in the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks.

Titled, Obama shouldn’t torture nation with witch hunt, the editorial by Doug MacEachern begins:

By opening the door to investigations – and, quite plausibly, criminal trials – of former Bush administration officials for the decisions they made in the aftermath of Sept. 11, President Barack Obama is threatening to untrack his ambitious political agenda.There will be no oxygen for anything else. Is this really what the president wants?Wasted policy goals, however, may be the least of the president’s concerns if he fails to resist the maelstrom he is helping to gather.

Indeed, it threatens far more than just the president’s policies. The potential consequences of the president’s decision on this matter ultimately may mar Obama’s entire promising legacy.

Health-care reform . . . tax reform . . . the many and sweeping social policies that the new president envisioned prior to his election . . . all of it could be consumed in the grand, spiraling, political spectacle that surely will erupt should hearings and investigations commence.

 By acquiescing to his angriest, most vindictive, Bush-loathing base, Obama risks unleashing political and cultural divisions that would make the battles over the Clinton-Lewinsky affair seem like child’s play.

Read it in its entirety here.

Although there is much to disagree with in the flowery sentiments regarding the Obama administrations alarming overhaul of the foundations of this nation, we do agree with the basic premise of not feeding red meat to the extreme liberal base. In attempting to win praise from those already in the left corner of the arena, the administration subjects this nation to unparalleled harm and international ridicule.

Sandra O’Connor: Case closed

In a New York Times interview with former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the Arizona native promotes her website aimed at middle-schoolers and their teachers.

Conservatives had reason to hope the 1981 Reagan appointee would be a social conservative, but like so many justices, she veered left, disappointing many as she reveled in her role as the “swing vote.”

In his review, Get ‘Em While They’re Young, National Review Online’s Matthew Franck concludes “…Justice O’Connor has a decidedly partial understanding of our founding history. Not surprisingly, she has a view of our constitutional principles that conduces to the power of the institution in which she spent most of her career. The nation’s children deserve a better teacher.”

Quite an indictment, but not without justification. O’Connor’s single vote ensured the survival of Roe v. Wade, but the 50 + million babies for whom that vote spelled disaster were not so fortunate.

The National Abortion Federation (NAF) enthusiastically devotes a page to the O’Connor Legacy.

And in 1998 the American Bar Association Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities heaped praise on the 1973 decision during the then-25-year anniversary of the decision.

The Court held that a woman’s right to an abortion fell within the mysterious Constitutional right to privacy protected by the Fourteenth Amendment.

In a statement issued on his second full day in office, President Barack Obama reaffirmed his commitment to abortion on the regrettable 36th anniversary, saying “it stands for a broader principle: that government should not intrude on our most private family matters. No matter what our views, we are united in our determination to prevent unintended pregnancies, reduce the need for abortion, and support women and families in the choices they make.”

Last year, Republican President George W. Bush told March for Life participants that he was “proud to be standing with” them.

O’Connor wouldn’t respond to the question posed by the NYT interviewer, asking whom she supported for President of the United States in the last election.

Wanna hazard a guess?

Linda Valdez: If the shoe fits you must acquit

In an especially inane editorial today, Linda Valdez takes her never concealed irate frenzy against former President George W. Bush to dizzying new heights.

She argues that Bush should, based on “the cheers that greeted Iraqi’s shoe-throwing journalist Muntathar al-Zaidi when he arrived in court,” come out publicly for dropping all of the charges against him.

After all, Valdez contends, those cheers indicate al-Zaidi is “a folk hero in the Arab world.” Imagine what stature he would have attained with his fellow extremists if he used a gun instead of a shoe to assault the American president.

Would this editorial ever have been written if the shoe was aimed at President Barack H. Obama rather than George W. Bush?

Not a chance!

If the shoe was flung at Obama, Leftie  peace-at-all-costs, Valdez would request immediate imposition of the death penalty — sans trial.

McCain: Looking for love in all the wrong places

Expected a change of partisanship tone in Washington with Obama

Appearing on the CBS program Face the Nation, Sen. John McCain said that Democratic lawmakers putting together an economic stimulus plan are no more open to input from the opposing party than the GOP was during the Bush administration.

McCain told Bob Schieffer that he thought there was going to be a change in the tone of partisanship in Washington when the Obama administration took over, but he adds that he’s not seeing it.

We couldn’t make this stuff up. Read it here on Yahoo! News.

Ronald Reagan spoke of turkeys

Following tradition, outgoing President Bush is expected to leave a personal letter written to Barack Obama in his top desk drawer. Past messages have offered incoming presidents private words of advice, encouragement and reflection.

George H. W. Bush left Bill Clinton a note promising that he would be “rooting” for him. Eight years later, Clinton’s message to his successor, the second President Bush, also included a copy of the 1993 note the new president’s father had left.

Ronald Reagan, no doubt with that twinkle in his eye, left the first President Bush a cautionary message on a notepad with a turkey insignia, advising him: “Don’t let the turkeys get you down!” In a second, more reflective letter, Reagan wrote: ”George, I treasure the memories we share and wish you all the very best. You’ll be in my prayers. God Bless you and Barbara. I’ll miss our Thursday lunches. Ron.”

We miss you too, “Ron.”  Your sincere love of country, warmth, sense of humor, and grounded conservatism contributed to making American “that shining city upon the hill” you spoke of so eloquently in your 1989 farewell address to the nation.

Bush commutes sentences of agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean!

In his final acts of clemency, President George W. Bush has commuted the sentences of two former U.S. Border Patrol agents whose convictions for shooting a Mexican drug dealer ignited fierce debate.

Bush’s decision to commute the sentences of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, was welcomed by both Republican and Democratic members of Congress. They had long argued that the agents were merely doing their jobs, defending the American border against criminals. They also maintained that the more than 10-year prison sentences the pair was given were too harsh.

Rancor over their convictions, sentencing and firings has simmered ever since the shooting occurred in 2005.

Ramos and Compean became a rallying point among conservatives and on talk shows where their supporters called them heroes. Nearly the entire bipartisan congressional delegation from Texas and other lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle pleaded with Bush to grant them clemency.

Seeing Red AZ has given this subject considerable coverage, expressing disappointment at the administration’s foot-dragging on bringing a righteous end to the imprisonment of these two agents, who were inappropriately sentenced to excessive prison terms.

Breitbart’s report is here.

DOJ considering commutation for agents Ramos, Compean

The U.S. Department of Justice has opened a file on imprisoned U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. A commutation of their sentences is under review, the office of agency pardon attorney Ronald L. Rodgers has confirmed to WorldNetDaily.

Seeing Red AZ has given this subject considerable coverage, expressing disappointment at the administration’s foot-dragging on behalf of these two agents, who have been inappropriately sentenced to excessive prison terms.

Read the WND article here.

January 16: Religious Freedom Day

President George Bush has issued a proclamation designating January 16th as Religious Freedom Day. This special day was first instituted by the Senate and House in 1993 and President George Bush, Sr. issued the first proclamation. The day was set aside for Americans to celebrate their religious freedom.

Read the White House proclamation here.