mcg said:
moose/squirrel said:
goatcreekgriz said:
I am not naive about this, and just because there is political motivation on some level does not make it wrong. There are often times when politics lead to positive results. But reckless language may justifiably be perceived as misogynist, and I think it is way too early to jump to conclusions here.
You have to be kidding, you seem to think the the Federal Government can deal with local problems better than we can locally.
Let's hear your list of when politics leads to positive results. Politics has given us gridlock (which I actually am OK with) as the idiots in Congress on both sides are unable to pass stupid legislation.
Stick the misogyny point in your sock in this discussion, where did I raise a point that was disrespectful to any woman?
I'll disagree , that if it motivated by political gain it's AOK, this is the attitude on both sides that leaves us with the c..f..ck that is today.
Clearly there are problems better dealt with by the Federal Government than local authorities. An example would the systematic violation of voting rights in some southern states. The local authorities were the problem and the DOJ successfully worked to ensure that nobody's rights were taken away.
I don't really see what the problem is with the DOJ investigation. A citizen complained that her civil rights were violated, the DOJ is thus obligated to investigate. If there isn't really a problem, then the outcome of the investigation should be benign. If there is a problem, some action is required. Seems reasonable to me.
I think the concern is determining just what the DOJ is doing. I don't think anybody has a problem if this is handled like civil rights complaints have historically been handled in the past, i.e. this is a civil action, the DOJ comes in and makes a determination on whether someones rights were violated, and civil penalties are imposed against those officials who did violate someones's rights.
It appears VanValkenberg's concern is that the manner in which the Feds have come into this does not look like how they have historically handles these matters, but instead looks like something the Feds have done only once in the past, which was 6 months ago in Syracuse. At Syracuse, which is still on-going, the Feds stepped in not just civilly, but took over the criminal investigation of Bernie Fine, and in the process cut the Syracuse county attorney's office completely out of the loop.
The concern of VanValkenberg, and of the Syracuse county attorney whose interview was televised in Missoula, is this is a State's rights issue. They're concerned the Feds may be trying to expand into what has not historically been Federal authority