I agree that a lot of them don’t care, but I also think that part of the reason the Feds lose in court is also that the law graduates attracted to the Government, with a few exceptions, are not the brightest. Many of them can’t get jobs anywhere else. They probably figure they will be intellectually outclassed by defense lawyers, and they’re usually right, especially since there are no enforceable laws against most of the various forms of treason practiced by defense attorneys for terorists.
Also, the Federal bureaucracy doesn’t want to upset the applecart. Big cases, big appeals and big press might threaten their little perches of power.
Who knows what kinds of post-Government jobs some of these attorneys are promised if they go along with less than 100% effort?

c f on February 25, 2008 at 3:57 pm

I am currenlty a law student, and this does not surprise me in the least bit. Many people I am in school with have no concept of the real world whatsoever. Law schools are also vehemently leftist and anti-American. To many of my fellow students, Wal Mart is a greater national security threat than Al-Queda. I have been screamed at in my Criminal Law class for supporting the death penalty by my radical, anti-American feminazi professor, who is now an associate Dean of the University. I had a criminal procedure (and also criminal loving) professor who referred to Rudy Giuliani as “the devil” for his heroic crime control tactics in New York. The number of professors who are openly disdainful of America, Capitalism, and white, middle class men is quite alarming.
Let’s also keep in mind the perfidy of some legal associations out there, such as the innocuous sounding “American Lawyer’s Guild,” a Marxist front group.
Either way, let’s keep track of these whackos. Lynne Stewart needs company in her jail cell.

JasonBourne81 on February 25, 2008 at 5:19 pm

It comes as no surprise to this writer that these lowlifes have been able to take advantage of the system. It’s why they belong in a hidden away “detention center” in cuba or Europe, off the grid. Far away from the aclu (not in caps intentionally). After reading Brigitte Gabriel’s “BECAUSE THEY HATE” I was not too surprised that these legal big shots have become the most destructive force in the United States. U of M students get access to inmates all over the state. There’s an outreach org at Ryan and Mound state prisons where they actually get to fulfill their dream of sitting in the same class room, usually right next to real live convicted felons. All types too, killers, rapists etc. The News or Free Press did a big full page article with pics, interviews, the whole shbang. These goofy students were interviewed and acted like they were star struck being so close to greatness. LOL. Working inside a prison I have personally watched with dismay as students suck up to these master manipulators. These dummies don’t like it a bit when they are searched. A female student actually contested her RIGHT to correspond on a personal level with one inmate. The warden okayed her getting letters without them going through the mail room first. THE WARDEN! With that approval letter the moron would smugly traipse out the gate reading the letter! Who knows how that prison romance turned out. Hopefully badly.
Stay strong JasonBorne81, we need your kind out there armed with their degrees protecting us. Brigitte Gabriels book BECAUSE THEY HATE, should be required reading in high schools all over the country. Her incredible life is a testimony to the future this country could face.

samurai on February 25, 2008 at 6:09 pm

The larger issue is that this is part of the inconsistent war on terrorism that Pres Bush is conducting. (Lest we forget Yassar Arafat was allowed to die peacefully in his bed, we have done nothing to support Israel getting their two abducted soldiers back, Osama Bin Laden and Mullah Omar are still out there, etc.)
Wouldn’t it make sense to continue monitoring these people to track down additional terrorists and their supporters? Who for crying out loud is being surveilled under FISA?
Why aren’t there Homeland Security, FBI or CIA operatives (translators) stationed at the prison gleaning information?

zyzzyg on February 25, 2008 at 11:25 pm

Hey Deb, just follow this and maybe, you’ll understand why all of this crap makes sense. The Bush Crime Family is NOT interested in finding Osama and his boys. You’re an attorney, so I’ll do the Shepardizing for you:
Evidence #1:
http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/terrorists/fugitives.htm
Above are the wanted pictures of known terrorists like Osama bin Laden, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, Abdelkarim Hussein Mohamed Al-Nasser and so on. Twenty four men wanted in connection for terrorism.
MURDER OF U.S. NATIONALS OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES; CONSPIRACY TO MURDER U.S. NATIONALS OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES; ATTACK ON A FEDERAL FACILITY RESULTING IN DEATH
Wanted for:
Usama Bin Laden is wanted in connection with the August 7, 1998, bombings of the United States Embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya. These attacks killed over 200 people. In addition, Bin Laden is a suspect in other terrorist attacks throughout the world.
But nothing on 9/11. None of them are wanted for their plot for 9/11. Why?
Well lets find out:
Evidence#2
On June 5, 2006, the Muckraker Report contacted the FBI Headquarters, (202) 324-3000, to learn why Bin Ladenís Most Wanted poster did not indicate that Usama was also wanted in connection with 9/11. The Muckraker Report spoke with Rex Tomb, Chief of Investigative Publicity for the FBI. When asked why there is no mention of 9/11 on Bin Ladenís Most Wanted web page, Tomb said, ìThe reason why 9/11 is not mentioned on Usama Bin Ladenís Most Wanted page is because the FBI has no hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11.î
But that’s a lefty website, though they do take advertising for the RNC and have conservative writers, but I digress. So now bin Laden is NOT a suspect? According to Bush at his whitehouse.gov,
Evidence#3
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/03/20020313-8.html
So I don’t know where he is. You know, I just don’t spend that much time on him, Kelly, to be honest with you.
What? The person responsible for killing more than 3,000 people? Mostly Americans; Bush doesn’t care where bin Laden is?
Evidence#4
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/04/washington/04intel.html?hp&ex=1152072000&en=5ced05aa2a8d9b76&ei=5094&partner=homepage
By MARK MAZZETTI
Published: July 4, 2006
WASHINGTON, July 3 ó The Central Intelligence Agency has closed a unit that for a decade had the mission of hunting Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants, intelligence officials confirmed Monday.
And the CIA by order of Bush close down the hunt for bin Laden? And now you’re saying that the Bush administration may kowtow to a bunch of law students? Which leads me to this conclusion:
Either the Bush administration is going to allow another attack on U.S. soil and blame the Democratic party for being weak on terrorism
Or
Bin Laden is not a suspect and never was but they needed a patsy to blame because they realized that the terrorists were probably homegrown, and not to repeat the same mess Clinton faced when Timothy McVeigh blew up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building and didn’t want egg on his face
Or
Bin Laden was in charge but because of stupidity on behalf of the Bush Crime Family, lost all the evidence and have nothing on anybody but is executing terrorists…or hoping they’re terrorists.
Either way Deb, Bush is incompetent, unlike Clinton and Bush senior kept the terrorist at bay and spent trillions on pork and a war they know they won’t win. many Republicans (my party leaders) said that the RNC leaders were spending money like drunken sailors, but guess what, sailors spend their own money and our infrastructure is weakened, including our borders.
So in conclusion, we’re fucked. Democrats and Republicans. liberals and conservatives, lefties and righties and we’re just yelling and complaining about everyone else

KOAJaps on February 26, 2008 at 1:25 am

Great thread–even if it is quite depressing. Sadly, all I needed to know were these two things:
1. That the FBI botched the Robert Hanssen case
2. That the CIA never predicted the fall of the Soviet Union.
Since all these agencies function as gigantic bureaucracies, the path to advancement is basically not to rock the boat. Of course, when something *does* become an undeniable crisis, then pull out all the stops to solve it.
Did anyone get fired over 9/11 or Hanssen? Of course not.
Bush is merely the latest in a series of crummy presidents. It looks liked we are doomed to crummy presidents, so long as the media is composed of leftist fools, and the voting is essentially tribalistic.
As I’ve said before, Reagan was simply the best of the bad, and looked mighty good in comparison to his predecessors as well as those who followed.
The good news is that we got through incredibly evil presidents like FDR and Lincoln, so we can probably stand anything. While there are many analogies to ancient Rome, I think that we will get through all of this.

Red Ryder on February 26, 2008 at 8:40 am

Well, the answer, sadly, is that the feds constantly lose these cases against terrorists because they really don’t care.
That exactly sums up the attitude of the Bush presidency. I don’t know why; it’s a mystery. Aren’t we all Americans? Don’t we all have the same interest in protecting ourselves? Apparently not. But why? I don’t know.

Seymour Paine on February 26, 2008 at 9:12 am

These impressionable law students are probably being egged on professors to work on “big” cases.
I used to receive The Indian American magazine, which featured cover stories on Indian American lawyers described as “freedom fighters” for their efforts to obtain “rights” for Gitmo inmates. I regarded these people as making a name for themselves, caring nothing for the security of this country.

northernvirginiastan on February 26, 2008 at 9:47 am

Seymour–Let me try to answer “why”—
The agencies don’t care for the reasons already mentioned–promotion via not rocking the boat.
Bush doesn’t care because he is more concerned about how “history” will treat him. Right now, it is important for history’s sake to be an effeminate internationalist.
It is folly, of course, to worry about how history will treat you, but it is just another pretense of many people in positions of leadership.

Red Ryder on February 26, 2008 at 10:38 am

Samurai,
You touch upon a number of good points. We have all sorts of legal aid clinics, where bleeding hearts go to help those they see as screwed by the system. Let’s be honest, in some cases, people genuinely are screwed. However, a lot of the people I go to school with, despite their book smarts, have no street smarts and are easy marks for being manipulated by fabricated sob stories of criminals, such as “I got screwed by the system”, etc. While I can understand, as a corrections worker, you can’t stand the kids, they aren’t usually bad people – they are just well intentioned dupes with their heads up their asses.
I actually went down to New Orleans in Spring 2006 with my law school to help out with Katrina evacuation. What I saw didn’t really surprise me, but surprised an awful lot of people. Those who were doing legal aid were commenting about how, while there were some good people who got screwed, there were a lot of thugs trying to work the system and take advantage of Katrina to get out of jail.
“These impressionable law students are probably being egged on professors to work on “big” cases.”
Northernvirginiastan,
you have that right. I have been a captive audience member to some of these professors who try to solicit students for such nonsense crusades. A lot of the people I go to school with really haven’t been around the block, led totally sheltered lives, have never worked outside of school, and don’t have a good nose for bullshit. This makes them easy marks for professors trying to use them as cogs in the wheel of their ridiculous agendas.

JasonBourne81 on February 26, 2008 at 3:02 pm

Jason, I’m sure there are a lot of well intentioned students out there but for the most part their lack of real world run ins are glaring deficiencies. Everyones lives shape their out look and philosophies(usually). Even people in my field are guilty of over familiarization everyday. In my field, that makes them at least suckers (if they only give away candy or cigs), or evil (if they smuggle a weapon to their buddy or boyfriend). This is because everyday the inmates are either assaulting us verbally or physically. My own cousin is a Dr. and a SERIOUS lib. But he spent most of his life in a classroom surrounded by other gifted kids. Not deployed in the military, or wrestling inmates. Mass media turned him out. What do you think of the crime wave after Katrina? You sound like a good guy. Tolerate the nazi professors for now. I don’t hate the dumb kids, though they may hate me for trying to protect them. Everyday.;/

samurai on February 26, 2008 at 3:44 pm

Interesting you ask about Katrina. What I think about the crime wave after Katrina is that it is the sociological result of Great Society welfare dependence manifesting itself. We have a segment of society, in urban black America, who cannot and do not even wish to help themselves. This might sound racist, but it is a genuine culture based criticism. These people had a weeks notice to get out of town, yet couldn’t even forment the initiative to leave on their own. I frankly think many people stuck around to loot. Don’t tell me it was because they were poor and disadvantaged – even poor people in this country have automobiles or at the very least have access to someone who does. How much is a Greyhound ticket?
When I was doing relief work in New Orleans, a few things struck me. First, the people we worked with were basically a commie front group (don’t know if you have heard of ACORN, but their office was adorned with anti-American, anti-Capitalist Marxist bilge). I didn’t organize the trip, so I didn’t know this. Secondly, I never once met the owner of a home we worked on. I found it funny that we were gutting these peoples’ houses for them, but they couldn’t bother showing up to help. Third, I remember on one day in particular, myself and some of my friends I went down with were working on a house when a bunch of black guys who ACORN hired to help them, who were suppossed to be working with us and helping us, were sitting around smoking Black & Milds, complaining about how their gubment checks and relief were too slow coming while watching us work.

JasonBourne81 on February 27, 2008 at 4:18 pm

Bush and the Republican (which I am)does not give a damn what happens to us. Forget the DLC (Democratic Leadership Council), as they too are working to sell the U.S. down the drain. You really think that the Bush Crime Family gives a shit about Israel? Hell, it was Grandpa (Prescott)Bush who had business dealings with Adolph Hitler and the tattooing was courtesy of IBM, so some 63 years later, you think Jr.’s mind has changed? No. So maybe it’s time to go with the Kucinich left and the Ron Paul right to get America back from the Bush Crime and Clinton Crime Family.
As for northernvirginiastan’s comment, “Bush doesn’t care because he is more concerned about how “history” will treat him. Right now, it is important for history’s sake to be an effeminate internationalist.”
bush is NOT an internationalist, more a wanna be fascist dictator. Other than Hitler, who else was a fascist? Mussolini and Spain’s Franco. All three men wanted the corporation to rule their country, but Hitler, the madman he was, killed the businessmen, but that’s neither here nor there. But no northernvirginiastan, Bush is not an internationalist, he wants money and power, even if it means to kill the rebels wanting to overthrow Iran, albeit few as well as the Israelis too.

KOAJaps on February 28, 2008 at 12:51 am