Did I Wake Up in the Old Soviet Union?

Someone please wake me!  I feel like I am either dreaming, or I went to sleep in the United States of America and woke up in the old Soviet Union.  Our Department of Justice seems to have turned into the KGB.  I can understand the Obama administration’s extreme dislike for Fox News Channel.  After all, Fox, which just happens to be the highest rated cable news network, is the only major news outlet that isn’t afraid to ask the hard questions of the Obama administration.

I do believe, however, that even the Obama administration has gone too far this time.  As if the apparent cover-up of the Benghazi fiasco and the IRS fiasco were not enough, now the Department of Justice, led by Attorney General Eric Holder, chose to violate the constitutional rights of James Rosen, a Fox News investigative reporter, who was investigating how the Obama administration was handling the nuclear situation in North Korea.  In an effort to determine which State Department employee(s) leaked information to Rosen, the Department of Justice obtained a warrant from the court to obtain James Rosen’s telephone records.  To do so, however, DOJ named Rosen as a co-conspirator in what they termed a case of espionage.

It is a shame that our Attorney General lacks knowledge of the law.  As a former holder of a TOP SECRET security clearance with access to special intelligence information, I thoroughly understand that the responsibility of safeguarding sensitive or classified information rests with the government employee possessing the information.  It is the responsibility and duty of the reporter to ask the questions.  If answering the questions would result in divulging sensitive or classified information, then the possessor of the information is bound by law not to release the information.  All he/she has to do is decline to answer the question, explaining that he/she is unable to answer because the information is classified.  It’s quite simple.

It appears to this writer that this is not truly a matter of an espionage investigation, at least not as far as James Rosen is concerned.  Instead, it appears that this is simply a heavy-handed, terribly clumsy attempt to intimidate Fox News and anyone else who dares to investigate the Obama administration.

The Obama administration in general, and the Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service in specific, have gone way over the line this time.  It is past time that someone inform Mr. Obama and his cohorts that this is still the United States of America, still governed by the Constitution of the United States (not Chicago politics), and Mr. Obama and his administration need to abide by the law.  Mr. Obama is the President of the United States, not King (or dictator) of the United States!

Contempt Vote on Attorney General Holder

When the House of Representatives held the vote on whether or not to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, most of the Democrats chose to take the low road.  Instead of coming down on the side of integrity and demanding that Mr. Holder cooperate with the House Oversight Committee, they chose to play the race card.  Nancy Pelosi declared that it was all about denying minorities their right to vote.  Her comment indicates that either Ms. Pelosi is either an idiot, or she is so far out of touch with reality, she ought not to be in the Congress.

When the 108 or so Democrats decided to “take their marbles and go home”, because they couldn’t control the proceedings, they demonstrated just how immature they really are.  As Herman Cain said, “They acted like spoiled children.”  He nailed their behavior as accurately as anyone has.

It is a shame that, of the 193 Democrats in the House of Representatives, only seventeen possess the integrity to demand that Mr. Holder abide by the law and provide the information necessary for the House Oversight Committee to investigate what took place in the Fast and Furious operation that resulted in the deaths of Agent Brian Terry and untold numbers of Mexican citizens.

When the Democrats such as Nancy Pelosi say that the Republicans are on a witch hunt and should be concentrating on jobs, they choose to ignore a number of facts.  They ignore the fact that the Republican-led House has already sent some thirty jobs bills to the Senate for action that are languishing in the Senate, where Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) chooses not to bring them to the floor.  They ignore the fact that Mr. Holder has been stone-walling the Oversight Committee for approximately eighteen months.  Most of all, they ignore the fact than an American Border Patrol Agent and a number of innocent Mexican citizens paid for the botched operation with their lives.

To Ms. Pelosi and her Democrat colleagues, I say, “Shame on you.  You are failing to do your duty, the duty to which you were elected, the duty which you swore an oath to fulfill!  Shame on you!”