patrick.net

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/opinion/op_ed/2013/08/obama_s_two_faced_justice_rules#

As the issue of national security and Islamist terrorism roils America from our closed embassies in North Africa to military courtrooms at home, ask yourself this question: Whose family has been subjected to more surveillance, James Rosen’s or Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s?

James Rosen is the Fox News reporter whose phone and email records were seized as part of a leak investigation. As part of Eric Holder’s aggressive sweep, even Rosen’s parents’ phone records were gathered.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, as we know all too well, was the Islamist terrorist who teamed up with his brother to wage violent jihad at the Boston Marathon finish line. The Russians had warned the FBI about Tsarnaev, who openly touted his Islamist views on the internet.So why didn’t the FBI grab his phone records? As The New York Times reports, “The agents who conducted the investigation … were constrained from conducting a more extensive investigation because of federal laws and Justice Department protocols.”

So there are protocols protecting a Dagestani who flies in and out of that war-torn region, but none protecting a TV news reporter’s parents?

This is why so many Americans don’t trust the government in general, and the Obama administration in particular. We’ve figured out that, under Obama, the government works one way for friends and another way for the rest of us.Take, for example, that Rosen story. The Obama administration went nuts trying to find out who was leaking embarrassing information about the administration’s failed North Korea policy (yeah, I’d forgotten what it was about, too).But have you seen all the stories this week leaking the fact that our intelligence agencies were able to snare phone calls between the head of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri?Now that’s a leak! Letting these two know we’re listening in truly hurts our ability to stop future attacks.So where’s the investigation! Where’s the outrage! Where are the reporters’ parents cellphone records!Oh, wait—this is a lead that makes the Obama administration look good: Their surveillance is working, their NSA is keeping us safe.And so there will be no Rosen-esque inquiry.

This double-standard has become part of the accepted political culture of the Obama presidency.

And why is self-declared “Soldier for Allah” Nidal Malik Hasan being tried for the Fort Hood terrorist attack as though he were a common mall shooter? Because acknowledging the most deadly Islamist terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11 isn’t good politics for the president. It also upsets Obama’s liberal narrative about Islam and terrorism. And so Hasan is charged with simple “workplace violence.” No ideology, no “hate crime.” Just a renegade government worker with a gun — who happened to be shouting “Allahu akbar” as he killed U.S. soldiers.

But don’t worry: The Obama DOJ isn’t against pressing charges when it comes to ideological/hate crimes. They’re still considering it … in the George Zimmerman case.

When the Obama administration is working harder to fight the politics of Zimmerman than al-Zawahri, the world is upside down.There is no “good” or “bad” with this president. You’re either “in” or “out.”Barack Obama would make Nixon blush.

#politics