Obama Should Prosecute War Criminals

After WWII, the Allies allowed 153,000 concentration camp workers to go home without penalty. Since then Germany leads Europe in human rights abuses.Similarly, Obama ignores the tens of thousands of American war criminals. Rendition, torture and murder assume the back burner.The perpetrators may return to power. They won't forget the Patriot and Military Commissions Acts. One million undesirables remain on the no fly list as targets the biggest being Obama himself.

Repair the Congress? Good Luck to You

The Congress is a money making club. Why on earth would any member follow his conscience, or listen to the people? They can't possibly pay the bribes and graft available from the special interests.
If the opposition makes waves, the incumbent runs a smear campaign documented by co-operative media lackeys. If the opponent gets too close to the truth, a call to the FBI will release damaging evidence on him videotapes of his sexual adventures, the slaves he keeps in his attic, the nuclear secrets he sold to the Pakistanis etc.
The recent lootings by venal officials have been so flagrant as to give every voter a swift kick in the teeth. The outgoing administration doesn't bother to make the usual excuses. They stuff their trunks and suitcases with newly printed greenbacks as they retreat to friendly tax havens.
Mr Obama can deliver all the flowery speeches he wants, but they are meaningless if the vast majority of his colleagues are not incarcerated.

Never Give the Rascals a Free Ride

Never Give the Rascals a Free Ride

President Bush has been a "total failure" in everything from the economy to the war to energy policy, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said. Is she surprised at this?

Until I see evidence to the contrary, my working hypothesis is the current regime has evidence of criminality against many Congressmen. Blackmail and bribery lie at the bottom of this. The FBI must have much of the information involved in this. The FBI presented Bush with 423,000 pages of evidence, which he turned over to McCain. Can we find one patriot who will publish these pages?

Any Congressman who voted for torture, preemptive war, the Military Commissions Act etc is guilty of crimes against humanity. Can we find a judicial system willing to prosecute them?

Impeachment is fine and dandy with me. Putting Rove in prison for contempt would tickle me pink. The point is to let everyone know that someday some way he will be brought to book for his crimes.

by jbpaz

Prosecuting Politicians

Running for political office is an expensive proposition. The candidate must ask contributors to enter a speculative enterprise with no guarantees.

With such long odds, the investors insist on a disproportionate reward. Often, this involves criminal activities. This opens the candidate to blackmail and extortion.

Success opens the new official to the suspicion of his peers. They arrange for law enforcement to examine his background fully to establish evidence to prosecute him. This forces him to comply with party orders the wishes of his faction.

They increase this hold on him with fresh bribes and a laundry list of privileges. If he indulges in aberrations frowned upon by the conventionally wise, so much the better.

Thus, with few exceptions, politicians are afraid to rock the boat. Whistle blower types rarely appear in the Congress. Even a temporary fit of good conscience or a sudden burst of public service can ruin a promising career.

The Congress is a millionaire’s club and a society of enemy combatants one step from Gitmo. By executive order the President can assemble the dossiers already compiled and send the lot of legislators to detention and torture without trial.

Prosecute the Mortgage Sharks

Michelle Singletary

The Washington Post — What's needed is more criminal prosecution, not another commission with little power. After all, we're talking about loan officers responsible for explaining mortgage products with complicated terms and high fees — the types of products that led to the current economic mudslide.

When Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson released the government's blueprint for overhauling the nation's financial regulatory structure, he promised to direct more attention toward the front-line people who arrange mortgage loans.

"Simply put, that process was broken," Paulson said.

To protect consumers from predatory lending and deceptive disclosure practices, Paulson proposed the creation of a federal Mortgage Origination Commission that would establish minimum standards for loan officers. It would also evaluate, rate and report on each state's efforts to license and regulate these mortgage salespeople.

Sounds impressive, doesn't it?

But based on my investigation of one mortgage operation, which has continued to arrange loans despite state sanctions, what's needed is more criminal prosecution, not another commission with little power. After all, we're talking about loan officers responsible for explaining mortgage products, some of which have complicated terms and high fees, the types of products that have led this nation into its current economic mudslide.

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A Few Answers to the Sex Crimes in the Military

By Dana Goldstein, RH Reality Check
1. Increase the DOD's rate of prosecution of sexual harassment, assault, and rape claims. As Congresswoman Jane Harman wrote in a Los Angeles Times op-ed last week, outside of the military, 44 percent of reported rapes result in an arrest, and 64 percent of those arrests result in a trial. But inside the military, only about eight percent of reported sexual assaults and rapes lead to a court martial. Under pressure, the Department of Defense reluctantly agreed last year to create a Sexual Assault and Response Office. It must be held accountable and given wide latitude to create training programs that change the military's sexual culture. And every sexual assault victim who comes forward should be given an advocate to represent him or her through the process to a court martial.
2. Repeal Order 17. Order 17, approved by Paul Bremer, exempts American military contractors from being prosecuted for crimes under the Iraqi criminal justice system. As a result, not a single U.S. contractor has been tried for a violent crime in Iraq, despite overwhelming evidence that contractors have committed atrocities against both their fellow Americans and Iraqi civilians.
3. Pressure the Justice Department to prosecute the crimes of military contractors. So far, the Bush administration has been mostly indifferent to victims of sexual assault in Iraq.
4. Disallow work contracts that waive victims' rights to civil and criminal complaints. Halliburton and its subsidiaries have required employees to sign contracts that waive their legal rights, and require all complaints against other workers to be filed through a "Dispute Resolution Program." American courts have disagreed about the legality of the program, but no one should feel pressured to choose between employment and their legal rights.
5. Require that birth control and emergency contraception be available on military bases. Senators Hillary Clinton, Evan Bayh, Barbara Boxer, Charles Schumer, Tom Harkin, Joseph Lieberman, and Frank Lautenberg have introduced the Compassionate Care for Servicewomen Act, which would do just that.
6. Recruit more female military doctors. One American servicewoman in Iraq was raped by her doctor during a routine gynecological exam. Lisa Smith, the subject of Karen Houppert's Nation magazine expose, only began to come to terms with her rape when she was examined, weeks later, by a female doctor in Iraq. Female medical professionals can be crucial allies for victims.
7. Foster women's leadership in the military. Research shows that one of the most effective tools for fighting sexual assault in a war zone is a commanding officer who, from the top, signals a zero tolerance policy for misogyny, sexual harassment, and assault. With the proper training, more male officers can implement that goal, but it is only through diversifying the officer corps that the military can truly change its culture into one of intrinsic respect for women.

Torture Prosecutions Urged

ACLU's Top 10 Reasons To Appoint a Special Prosecutor

10. Congress and the Agencies Have Failed in Holding Torture Perpetrators Accountable

9. Further Delay in Criminal Investigations Could Put Some Crimes Outside the Statues of Limitations

8. Military Prosecutors Have Not Gone Up the Chain of Command

7. The Justice Department Has Failed to Bring Any Indictments Based on 20 CIA and DOD Referrals of Possible Crimes by Civilians

6. The Justice Department Wrote the Legal Opinions Authorizing Torture

5. The Past Head of the Criminal Division Reportedly Advised on Interrogation Practices, Possibly Including the Interrogation of Abu Zubaydah

4. The Current Head of the Criminal Division Was in Meetings on Interrogations

3. Attorney General Mukasey Still Refuses to Say Whether Waterboarding and Other Forms of Torture Are Illegal

2. Attempts to Shield Government Officials from Criminal Prosecution Were Pursued by the White House, Including by the President and Vice President

1. There Is Credible Evidence of Numerous Federal Crimes

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