VAAPCON part 2

recent troubling articles pointing towards a potential new VAAPCON-like situation:

1. March 2009: Missouri Gov. Nixon Backs Down on Report Putting Pro-Lifers in Criminal Profiling
http://www.lifenews.com/state3996.html

2. report: Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment
http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/rightwing.pdf

April 2009: Confirmed: The Obama DHS hit job on conservatives is real
http://michellemalkin.com/2009/04/14/confirme-the-obama-dhs-hit-job-on-conservatives-is-real/

"...Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration..."

3. May, 2009:

a) "...Attorney General Eric Holder released a statement responding to Tiller's murder, promising that "Federal law enforcement is coordinating with local law enforcement officials in Kansas on the investigation of this crime, and I have directed the United States Marshals Service to offer protection to other appropriate people and facilities around the nation." He also pledged to take steps to prevent related acts of violence..."

http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=why_clinic_violence_is_obamas_problem

b) "...The Obama administration also announced that it recently convened a meeting of the National Task Force on Violence Against Reproductive Health Care Providers, an interagency law enforcement working group within the Justice Department..."

http://www.lifenews.com/state4211.html

c) Pro-lifers Defamed in the Wake of Tiller’s Death

"...Kim Grady, of the National Organization for Women (NOW), has started the defamation of the prolife movement by calling for the Department of Justice to “prosecute as domestic terrorists and violent racketeers the criminal enterprise that has organized and funded criminal acts for decades." But all the leading pro-life groups have already condemned the violent act. We don’t need the Feds to police our organizations!

The language of Grady is troubling. It sounds very much like that which the Clinton Administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) under Janet Reno used to harass and prosecute peaceful pro-lifers under RICO statutes originally written to stop organized crime.

In February of 2006, after a long and expensive legal battle, racketeering charges against Joe Scheidler and other pro-lifers were thrown out by an 8-1 vote of the US Supreme Court.

We will be vigilantly watching to see if there will be a politicization of the DOJ under Janet Napolitano. Pro-abortion organizations and politicians may attempt to exploit this terrible event to resurrect their discredited accusations and to pass laws to restrict pro-life activities and or silence pro-life speech..."

http://www.christianadc.org/news-and-articles/324-pro-lifers-defamed-in-the-wake-of-tillers-death

d) Justice Department Launches Investigation into Federal Crimes in Connection with the Murder of Dr. George Tiller

"The Department's Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas have launched a federal investigation into federal crimes in connection with the murder of Dr. George Tiller. The federal probe will consist of a thorough review of the evidence and an assessment of any potential violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE Act) or other federal statutes. The federal investigation will be conducted in close coordination with the Office of the Sedgwick County, Kan., District Attorney, and the state's ongoing murder prosecution will have the full support of federal investigators.

The FACE Act was enacted by Congress in 1994 to establish federal criminal penalties and civil remedies for violent, obstructionist or damaging conduct affecting reproductive health care providers and recipients.

"The Department of Justice will work tirelessly to determine the full involvement of any and all actors in this horrible crime, and to ensure that anyone who played a role in the offense is prosecuted to the full extent of federal law," said Loretta King, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. "We will conduct a thorough investigation that will complement and build upon the fine work of the Sedgwick County District Attorney and other state and local law enforcement agencies."

Following the May 31, 2009, murder, the Attorney General directed the U.S. Marshals Service to offer protection to appropriate people and facilities around the country. The U.S. Marshals Service has moved expeditiously to implement the Attorney General’s directive with the assistance of the reproductive health care service providers and organizations throughout the country.

In an effort to coordinate the federal government’s efforts in response to the shooting of Dr. Tiller, the Civil Rights Division recently convened a meeting of the National Task Force on Violence Against Reproductive Health Care Providers, an interagency law enforcement working group that includes attorneys from the Civil Rights Division and the Criminal Division, and law enforcement officials from the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Marshals Service and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. This task force was established more than a decade ago to commit resources to the reduction of threats and violence against health care providers on a national level."

http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/June/09-crt-555.html

4. Feb. 2010:

Wisconsin pro-life groups illegally investigated by the government and by police
http://www.cassyfiano.com/2010/02/wisconsin-pro-life-groups-illegally-investigated-by-the-government-and-by-police
Is This Former Stay-at-Home Mom Our Greatest Security Threat?
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=35591

5. March 2010:

Weir Waves Napolitano's 'Right-wing Extremism' Report To Brand Bedell
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/mark-finkelstein/2010/03/06/gma-casts-dem-truther-bedell-dem-hating-right-wing-extremist

6. "According to Wright, the problem is that some of the same people responsible for VAAPCON who worked in the Reno Justice Department are now holding key positions in the Eric Holder-led Justice Department."

a) "Among them is Holder himself, who was Reno's deputy attorney general;"

Eric Holder: Attorney General

"...Holder stepped down from the bench in 1993 to accept an appointment for U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia from then-President Bill Clinton.

...He was a U.S. Attorney until his elevation to Deputy Attorney General in 1997.

In 1997, after the retirement of Jamie Gorelick, Clinton nominated Holder to be the next Deputy Attorney General under Janet Reno. Holder was confirmed several months later in the Senate by a unanimous vote.

...In late 2007, Holder joined then-United States Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign as a senior legal advisor. He served on Obama's vice presidential selection committee.

...On December 1, 2008, Obama announced that Holder would be his nominee for Attorney General. He was formally nominated on January 20, 2009 and approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 28. Following his confirmation by the full Senate on February 2, 2009, he became the first African-American Attorney General of the United States. His installation took place on March 27, 2009 at the Lisner Auditorium of the George Washington University."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Holder

b) "and David Ogden, who is now Holder's deputy."

David Ogden, Deputy Attorney General:

Ogden is currently a partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr and serves as the Department of Justice Agency Review lead for the Obama-Biden Transition Project. Ogden was nominated by President Clinton to serve as Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division from in 1999 and served in this capacity until 2001. He was awarded the Edmund J. Randolph Award for Outstanding Service in 2001. From 1998 - 1999, he served as Chief of Staff to Attorney General Janet Reno and as Counselor to the Attorney General from 1997-1998. From 1995-1997, Ogden served as Associate Deputy Attorney General at the Department of Justice, and from 1994 -1995 served as Deputy General Counsel, Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Defense. Ogden was a partner at Jenner and Block in Washington, DC from 1988-1994 and worked at the law firm of Ennis Friedman & Bersoff from 1983-1988. He clerked for Associate Justice Harry A. Blackmun in the U.S. Supreme Court from 1982-1983 and for Judge Abraham D. Sofaer in the Southern District Court of New York from 1981-1982. He received his B.A. in English literature from the University of Pennsylvania in 1976 (summa cum laude) and his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1981 (magna cum laude). He served on the Harvard Law Review from 1979-81."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/05/post_201_n_155274.html

c) Dawn Johnsen

"What is Johnsen being nominated for again? Obama has been working overtime to make good on the promise he made to Planned Parenthood during his campaign, saying, “There will always be people, many of good will, who do not share my view on the issue of choice. On this fundamental issue, I will not yield and Planned Parenthood will not yield.” You got that right.

So if the promotion of abortion at all costs is the end game here, then perhaps Obama should just commission Planned Parenthood to function as the Justice Department. At least it would save the taxpayers some money. Oh wait, Planned Parenthood already get millions of taxpayer dollars. Well then, perhaps attorneys could wear uniforms like NASCAR drivers: “DOJ brought to you by NARAL Pro-Choice America.” It would make much more sense than what Obama is currently doing.

Now, I know many of Dawn Johnsen’s supporters are quick to point out that she already served at the Department of Justice under former President Bill Clinton. And I’m glad they bring that up, because she should probably be asked about VAAPCOM.

What is VAAPCOM, you ask? Well, it was the “Violence Against Abortion Providers Conspiracy” investigation that was discovered by Judicial Watch, a watchdog organization, after a Freedom of Information Act request. The documents revealed that the Justice Department under Janet Reno started an investigation in 1994 — while Johnsen was a deputy assistant attorney general — where they pressured the FBI to investigate pro-life organizations and its supporters.

Apparently they sought to prove there was a national conspiracy of pro-life “extremists” who were attacking abortion clinics. After months of monitoring several organizations, including Concerned Women for America (CWA), the Christian Coalition and the National Right to Life Committee, among others, the FBI failed to come up with anything. And though the FBI wanted to end the investigation, the DOJ pressured them to continue.

Someone should ask Johnsen, and any other candidate involved with the Clinton DOJ at the time, if they have any knowledge of such investigations. Is this the type of “work” we can expect to see again from the DOJ? Looking at resumes like Dawn Johnsen’s, it wouldn’t surprise me.

You don’t hire professional hunters unless you want to catch a prey."

Dawn Johnsen, Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel

"Johnsen is currently a Professor of Law at the Indiana University School of Law--Bloomington, where she teaches and writes about issues of constitutional law. Her recent publications on issues of presidential power include Faithfully Executing the Laws: Internal Legal Constraints on Executive Power, 54 UCLA L. Rev. 1559 (2007) and What's a President to Do? Interpreting the Constitution in the Wake of the Bush Administration's Abuses, 88 Boston U. L. Rev. 395 (2008). She serves on the board of directors of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy. She served in the Office of Legal Counsel, U.S. Department of Justice, as the acting assistant attorney general heading that office (1997-98) and as a deputy assistant attorney general (1993-96). In that capacity, she provided constitutional and other legal advice to the attorney general, the President, and the general counsels of the various executive branch agencies. From 1988-93, she was the legal director of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL). She clerked for the Honorable Richard D. Cudahy, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. She received a B.A from Yale University in 1983 and a J.D. from Yale Law School in 1986."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/05/post_201_n_155274.html

Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel
http://judiciary.senate.gov/nominations/AssistantAttorneyGeneralOLC-DawnJohnsen.cfm

click on "Janet Reno"

"President Obama announced his intention to nominate Dawn Johnsen to be the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel on January 5, 2009. A hearing to consider the nomination was held on February 25, 2009. An archived webcast is available. icon_webcastThe Judiciary Committee ordered the nomination reported to the Senate for consideration on March 19, 2009."

Feb 10, 2010:
Dawn Johnsen May Receive Recess Appointment, Perhaps Supreme Court Seat
http://lifenews.com/nat5990.html

d) Thomas Perrelli, Jr.: Associate Attorney General

"Perrelli is currently Managing Partner of Jenner & Block's Washington, DC office. He is Co-Chair of the Firm's Entertainment and New Media Practice and is a member of the Firm's Litigation Department. From 1997-99, Mr. Perrelli served as counsel to Attorney General Janet Reno, supervising a variety of civil matters at the Department of Justice. He subsequently rose to Deputy Assistant Attorney General (1999-2001), supervising the Federal Programs Branch of the Civil Division. In 2005, Perrelli was named one of the nation's 40 most promising lawyers under 40 by The National Law Journal for exhibiting "extraordinary achievements" in his career. He has been recognized as one of the leading media and entertainment lawyers in the United States by Chambers & Partners USA, named as one of 500 "New Stars" by Lawdragon in 2006, and named Best Intellectual Property Lawyer in Washington D.C. by the Washington Business Journal in 2008. Prior to joining Jenner & Block, in 1991-92, Perrelli clerked for the Honorable Royce C. Lamberth of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Perrelli graduated from Harvard Law School, magna cum laude, in 1991, where he was managing editor of the Harvard Law Review. He received an A.B. in History from Brown University in 1988."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/05/post_201_n_155274.html

"Perrelli is best known as the right-to-kill lawyer who represented Terry Schiavo’s husband pro-bono in his suit to euthanize his wife.”16 Perrelli, who vigorously defended against the government’s intervention in the case, said that he became involved “not to be part of a difficult struggle in a family, but once the government got involved, when the legislative and executive branch got involved to take the decision away from the courts. . . . Both the Florida statute and the federal statute were really attacks on the judiciary.”17 Family Research Council’s Tom McClusky described Perrelli’s nomination to the Justice Department as “detrimental” to the cause of the pro-life movements (a statement for which he was dubbed “worst person in the world” by MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann).18 The Washington Times reports that, according to McClusky, “having Perrelli at the department means pro-life causes would have a tougher time winning” debates on end-of-life issues that reach the federal level during the Obama Administration."

http://obamanoms.com/FILES/ACLJ%20Memo%20-%20Thomas%20J.%20Perrelli,%20Obama%20Nominee%20for%20Associate%20Attorney%20General%20(012109).pdf

e) Elena Kagan, Solicitor General:

"Kagan, the Charles Hamilton Houston Professor of Law, is currently the 11th Dean of Harvard Law School. Kagan first came to Harvard Law School as a visiting professor in 1999 and became Professor of Law in 2001. She has taught administrative law, constitutional law, civil procedure, and seminars on issues involving the separation of powers. She was appointed Dean of the Law School in 2003. From 1995 to 1999, Kagan served in the White House, first as Associate Counsel to the President (1995-96) and then as Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council (1997-99). In those positions she played a key role in the executive branch's formulation, advocacy, and implementation of law and policy in areas ranging from education to crime to public health. Kagan launched her scholarly career at the University of Chicago Law School, where she became an assistant professor in 1991 and a tenured professor of law in 1995. Kagan clerked for Judge Abner Mikva of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit from 1986 to 1987. The next year she clerked for Justice Thurgood Marshall of the United States Supreme Court. She then worked as an associate in the Washington, D.C. law firm of Williams & Connolly from 1989 to 1991. Kagan received her bachelor's degree from Princeton in 1981 (summa cum laude). She attended Worcester College, Oxford, as Princeton's Daniel M. Sachs Graduating Fellow, and received an M. Phil. in 1983. She then attended Harvard Law School, where she was supervising editor of the Harvard Law Review, and graduated magna cum laude in 1986."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/05/post_201_n_155274.html

"Kagan also played a role in shaping Clinton's policy on hate crimes."

http://obamanoms.com/FILES/ACLJ%20Memo%20-%20Elena%20Kagan,%20Obama%20Nominee%20for%20Solicitor%20General%20(012109).pdf
Sonya Ross, Clinton Opens Hate Crimes Conference, ASSOCIATED PRESS, Nov. 10, 1997