Eric Holder Nailed $120,000 for Meritless Abortion Clinic Lawsuit | Kajunman's Blog

Eric Holder Nailed $120,000 for Meritless Abortion Clinic Lawsuit

Posted on April 3, 2012 

Mr. J. Christian Adams, former DoJ Attorney for the Voter’s Civil Rights division, was a ‘whistle blower’ about the wrong being done in his department.  Of course promptly after his testimony before a Congressional hearing about the corruption in the DoJ, he was fired.

This is a re-blog of one of the articles he has wrote since  joining PJMedia.

I agree 100% that these liberal lawyers, who discriminate against every day citizens exercising their 1st Amendment rights, should have to pay these ‘fees’ out of their own pockets.  Why are tax payers burdened with these expenses when these lawyers are selectively picking the cases they want to try?  So far there are several cases that the court has thrown out and found for the defendant.  Nothing more than DISCRIMINATION.

Rule of Law » Eric Holder Nailed $120,000 for Meritless Abortion Clinic Lawsuit.

Eric Holder Nailed $120,000 for Meritless Abortion Clinic Lawsuit

April 2, 2012 – 5:36 pm - by J. Christian Adams

The Department of Justice has been forced to hand over $120,000 for bringing a meritless abortion clinic access lawsuit against a clinic protester.  This loss is one of multiple lost cases by the Department of Justice against abortion clinic protesters.  The Special Litigation Section is the unit bringing the meritless cases.  It was profiled in the PJ Media Every Single One Series as being headed by and filled with Leftist ideologues.

The Special Litigation Section sued Mary Sue Pine under the “FACE” Act, which guarantees access to abortion clinics.  The complaint alleged Pine obstructed a car entering the clinic by standing in front of it.  Hans von Spakovsky previously wrote about the scalding the DOJ received in the trial court.

Judge Kenneth Ryskamp was left to wonder at the near-total lack of evidence offered by the prosecution. The government was unable to show that Pine had in fact violated any provision of the FACE Act; prosecutors had no evidence that she had injured, intimidated, or interfered with the people she spoke to on a public sidewalk. It was not even clear that the people she was talking to were entering the abortion clinic.

In fact, as a routine business practice, the abortion clinic keeps a video surveillance record of its driveways and entrances. Those videotapes would have shown whether Pine was actually interfering with or obstructing any customers, but the clinic destroyed the tapes. Its sign-in sheets, which would have had the names of potential witnesses who went into the clinic the day Pine was there, were also destroyed.

DOJ lawyers apparently thought the case heinous enough to meet with the president of the abortion clinic the day after the incident. But they conceded that at no time during this meeting or after did they ask the clinic for the tapes or the sign-in sheets. Accordingly, DOJ entirely failed to obtain what the judge called “potentially critical evidence.”

The Court found a strange relationship between the DOJ lawyers and the abortion clinic.   From the opinion:

The Court is at a loss as to why the Government chose to prosecute this particular case in the first place. . . . The Court can only wonder whether this action was the product of a concerted effort between the Government and PWC, which began well before the date of the incident at issue, to quell Ms. Pine’s activities rather than to vindicate the rights of those allegedly aggrieved by Ms. Pine’s conduct.

The DOJ wasn’t so concerned when New Black Panthers were blocking the access with a weapon in a polling place in Philadelphia when Chris Hill tried to enter.  Like so much with Eric Holder, the case against Pine was another example of using the power of the federal government to skewer political enemies.  The New Black Panthers got a pass, while Mrs. Pine did not.

As a condition to dropping the appeal of this meritless lawsuit, Eric Holder’s Justice Department has agreed to pony up $120,000 in attorneys fees to Mrs. Pine. If you think the attorneys who brought the bogus case should have to pay instead of you, the taxpayers, you’re note alone.  Let’s meet the lawyers who were on the complaint in the bogus case.

The first person responsible for litigating the meritless lawsuit is Section Chief Jonathan Smith.  As described in the Every Single One series:

The Civil Rights Division brought in Jonathan Smith to take the helm of the Special Litigation Section. And what a pick! Indeed, when it comes to liberal activists, Mr. Smith is right out of central casting. He served for eight years as executive director of the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia and spent the four years prior to that as the executive director of the Public Justice Center. . . .  He also spent another nine years as a staff attorney and executive director of the D.C. Prisoners’ Legal Services Project, advocating on behalf of criminals incarcerated in the nation’s capital. For local police departments that find themselves the subject of investigations by Mr. Smith’s shop, his biases will surely reinforce the notion that any expectation of neutrality in the Section’s probes is a pipe dream.

Jonathan Smith

The deputy chief in charge of the litigation is Julie K. Abbate.  She was arrested at a World Bank protest in 2003.  Naturally, she claimed she was merely a bystander.  (More on her saga here at PJ Media).

The tragedy of Holder’s war on peaceful abortion protesters is that the DOJ keeps losing these cases, over and over again.  An abusurd FACE case, still pending, was brought against 79-year-old Richard Retta.  The small man’s transgressions?

Retta stands outside abortion clinics “in a blue windbreaker, khaki pants belted high, and brown shoes with thick soles. He carr[ies] rosary beads and a packet of brochures filled with information about the dangers of abortion.” . . . The complaint is larded up with allegations that Retta “yells,” including such intimidating content as prayers or “don’t let them kill your baby.”

The complaint against Retta was brought by Aaron Zisser, another Leftist attorney featured in the Every Single One series:

Aaron Zisser

Aaron Zisser: Mr. Zisser joined the Special Litigation Section after working as a staff attorney at the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia, a branch of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. Before that, he was a fellow at “Human Rights First,” where he traveled to Guantanamo Bay to observe the prosecution of Osama Bin Laden’s driver, Salim Hamdan, before a military tribunal. He wrote a series of blog posts for the liberal American Constitution Society criticizing the prosecution of detainees and suggesting that such terrorists were being deprived of their rights.

Before graduating to his criticism of U.S. terrorism policies, Mr. Zisser interned at the ACLU, the Southern Center for Human Rights, the Orleans Parish (La.) Indigent Defender Board, and the Santa Clara County (Calif.) Public Defender’s Office. A proud member of the American Constitution Society, he also participated in Georgetown Law School’s International Women’s Human Rights Clinic, where he advocated greater reproductive rights (read: abortion) for women. It should thus come as no surprise that, soon after arriving in the Civil Rights Division, Mr. Zisser made it a top priority to enforce the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (the “FACE Act”) against an elderly pro-life advocate. The president of government watchdog Judicial Watch charged that the case was politically motivated and that the “complaint seems like it was written more by Planned Parenthood than discerning professional lawyers.”

It’s one thing for the Department of Justice to enforce the FACE Act.  It’s quite a different matter when Leftist ideologues sign pleadings without merit against private citizens. Obviously federal courts are catching on to the ideologically driven overreach by the DOJ Civil Rights Division.  Wouldn’t it be nice if Zisser, Smith, and Abbate had to pay for their failures instead of the American taxpayers?

[emphasis mine] 

Related articles

• DOJ drops lawsuit against pro-lifer (fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com)
• Eric Holder’s Political Prosecution of Pro-Life Educator Thrown Out of Court(lettingfreedomring.com)
• DOJ drops case against Fla. pro-life counselor (foxnews.com)

Eric Holder – Caricature (Photo credit: DonkeyHotey)

Hungarian President Resigns In Plagiarism Scandal

My reason for posting this is to show that although this is a lot more different than the things President Obama is guilty of doing, there are some people in high places who still have honor.  Still do the 'right thing' no matter what the cost.
President Pal Schmitt of Hungary, wrote a doctoral dissertation 20 years ago, but he didn't write it himself, he plagiarised it.  Now com'on, is that really vile enough to have a man 'voluntarly' resign from the Presidency of a Country??  He didn't kill anyone.  He didn't send anyone to jail for life.  He didn't start a war.  He wasn't found in violation of the Country's Laws that he swore to up hold.   No, he simple used someone else's work in order to get his doctorate.  On the other hand, here in America, we have a President that has comitted many acts that should have called for his impeachment, but it wasn't.  

But to compare, President Obama has never given one thought to resigning because of all the illegal things he has done.  Not once has he been 'man' enought to say to the country, 'I've made a mistake and need to set it right.  So effective Month/Date/Year I'll be stepping down so I'll not be in the way of those who will be correcting my mistake'.

 Can you imagine what it would be like to hear Obama say anything like that??  And then follow through with it??  What a refreshing moment that would be!  

Nope you'll never hear him say anything close to that.  He's so full of himself that he honestly believes he doesn't make mistakes.  He's perfect in all that he does and says.  

And for those who may say he hasn't done anything wrong, here are a few examples:

•  A strong advocate of “global warming”; revealed to be a hoax in 2009.
• Admitted there were no “shovel-ready jobs.”
• Mortgage refinance plan deemed a complete failure.
• Appointment of White House policy “Czars”, one of whom was a Communist.
• Failed foreign policy; Israel, Iran, North Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.
• Mishandling of BP oil spill; slow to react, shut down all drilling in Gulf of Mexico.
• Bowing to the King of Saudi Arabia.
• Stopped the building of the XL Keystone pipeline. Has opposed offshore and domestic oil drilling
• The Solyndra “Green energy” bankruptcy whose loan guarantee cost taxpayers a half billion dollars.
• The “Fast and Furious” gun-running scandal.
• Sued Arizona for trying to control illegal immigration.
• A rogue Environmental Protection Agency.
• First downgrade of U.S. debt rating in nation’s history.
• Wanted to shut down Guantanamo.
• Attempted to stop Boeing from building a manufacturing unit in South Carolina.
• Government takeover of General Motors.
• Authorized military action in Libya without Congressional approval.
• Continues to hide college records, passport and Social Security number information.
• Not a “natural born” citizen as required by the U.S. Constitution (both parents must be U.S. citizens to be President) and thus he was ineligible to run, ineligible to hold the office, and ineligible to run again.

Do you really need more evidence he has no HONOR?

Hungarian president resigns in plagiarism scandal

By PABLO GORONDI | The Associated Press – 6 hours ago

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) Hungarian President Pal Schmitt resigned Monday because of a plagiarism scandal regarding a doctoral dissertation he had written 20 years ago on the Olympics.

Schmitt, who was elected to his largely ceremonial office in 2010 for a five-year term, told Parliament he was stepping down because the controversy over his dissertation was dividing Hungary.

''When my personal issue divides my beloved nation instead of uniting it, I feel it to be my personal duty to finish my service and resign,'' Schmitt said, drawing applause and cheers from opposition lawmakers. ''I ask God's blessing for Hungary and for your work.''

Schmitt, 69, then quickly left the chamber accompanied by Prime Minister Viktor Orban as lawmakers from the governing parties - Orban's Fidesz and the Christian Democrats - gave him a standing ovation.

Parliament later voted 338-5, with six abstentions, to accept Schmitt's resignation.

Last week, Schmitt's 1992 doctorate from Semmelweis University was revoked after a university committee found that most of his thesis about the modern Olympic Games had been copied from two other authors.

The International Olympic Committee said Monday it would review the case and decide whether any action is needed against Schmitt, who has been an IOC member since 1983. Schmitt, who won gold medals at the 1968 and 1972 Olympics for fencing, could face IOC sanctions for tarnishing the Olympic movement.

Hungary's governing coalition said it would hold talks with the three other parliamentary parties to find a successor. Speaker Laszlo Kover will replace Schmitt until a new president is elected by lawmakers in the next 30 days.

Schmitt's resignation - a day after he told state radio he would not step down - comes at a turbulent time in Hungarian politics. Orban, who had made his name by protesting Hungary's communist dictatorship, is now being criticized for pushing the Eastern European nation toward centralized rule.

The European Union, which Hungary joined in 2004, has launched legal proceedings against Hungary because it believes that Orban's coalition, which has an unassailable two-thirds majority in Parliament, is compromising democratic principles such as the independence of the central bank and judiciary with new laws.

The conservative government has also changed the country's media law, a move widely criticized for boosting political control over the press.

Late in 2011, Hungary surprisingly asked the EU and the International Monetary Fund for financial assistance as its currency fell to all-time lows against the euro. However, official talks with the lenders have yet to start, partially because legal changes demanded by the EU and the IMF have yet to be seen.

The laws challenged by the EU, including a few that were partially struck down by Hungary's own Constitutional Court, are among the hundreds of bills passed by Parliament over the past 18 months and signed by Schmitt.

The pressure on Schmitt had been building up. Tivadar Tulassay, the head of Semmelweis University, resigned Sunday saying he had backed the decision to revoke Schmitt's degree but lost the confidence of the Ministry of National Resources, which oversees educational affairs.

Orban himself had avoided the issue by saying the president enjoyed immunity and that only Schmitt himself could decide to resign.

During most of his speech Monday, Schmitt defended his doctorate and said he would appeal its revocation at the university and, if needed, in the courts.

''This is a matter of honor, and my conscience is clear,'' Schmitt said, adding that he was the victim of a political attack. He said would write a new doctoral dissertation about the relationship between sports and environmental protection.

Schmitt is the first Hungarian president to resign since the end of communism in 1990. Socialist Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany resigned in 2009, a few months after Hungary received a (euro) 20 billion ($26.6 billion) bailout from the IMF and other creditors.

 

‘Stand your ground’ laws not just GOP policy, records show

Published: 1:19 AM 04/01/2012

 

Two Glock .40 caliber semiautomatic handguns are displayed in Woodbury, Minnesota on May 28, 2011. AFP PHOTO/Karen BLEIER (Photo credit should read KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images)

Despite liberal protesters’ claims that Florida’s so-called “stand your ground” gun law demonstrates that Republican policymakers are responsible for the February death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, an analysis of its legislative history shows that it was a bipartisan effort — and that no Florida Democratic state senator voted against it.

One Democrat, Fort Lauderdale state Sen. Mandy Dawson, missed the vote. But the rest of the Senate chamber supported it, 39-0.

The Florida House vote was 92-20. Twelve Democrats voted in favor.

And of the 15 states that have passed variations of the law since 2005, the year Florida’s model legislation became law, eight — a majority — had Democratic governors when the laws were enacted. None issued a veto.

Democratic governors who signed “stand your ground” bills, or otherwise permitted them to become law, include Kathleen Blanco of Louisiana, Jennifer Granholm of Michigan, Brian Schweitzer of  Montana, John Lynch of New Hampshire, Brad Henry of Oklahoma, Phil Bredesen of Tennessee, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Janet Napolitano of Arizona – now the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security.  

    

Janet Napolitano of Arizona – now
the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security 

The bills in Louisiana and West Virginia passed with Democratic control of both houses in the states’ legislatures, in 2006 and 2008, respectively.

“Stand your ground” laws typically provide for a defense against homicide charges for a person who acts in self-defense when he believes his life is in danger — even if he chooses not to retreat before using deadly force.

Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm now hosts “The War Room” on Current TV. During her March 29 show, Granholm broadcast three separate segments blaming Republicans for what she described as “the type of [gun] laws that permit George Zimmerman to walk free today.” Responding to a guest who described “stand your ground” as “a bad law … just a bad law” Granholm responded, “Of course.”

Granholm signed Michigan’s “stand your ground” bill into law in 2006.

AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker seems to agree that Republicans are to blame. She told The Daily Caller on Thursday that it is “conservative, right-wing policies that are to blame” for Trayvon Martin‘s death.

Also on Thursday, a group of about 100 protesters representing ColorOfChange, People For the American Way, and the AFL-CIO and SEIU labor unions demonstrated in front of the Washington, D.C. offices of the American Legislative Exchange Council. The activists claimed that conservative policymaking, assisted by the legislative organization, led to the Martin shooting.

Their demands included an “immediate cessation of ‘Kill at Will’ legislative advocacy.”

Martin, an unarmed black teenager, was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, an Hispanic neighborhood watch captain in Sanford, Fla. The  police department’s decision to not arrest Zimmerman has caused an uproar in Florida and across the country.

 

Another $17 trillion surprise found in Obamacare

 

"We have to pass it to see what's in it" -  Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D)

Since this Bill has been passed and started, we have found a true Pandora's Box.  The SPENDING is NOT what we were told it would be.... no, the SPENDING is now up to TRIPLE what we were told.  But when you're all ready trillions of dollars in debt, what's a few more TRILLION?  We can't pay what we owe to China so it doesn't matter.  Just keep spending until they call in our debt and we fold like wet three dollar bill.

I'm just glad I was allowed to live in the land of the brave and free.  Just hoped my future generations would have gotten to see and live this experience.  Looks like they will have to learn Arabic or Chinese and work their tails off for the State.  It's beyond words to think that Americans could be so, as my daughter says, STOOOOOOPID and elect a person who they don't know any thing about, to serve as President of our great nation.  Hopefully that error will be corrected in November, but then, I do have some doubts.

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Another $17 trillion surprise found in Obamacare

Published: 9:21 AM 03/30/2012

AP Photo

Senate Republican staffers continue to look though the 2010 health care reform law to see what’s in it, and their latest discovery is a massive $17 trillion funding gap.

“The more we learn about the bill, the more we learn it is even more unaffordable than was suspected,” said Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, the Republicans’ budget chief in the Senate.

“The bill has to be removed from the books because we don’t have the money,” he said.

The hidden shortfall between new spending and new taxes was revealed just after Supreme Court justices grilled the law’s supporters about its compliance with the Constitution’s limits on government activity. If the court doesn’t strike down the law, it will force taxpayers to find another $17 trillion to pay for the increased spending.

The $17 trillion in extra promises was revealed by an analysis of the law’s long-term requirements. The additional obligations, when combined with existing Medicare and Medicaid funding shortfalls, leave taxpayers on the hook for an extra $82 trillion in health care obligations over the next 75 years.

The federal government has an additional $17 trillion unfunded gap in other obligations, including Social Security, bringing the total shortfall to $99 trillion.

That shortfall is different from existing debt. The federal government already owes $15 trillion in debt, including $5 trillion in funds borrowed during Obama’s term in office so far.

That $99 trillion in unfunded future expenses is more more than five years of wealth generated by the United States, which now produces just over $15 trillion of value per year.

The $99 trillion funding gap is equal to almost 30 years of the the current federal budget, which was $3.36 trillion for 2011.

Currently, the Social Security system is $7 trillion in debt over the next 75 years, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Also, Medicare will eat up $38 trillion in future taxes, and Medicaid will consume another $2o trillion of the taxpayer’s wealth, according to estimates prepared by the actuarial office at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The short-term cost of the Obamacare law is $2.6 trillion, almost triple the $900 billion cost promised by Obama and his Democratic allies, said Sessions.

The extra $17 trillion gap was discovered by applying standard federal estimates and models to the law’s spending obligations, Sessions said.

For example, Session’s examination of the health care law’s “premium support” program shows a funding gap $12 billion wider that predicted.

The same review also showed the law added another $5 trillion in unfunded obligations for the Medicaid program.

“President Obama told the American people that his health law would cost $900 billion over ten years and that it would not add ‘one dime’ to the debt… this health law adds an entirely new obligation—one we cannot pay for—and puts the entire financing of the United States government in jeopardy,” Sessions said in a floor speech.

“We don’t have the money… We have to reduce the [obligations] that we have.”

Obama still under 50%

According to Real Clear Polotics here's the latest numbers:

REAL CLEAR POLITICS POLL

Job Approval	Approve	Disapprove	Spread
Obama	47.3%	46.9%	+0.4%
Congress	11.8%	81.5%	-69.7%
Direction of Country	Right Direction	Wrong Track	Spread
RCP Average	33.7%	60.0%	-26.3%

 Will November ever get here????

Cameron Completes Journey to Earth's Deepest Point - ABC News

Cameron Completes Journey to Earth's Deepest Point - ABC News

Cameron Completes Journey to Earth's Deepest Point

This February 2012 photo, provided by... View Full Caption 

"Titanic" director James Cameron dove to the Earth's deepest point in a specially designed submarine, the 

National  Geographic Society said, making him the first man to travel alone to the near 7-mile depth of the Marianas Trench.  

The Hollywood icon, also the director of "Avatar" and other films, touched down in the western Pacific Ocean's low point shortly before 8 a.m. Guam time Monday (Sunday evening in the U.S. East Coast), the Geographic said.  

"Cameron collected samples for research in marine biology, microbiology, astrobiology, marine geology and geophysics," the Geographic said.  He also spent time filming the Marianas Trench, about 200 miles southwest of the Pacific island of Guam.  

The trip to the deepest point took two hours and 36 minutes. But Cameron's return aboard his 12-ton, lime-green sub called Deepsea Challenger was a "faster-than-expected 70-minute ascent," according to National Geographic. A helicopter spotted the submersible bobbing in the water and it was brought aboard the ship by a crane.  

There were no immediate word on Cameron's physical condition after the dive, but the expedition said he planned a video interview later in the day. A medical team was present when Cameron, 57, emerged from the sub, according to the expedition.  

Expedition physician Joe MacInnis told National Geographic News before the journey that recent test dives, including one that went more than five miles deep, had gone well and that he expected Cameron would be fine.  

"Jim is going to be a little bit stiff and sore from the cramped position, but he's in really good shape for his age, so I don't expect any problems at all," said MacInnis, a long-time Cameron friend, according to National Geographic.  

Cameron also captured still photographs and video, but there was no immediate word on when the images will be released. The Geographic said the expedition is being chronicled for a 3-D feature film for theatrical release and subsequent TV broadcast.  

"There is scientific value in getting stereo images because ... you can determine the scale and distance of objects from stereo pairs that you can't from 2-D images," Cameron told the Geographic before the dive.  

"This journey is the culmination of more than seven years of planning," said Cameron. "Most importantly, though, is the significance of pushing the boundaries of where humans can go, what they can see and how they can interpret it."  

The scale of the trench is hard to grasp — it's 120 times larger than the Grand Canyon and more than a mile deeper than Mount Everest is tall.  

"It's really the first time that human eyes have had an opportunity to gaze upon what is a very alien landscape," said Terry Garcia, the National Geographic Society's executive VP for mission programs, via phone from Scotland.  

Among the 2.5-story-tall sub's tools were a sediment sampler, a robotic claw, a "slurp gun" for sucking up small seacreatures for study at the surface, and temperature, salinity, and pressure gauges.  

Swiss engineer Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh, a U.S. Navy captain, are the only others to reach the spot. They spent about 20 minutes there during their 1960 dive but couldn't see much after their sub kicked up sand from the sea floor.  

One of the risks of a dive so deep was extreme water pressure. At 6.8 miles below the surface, the pressure is the equivalent of three SUVs sitting on your toe.  

Cameron told The Associated Press in an interview after a 5.1 mile-deep practice run near Papua New Guinea earlier this month that the pressure "is in the back of your mind." The submarine would implode in an instant if it leaked, he said.  

But while he was a little apprehensive beforehand, he wasn't scared or nervous while underwater.  

"When you are actually on the dive you have to trust the engineering was done right," he said.  

The film director has been an oceanography enthusiast since childhood and has made 72 deep-sea submersible dives. Thirty-three of those dives have been to the wreckage of the Titanic, the subject of his 1997 hit film, which is being released in a 3-D version next month.