Obama’s minions facilitate the crimes of ACORN and the New Black Panthers, but throw the book at young people who want to expose the dishonesty of Democrat Pols & their supporters.

The crusading young conservative investigative journalist James O’Keefe has been arrested in New Orleans, charged with a federal felony. Writing in The American Spectator, Ben Stein compares O’Keefe’s prank to voter intimidation by Democratic activists:

During the last Presidential election, a gang of men calling themselves Black Panthers showed up at a polling place in Michigan. They threatened any voter who did not vote for Barack Obama. This was witnessed and documented….

The bullying was barely reported in the media. Even though it is an unequivocal violation of voting rights laws, it was decided by Obama’s Attorney General, Eric Holder, not to prosecute the case at all….

A few days ago, four young conservatives posed as telephone repairmen and entered the branch office of Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana in New Orleans. Their goal was to check to see if the phone system in the office was working. The men, under the leadership of a young media impresario named James O’Keefe, were querying why constituents of Sen. Landrieu had been unable to register negative feelings about Obamacare on the Senator’s phone line. They had been told that perhaps the phones were out of order….

Back at Sen. Landrieu’s office, someone was suspicious of the O’Keefe group and called police. The men were arrested and are now charged with a federal felony of something called tampering with a federal phone line….

But the differential justice gets much worse, as it turns out. The Christmas panty bomber was afforded more rights than this young American, according to a FOXNews report:

….the man who first published James O’Keefe’s explosive videos exposing wrongdoing at community organizer ACORN came to the filmmaker’s defense, claiming he “sat in jail for 28 hours without access to an attorney” while the prosecutor made his case to the media.

“James O’Keefe sat in jail for 28 hours without access to an attorney, while the U.S. attorney leaked the information about his arrest, helping the media frame it as ‘Watergate Junior,’” Breitbart said.

“The panty bomber on Christmas was given — you know, this guy’s from Al Qaeda, and he’s not even an American citizen, and he’s given access to an attorney right away,” Breitbart said….

The DC Trawler suspects a clever journalistic strategy here — Andrew Breitbart, master of the rope-a-dope:

If you’re too young to remember Ali vs. Foreman — which most of the people I work with are, damn them — Ali used something he called the rope-a-dope to win. Basically, he let Foreman beat the hell out of him until Foreman got tired, and then Ali swabbed the canvas with him. “Rope-a-dope” has now become shorthand for any strategy where you let your opponent think he’s winning, as you bide your time until you’re ready to strike back.

Breitbart used this technique to great effect during the ACORN sting. He predicted exactly what his opponent was going to do — make statements of fact that they knew not to be true — and allowed it. Then he made his countermove by proving them wrong with hard evidence. He did this over and over, and they fell for it every time.

Has he done it again? We’ve just had a full week of what MSNBC has dubbed, in a masterpiece of understatement, “Watergate Jr.” Big win, right? Well…

Sense of Events expands on the “rope-a-dope” analogy:

In politics, the term has come to mean opening an apparent advantage to one’s opponents in the hope they won’t see the trap laid for them. Chess players, of course, use this ploy all time, sacrificing pieces to gain positional advantage or to capture more valuable pieces in return…. Rope-a-dope’s inherent risk is worth taking only if one’s opponent is highly predictable. And when it comes to the media, there’s no problem there.

Comments at Gateway Pundit add to the litany of differential justice:

lyle — Of course, we’ve seen US Attorneys trample the law and violate ethical standards in pursuit of political enemies like Ted Stevens and Lewis Libby. In both of those cases, US Attorneys conspired with the mainstream media to construct a false narrative against their victims, and used it to convict them.

Usually it works. The Texas prosecutor who harrassed Tom Delay never had any evidence, but drove his victim out of office. Martha Coakley kept a man she knew to be innocent in jail for three years, and became the political machine’s senatorial candidate. The Duke lacrosse prosecutor won reelection through his appalling misconduct.

It must be a coincidence that they’re all Democrats.

Lance — Sandy Berger, National Security Advisor under Clinton, stole and destroyed evidence from the National Archives. Evidence that someone didn’t want the 911 commission to see. He was charged with a misdemeanor….

For ambitious Democrat pols, these can be tricky waters to navigate. U.S. Attorney Jim Letten has recused himself from the case citing “various relevant factors” which remain unspecified. His first mate will have to be the sacrifice:

One of the arrested men, Robert Flanagan, 24, is the son of William Flanagan, who is the acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana. The other three men include James O’Keefe, 25, a conservative filmaker who made hidden-camera videos at ACORN field offices, and two out-of-state conservative activists: Joseph Basel, 24, and Stan Dai, 24.

Despite Letten’s recusal, the case will not be removed to another jurisdiction… Instead, Letten’s first assistant U.S. attorney, veteran federal prosecutor Jan Mann, will act as the “Attorney for the United States in this matter”…

Flanagan’s attorney last week said that Basel, O’Keefe and his client went to Landrieu’s office in the Hale Boggs federal building in order to make a video showing that the senator’s staff was ignoring phone calls from angry constitutents. Basel and Flanagan were dressed as telephone repairmen, while O’Keefe reportedly filmed the other men’s interaction with his cell phone. Dai remained in a car parked on the street with some kind of listening device.

The four were arrested by U.S. marshals and face charges of entering federal property under false pretenses for the purpose of committing a felony.

Bottom line: Embarrassing a Dem Senator can be twisted into a felony, but all sorts of egregious crimes committed by Dems are O.K.

Related coverage:

Hot Air — U.S. Attorney Recuses Himself from O’Keefe Case

Wake Up America — James O’Keefe And The U.S. Attorney

ACORN has been exposed as a systemic tax cheat. The corruption is not, as the Obama White House would have you believe, a collection of isolated instances in local offices. No. The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, an advocacy group intimately intertwined with the development of Obama’s career, is rotten to the core.

The story broke in the wee hours of this morning at the New York Post. From ACORN: Tax cheat — Group faces huge IRS liens:

ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis told Fox News’ Chris Wallace on Sunday that her group “absolutely pays its taxes.” Not true: The IRS and Louisiana’s taxmen have imposed nearly $2 million in liens against ACORN for failing to fork over taxes at its New Orleans national headquarters.

The IRS recently filed a $548,000 lien against the group, and Louisiana state tax officials have slapped $334,000 in liens on ACORN since last October.

Evidence that ACORN ignored its tax obligations may be less exciting than its branch offices’ eagerness to help a self-professed pimp break multiple laws, or the voter-registration fraud for which various of its workers have been convicted.

But the tax mess shows that the lawlessness starts at its headquarters. (ACORN actually has three national HQs — in the Big Easy, Washington, DC, and New York City.)….

In addition, the Louisiana State Attorney General is investigating ACORN’s records going back to 1998, amid indications that the group failed to pay its employees’ withholding taxes, or to pay for their Social Security and Medicare benefits. More from the NY Post:

American taxpayers have to struggle to pay their taxes in full and on time. Meanwhile, ACORN routinely has ignored its duty — even as it has continued to collect millions of taxpayer dollars from the government. Since 1989, at least $53 million has flowed from law-abiding taxpayers, via Washington, into the coffers of ACORN and its branches.

Barack Hussein Obama is an icon for ACORN. Its corruption is his corruption, Chicago style. Right now, ACORN is the Democrat Party!

ACORN is deliberately structured as a conglomerate of 361 tax-exempt and non-tax-exempt entities so that their money trails are difficult to trace. They are able to take taxpayer funds intended to provide services for the disadvantaged and launder them to be used for partisan political purposes, such as electing Obama. They have received over $53 million from the taxpayers so far, and were slated to get another $8.5 BILLION of stimulus pork, until a couple of twenty-somethings exposed their true nature.

A group of Democrats who are opposed to the current direction of their party, known as PUMAs (for Party Unity My Ass) have developed a terrific graphic. To see their flow chart showing Obama & Friends connections to ACORN, click on the big nut below:

Barack Hussein Obama already has the legal authority to enslave the United States citizenry. That power was allocated to the office of President of the United States in a series of executive orders signed into law one by one throughout the last several administrations.

The persuasion for enacting these orders was to

• postulate some imaginary crisis that MIGHT occur — devastating hurricane, massive terrorist attack, virulent pandemic, and
• define draconian authority for the president to deal with the hypothetical emergency.

The tools for a Marxist takeover of the United States are already in place. All that remains is to manufacture a crisis to trigger the implementation of these executive powers. Hurricanes are still random events of nature, so the socialist revolutionaries in the executive branch must look at the other two options.

The sudden attack on the Central Intelligence Agency that we are currently witnessing will weaken our ability to forestall a terrorist attack. The vaccine for the H1N1 virus being forced on the citizens without adequate testing has the lethal ability to CAUSE a pandemic. So the flashpoint for implementing the “new order” may be one of these two catastrophes.

Most citizens are blissfully ignorant of the state defined by the executive orders, one in which the government can forcibly take control of every aspect of their lives. They are preoccupied with the activities of everyday life — working, raising their children, going to church, enjoying their vacation days. Those of us who have become aware of the “clear and present danger” must alert everyone to the scope of these executive orders — before it is too late.

And this must be done immediately, in light of the power grab currently being undertaken by the Obama administration. In a bill currently before the Senate, Obama is seeking authority to shut down the Internet. Note that he already has the power to suspend the Constitution and to nullify habeas corpus and all other personal liberties and rights, which would include the power to confiscate our guns.

The Executive Orders

Here’s a partial list of executive orders that already have the force of law — The FEMA list of Presidential Executive Orders. All of these were in place before Barack Hussein Obama took the oath of office:

• #10995 by John Kennedy, 1962: ASSIGNING TELECOMMUNICATIONS MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS — Seizure of all communications media in the United States.
• #10997 by John Kennedy, 1962: ASSIGNING EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS FUNCTIONS TO THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR — Seizure of all electric power, fuels, and minerals, both public and private.
• #10998 by John Kennedy, 1962: ASSIGNING EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS FUNCTIONS TO THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE — Seizure of all food supplies and resources, public, and private, all farms and farm equipment.
• #10999 by John Kennedy, 1962: ASSIGNING EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS FUNCTIONS TO THE SECRETARY OF COMMERCE — Seizure of all means of transportation, including personal cars, trucks or vehicles of any kind and total control over all highways, seaports and waterways.
• #11000 by John Kennedy, 1962: ASSIGNING EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS FUNCTIONS TO THE SECRETARY OF LABOR — Seizure of all American population for work forces under federal supervision, including dividing families as necessary according to governmental plans.
• #11001 by John Kennedy, 1962: ASSIGNING EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS FUNCTIONS TO THE SECRETARY OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE — Seizure of all health, education and welfare facilities, both public and private.
• #11002by John Kennedy, 1962: ASSIGNING EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS FUNCTIONS TO THE POSTMASTER GENERAL — Empowers the Postmaster General to register all men, women and children in the U.S.
• #11003 by John Kennedy, 1962: ASSIGNING EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS FUNCTIONS TO THE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE FEDERAL AVIATION AGENCY — Seizure of all airports and aircraft.
• #11004 by John Kennedy, 1962: ASSIGNING CERTAIN EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS FUNCTIONS TO THE HOUSING AND HOME FINANCE ADMINISTRATOR — Seizure of all housing and finance authorities, to establish Forced Relocation. Designates areas to be abandoned as “unsafe,” establishes new locations for populations, relocates communications, builds new housing with public (‘tax-payers’) funds.
• #11005 by John Kennedy, 1962: ASSIGNING EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS FUNCTIONS TO THE INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION — Seizure of all railroads, inland waterways and storage facilities, public and private.
• #11051 by John Kennedy, 1962: PRESCRIBING RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE OFFICE OF EMERGENCY PLANNING IN THE EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT — Provides the Office of Emergency Planning complete authorization to put the above orders into effect in times of increased international tension or economic or financial crisis.
• #11490 by Richard Nixon, 1969: Assigning emergency preparedness functions to Federal departments and agencies — Combines Executive Orders #11001 to #11005 and #11051 into a single Executive Order.
• #11921 by Gerald Ford, 1976: Adjusting Emergency Preparedness Assignments to Organizational and Functional Changes in Federal Departments and Agencies — F.E.M.A. is authorized to develop plans control energy, prices and wages, credit and the money supply to U.S. banks in the event of a ‘National Emergency.’ Congress may not review a President’s decision to enforce a ‘National Emergency’ for six months. (emphasis mine)
• #12656 by Ronald Reagan, 1988: Assignment of Emergency Preparedness Responsibilities – The National Security Council given authority to determine requisite emergency powers (increased domestic surveillance, isolation of communities, restriction of movement for groups and individuals in the USA, control of airspace, use of the national guard to enforce laws and seal borders).
• #12919 by Bill Clinton, 1994: NATIONAL DEFENSE INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES PREPAREDNESS – “National Defense Industrial Resources Preparedness” delegates authorities, responsibilities and allocations of F.E.M.A.’s Executive Orders for the confiscation of ALL PROPERTY from the American people, and their re-location and assignment to ‘labor’ camps. This Executive Order also supersedes or revokes eleven (11) previous Executive Orders [from 1939 through 1991] and amends Executive Order #10789 and #11790. The declaration of a ‘National Emergency’ by the President may immediately lead to the implementation of all or part of these provisions and if he so desires he may implement martial law, suspend the Constitution, nullify habeas corpus and all other personal liberties and rights.

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UPDATE, Sept. 2, 12:29AM:  A reader refers to A PRIMER ON “MARTIAL LAW” by Dr. Edwin Vieira, Jr., Ph.D., J.D.

It is difficult these days not to come upon some pessimistic patriotic commentator expressing the fear that something called “martial law” may soon be imposed on this country, as the General Government’s response to a new “terrorist attack”, or to the economic and social chaos arising out of a collapse of the monetary and banking systems, or to some other dire event that frightens hapless Americans into trading a sure and certain loss of their liberties for a dollop of conjectural safety.

An optimistic patriot might scoff at such fears. But both pessimists and optimists typically share the same implicit first premise: namely, that the form of “martial law” they have in mind is legitimate. Most of the time, this is a rather glaring and dangerous error.

This is a detailed and scholarly analysis (our correspondent calls it a “two-cup-of-coffee” article) but it only deals with various modes of martial law under the US Constitution. It does not take into account the damage done by the Executive Orders if the Constitution is suspended, and that is exactly what we are trying to warn our readers about.

After a catastrophic event occurs, legal challenges to government oppression during the post mortem may indeed show the illegitimacy of Orwellian measures. But by then the legal status is moot. For those who believe it cannot happen, let me point out that it already has. During the crisis of hurricane Katrina, New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin had his police force confiscate the guns of the law-abiding citizens. Then they were forced to watch helpless as marauding mobs vandalized and looted their homes.

The National Rifle Association brought suit against the City of New Orleans and won after a three-year legal battle. Only then could the citizens try to recover their property. Some never did, and others had watched as police deliberately smashed their heirloom firearms out of perversity. All had been without their means of self-defense for three years.

Gustav passed over the west end of Cuba yesterday evening, and shortly after 10PM last night entered the Gulf of Mexico as a Category Four hurricane, the second highest rank on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity. Our graphic, provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), shows the projected track at 2AM.

Gustav is headed straight through the US off-shore oil rigs and is aimed directly at New Orleans. A word to the wise:

• get out of town and go as far north as you can
• take a briefcase of your essential documents (deeds, insurance policies), cash money (power outages may disable ATMs), and any needed medicine
• TAKE YOUR PETS WITH YOU

Three years ago, Louisianna governor Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin completely failed in their duties and over 1,600 people, half of whom were at least 75 years old, died. The last seven unidentified corpses were just laid to rest in a mausoleum Friday.

Things look better this time. Louisiana’s current governor Bobby Jindal is a capable executive, and appears to be ahead of the hurricane curve.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal issued an executive order closing schools in central and north Louisiana Tuesday and Wednesday to free up shelter space and bus resources for local residents and residents in south Louisiana….

The entire Louisiana National Guard, over 7,000 members, was activated on Friday. Over 1,500 were sent to New Orleans to assist with evacuations and prevent looting.

Nagin is doing better, perhaps having learned his lesson the hard way. The biggest difference — Blanco did not activate the Louisiana national guard in time for Katrina, while Jindal has already deployed them for Gustav.