JNZ Law Blogs

After seeing President Obama yuk it up with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, I now understand the political climate of America today ("Bam's New BFF Hugo," April 19).

The Republican Party has morphed into a conservative, liberalist-light mishmash, and the Democratic Party is becoming communistic.

Lord, help us.

Doreen Wyner

Staten Island

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Obama bows to a Saudi king.

Obama breezily chats with Chavez.

Obama kowtows to Iran, which essentially has been at war with the United States since 1979.

Obama expresses willingness to develop closer ties to mass murderer and Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

Is there a tyrant for whom Obama is not an apologist?

Here I thought Obama was the second coming of Jimmy Carter, which would be bad enough. But it's worse: He may be the second coming of Neville Chamberlain.

Mark Kalinowski

Manhattan

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I'm not shocked at all by the glowing look of admiration on Obama's face as he shook hands with his socialist brother Chavez.

After Obama's ridiculous performance in front of the EU, is anyone shocked?

Stop apologizing for me, Mr. President. It seems that you think that if you're a friend, like Great Britain or Israel, you're out. However, if you're an anti-Western tyrant, you're in.

Obama is bending over backwards for Cuba's Castro, another anti-American tyrant. But is he calling for free elections, a free press or the release of opposition? Not on your life.

Wake up, America. Our country is being stolen from within.

Frank Begley

Manhattan

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It is becoming more and more apparent that naivete has replaced sensibility as the nucleus of our foreign policy.

From Day One, our president has repeatedly stated that he will speak to any of our foes if it can lead to constructive dialogue.

But constructive for whom? Does anyone honestly think that we will teach Chavez or others the error of their ways?

Instead of being strong and unflinching, we will be perceived as paper tigers who can be maneuvered at will.

Wasn't the book Chavez gave to Obama, "Open Veins of Latin America," intended to show us the error of our ways?

Maybe our president and his foreign-policy team should go back to the table and rethink their strategies before it's too late.

Carl Rosenberg

Great Neck

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Kudos to my favorite newspaper, The Post, for showing photos of the two biggest threats to our hemisphere.

Chavez and Obama have demonstrated that they have something in common: They both bash the United States.

The only characters missing from this picture are Carter, Castro and Che Guevera.

John W. Fox

Galloway, NJ

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Isn't it great to see Obama and Chavez lovingly smile and hand-clasp? Obama is also cuddling up with the Cuban Castro boys.

I guess all socialists speak one language after all.

Daniel W. Frascella

Lebanon, NJ

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Step aside, Teddy Roosevelt.

We have a new mantra: Speak with a silver tongue and carry a big powder puff.

Gene Fottrell

Egg Harbor, NJ

WITH the ugly sanctimony of those who never had to make hard decisions, the American left demands show trials of those who kept us safe after 9/11. Wrapping themselves in repugnant self-righteousness, the MoveOn.org set wants political prosecutions. Should President Obama acquiesce, he won't be furthering the rule of law, but dismantling it.

Show trials have long been popular with leftists. Those who don't conform to each jot of doctrine become "enemies of the people." From Stalin down to Putin, and from Mao to Castro, vengeance disguised as law has been a mega-hit.

Those on the left don't want justice. If they did, they'd be protesting the murderous torture prevalent in Iran, the Gaza Strip, Syria, Cuba, Venezuela and Russia. Instead, our leftists want us to show the leaders of those terror states more respect.

The left is out for revenge. It always is. Hatred of those who think differently is the left's unifying principle. Leftists don't need God, but they see devils everywhere.

When President-for-Life Hugo Chavez called President George W. Bush "el Diablo," our leftists agreed. Hatred of the last administration grew so irrational that any terrorist, no matter how monstrous, became no more than a victim of Bush-Cheney.

Now the left wants an Inquisition for heretics who failed to share its worldview. Men and women who, in their capacity as public servants, wrestled with difficult legal issues in the course of our battle with terrorists are now to be tried and shamed because the left disagreed with their legal opinions and actions. No matter that most Americans wouldn't view the methods of our interrogators as torture when applied to hardened terrorists (despite the media's ceaseless effort to convince us otherwise). No matter that foreign leaders championed by the left use vastly more brutal techniques.

No matter that interrogators differ on the utility of "harsh" methods or that the information gleaned indisputably saved American lives. No matter that our system of government functioned as it was designed to.

The left just didn't like the results the system produced. Law has nothing to do with this cry for vengeance. This is purely about political differences. During the Bush administration, leftists warned repeatedly that actions they didn't like put our country on a "slippery slope." Well, once we initiate show trials of government officials who did their best to protect us, we'll have skipped the slippery slope and leapt to the bottom.

If Obama agrees to any form of show trial, he and his own team will live to regret it. His party won't always be in power, and he'll have set a hideous, un-American precedent.

If the Obama administration fails to keep us safe and our citizens are attacked at home or abroad, shall we then prosecute those who dismantled our safeguards and gutted our intelligence effort?

As countless leftists learned in the course of the 20th century, today's witness for the prosecution is tomorrow's enemy of the people.

The rule of law is paramount. When we pervert the law for political ends, we attack our deepest foundations. Where would such show trials stop? Will we try Supreme Court justices for issuing legal opinions with which a future administration disagrees?

There are plenty of genuine crimes worth prosecuting in Washington, DC. Corruption abounds. Not a few members of Congress -- from both parties -- should be in jail. But corruption isn't taken seriously. Politics are.

If the left gets its People's Court to destroy the lives of patriots who did their human, imperfect best to defend us (and who succeeded in that effort for seven years), we will do more damage to the United States than all the dictators our president longs to embrace could do together.

The left has nothing against torture. It just wants to choose the victims.

Meanwhile, that great bogeyman beloved of left-wing propagandists and Hollywood (sorry for being redundant), Sen. Joseph McCarthy, is grinning from ear to ear in hell: He's become the left's new role model.

Ralph Peters New York Post 4/23/09

Baby needs some new diapers, and nothing is going to stop that.

A couple strong-armed their way out of a Spokane, Wash., Safeway by punching out a security guard so they could make off with a pack of Huggies, police said.

The man yelled "sorry" as he hit the guard in the face, cops said.

In attempt to embarrass the Bush Administration, President Barack Obama purposely redacted CIA memos that shows evidence that enhanced interrogations led to specific actionable intelligence that prevented Terrorists attacks and saved American lives.

The Main Stream Media, again is being derelict in their duties of providing the American people with the truth. The MSM will not ask the Obama administration the tough questions as to why he is playing politics and risking the lives of thousands of Americans from future attacks.

In his short time in office, President Obama has imperiled the American people by reverting to a Pre-911 mentality that was a key factor that led to our vulnerability of the World Trade Center attacks.

This country is much less safer by the irresponsible actions of this most disgraceful excuse for a president.