Thursday, May 16, 2013

Was AG Eric Holder Mistaken, Misleading, Or Evasive In His Answers To Congress About Siegelman Case?


Eric Holder
(Updated at 11:55 a.m. on 5/16/13)

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder yesterday said it's his understanding that former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman has an active appeal and therefore is not eligible to have his sentence commuted.

As a journalist based in Birmingham, I have followed the Siegelman case closely since this blog began in June 2007--and I am not aware of any active appeal on Siegelman's behalf. Former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy, who was codefendant in the case, has an appeal pending before the Eleventh Circuit in Atlanta, but that was not filed by Siegelman's lawyers.

If Siegelman has an active appeal, it has escaped my attention. And that raises this question: Is Eric Holder mistaken or did he intentionally make a misleading statement to Congress and the American people? I have sent queries to Siegelman's legal team, seeking clarification about any appeals, plus their response to Holder's statements. We will update this post as new information becomes available.

(Update: Joseph Siegelman, the governor's son, released the following statement on a progressive listserv in Alabama: 
Yes, my dad is appealing [Judge Mark] Fuller's denial of a new trial. Nonetheless, Holder does appear to be hiding behind those in-house guidelines to avoid dealing with the case head on.)

Holder's remarks came in response to questions from U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) in a House Judiciary Committee hearing. A video of the exchange can be viewed at the end of this post.

Debra J. Saunders, of the San Francisco Chronicle, strongly criticized Holder's performance in a piece titled "Eric Holder has a bad memory on pardons." From the Saunders post:

At Wednesday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing, Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., asked Attorney General Eric Holder if he would push for a presidential pardon for former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman. “The president could pardon him now,” said Cohen as he pressed Holder.

Holder responded that Siegelman is not eligible to apply for a pardon because he’s currently serving his sentence, and a commutation not possible because he has an appeal. Cohen rightly noted that those are Department of Justice rules, but they do not constrain the president. Holder agreed: “The president’s pardon power is close to absolute.”

Cohen then noted that Ron Rodgers, a pardons attorney with the Department of Justice (DOJ), is a George W. Bush appointee--an apparent reference to the fact Siegelman was prosecuted under the Bush DOJ. Cohen then asked about Rodgers' apparent ethical lapses. The unasked question hanging over this exchange: "Why in the hell is Mr. Rodgers still in his position, with authority over the Siegelman pardon process?" From the Saunders piece:

Is your Pardon Attorney Ron Rodgers under investigation for withholding information? Cohen asked, referring to an Inspector General probe.

Holder answered:

“There were some difficulties in connection, I don’t remember what the individual’s name was, about information that was I guess relayed to the White House from the Pardon Attorney’s office, but I think corrective measures have been put in place so that kind of mistake would not happen in the future.”

The individual’s name — and Holder should know it – is Clarence Aaron, who outrageously was sentenced to life without parole for a first-time nonviolent drug offense. And Holder should be outraged that Pardon Attorney Ronald Rodgers withheld vital information on Aaron’s case. The only corrective measure that can prevent a repeat would be to remove Rodgers from a position for which he temperamentally is unsuited.

Saunders closed her post with a cutting critique of Holder's record:

By the way, none of the 16 Puerto Rican national terrorists pardoned by President Clinton — with an assist from Holder — had applied for pardons. But that didn’t stop Holder at the time. But then this Attorney General never has been overly preoccupied with any notions of justice.

Steve Cohen got to the heart of profound issues raised by the Siegelman case--and he never received much of a response from Eric Holder:

Numerous legal experts have said this was a grave injustice . . . Can you assure me that you will review his case because in my opinion . . . an innocent man is in jail, being deprived of liberty? Nothing is more important than liberty; taking your liberty is probably the harshest thing the government can do to a person. We have taken this gentleman's liberty, and I believe we need to look at that case."




40 comments:

  1. Is it me or does Holder appear uncomfortable discussing Seigleman? He was so fidgety in addition to his lack of knowledge of the case. I hope no political deal has been made with the DOJ regarding Seigleman. These folks scare me. Cohen was excellent.

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  2. I agree with you, Molli. Holder looked like he would rather talk about anything else--even the IRS and AP scandals--than Siegelman.

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  3. Bush and Alberto Gonzales weren't as cool cats as Barry and his main man squeeze? Holder

    Fast and Furious Gun running was-IS Congress, they LOVE FEST Soetero-Holder criminal jive boys

    Get to pretend we are in serious trouble and the handsome light skinned dark is so brain dead that the eyes do not see hell

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  4. Glad Joseph Siegelman provided the update, LS. Like you, I had forgotten that outstanding new-trial appeal. Seems like Fuller has been sitting on that since the Reagan administration.

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  5. I hope Holder gets canned over this AP scandal. It would serve him right.

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  6. Steve Cohen rocks! A politician who takes justice issues seriously. I had forgotten what such a beast sounds like.

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  7. Cohen: Can you assure me that you will review this case?

    Holder: No reply.

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  8. Is it possible that Fuller is sitting on the motion for a new trial so that Siegelman will not be eligible for commutation? Can anything be done to force a federal judge to act?

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  9. http://campraxix.wordpress.com/category/clif-high/

    Legal Schnauzer, Murphy Blog Readers, the link provides the fact, that, our 'society' has been controlled by a religion and the religion is not supposed to be a political agenda.

    "Hobble A Species"

    It is for adult listening, not for the faint at heart.

    We can figure out from this video and then the other link for you LS and your followers-readers-bloggers,

    RUSSELL "RUSS" LINDQUIST ~ Metzitzah B'peh: religious psychopathy

    Psychopathy, Psychiatry & Status Quo (declining culture and rising reliance on appeals to authority and/or popularity)

    Originally published as part of a conversation in my Criminal Evidence class (AOJ 206), on 2013, Feb, 22, 2013.

    http://www.russlindquist.info/psychopathy-psychiatry-status-quo-declining-culture-and-increasing-reliance-on-appeals-to-authority-andor-popularity/

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  10. Thanks LS:
    I hope Eric Holder is on the chopping block. The guy is an absolute idiot. I just can't believe that he doesn't know what's going on in his own Department. He side steps all issues...Hit the road Holder.

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  11. LS, Hello,

    FYI,

    Share or not, your choice, this is what I have been working on for years!

    At the Gilad Atzmon event on 5/14, the discussion was about Metzitzah B'peh: Gilad was hilarious! He said he is not a Jew anymore, but he has not [what I observed] been able yet to let it go in his vocabulary. He kept referring to the Jews as people he truly enjoys and then he slipped more than once and said: WE like to get together, etc.

    It was interesting to watch when he had to answer about the 'blood ritual' ~ he said he had his foreskin sewn back onto his penis. There was a gasp in the room, and when I tell the story everyone is shocked ~ he was kidding of course. The joke was this ~he went to Jewassic Park [think Jurassic Park] which is where the 'Jurassic' like experiments are conducted and there it was put back on.

    The room broke into laughter.

    I did not have my sons' cut. Their father wasn't cut. The bond Donald and I shared is inconceivable. He was killed by this rotten agenda of NWO.

    It seemed to me in 1977, and 1980, that whatever mutilation is done against what is natural is indeed a lower form of thought.

    I am going to approach every Jewish female ~IE look at MINDY MEYERS an "Orthodox Jew" Chief Officer of 'Justice' for Elizabeth Warren, etc.

    Mrs. Schnauzer and You have given me the courage to be a quasi blogger.

    Thank you


    http://www.theartof12.blogspot.com/2013/05/us-economy-is-recovering-condi-defends.html

    http://www.theartof12.blogspot.com/2013/05/penis-mutilation-foreskin-nipping-is-to.html

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  12. http://www.crossroadsgps.org/

    evil karl rove

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  13. Holder's responses were just plan, old weird. He didn't even touch on the fact S. was sent to jail for a crime which didn't exsist. If the democrats are leaving him in jail there is a reason. One, the democrats don't want him out. Two, they made a deal with the republicans for something else, to leave S. in jail. Either way it stinks on ice.

    So much for freedom in the U.S.A. Right now the U.S.A.'s rule of law isn't much better than China's.

    Obama and his administration ought to wake up and realize the republicans will do anything and everything to block anything he wishes to advance. He has no legacy to leave. If Obama wants to leave a legacy it is suggested he get to work on one right now. A good one would be to straighten out the justice system in the U.S.A. There are many things he can do as president and he might as well do them. He has a capable V.P. let him start with the work.

    Obama ought to forget about any legislation getting through the American "parliamentary" system. Just ignore the Republicans, making them illelevant and go about his business.

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  14. e.a.f, are we talking about the same USA? I don't see the Republicans blocking everything O try's to do. Quite the contrary. That dog and pony show ended long ago.

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  15. Despite his early promise at Columbia, Holder has become a lackey of Zionism & Wall Street. He has much to fear from Revolution, whether it be Socialist or Islamic. The fall of the Bush Family was both a blessing and a threat. Republicans call Barry Soetoro "Hussein" & a Muslim. Democrats call him a Christian. I call him & Holder secular. Men of God could not allow Don Siegelman to remain behind bars knowing the facts listed in this blog. The Islamic Courts in Moorish America will be justified in cleansing the evil. Sinful lives will end and any innocents martyred by mistake will go directly to Heaven.

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  16. OFFENSIVE: LISTEN ONLY AS AN ADULT, more likely than not guaranteed to offend

    http://campraxix.wordpress.com/category/clif-high/

    E4 – March 24, 2012 – The Grand Penis Conspiracy (warning…bound to offend, adults only…)

    Healing cannot begin until we know what the disease is at the root.

    Robby Scott Hill ET AL, you are absolutely correct in how this is, truly degradation.

    The CULT and yes it's a cult, in the White House are insane, absolutely unequivocally stark raving mad. AND the so called American leadership has been intentionally made into Zombified Zionist Jews or worshipers of this ideology as though it is a 'religion'.

    Listen to the audio and then have every human being listen that can be convinced to hear the future.

    Believe you me, the world has changed. One listener and there cannot be any further "sin" so to speak, via our so called "gov".

    When every adult man, woman, CHOOSE to be grown up enough to understand what has happened to US, here and the whole planet for eons, then and only then the children are no longer in an unsafe world ..

    We must get understanding about this incredible wrong that has been inflicted.

    I'm writing a letter to the Federal Judge who ruled on this very issue. It is time one of the top level 'legal' get involved wholly in this unholy alliance against our species.

    Legal Schnauzer's blog has been the Great American Dream come true. We are very blessed LS, thank you.

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  17. "... It’s also well documented that the man responsible for kick-starting the “revolution” in Egypt, which led to the installation of a Muslim Brotherhood dictatorship which the west can now use as a justification for further intervention, was Google employee Wael Ghonim ...

    Robby, Bush Family are owners in GOOGLE, probably prime, all families of 'wealth' in USA invest in THE CIA = google.

    Google is the word which a granddaughter of a mathematics genius said. Went to the beach and granddad had granddaughter pick up a handful of sand and he ask little one what to call the handful of sand: google she said.

    http://www.infowars.com/google-berg-global-elite-transforms-itself-for-technocratic-revolution/

    Now America is just not accepting that the technology is not the new world order God of earth that these morons get to control.

    Roll up our sleeves, June the Bilderberg and Google graft the evil into one.

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  18. http://www.intellitix.com/services/audienceprofiling/

    our so called leaders are insane, probably 99.9%

    they're insane because they do not have developed brains, truth is a very big pill to swallow especially when we are technobots via design

    listen to the audio about how truly evil our 'leaders' are

    it's going to get worse and worse until we deal with the disconnect

    the technology gone bonkers is the deep rooted desire to reconnect ourselves, I do believe

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  19. http://campraxix.wordpress.com/category/clif-high/


    E4 – March 24, 2012 – The Grand Penis Conspiracy (warning…bound to offend, adults only…)

    apologize for redundancy LS, but this is truly what we must do in order to get the USA awake.

    Thank you again

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  20. LS:
    Why did it take Rep Cohen from Tennessee to question Loser Holder? Doesn't the Reps from Alabama have any backbone to push this issue? Apparently not.

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  21. It's APPARENT the dissembling of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder as pertains former Gov. Siegelman.

    Wonder what the "piglet"-Karl Rove has uncovered in Holder's closet just waiting to be unleashed?

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  22. This thread on Democratic Underground shows people calling, faxing and mailing Rep. Cohen, to thank him for bringing attention to this matter.

    http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014484905

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  23. Tuttle:

    Thanks for sharing. That is encouraging to see.

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  24. jeffrey sprill got your emails, working hard on the work, love piglet Karl Rove, laugh at the porker being led to fair market.

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  25. http://cdn.newsday.com/polopoly_fs/1.4822700.1363382406!/httpImage/image.JPG_gen/derivatives/display_600/image.JPG

    LS an image link, above, of Ike and Tricky Dick, and guess what they are about?! Hunting Clubbers

    Ike is now in the hot seat, José Efraín Ríos Montt just got tried for genocide in Guatemala City and found guilty,

    http://www.globalresearch.ca/guatemalas-rios-montt-genocide-conviction-omen-for-us-presidents-and-their-hired-assassins/5335555

    RONALD REAGAN is going to be tried for genocide and I can bet on it, the human filth, Rove and his butt buddy? "W" et al, all that are on Chomsky's lists from the beginning to the updated new insane genocide 'leaders of the modern free world'.

    Hell is getting ready to rain freezing ice on the worst country on earth since the military industrial complex stole the sane brains, and it is named USA.

    Apartheid is what the INJUSTICE IS, that is, the court system and "law" in the US is an apartheid. But, the GREEN AGENDA 21, AND GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR, this is genocide.

    I have already submitted filings, quite a few, in the International Criminal Court, ICC, for the apartheid and genocide.

    We're going forward now, but we must clean up our past otherwise we are the same as all past evil empire conquerors.

    America has to come out of the closet and stop hiding out in hunting clubs with the Dick Cheneys and other dicks that are not healthy organs for US.

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  26. Apartheid is exploitation and the courts are exactly that, we the people are exploited for the apartheid government's gain.

    We don't all have the best education to represent ourselves in the courts, and this is our good law, "Citizens' Lawyers!"

    When the Supreme Court decided "W" the genocidal maniac got to take America into hell, and then the courts decided "Citizens' United" ~ genocide.

    We the people were no longer counted in our own law, U.S. Constitution as government and this is beyond exploitation, the agenda 21, green, and all the new world BS of globalization, this is without question, genocide.

    Time to write lots of demands for the USGov to cease, desist and stop the genocide.

    Bonnie Wyatt went from exploitation to genocide, until the Legal Schnauzer journalist did the job of what our news information is about.

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  27. I recently happened to watch Paul Newman’s desperate plea to the jury in the movie Verdict. It is a piece of visionary poetry worth memorizing.

    You know, so much of time is just lost.

    We say, Please, God, tell us what is right; tell us what is true.

    And there is no justice: the rich win, the poor are powerless.

    We become tired of hearing people lie.

    And after a time, we become dead… a little dead.

    We think of ourselves as victims… and we become victims.

    We become… we become weak.

    We doubt ourselves, we doubt our beliefs.

    We doubt our institutions. And we doubt the law.

    But You ARE the law. Not some book… not the lawyers… not the, a marble statue… or the trappings of the courts.

    See, those are just symbols of our desire to be just. They are… they are, in fact, a prayer: a fervent and a frightened prayer.

    In my religion, they say, “Act as if ye had faith… and faith will be given to you.”

    IF… if we are to have faith in justice, we need only to believe in ourselves. And ACT with justice. I believe there is justice in our hearts.

    … the above is similar to how Martin Luther King Jr. ended his otherwise fiery sermon and history lesson, “Beyond Vietnam – a Time to Break Silence.”

    http://dissidentvoice.org/2013/01/prosecuting-the-crimes-of-hyper-empire/

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  28. Anon at 11:45--

    Thanks so much for sharing. Love "The Verdict"; think it might have been Paul Newman's finest work--and that is saying something.

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  29. http://www.theartof12.blogspot.com/2013/05/shut-up-shut-up-shut-first-amendment-up.html

    JEFFREY SPRUILL

    His story as I read it in the picture sequence, he was watching, listening and indeed, decided to be an American and truly exercise the First Amendment Right.

    More on the Boston Marathon Bombing as a sequence in which the same General was at all the mass murdering "terrorist" attacks on our own soil.

    Thank you Jeffrey Spruill for the verve to go after the truth and set us free.

    LS, you have attracted quite the honorary, Mr. Spruill.

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  30. Paul Newman, Patrick Swayze, and there were quite a number of great actors that died of pancreatic cancer, I had to really wonder how that happened.

    Hugo Chavez said America has a way to make cancer look like a human element of 'natural' when it is made.

    The Russian who died of plutonium poisoning caught my attention, too.

    Molly Ivans, Ann Richards, and Jackie Kennedy Onassis.

    Not a safe environment, USA.

    I really respected Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward:

    Someone asked Paul about going out on Joanne and he said -- why go out for hamburger when I have steak at home?

    http://actorhunters.com/pics/20/82/Joanne-Woodward-1bbeb.jpg

    I loved, love, them both as human beings and great, great artists.

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  31. @Coyote Lane

    The one good thing that came from my unconstitutional railroading to the Rehnquist Court-- besides the refusal of Rehnquist to retire(as long as Rehnquist was in control of the federal judiciary he could refuse to release judge J. Harvie Wilkinson from the Brey Judicial Misconduct Commission who was covering up for judge Henry Coke Morgan:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/15/politics/15rehnquist.html?_r=4&ex=1122091200&en=e0ec6fdc57fa3214&ei=5070&emc=eta1&

    Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson the turd will NEVER be a Supreme Court justice(Coyote Lane-- the Constitution will be protected from that maniac at least.)

    http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/21/politics/21bush.html?pagewanted=allhttp://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/21/politics/21bush.html?pagewanted=all

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  32. Something to keep in mind in regard to Agenda 21, the "Green Movement" is old - it goes back to the 19th Century philosopher who said, " If you frame your argument as being "for the Earth", there is nothing you can't convince people to do, or what they will give up, including freedom". Who was that philosopher? Karl Marx in Das Kapital.

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  33. Jeffrey Spruill, you got me into the curiosity dance and I'm enjoying a very fancy kind of careful soft shoe, oh howdy.

    Bill Clinton is Rockefeller. It is amazing how the so called Presidents of the USA, are nothing but, the same ole story: psychopaths insatiable for power, the money they truly do have.

    The top 'lineages' of EARTH, speaking of Das Kapital [I actually have been loaned and returned it - that was tough - a cartoon version of the book .. Amazing!], anyway, the lineages didn't say let's not own America. Come on now, Sir Walter Raleigh bought Virginia for Queen Elizabeth, his lover too until she had him decapitated and then, oh yea, Sir Francis Drake and California for Queenie.

    Das Capital. She, Queenie was the first capitalist since she took her father's bankruptcy, Henry VIII, King, and recalled all the coins to wit she shaved enough to melt down and got the half penny. May be redundant here, sorry.

    Anyway, fast forward and we get Clinton who said he was Blythe but the truth is, Winthrop Rockefeller is his paternal sperm donor. Thanks Jeffrey, I'm going to take the new stuff and go deeper into this.

    Rockefeller is AGENDA 21, GREEN and Slick Willy is GLOBAL INITIATIVE, of course to save humanity and the environment.

    We need to take out the kitty litter, the spiritual truth about how to get evolution from the nasty-filth.

    Waco, Ruby Ridge, Oklahoma City and the 1993 World Trade Bldg. it goes on and on what the Rockefeller Cabal does to own America and the Earth.

    Time for full transparency!

    I can, after a fashion, read a little Spanish and French, so here is what I discovered, Jeffrey, thanks to you ...

    2. L'Administration va-t-elle répondre aux nombreuses demandes de l'ancien Chef de Cabinet de Bill Clinton, John Podesta, qui a également co-présidé l'équipe de transition d'Obama, pour la diffusion des archives Ovnis dans le domaine public ? Video NPC de Podesta l Divers Articles -

    http://ovnis-usa.com/2008/12/28/dimanche-28-decembre/

    Bill Clinton & Laurence Rockefeller

    3. Le Président a-t-il été briefé sur les efforts soutenus de Laurance Rockefeller, pendant trois ans, afin que le Président Clinton déclassifie toutes les archives gouvernementales sur le sujet Ovni et les rende publiques ? - L'Initiative Rockefeller l Documents FOIA qui confirment cette Initiative -

    http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/ Rockefeller_Initiative_Documents.htm

    4. Le Président a-t-il évoqué l'Initiative Rockefeller avec la Secrétaire d'Etat Hillary Clinton ? - L'Initiative Rockefeller l Photos de Clinton & Rockefeller l

    http://HillaryClintonUFO.net l Hillary Doc-1 l Hillary Doc-2 l Autres Documents FOIA

    http://ovnis-usa.com/hillary-clinton/ -

    http://hillaryclintonufo.net/ -

    http://www.paradigmresearchgroup.org/Rockefeller%20Documents/Clinton-Rockefeller_Photos.htm#1

    pick out the links and paste them in, the photos of Hillary at the ranch in Wyoming with Uncle Rockefeller is truly something.

    I did put all the links in the link up at theartof12, otherwise, simply take them from here and enjoy the show.

    Something is going on and we are not included in the government power over our lives, clearly!

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  34. I thought the blog article was about Holder and his response about S. Like what is the rest of this verbage about? Could we stay on point?

    Some of the comments don't even seem to mean much. Its a little difficult to bring comments about Jews, Muslims, Eygpt, etc. into an article about Holder and S.

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  35. jeffrey spruill said...
    It's APPARENT the dissembling of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder as pertains former Gov. Siegelman.

    Wonder what the "piglet"-Karl Rove has uncovered in Holder's closet just waiting to be unleashed?

    May 17, 2013 at 8:38 PM

    How's that e.a.f.?

    Bringing it full circle.

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  36. jeffry spurill, well how do you link Karl Rove to Holder and his comments. Yes, there might be something in Holder's closet besides his cloths. On the other hand, there might be only his cloths. Holder just isn't doing a good job. But all of that aside, what did the comments about Jews, Mulsims and Egypt have to do with comments regarding the article about Holder's comments?

    Holder a "lackey for Zionism and Wall St."? Oh, when will people give up on these types of conspiracy theories. Remember it is the American voter who put many of these players into office. Something must be working for them at some level.

    Corporations do have an undue influence on policy in many countries. The U.S.A. is but one of them. The U.S.A., given its political structure has a secondary, state, level of "games".

    Mexico has a similar structure but it is simply based on another commodity.

    China is no longer about Communism, its about their version of capitalism. Some of the best selling books in Hong Kong are written about the Chinese corporate/political elite and their "fun and games".

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  37. e.a.f., Jeff is on the right track. Are you at all familiar with NWO? If not then you should be. It's affecting Canada too! Seeing as how you do not appear to be a fan of US, the NWO plan for North America may interest you.

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  38. @e.a.f.

    And the spokesman for Al-Qaeda-- grandfather was on the board of directors for the Anti Defamation League:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Yahiye_Gadahn#Background_and_childhood

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  39. did not read post skimmed thru, But very interesting,coyote,ie; ect. Seems to me we are all non-co ordinated in the realm of possibilities, THE BIG PICTURE, albert often says to me nothing is real within reality, nothing is comprehensible but to a point and nothing is all inclusivly provable is connected.of course holder fibbed and the earth is convulsing , and don is innocent, and gmo's are bad,and ect.ect.ect.ect.ect>infinite,,, nwo.

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