Obama Admin excuses Bush-era torturers

Max Eternity - One of the signature hallmarks of the Obama administration has been to stand idle as high-level criminal acts within corporate America occur--going unpunished. This has been a pattern in the banking industry resulting in trillion dollar bailouts for collapsing private lending entities, even as they purveyed an endless supply of fraudulent mortgage packages. Though, instead of ordering his justice department to prosecute the conspirators and collaborators, Obama rewarded them with public funds, facilitating yet another billion-dollar bonanza in profits and bonuses for the already rich.

And yet, the President talks about the moral high-road at every turn. Indeed, no chance is missed to speak of what should be done. all the while continuing to lead the nation in very much the same rogue, lawless manner as his predecessor.

For all his upbeat orations about how well things are going--the recent State of the Union Address, the poor and middle class slips further in steep decline under Obama guidance.

The President has essentially swallowed whole the Bush-era wars and occupation, as well as warrantless wiretapping policies and the Patriot Act. Thus in his ongoing embrace of Bush-era , it should come as no surprise that the current Justice Department, is now covering up the crimes of the prior Justice Department and various Bush lawyers. Jason Leopold @ Truthout reports:

A long-awaited Department of Justice watchdog report that probed whether John Yoo and his former boss Jay Bybee violated professional standards when they provided the Bush White House with legal advice on torture has cleared both men of misconduct, according to Newsweek, citing unnamed sources who have seen the document.

An earlier version of the report, prepared by the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) and completed in December 2008, actually concluded that Yoo, a Berkeley law professor, and Bybee, now a federal appeals court judge on the 9th Circuit, violated professional standards when they drafted an August 2002 legal opinion that authorized CIA officers to use brutal methods when interrogating suspected terrorist detainees. Read more.