Rep. Jared Polis: Would be very happy if Holder resigned

[RainDog]

http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2013/08/15/democratic-rep-polis-would-be-very-happy-if-eric-holder-resigns

"I would be very happy to see him leave," Polis told The Coloradoan in an interview published Wednesday.

Polis offered four major reasons he has lost confidence in Holder, including: the Justice Department's pursuit of reporters during leak investigations; Holder's non-committal to respecting state marijuana legalization laws; his apparent approval of NSA surveillance; and the "abuse of prosecutorial discretion" by federal prosecutors.

Regarding Colorado's marijuana legalization law, which will usher in state-licensed recreational weed shops next year, Polis complained that "[e]very time we've talked to [Holder] about it — and I've talked to him many times about it — it's just kind of the typical attorney thing: no answer, just nothing, talk around it, not yes, not no."

Polis also requested that recreational cannabis stores in states that have made cannabis legal should be dealt with under terms of the Ogden Memo.

http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2013/08/16/rep-jared-polis-apply-ogden-memo-to-recreational-marijuana-stores

Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., wants Attorney General Eric Holder to confirm that the federal approach to state-licensed recreational marijuana stores, set to open next year in Colorado and Washington state, will be similar to the Justice Department's approach to medical marijuana dispensaries.

"Stores are opening next year," Polis told U.S News. "We would like to have the clarification from the attorney general to make it clear that the Ogden memo also applies" to recreational marijuana stores.

The Ogden memo is a 2009 document written by then-Deputy Attorney General David Ogden that says it wouldn't be an "efficient use" of federal resources to go after medical marijuana patients. It also said the Justice Department would primarily target dispensaries that commit other infractions, such as selling hard drugs, using guns or breaking state marijuana regulations.

Polis says the Justice Department has misled the states into believing a policy announcement was imminent for the past eight months.

[Autumn]

1. I agree with Rep. Polis.

rec

[RainDog]

2. Polis also mentions Schwartz and going after journalists

This issues are separate and just as important as the abuse of power from the war on drugs.

[Autumn]

3. Polis made good points as to why Holder should be gone.

and this cracked me up

"I've been disappointed with his performance in several areas. It isn't just one thing, it's a pattern," the congressman said. "I would be pleased to see him go, and if he stays I hope he changes his stripes and performs better."

I like Rep. Polis Some of ours here in CO just make a person crazy, he's a good man

[Bluenorthwest]

4. Polis puts it very well. Millions of Americans would like to see Holder change or leave.

He is not a good attorney general.

[RainDog]

5. Well, dispensaries are more harmful than the banksters

who laundered money for the drug cartels, right?

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/outrageous-hsbc-settlement-proves-the-drug-war-is-a-joke-20121213#ixzz2EywCnsTV

Outrageous HSBC Settlement Proves the Drug War is a Joke

If you've ever been arrested on a drug charge, if you've ever spent even a day in jail for having a stem of marijuana in your pocket or "drug paraphernalia" in your gym bag, Assistant Attorney General and longtime Bill Clinton pal Lanny Breuer has a message for you: Bite me.

Breuer this week signed off on a settlement deal with the British banking giant HSBC that is the ultimate insult to every ordinary person who's ever had his life altered by a narcotics charge. Despite the fact that HSBC admitted to laundering billions of dollars for Colombian and Mexican drug cartels (among others) and violating a host of important banking laws (from the Bank Secrecy Act to the Trading With the Enemy Act), Breuer and his Justice Department elected not to pursue criminal prosecutions of the bank, opting instead for a "record" financial settlement of $1.9 billion, which as one analyst noted is about five weeks of income for the bank.

The banks' laundering transactions were so brazen that the NSA probably could have spotted them from space. Breuer admitted that drug dealers would sometimes come to HSBC's Mexican branches and "deposit hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, in a single day, into a single account, using boxes designed to fit the precise dimensions of the teller windows."

This bears repeating: in order to more efficiently move as much illegal money as possible into the "legitimate" banking institution HSBC, drug dealers specifically designed boxes to fit through the bank's teller windows. Tony Montana's henchmen marching dufflebags of cash into the fictional "American City Bank" in Miami was actually more subtle than what the cartels were doing when they washed their cash through one of Britain's most storied financial institutions.

[Warren DeMontague]

6. Holder has his priorities way out of whack.

Barring some attitudinal adjustment soon, I think he should be replaced by someone more sensible.