DOJ Voting Rights attorney resigns over Black Panthers stonewalling

A trial attorney with the Department of Justice’s Voting Rights Section has resigned, citing concerns about the government’s refusal to prosecute a case involving voter intimidation by the New Black Panther Party. A letter of resignation obtained by The Washington Examiner from a former Justice Department employee makes clear DOJ has refused to allow attorneys in the Voting Rights Section to testify before the congressionally-chartered bipartisan U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, despite subpoenas that could result in their being held in contempt.

On the other hand, the events surrounding the dismissal of United States v. New Black Panther Party, et al., after the trial team sought and obtained an entry of default, has subjected me, Mr. Christopher Coates, and potentially at some point, all members of the team, to a subpoena from the United States Commission on Civil Rights. The subpoena is based on an explicit federal statute and seeks answers about why the case was dismissed.

From a lib site:

....hired into the Justice Department during the Bush administration

More recently, Adams asked a question at a meeting of the conservative Federalist Society in Washington that appeared skeptical of affirmative action, wrote a piece for the American Spectator that likened President Barack Obama’s world view to that of Nazi appeasers and argued on a conservative blogging network that health care reform is a threat to liberty.

http://www.mainjustice.com/2009/12/23/the-black-panther-case-a-legacy-of-politicized-hiring/
~~~~~~~~~~

The Precedented Peace Prize

By J. Christian Adams
Friday, October 30, 2009 6:07 AM

The Nobel Prize Committee has been faulted for awarding the 2009 Peace Prize to someone short on concrete accomplishments. Critics, however, should realize that President Barack Obama’s Peace prize is not unprecedented. Another Peace Prize recipient, Sir Norman Angell, won the prize primarily for his ideas, philosophy, and aspirations for the world. And the philosophy that earned Angell his Nobel had a profound influence on world history.

President Obama’s received his Peace Prize, according to the Nobel Committee, for his “efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between nations.” Norman Angell’s Nobel was awarded for similar reasons.

Neither a diplomat nor great statesman, Angell was primarily a writer, an author of books and leader of academic discourse. When awarding Angell his Peace Prize, the Nobel Committee stated “in the work of international peace, there must be a division of labor between technicians and educators.” Angell, they noted, was “an educator, one of those who instruct public opinion, who pave the way for reforms.”

Angell authored numerous books constructing his model for international relations. These included Patriotism Under Three Flags, and his most popular, The Great Illusion. The latter’s central thesis, according the Nobel Committee, is “war is an inadequate method for solving international disputes.” The Great Illusion advocated for a system of international interdependence and a world where large powerful nations did not have greater international relevance than smaller weak nations. Obama’s address to the United Nations tracked Angell’s philosophy so closely it would be surprising if the similarities were accidental.

Angell wistfully advocated for “relinquishing the principle of isolated national defence…and erecting an international authority” to replace “the self interest of individual nations.” The Nobel Committee described Angell as “cool and clear,” and that he “spoke to the intellect.” Most notably, Angell argued, “you cannot kill ideas with bullets.” He believed that an enlightened citizenry, once someone or something enlightened them, would render war obsolete.

Norman Angell won the Nobel in 1933, a most dangerous year for his ideas to gain currency. In January 1933, Adolf Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany. And in the following years, Norman Angell’s ideas flourished and were adopted as policy by a British Government unwilling to acknowledge the Gathering Storm. Winston Churchill, however, regularly and vociferously opposed Angell and his allies. It took Churchill’s courage to stand against this national naïveté throughout the 1930s, usually alone, and always jeered in the House of Commons. The British government followed Angell’s model for international relations and ignored Churchill, adopting timid diplomatic and defense policies.

The 1933 Peace Prize winner profoundly influenced British policy in ways that led directly to German tanks rolling into Poland in September 1939. War did not break out because nations ignored Angell’s advice; instead, the ensuing carnage in Europe happened because European democracies made Angell’s ideas government policy. Europe gambled that Angell’s model would ensure peace, and by the time everyone saw that the gamble had failed, it was too late. Winston Churchill rose to greatness precisely because he opposed, from the beginning, the philosophy of a Nobel Peace Prize winner whose name few now recognize.

Ultimately, the idea of Nazism was killed with millions of bullets and bombs, and millions more brave men and women. Confronting bloodthirsty evil demands more than dialog.

Angell’s arguments were comfortable in 1933 for the same reasons many today find comfort in the primacy of negotiation as the best tool to confront militant Islam, Iranian nukes or a belligerent Russia: prosperous nations are deluded into thinking talk is always the best way to preserve prosperity. Your familiar comfort and daily routine simply cannot be inconvenienced by wars or rumors of wars. The lessons of an entire century, both Neville Chamberlain’s errors, and Ronald Reagan’s successes, aren’t enough to shake awake a populace blessed with comfort and material satisfaction.

Churchill, responding directly to Angell, asked “who is the man vain enough to suppose that the long antagonisms of history and of time can in all circumstances be adjusted by the smooth and superficial conventions of politicians and ambassadors?” The Nobel Committee may have answered Sir Winston’s query for the 21st century.

http://spectator.org/archives/2009/10/30/the-precedented-peace-prize

Town Hall Passions Have Deep Roots

August 19, 2009
- by J. Christian Adams

Health care town halls have featured overflowing crowds and the rise of a popular fury not seen in decades. Some have portrayed these passionate opponents as an angry mob. Videos of these meetings show elected officials unable to comprehend the explosion of opposition to a federal takeover of medical care. Even Senator Harry Reid was flummoxed when he ungrammatically called the town hall participants “evil mongers.”

What the critics don’t understand is that Americans have always been ready to defend liberty when it is threatened.

I recently took my daughters to visit Fort Moultrie in South Carolina. Moultrie sits on Sullivan’s Island at the mouth of Charleston Harbor. We strolled along the sandy shoreline and peaceful fields near Charleston, where in 1776 thousands of deadly cannon shots filled the air. Throughout June 1776, the most powerful navy on the face of the earth sailed toward its target, Charleston, then the fourth largest American city. After common farmers stopped the British regulars at Lexington and Concord, King George sought to conquer the southern colonies through Charleston, and thus snuff out the rebellion.

After dozens of British warships from around the world were ordered to sail to Charleston, volunteers in the South Carolina militia knew they had little time to prepare harbor defenses. The Americans cut down hundreds of spongy soft palmetto trees. They threw up log walls and backfilled the space in between with mud and sand 16 feet thick.

By the time the British fleet was spotted approaching Charleston, only three of four sides of Ft. Moultrie were completed. The future looked bleak for the Americans.

The hot sun and frenzied mosquitoes made our two-year-old protest the walk along the cannons now guarding the site of Ft. Moultrie. The risks and deprivations the heroes of the Revolution endured are mostly forgotten. Today, it is more likely that schools don’t even teach much about the Revolution at all.

So we sat where the mud, sand, and log parapets once stood and read our older daughter a children’s book about the brave Americans who defended Charleston. She was in awe of the story and the scene, the modern harbor and shoreline now peaceful and familiar, where in 1776 men gazed seaward at hundreds of approaching sails that would unleash a war on them.

There is a famous painting of the scene by John Blake White called “The Battle of Ft. Moultrie.” Everyone who criticizes or mocks the town hall participants should see it, for it captures the passion for liberty that has characterized Americans for over 400 years. In the painting, hundreds of American volunteers are huddled tightly behind their wood and mud parapets. Lurking just offshore are nine terrifying ships of the line — the Bristol, Syren, Active, Experiment, Solebay, Sphinx, Friendship, Actaeon and the Thunder. Combined, these warships commanded 300 heavy cannon, almost a gun for every American hiding behind the wood and mud walls.

The two sides exchanged cannon fire throughout June 28, 1776. The British fired off 32,000 pounds of powder and the Americans only 5,000. But the fort’s soft Palmetto logs cushioned the cannonballs and the thick mud and sand walls absorbed the exploding bombs.

During the battle, naval fire blasted the flag of the South Carolina militia off its flagpole. The flag is the familiar “Moultrie flag,” with a blue field, white moon crescent, and the simple rallying cry of “Liberty.” White’s painting shows a brave patriot, Sgt. William Jasper, ignoring cannonballs and replacing the fallen flag on a cannon plunger.

Every June 28, our family flies the Moultrie flag at home to remember Sgt. Jasper and the heroes of that battle. By nightfall, the Americans had crippled all but one British ship of the line. Those that could, sulked away from Ft. Moultrie and headed out to sea. The grounded Actaeon was boarded by Americans, who then turned her British guns on retreating British ships. Charleston was saved, and along with it the south and the Revolution.

Prior to the victory at Ft. Moultrie, General Washington had enjoyed little success in the north. The improbable American victory at Ft. Moultrie in June 1776 lifted patriot spirits across the colonies. Word of the outcome reached the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Members of Congress saw that passionate Americans could actually defeat the king’s navy and they adopted the Declaration of Independence later that week. Many other implausible and providential victories would occur during the next five years of war. But on a hot summer beach in 1776, a few hundred amateur defenders of American liberty hid behind wood and mud walls and defeated the British navy.

White’s painting of the battle now hangs in Washington D.C. It is part of the art collection of the United States Senate. The artist’s son donated it in 1901 so that our “sons may know how their fathers fought to secure the precious boon of liberty.” Let’s hope in the next few weeks some senator stumbles upon the painting and is reminded of the love of liberty that Americans have treasured for centuries.

J. Christian Adams is an attorney from Virginia.

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/town-hall-passions-have-deep-roots/?singlepage=true

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.