American justice: Eric Holder style | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: Jim Bispo's weekly column appears in the Beaufort Observer.

    After seeing the way in which the Marc Rich pardon was handled when Eric Holder was Deputy Attorney General, more than a few people wondered if justice was for sale. After Marc Rich's ex-wife reportedly contributed a bucket of money to the Dems the then Deputy Attorney General gave the Prez (Clinton) a neutral "leaning favorable" recommendation which resulted in a Clinton issued pardon of Marc Rich (practically as he walked out the door at the end of his term as President- as I recall). Of course the timing of the money, the recommendation, and the pardon were simply a coincidence. Of course they were... At that point, the major questions raised about the then Deputy Attorney General concerned integrity. No one even mentioned racism at that time.

    Now it is Attorney General Eric Holder who apparently thinks most of the rest of us are unable to talk about race relations? "Cowards" he called us for not being able to have a dialog about race. What better way to keep the subject front and center - seemingly right where he wants it?? This would be the same Attorney General who seems to think that we don't like his boss or him because of the color of their skin. There are a lot of folks who dislike both the Anointed One and his Attorney General, not based on the color of their skin, but because they have shown us how incompetent they are to handle the jobs they currently occupy. They both claim to preside over "transparent" operations. The only thing "transparent" about either of them is the transparent way in which they both avoid being transparent on substantive issues. There are likely a few folks who dislike them because of their skin color, but a great preponderance of the dislike is a reaction to the transparency of the AG's obviously discriminatory approach to "justice" and the way in which the anointed one seems to condone it.

    We see what looks like an Attorney General who seems to be ready to go to war with Sheriff Joe Arpaio over his alleged (racial??) profiling. We can only wonder how many other sheriffs his troops have followed closely enough to determine how they are doing their job. Certainly, the AG should be monitoring all sheriffs in the U.S. who have ever arrested a black or Hispanic to make sure there was no profiling going on. Or do you suppose Joe gets special attention because he dares speak out about the Feds failure to do their job?? We need to get ready to be inundated by truckloads of statistics about how many minority vs non minority folks are in Joe's jail. And, at the same time, if the NC Governess prevails on the issue of allowing prisoners to appeal their sentences on the basis of statistics, be prepared for more of the same. On the positive side, that should create a lot of demand for a lot of new jobs for statisticians?? (We already have more than enough lawyers.)

    The AG has also gone to war with South Carolina over their willingness to disenfranchise minorities (allegedly predominately black) by requiring a photo ID before they are allowed to vote. Of course, the fact that we must show such an ID before we can even hope to get past the reception desk at our Dr.'s office (reportedly as the result of the Anointed One's signal legislative achievement, Obama care), or buy a six-pack of beer at our nearest mini-mart, or cash a check at our local bank (unless we signed up for one of their Debit cards they were pushing as a "substitute" ID for transacting business with them. I solved that problem by changing banks.) The AG asks for some documentation as to the existence (or magnitude) of the problem the photo IDs are going to mitigate or solve. No one in the AG's office has apparently ever heard of any questionable activities going on as far as the election process is concerned... The people in the Justice Department who asked for documentation apparently haven't heard about anyone stuffing ballot boxes or doing anything else untoward. Sounds a lot like the same folks in the AG's Office who never heard about "gun walking." Hmmm... It sounds as though they never heard of Acorn either and the good work they did in getting folks to register to vote and then getting them to the polling places. They must have not heard of all the additional good work they did in getting those folks to vote - correctly - in the best Chicago "Vote early - Vote often" tradition. And what of the "non-civil rights states" (i.e. those who are not bound by the LBJ civil rights legislation to have everything they do approved by the Justice Department)?? It's OK for them to require photo IDs in order to vote, but it's not OK in South Carolina - or in any other state whose every act related to voting is subject to scrutiny by the AG's minions. Try telling a State trooper who stops you for a traffic violation that you don't have a driver's license and see what happens. Better yet, try telling him that by asking for it, he is disenfranchising you of your right to drive. Yeah, right. Good luck with that argument...

    This would be the same AG who declined to prosecute the Black Panthers who were standing outside a voting place brandishing night sticks in what surely looked like an effort to keep certain folks (now, what do you think he meant by that??) from voting in that particular precinct. Surely nothing to do with the color of their skin or their message. Right again!! Racial fairness seems to run only one way at the Holder Justice Department. It's a good thing that the New Haven firefighters' case was "past the point of no return" when Eric Holder took over at Justice or it might have ended up differently.

    Could this be the same Attorney General who doesn't seem to read (or even get briefed on the contents of) his mail especially when it has to do with something that could be a little "sticky" - like "gun walking"?? Interesting .... So, after being relieved of reading his mail and briefing notes, what do you suppose he does with his time - other than plotting how to keep himself (and his boss??) out of hot water?? Flash for the AG!! It doesn't seem to be working... at least not in your case.

    D'ya think??