It had been thought that Barack Obama’s choice for Attorney General, Eric Holder, would potentially face some stiff questioning at his confirmation hearing that got underway on January 15. Holder was expected to be questioned about his role in the Clinton pardon scandal that centered around fugitive financier Mark Rich who had been indicted for tax evasion and illegal trading with Iran. He was also expected to be asked about waterboarding and about his experience as acting attorney general at the justice department during the investigation into the Branch Davidian massacre at Waco during Janet Reno's tenure as Attorney General.

The potential criticism of Holder, however, appeared to get short shrift at the hearings. According to the Washington Post, Holder "brushed aside Republican concerns about his record yesterday as he charted a new, less divisive course for the Justice Department on issues of national security, civil rights and financial crime."

Most notably, in a refreshing reversal of the Bush administration's embrace of torture of detainess, Holder indicated that he considered waterboarding to be torture. "If you look at the history of the use of that technique," Holder said according to the Chicago Tribune, "we prosecuted our own soldiers for using it in Vietnam. ... Waterboarding is torture."

Nonetheless, Holder also indicated that he would not reverse some of the troubling policies of the Bush administration. According to the Washington Post, Holder maintained the dubious assessment that the nation remains in a state of war and indicated support for some Bush administration domestic wiretapping laws.

There remain, moreover, troubling questions about his career. Holder has been involved, in one way or another, in a number of the most noteworthy scandals of the last two decades. These include:

• Waco Branch Davidian massacre
• Elian Gonzales tragedy and trauma
• Pardoning of Weather Underground terrorists and FALN Puerto Rican terrorists for Pres. Clinton
• Chiquita Brands International-funded death squad in Columbia
• Ties to and work done for, disgraced Illinois Governor Balgojevich’s gaming board

Examining just one of the above shows Holder, according to the LATimes, playing an active role at the DOJ pushing for an end to opposition for clemency for 16 members of two very violent Puerto Rican terrorist organizations. When called before Congress to explain his actions, Holder refused to answer numerous questions on why his subordinates were instructed to draft a neutral “options memo” that allowed the commutations and also granted political cover to those involved.

Apart from his background, Holder’s firearms policy is in direct contradiction to the Bill of Rights. Earlier he co-signed an amicus brief with Janet Reno in the District of Columbia v. Heller case that argued that the Second Amendment is a “collective” right, not an individual right, and insisted that this interpretation has been the consistent policy of the Department of Justice officials since FDR’s administration — which is quite telling, and troubling, since the language of the Second Amendment is quite clear. When Holder was Deputy Attorney General under Janet Reno, he argued in United States v. Emerson that the Second Amendment was no barrier to gun confiscation, even for guns held by on duty National Guardsmen.

It is always to be hoped that the nation's attorney general will be a zealous propent of the rule of law, rather than a party aparatchik and idealogue. While Holder may represent, in some instances, a rejection of some of the Bush administration's most prominent policies, a full analysis presents a picture of a man who has carefully cultivated his establishment connections in a long career of moving in insider circles in Washington. He is again another example that the Obama administration is not so much interested in engendering the "change we need" as in perpetuating the establishment's control of the reins of power.

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archtoplee said:

	Get the word out. Use this article to point out to Obama supporters,( who were rightfully critical of Bush attorney general Ashcroft for wire tapping American citizens), but aren't holding Eric Holder to the same standards.
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January 16, 2009
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Peter Steele said:

RE: Democrats Corruption and Will Go Out Of Business The New York Times and The Democrats will go out of business if Philip M. Crane's Regnery book "The Democrat's Dilemma" is true and has merit. Hal Shurtleff as a family friend told me he has a copy of the book as I told him about it. Dad helped Conservative Republican Crane with the book before being fired from General Electric Company by the socialst LBJ. I had told people that the Republicans from the Goldwater Wing were limited Constitutional government and capitalists and had Goldwater been President, Vietnam would not have been the tragedy that it was as we agreed on that. I warned Jan Scruggs of the Vietnam Wall about this as Vietnam was the devil's doing as I was there in DaNang in 1968 witnessing Marxist-Leninist cruelty. The CIA did a horrible job in 'Nam costing us precious military lives. RADM Peter Steele, USN is with Judge Roy Moore's Ten Commandments in Alabama and I had my portrait taken at Greenwich Baptist Church with my American POW/MIA's In Vietnam Still Missing Not Forgotten hat on. The portrait will reside next to my Dad's Valley Forge Freedoms Foundation award on the fireplace mantle of my humble home. BGen Peter F. Steele, USMC [Ret]

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January 17, 2009
Votes: +0

Peter Steele said:

RE: The Constitution and The Second Amendment The Constitution's framers said that Congress has no right to restrict or forbid the right to keep and bear arms - this is the opposite of what Senator Chuck Schumer and Diane Feinstein wants as well as the gun grabbing United Nations. Our Founding Fathers feared tyranny on our citizens more than any thing else and George Washington said government is a fearsome master and not of elequence. I have guns as my late father RADM Peter Steele, USN had them and he spoke to the Daughters of the American Revolution in the need for self-defense. Dad was the patriot as far as Brown University is concerned while IBM's Thomas J. Watson, Jr. was not. Dad was not CFR or Trilateral Commission but a Mayflower and a Son of the American Revolution winning a George Washington Valley Forge Freedoms Foundation award in the summer of 1957. Ted Kennedy is a KGB traitor as is Thomas J. Watson, Jr.

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January 18, 2009
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novaflare2 said:

... Give them time archtoplee they will turn in to obama haters just like the bush supporters who turned bush haters. It never fails to amaze. Those who elect the president end up being the same who bash him ahh well you'll have that in this world of protest every thing. Seem like any more this world is full of those who will ither sue for any thing or protest over every thing. Wow this comment section needs work im on my 3rd or 4th set of letters for the useless security image

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January 20, 2009
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