Absence of Protection: Hate Crimes
September 28, 2009
Recently, I read a story published in the ABA Journal: “The Curious Case of Alex Latifi.” [1] Latifi, the owner of Axion Corporation, a relatively small defense contractor with a knack for providing lower cost, higher quality products for the U.S. Government, suddenly found himself under siege by “Witch hunter” Alice Martin. Martin, part of the Alabama U.S. Attorney team which had prosecuted Governor Don Siegelman and Richard Scrushy for being prominent Democrats, was at it again. Latifi had donated thirty thousand dollars to a Democratic politician’s charity for abused children, according to Martin’s lead investigator. Apparently, this is a serious crime under Alabama and Federal statutes, under both Alberto Gonzalez and, now, Eric Holder.
Adding to the charges against Mr. Latifi was the fact that he was a naturalized American citizen, originally from Iran. Eventually, Latifi was exonerated, but not before his company was broken and his employees left jobless. Ms. Martin, as is her custom, used a false witness to suborn perjury. She induced a former Axion employee, who had already been convicted of embezzling funds, to manufacture evidence against Latifi. In exchange, Ms. Martin suspended the witness’s 3 year jail sentence.
The ABA Journal article points out that of the more than one hundred cases of the U.S. Government versus defense contractors, Latifi is virtually the only one acquitted. Happy Ending? No, Latifi lost millions of dollars and scores of people are now unemployed. He can no longer obtain defense contracts. Why? Because Latifi was born in Iran: Strike One! For another thing, he is a Democrat and had donated a large sum of money to a Democratic based charity: Strikes Two and Three! In Alabama, according to Alice Martin: “We don’t care if Latifi is innocent, our goal is to put him out of business.” (Ms. Martin’s reply to Latifi’s attorney when asked if a charge could be dropped if evidence could be proven a forgery).
What we have is apparently a “Hate Crime.” We have an American citizen, apparently patriotic, in fact (read the article) prosecuted for being of Iranian descent in the frenzy of the Neoconservative “Superpatriotic Movement” and we have another poor soul prosecuted for donating money to a “Democratic” cause. Essentially, the prosecution of U.S. Citizens for the “crime” of “being a Democrat” is a “Hate Crime.” Alice Martin, Leura Canary, Judge Fuller and all of their accessories and scores of other members of the Bush/Rove misnamed Department of Justice need to be seen in the light of day for what they are: Criminals engaged in “Hate Crimes.”
Oh, one can argue that hate crimes against this or that minority or group don’t qualify as “Hate Crimes” under the Statute. This is due to one of the multitude of malfunctions in our legal system, purposely designed to legally discriminate against various groups not covered by the 14th Amendment. Of course, any group facing discrimination can be summarily dismissed by the whim of the Court on the grounds of the Court’s ignorance of the definition of “due process.” Meanwhile, any court stupid enough not to understand what “due process” means, can be readily forgiven, as well, for not knowing what “equal protection” is.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department continues to obfuscate, and the Obama Administration seems unable or unwilling to replace scores of amoral and unethical Bush appointed prosecutors. Eric Holder, the lackluster underachiever of the Clinton Administration, is clearly still unqualified for his role as Attorney General. Worse yet, after his sojourn with the law firm representing the Republican National Committee, his multitude of conflicts of interest would have him naming dozens of special prosecutors to go after Mr. Holder’s possibly “criminal” law associates. Clearly, Mr. Holder has become just as serious a problem as the hoodlums that he has supposedly sworn to pursue.
Yes, “Hate Crimes” are a priority of the Obama Administration, aren’t they? The question is whether the Administration is trying to prevent them or commit them?
Allen Finkelstein, D.O.
[1] “The Curious Case of Alex Latifi,” ABA Journal- Law News Now, Oct 2008: http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/the_curious_case_of_alex_latifi/