Ted Rall for June 25, 2012

Not so far-fetched; there’s Bradley Manning as a precedent.

Don’t ask, don’t tell

What do you expect from a the democrats who lock up Border Patrol agents for doing their jobs.

snap. nutshell. tell it! amen.

^I agree.

The destruction of the Bill of Rights and the U.S. Constitution is reprehensible.

The link you provided [ http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/29/world/obamas-leadership-in-war-on-al-qaeda.html?pagewanted=all ] has some notable quotes:

1) "The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel prepared a lengthy memo justifying that extraordinary step, asserting that while the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of due process applied, it could be satisfied by internal deliberations in the executive branch.

“Mr. Obama gave his approval, and Mr. Awlaki was killed in September 2011, along with a fellow propagandist, Samir Khan, an American citizen who was not on the target list but was traveling with him.”

[The program reminds me of John Yoo’s advice to GWB that would have led to Martial Law with in the U.S. with a mere stroke of the pen.]

2) “Mr. Hayden said. ‘I have lived the life of someone taking action on the basis of secret O.L.C. memos, and it ain’t a good life. Democracies do not make war on the basis of legal memos locked in a D.O.J. safe.’”

EVERYTHING is “good”, until it’s used against US! The purpose of “secret” courts to authorize covert actions is only a smokescreen, and interesting that when Bush ignored the process, it was “good”, now Obama seems to be using it, but still it’s a farce.

That said, if a grand jury, which operates in secret here at home, finds reason to take a case to trial, there is typically a “suspicion” of guilt, to take to a jury of peers, and the “innocent until proven guilty” thing really isn’t the operative. Then it’s a battle between attorneys, rather than a real fight for justice, before a jury of “peers”, which any more, means unemployed morons.

^Ditto.

“This is what saved him from a Life Sentence in Federal Prison, where he should have gone.”-—————————————Actually, what saved him from prison was Gerald Ford’s Presidential pardon, which delivered him from the legal system. (And – if I understand the procedure – he had to admit his guilt in order to accept the pardon.)

“Had Nixon not been able to erase evidence from the tapes, he would have gone to Federal Prison for life.”-———————————————Nixon would NEVER have gone to prison, with Ford already getting ready to pardon him for any and all crimes. That was a done deal before Nixon resigned.

Interesting take from Fiore:

http://www.markfiore.com/

Click on the clip “Who’s on Second?” (06/06/12)

(It’s 3rd in the queue at the time of this posting.)

Tiger you are probally right about Nixon but with the repeated circumevention of Congress and the Constitution me thinks he should have company with Holder on one side and Obama on the other.

pirate227 said “@omQ R: Bradley Manning committed treason.”He embarrassed the US and other countries by exposing lies, corruption and crimes by the US and other countries. Treasonous indeed.By your yardstick, Daniel Ellsberg is a traitor, too.

Constitutions aren’t “quaint”. I’m part of the “rest of the world” and I’m not laughing. Either you have a constitution which provides fundamental principles of law and limits by which a country abides, or you have toilet paper for bowels moving on.

He is a liberal. They are the only ones allowed to be right, according to them.

He did read the PDB for August 2001 but it was not delivered to him until January 2002.

see the usa in your chevrolet

“Uh, excuse me, [Troll]; what was Nixon pardoned FOR? What had he been charged and convicted of?”

Read my avatar: “Please don’t feed the troll.”

You saved me from having to respond to the absolute idiocy of the Troll’s post. Thank you. For further edification of anyone who is yet unclear, I recommend the following site:

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Presidential+pardon

“leaked the news” you mean a rumour? Also I´m somewhat sure people wouldn´t be on some kill list unless there were reason to believe they werent innocent.

Yes, Obama has lied and betrayed us in many ways. But not in this:http://www.towleroad.com/2012/06/the-republican-party-of-texas-really-hates-gay-people.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+towleroad%2Ffeed+%28Towleroad+Daily++%23gay+news%29

Realpolitic or not, Obama is not a Republican.