tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post6560030602237594407..comments2023-09-15T04:27:57.129-04:00Comments on Commentarama: The Government Giveth, And The Government Taketh AwayAndrewPricehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-75074451708629380242009-11-14T22:49:15.692-05:002009-11-14T22:49:15.692-05:00HamiltonsGhost: That's probably true, but I t...HamiltonsGhost: That's probably true, but I think they'd sell out their country and its Constitution for much less. Like the watch without the diamonds, and in mere 18K gold.LawHawkRFDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17800255923675295515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-48515910808287913272009-11-14T22:42:37.653-05:002009-11-14T22:42:37.653-05:00Lawhawk--I can't help wondering whether each o...Lawhawk--I can't help wondering whether each of the DOJ attorneys will get a Piaget platinum and diamond watch with a personal message from Imadinnderjacket on the back. Bling beats justice and national security any day in the week. And that will be the end of the prosecution of Iranian terrorists and terrorist fund-raisers.HamiltonsGhosthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07777000856977635480noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-68393095427051735002009-11-14T21:41:23.865-05:002009-11-14T21:41:23.865-05:00StanH: I've always planned to do that, and so...StanH: I've always planned to do that, and somehow current events seem to take over and squelch my plans.LawHawkRFDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17800255923675295515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-796957409742157752009-11-14T21:40:20.991-05:002009-11-14T21:40:20.991-05:00Kathy: Nobody truly wants an incident with Iran, ...Kathy: Nobody truly wants an incident with Iran, but something has to wake Obama out of his hope and change torpor. I just hope it doesn't cost any American lives in the process.LawHawkRFDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17800255923675295515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-10131517392882405492009-11-14T20:49:48.729-05:002009-11-14T20:49:48.729-05:00From your mouth to God’s ears Lawhawk! I believe o...From your mouth to God’s ears Lawhawk! I believe one thing that the left has underestimated with the youth is their love of country, and belief in a better tomorrow. Once they leave the clutches of the left (school) they become American in every way, hopeful. You know how at Pear Harbor, that veterans will tell a verbal history. You could do the same thing in SF the epicenter of the counter culture. LOL!StanHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07395708786509590321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-36472762371546174452009-11-14T19:11:14.606-05:002009-11-14T19:11:14.606-05:00"I am absolutely convinced that the seizures ..."I am absolutely convinced that the seizures are in our national interest, just as I am equally convinced that Obama's reason for doing so is far less patriotic or national security oriented. In fact, it may blow up in his face when Iran reacts violently to what is otherwise a fairly minor international incident."<br /><br />Very well put LawHawk!Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17912050025002809281noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-84945473233306592362009-11-14T17:58:09.335-05:002009-11-14T17:58:09.335-05:00Joel: I understand your frustration with the Iran...Joel: I understand your frustration with the Iran issue. We actually do not have a formal declaration of war against anyone at the present time. The President(s) have taken military action against terrorists, and Congress has funded it (reluctantly in most cases). But the seizures in this case don't relate to a declaration of war in any real sense. This was a seizure of <i>terrorist</i> assets, which only incidentally happen to be Iranian.<br /><br />We have declared war on the Taliban, terrorists in general, and al Qaeda only in a figurative sense. All of these are military actions against terrorists and their camps, but there are no clearly defined lines of national, identifiable enemies on whom we can legally declare war in any meaningful sense. In fact, we are going out of our way to make it clear we are fighting terrorists, not the people of Iraq and Afghanistan.<br /><br />I am absolutely convinced that the seizures are in our national interest, just as I am equally convinced that Obama's reason for doing so is far less patriotic or national security oriented. In fact, it may blow up in his face when Iran reacts violently to what is otherwise a fairly minor international incident.LawHawkRFDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17800255923675295515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-15907342483998239852009-11-14T17:53:37.087-05:002009-11-14T17:53:37.087-05:00Andrew,
I remember that the assets were frozen be...Andrew,<br /><br />I remember that the assets were frozen because of the hostage situation, but that they were un-frozen when Reagen assumed office.Joel Farnhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15856960977033430002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-26141335751638230642009-11-14T17:49:42.160-05:002009-11-14T17:49:42.160-05:00Joel and Lawhawk, Weren't the laws forbidding ...Joel and Lawhawk, Weren't the laws forbidding Iran from doing business (or holding assets) in the United States put into place in the 1970s and 1980s? I know they've been after this current group since 1995, but weren't able to prove that Iran "exerts day to day control" over the assets.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-58633553574137063952009-11-14T17:36:10.386-05:002009-11-14T17:36:10.386-05:00LawHawk,
I don't object to it, but we don'...LawHawk,<br /><br />I don't object to it, but we don't have a declared war against Iran. Do we? We do have a declared war against al-Qaeda, the Taliban and all things terrorist, but not Iran. Could it be that Obama wants a war with Iran? I just don't get it. Maybe, I just don't believe the Obama Administration. So far, what ever they have done, it is NOT in the best interests of this nation. Could this seizure not be in our best interest?Joel Farnhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15856960977033430002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-45628683381547339632009-11-14T17:15:26.438-05:002009-11-14T17:15:26.438-05:00Joel: Seizing of assets in this case is nothing l...Joel: Seizing of assets in this case is nothing like communism at all, except in the fact of the seizure itself. Seizing the assets of foreign enemies goes back to the founding of the Republic, and has solid constitutional support. Unlike the communists (and any other confiscatory dictatorship), we have rules heaped on rules, and a full opportunity to dispute the seizure in our courts. Like every other human institution, the law can be misapplied, but that's what due process of law is about. The Iranians will no doubt challenge the seizures, and win or lose, they will have been give the full strength and protection of the law and the Constitution. <br /><br />The misuse of seizure has been most evident in drug-related cases, and some serious revision of the law needs to be done there. But this kind of seizure is an ancient and honorable legal institution. The federal government has certain narrow, carefully defined and constitutionally authorized powers, and this action fits perfectly into those powers. Even the bad guys do the right thing occasionally, even if for all the wrong reasons. I won't slam this action regardless of my intense dislike for everything Obamist. I only question the motives.<br /><br />And there were seizures of assets and buildings under the Bush administration, but none of them were this closely or directly tied to Iran.LawHawkRFDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17800255923675295515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-54549380874893511892009-11-14T16:47:13.589-05:002009-11-14T16:47:13.589-05:00LawHawk,
Almost every step that Obama takes is op...LawHawk,<br /><br />Almost every step that Obama takes is opposite of what GWB did. The taking of property of Iranians is actually in lockstep with Communism. I don't recall an instance where the Bush Administration confiscated a single building because of ties to Iran.Joel Farnhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15856960977033430002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-78812195745052454842009-11-14T16:38:13.000-05:002009-11-14T16:38:13.000-05:00StanH: At least there's one good thing going ...StanH: At least there's one good thing going for us. The 60s generation is inching closer to the grave (and Obamacare will hasten that end). And their influence on today's young people is more apparent than real. Without the constant propping up of the leftist "teachers," the MTV attention span will be replaced by family, church, responsibility and the real world.<br /><br />Of course, David Horowitz and I intend to outlive all our former friends on the left.LawHawkRFDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17800255923675295515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-17062013422142499882009-11-14T16:33:29.930-05:002009-11-14T16:33:29.930-05:00DCAlleyKat: You and I and most of our readers hav...DCAlleyKat: You and I and most of our readers have no problem with the use of the word "evil." It's not nuanced enough or sufficiently intellectual to appeal to liberals and leftist theologians. Yet evil it is, and must be called out. Satan is the Great Liar, and the greatest lie he tells is that he doesn't exist. No Satan, no evil, no problem. And just like Satan, murderous fundamentalist Islamic jihad doesn't exist either. If it weren't for all those murderous Jews, Christians, Buddhists and other radical groups, this would be a wonderful, peaceful world.LawHawkRFDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17800255923675295515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-18614166915325683202009-11-14T15:42:09.787-05:002009-11-14T15:42:09.787-05:00As David Horowitz said the other evening on Hannit...As David Horowitz said the other evening on Hannity. Everything this administration engages in has a direct link to the ‘60s counter culture, and a purpose to those ends. Ho Chi Minh regarded the counter culture an ally, returning soldiers were spat on and called baby killers, Jane Fonda posing on antiaircraft gun positions, Abie Hoffman, trying to levitate the pentagon, and on and on, hell I’m not telling you anything. Given the opportunity that same group, and the ACLU would have gladly tried the Viet Cong in an American court, to make America look bad. These same adolescents are now in charge of the MSM, Academia, Government, and see what the terrorist did on 9/11 as “America’s chickens…coming home to roost.” This is nothing but the leftist attempt to put the Bush Administration and America on trial, it’s a terrible thing, IMO!StanHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07395708786509590321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-28517417297897586972009-11-14T14:19:20.564-05:002009-11-14T14:19:20.564-05:00"First Amendment speech and religious protect..."First Amendment speech and religious protections were never designed to protect mass murderers or preachers of mass murder."<br /><br />I agree wholeheartedly, or wholeheartedly agree!<br /><br />On the 'clergy'..the inability of 'clergy' to see evil and speak out against it, is the same as that of anyone to see evil and remain silent. The weight of their silence was in their perceived role of leader, when in fact the dogma which they embraced should have led them to speak out.<br /><br />It was probably this predicament mixed with the horrors surrounding them that created the situation where they finally had to speak out against, or become completely for all that Der Meister stood.<br /><br />At some time in our lives we are going to find ourselves having to make such choices, but unless one has prepared themselves to know what is evil and what is good they may never get to the choice step.<br /><br />Enter today, where there is a battle going on about defining evil, who decides what is evil and what is good? That knowledge is necessary to get to the "choice" step of the process. For the Christian the "who" has been decided. <br /><br />For the secularist, well...they don't even want to have the debate!DCAlleyKathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13595521064453455995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-38640863278182111422009-11-14T14:11:17.981-05:002009-11-14T14:11:17.981-05:00Andrew: Whatever they decide, you know it won'...Andrew: Whatever they decide, you know it won't be any of the old pros who understand what their job actually is. Maybe they'll use some of the political supervisors who quashed the Black Panther prosecutions in Philadelphia. Or they could bring in former Attorney General Ramsey Clark (omigod, did I really suggest that?).LawHawkRFDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17800255923675295515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-43056323363813863312009-11-14T14:08:25.628-05:002009-11-14T14:08:25.628-05:00WriterX: The Obamists are devious enough to do so...WriterX: The Obamists are devious enough to do something exactly like that. If that wasn't the reason, it certainly fits into their pattern of weakening American national security. Nevertheless, I think it had more to do with the Ft. Hood attack than to their desire to get terrorists into a civilian court. We just need to remember, complicated political questions rarely have one simple answer.LawHawkRFDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17800255923675295515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-26752923905407405252009-11-14T14:04:57.617-05:002009-11-14T14:04:57.617-05:00Lawhawk, what will really be telling is if they le...Lawhawk, what will really be telling is if they let the Assist. US Attorneys (who are generally very competent) try the case, or if Holder appoints someone "special" to handle this.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-71122332603740318422009-11-14T13:52:19.953-05:002009-11-14T13:52:19.953-05:00DCAlleyKat: Even the timid clergy in Germany came...DCAlleyKat: Even the timid clergy in Germany came to see the error of their ways, and at risk of their lives, began to speak out against the Nazi murderers. Many rebelled against their church leaders who were complicit with the Nazi authorities.<br /><br />Jihad is being preached on a daily basis in nearly every mosque in America, and through some misguided sense of freedom of religion and political correctness, the authorities have done nothing. But claiming they can't do anything is baloney. Ask a few of the prisoners in well-deserved incarceration who espoused white supremacy in the Aryan churches how well their "religious freedom" was protected. First Amendment speech and religious protections were never designed to protect mass murderers or preachers of mass murder.<br /><br />Imagine what would happen if Christian churches started preaching a "New Crusade" against Muslims, complete with arms-gathering and instruction manuals. Of course, to listen to the rabid left, that is already happening.LawHawkRFDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17800255923675295515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-4177819608793173682009-11-14T13:42:32.657-05:002009-11-14T13:42:32.657-05:00Joel: Even Bush had a bad habit of prefacing ever...Joel: Even Bush had a bad habit of prefacing every remark about jihadists with some smarmy comment about not judging all Muslims by a few extremists. The guilty pleas were also taken at a time when enhanced interrogation was already under the looking glass, and <i>habeas corpus</i> procedures had been successfully questioned in relation to foreign nationals for the first time in American history.<br /><br />It was a very unfortunate chapter in American legal history, but a very fortunate one for the terrorist murderers.LawHawkRFDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17800255923675295515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-55439110868915752962009-11-14T13:37:16.877-05:002009-11-14T13:37:16.877-05:00Andrew: as we both know, double-think is a charac...Andrew: as we both know, double-think is a characteristic of our radical "civil rights" left. I would have preferred a court in the Fourth District as well, but we both know that at least in this one instance, the feds do something better than the states. The courts are far more efficient, and verdicts tend to be much quicker and more sensible. Our real problem here is prosecution by a Justice Department that doesn't even see the terrorists as simple murderers. They're misguided freedom fighters. It will be a very poor prosecution case, by a department that sees procedural due process as more important than substantive due process. They'll blow it in pretrial, they'll blow it in trial, they'll fail to object to outrageous defense motions and phony evidence, and there will be national security leaks galore.LawHawkRFDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17800255923675295515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-33720559440341783052009-11-14T13:33:43.005-05:002009-11-14T13:33:43.005-05:00LawHawk, it makes you wonder if acting all tough o...LawHawk, it makes you wonder if acting all tough on the Iranians was only cover to soften the blow from allowing the terrorists to be tried in NY? This may sound all conspiracy theory but I have to admit it crossed my mind.Writer Xhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16505411188186283813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-4893091018143795132009-11-14T13:28:30.624-05:002009-11-14T13:28:30.624-05:00WriterX: You have a good point. However, ridding...WriterX: You have a good point. However, ridding ourselves of terrorist organizations completely is like eating an elephant--you do it a bite at a time. If this were not such an ideological and cynical unAmerican administration, I would be sincerely applauding this as a good start. A first bite if you will. But after so many betrayals by Obama and Holder, I can't believe this is anything but another dog and pony show. After some of them are found not guilty on ridiculous procedural grounds, Holder will hire them as poll workers in Philadelphia.LawHawkRFDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17800255923675295515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-66580992922842255552009-11-14T13:21:48.743-05:002009-11-14T13:21:48.743-05:00StanH: We 60s radicals had some major misguided i...StanH: We 60s radicals had some major misguided ideals, and the attacks on American troops were happening thousands of miles across the Pacific. Today's radicals have an advantage we didn't have. Major attacks by terrorists on American soil. It was one thing for us to be blind in the abstract, quite another for them to be willfully blind to what is going on right in front of them.<br /><br />And as horribly wrong as we were about so many things, we didn't gather up Viet Cong murderers and transfer them to the United States mainland to be tried in civilian courts.LawHawkRFDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17800255923675295515noreply@blogger.com