Every day, Spike over at Booman Tribune posts a daily cartoon that he draws and scripts. He has a knack at capturing the daily debate on issues with humor and truth.
Today is no exception.
To view all of his cartoons, check out PoliticalAnimalsCartoon.com
If you say the title of this post out loud, you’ll get a hint of my view on his nomination. heh.
He is opposed to having to deal with the burden of writing opinions for the various cases he hears. I wonder if it’s “hard work” on par with George’s view of his job
“The Judiciary has been concerned that the universal publication of opinions would either produce a deterioration in the quality of opinions or impose intolerable burdens on judges in researching and drafting opinions,” Alito said. “It would be virtually impossible for the courts of appeals to keep current with their caseloads if they attempted to produce such an opinion in every case.”
“Responsible appellate judges must devote more time to an opinion that changes the law or clarifies it in an important way, and may thus affect many litigants in future cases, than to an opinion that simply applies well-established law to specific facts, and thus affects solely the litigants at hand,” he said.
The federal rules govern procedure, practice, and evidence in federal courts. Congress has authorized the federal Judiciary to prescribe the rules of practice, procedure, and evidence for the federal courts, subject to the ultimate legislative right of Congress to reject, modify, or defer any of the rules. (emphasis mine)
Wait. I thought George was opposed to judicial activists.
Oh right. IOKIYAR.
When I heard the news, I had the exact reaction as John over at AMERICAblog.
And now we know the rest of the story. Bush’s Supreme Court pick, Judge Alito, will be visiting the Hill today and, oh what a coincidence, he’s going to pay homage to Rosa Parks in state. Oh, and, gosh, do you think there will be cameras there to capture the Kodak moment?
Now, maybe this isn’t a stunt to use Rosa Parks’ corpse as a tool to further a far-right extremist agenda that she would never endorse in a million years. But if that’s the case, that this is simply a heartfelt gesture to honor a great woman, then I’d like to know if Judge Alito was coming to Washington anyway to pay homage to Rosa Parks, whether or not he was going to be the Supreme Court nominee. If not, then this is a PR stunt.
Oh, and one final question for Judge Alito. Did he ever visit Rosa Parks when she was alive?
George W. Bush has had a shitty couple of months.
His party’s House Majority Leader was indicted and forced to step down; his Senate Majority Leader is being investigated for shady stock dealings; his FEMA apparatus botched the response to Hurricane Katrina; he wasn’t able to kill Social Security; his buddy Harriet Miers was laughed out of contention for the Supreme Court; his Vice President is in the crosshairs of Treasongate after his chief-of-staff was indicted with five felony counts; his own “brain” remains in legal jeopardy; and noone trusts his warmongering strategy in the Middle East anymore.
This is not exactly the strongest position to be in while making another Supreme Court nomination. Rather than govern from the middle, as a real leader would do in a time like this, George decided it was better to make a political calculation that would shore up his base. This morning he nominated Samuel A. Alito to fill the SCOTUS vacancy.
To be sure, Alito is a staunch conservative. Here are just a few bits of past rulings that make my blood run cold on this Halloween Monday. Via the indispensable Think Progress:
ALITO WOULD OVERTURN ROE V. WADE: In his dissenting opinion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Alito concurred with the majority in supporting the restrictive abortion-related measures passed by the Pennsylvania legislature in the late 1980’s. Alito went further, however, saying the majority was wrong to strike down a requirement that women notify their spouses before having an abortion. The Supreme Court later rejected Alito’s view, voting to reaffirm Roe v. Wade. [Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 1991]
ALITO WOULD ALLOW RACE-BASED DISCRIMINATION: Alito dissented from a decision in favor of a Marriott Hotel manager who said she had been discriminated against on the basis of race. The majority explained that Alito would have protected racist employers by “immuniz[ing] an employer from the reach of Title VII if the employer’s belief that it had selected the ‘best’ candidate was the result of conscious racial bias.” [Bray v. Marriott Hotels, 1997]
ALITO WOULD ALLOW DISABILITY-BASED DISCRIMINATION: In Nathanson v. Medical College of Pennsylvania, the majority said the standard for proving disability-based discrimination articulated in Alito’s dissent was so restrictive that “few if any…cases would survive summary judgment.” [Nathanson v. Medical College of Pennsylvania, 1991]
ALITO WOULD STRIKE DOWN THE FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT: The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) “guarantees most workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a loved one.” The 2003 Supreme Court ruling upholding FMLA [Nevada v. Hibbs, 2003] essentially reversed a 2000 decision by Alito which found that Congress exceeded its power in passing the law. [Chittister v. Department of Community and Economic Development, 2000]
ALITO SUPPORTS UNAUTHORIZED STRIP SEARCHES: In Doe v. Groody, Alito agued that police officers had not violated constitutional rights when they strip searched a mother and her ten-year-old daughter while carrying out a search warrant that authorized only the search of a man and his home. [Doe v. Groody, 2004]
ALITO HOSTILE TOWARD IMMIGRANTS: In two cases involving the deportation of immigrants, the majority twice noted Alito’s disregard of settled law. In Dia v. Ashcroft, the majority opinion states that Alito’s dissent “guts the statutory standard” and “ignores our precedent.” In Ki Se Lee v. Ashcroft, the majority stated Alito’s opinion contradicted “well-recognized rules of statutory construction.” [Dia v. Ashcroft, 2003; Ki Se Lee v. Ashcroft, 2004]
I hope this nomination serves as a big BLINKING NEON-SIGN NOTICE to all women in this country. You will no longer be in control of your body if this nomination makes it to the Supreme Court.
This is not about abortion.
This is about who gets to make the decisions in your life. Would you rather have the ability to discuss your options with your doctor, and make a reasoned choice that way? Or would you rather the decision be made by a group of men sitting behind a big wooden slab wearing black robes?
You decide.
George Bush has made it clear that you are a second-class citizen, along with those who have disabilities, happen to be minority, or are in need of personal time to take care of a sick family member. This is the Republican model of Compassionate Conservatism in action.
You get what you voted for, I suppose. Don’t make the same mistake in 2006.
Just enough to make me smile on a Monday morning.
From the WaPo, a set of poll results and the headline, “White House Ethics, Honesty Questioned“:
Some highlowlights:
A majority of Americans say the indictment of senior White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby signals broader ethical problems in the Bush administration, and nearly half say the overall level of honesty and ethics in the federal government has fallen since President Bush took office, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News survey.
The poll, conducted Friday night and yesterday, found that 55 percent of the public believes the Libby case indicates wider problems “with ethical wrongdoing” in the White House, while 41 percent believes it was an “isolated incident.” And by a 3 to 1 ratio, 46 percent to 15 percent, Americans say the level of honesty and ethics in the government has declined rather than risen under Bush.
It appears the American public is finally starting to tune-up their B.S. meters and apply them to anything coming out of the White House. It’s about time, welcome to the partynightmare.
The next headline surprised me, to be honest, because one-half of the piece’s authorship is Howard Fineman. He has been a reliable attack dog against the Democrats for the past five years, but perhaps he is more of an opportunist than a shill. He’ll kick whomever is down.
From the Nov. 7th issue of Newsweek, “Flying Blind“:
Now Fitzgerald’s probe is aimed at the operational inner sanctum of Bush’s “war presidency”Âand, by extension, at Bush’s anchoring view of what his administration has been about since the 9/11 attacks. As he prosecutes “Cheney’s Cheney” for perjury, false statements and obstruction, Fitzgerald will inevitably have to shine a light on the machinery that sold the Iraq war and that sought to discredit critics of it, particularly Joseph Wilson. And that, in turn, could lead to Cheney and to the Cheney-run effort to make Iraq the central battleground in the war on terror. As if that weren’t dramatic enough, the Libby trialÂif there is oneÂwill feature an unprecedented, high-stakes credibility contest between a top government official and the reporters he spoke to: Tim Russert of NBC, Judith Miller of The New York Times and Matt Cooper of Time magazine. Another likely witness: Cheney himself. White House officials were admonished not to have any contact with Libby about the investigation. That presumably includes the vice president.
The piece continues to describe the setting of Cheney’s star in the Administration, the emergence of Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice in his place, and the implications of the tone-deaf circle of advisors that surround the Boy President.
…For a political figure who rose to power on the strength of strategic “rollouts,” Bush seemed to be oddly lacking a grand plan.
There is, as yet, no master plan to breathe life into the second term with dramatic new initiatives…
[snip]
“Now isn’t the time for a long ball,” said a senior aide. “It’s time for simple blocking and tackling. We have to demonstrate that we can make sound, competent decisions.
“That won’t be as easy as it sounds, given the decision Bush was facing: whom to nominate to the high court in place of his White House counsel.
Clearly there is a lot at stake in the coming days. Today is the expected announcement of George’s replacement for the Harriet Miers SCOTUS debacle and this week will see a return of torture to the headlines.
Will the American people finally demand that George W. Bush govern from the center? Or will the Chimperor be allowed to continue to drag our country into the depths of his compassionate conservative hell… Stay tuned.
Racism is alive and well in the United States; but it takes more shadowy forms than the past when it was still sanctioned by society.
Thanks to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s, many of the walls that separated Americans from Americans were cracked and removed. We still have a long way to go, and most of the effort involves education and the realization that we must treat one another with the dignity that is rightfully ours as human beings. Given that advice, I hope the national discussion on race and equality will be reinvigorated by this happy news
Black civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks would become the first woman to lie in honor in the Capitol Rotunda under resolutions considered Thursday by lawmakers.
Parks’ refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955 led to a 381-day boycott of the city’s bus system and helped spark the modern civil rights movement. She died Monday in Detroit at age 92.
The Senate approved a resolution Thursday allowing her remains to lie in honor in the Rotunda on Sunday and Monday “so that the citizens of the United States may pay their last respects to this great American.” The House was expected to consider the resolution Friday.
In most cases, only presidents, members of Congress and military commanders have been permitted to lie in the Rotunda.
Parks would be the first woman and second black American to receive the accolade. Jacob J. Chestnut, one of two Capitol police officers fatally shot in 1998, was the first black American to lie in honor, said Senate historian Richard Baker.
Parks also would be the second non-governmental official to be commemorated that way. The remains of Pierre L’Enfant — the French-born architect who was responsible for the design of Washington, D.C. — stopped at the Capitol in 1909 — 84 years after his death in 1825.
Rosa Parks’ story should be told to every new generation of Americans. We have to be willing to stand up for what’s right, even if it means swimming upstream against a current of hatred and divisiveness.
As a minority in this country, I can think of several instances when I have felt ridiculed, demeaned, and made to feel less American than my Anglo brothers and sisters. Some of it is blatant, but most of it is unconscious. Either way, it is still wrong. I hope to continue to educate those around me of the ways in which we perpetuate divisiveness. By exposing it, we can continue to work against it.
Rest in Peace, Mrs. Rosa Parks. Thank you for blazing a path towards unity.
I hope this is only the tip of the iceberg regarding the cover-up by these traitors:
Vice President Cheney and his chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, overruling advice from some White House political staffers and lawyers, decided to withhold crucial documents from the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2004 when the panel was investigating the use of pre-war intelligence that erroneously concluded Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, according to Bush administration and congressional sources.
Among the White House materials withheld from the committee were Libby-authored passages in drafts of a speech that then-Secretary of State Colin L. Powell delivered to the United Nations in February 2003 to argue the Bush administration’s case for war with Iraq, according to congressional and administration sources. The withheld documents also included intelligence data that Cheney’s office — and Libby in particular — pushed to be included in Powell’s speech, the sources said.
The new information that Cheney and Libby blocked information to the Senate Intelligence Committee further underscores the central role played by the vice president’s office in trying to blunt criticism that the Bush administration exaggerated intelligence data to make the case to go to war.
How many more soldiers have to die in the Middle East for their treasonous lies?
Every decision made involves an outcome. In government, our lawmakers have an obligation to spend the taxpayer’s money responsibly. Since Bush is a complete disaster when it comes to managing a budget, our country is saddled with the worst deficit in our history.
Something has to be done, obviously, to control the spending; and it appears the Republican-led Congress is finally starting to act. These actions define their values
House Republicans voted to cut student loan subsidies, child support enforcement and aid to firms hurt by unfair trade practices as various committees scrambled to piece together $50 billion in budget cuts.
More politically difficult votes — to cut Medicaid, food stamps and farm subsidies — are on tap Thursday as more panels weigh in on the bill.
These budget cuts are a big “Fuck You” to the middle class and poor of our nation. Meanwhile pork spending is on an exponential rise, tax cuts are given to the richest of our citizens and defense spending continues to skyrocket (because “freedom is on the march”).
Those are not my values and I suspect the vast majority of Republicans don’t share them either; yet they allow wedge issues like same-sex marriage and abortion to blind them from the fact that they are screwing the poor. Divide and Conquer, that is the modus operandi of our Republican-led government….and people wonder why I’m a progressive Democrat.
This really burns my ass:
ConocoPhillips, the nation’s third-largest integrated oil and gas company, said Wednesday its third-quarter profit surged 89 percent, reflecting strong prices for crude oil and natural gas.
Earnings for the quarter ended Sept. 30 rose to $3.8 billion, or $2.68 per share, topping the average Wall Street estimate of $2.57 per share, according to a Thomson Financial survey of analysts. A year ago, the company earned $2 billion, or $1.43 per share.
Quarterly revenue rose 43 percent to $49.66 billion from $34.74 billion
“During the quarter, our U.S. Gulf Coast operations were significantly impacted by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Dennis,” said Jim Mulva, chairman and chief executive. “Despite these impacts, our overall operating performance for the quarter was good, and we continued to benefit from the strong commodity price environment.”
Texas Oil Man + Oval Office = Raping by the oil industry
I have read a lot of blog posts, but this is by far the best one. Meteor Blades lays out, with numerous sources, the reason that most progressives’ bullshit meters were peaking when the first rumblings of Iraq started spreading after 9/11.
Go read it, all of it. It is breathtaking. It is the truth.
LatinoPolítico.com 