Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Targeting Justices. Tom DeLay leads, but he has help in this campaign to intimidate judges—and keep the focus off DeLay’s ethical /legal troubles.. To summarize the flurry, if not fury over the past 2 days: Senator John Cornyn uses troubling, loose words even though his own hometown, San Antonio had a noteworthy murder of a Federal District Judge in 1979. His words:
"I don't know if there is a cause-and-effect connection but we have seen some recent episodes of courthouse violence in this country. Certainly nothing new, but we seem to have run through a spate of courthouse violence recently that's been on the news and I wonder whether there may be some connection between the perception in some quarters on some occasions where judges are making political decisions yet are unaccountable to the public, that it builds up and builds up and builds up to the point where some people engage in - engage in violence.
Then, Rep. John Conyers ripped Cornyn for justifying violence against judges:
During the protracted coverage and debate of the Schiavo matter, I was struck by the disrespectful and reckless language being used against judges. One by one, my Republican colleagues took the House floor to attack judges as "unconscionable," lacking "human compassion," needing to be held in "contempt," and having "answering to do." I remember thinking that such dehumanizing rhetoric is especially dangerous in these times towards anyone, let alone judges.
Outside the halls of Congress, words flew even more recklessly and the House Majority Leader Tom DeLay called the removal of Schiavo's feeding tube an "act of medical terrorism." The Reverend Pat Robertson called it "judicial murder." I remember thinking about Judge Rowland Barnes of Georgia, who less than a month ago, was shot to death by an angry litigant in his courtroom, along with two other court employees. I remember thinking that irresponsible words can lead to tragic results. I thought of Judge Joan Lefkow, whose husband and mother are thought to have been murdered by an aggrieved litigant. Since then, I have been trying to think of the most appropriate forum to gently call this to my colleagues' attention, and to remind them that -- no matter how strong our feelings about individual decisions and cases, we need to be cognizant of the influence we may have -- especially on those that may be disturbed, and we always need to know that -- as elected officials -- our words have consequences.
That was to be a subtle message. It is unfortunate that today my message must be less subtle because things are very quickly spinning out of control....
This apparent effort [by Senator Cornyn] to rationalize violence against judges is deplorable. On its face, while it contains doubletalk that simultaneously offers a justification for such violence and then claims not to, the fundamental core of the statement seems to be that judges have somehow brought this violence on themselves. This also carries an implicit threat: that if judges do not do what the far right wants them to do (thus becoming the "judicial activists" the far right claims to deplore), the violence may well continue. http://www.conyersblog.us/archives/00000046.htm
Conference on Activist Judges: A two day this week in D.C. on Confronting the Judicial War on Faith, which will feature embattled Congressman Tom DeLay and conservative Senators Sam Brownback and Tom Coburn are scheduled to speak. The program screams that "unbridled" judges pose a "mortal danger". The web site also notes that the Republican Baptist judge in the Terri Schiavo case was "an activist Florida judge who, in effect, passed a death sentence on Terri Schiavo" and criticizes "liberal judges" who "defy the will of the people" in order to "force their radical theories on the nation," and that these judges have apparently declared "war.". http://www.stopactivistjudges.org/newser31.asp
New Book: Men in Black published by Regnery Publishing whose previous ‘success” was Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry, addresses "activist judges" that "now sit[s] in final judgment of essentially all policy issues, disregarding its constitutional limitations, the legitimate role of Congress and the President, and the broad authority conferred upon the states and the people."
Kudos to those who got on this. At least 3 groups responded immediately to Cornyn’s statements, breaking with the usual silence. So credit where credit… to the National Jewish Democratic Council, the Center for American Progress (a new group) and Democracy for America.
DeLay’s New Problems: Cronyism, Nepotism, Malfeasance. Reports in the NY Times and WaPost chronicle his generous employ of wife and daughter and his taking a trip to Moscow funded by a "mysterious company registered in the Bahamas." [House ethics rules just say no to legislators having their trips covered by lobbyists or foreign agents.] http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/06/politics/06delay.html?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28319-2005Apr5.html
Bush is Unpopular; So, why the deference? We’re used to people backing off, deferring, being afraid of the Republican Right. This disempowerment was understandable, if regrettable, following 9/11 and the 90% approval that Bush temporarily enjoyed. But, now we have consecutive polls that say he’s at 45%, the lowest ever for a president in March of his second term. Yet, Howard Fineman of Newsweek is not alone when he writes,
There’s a certain logic to the enterprise: don’t take on the Texas president, who remains popular, especially as commander-in-chief. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7338712/site/newsweek/
What’s Happening, Iraq: The “government” is ostensibly getting its act together, picking a president and other officials. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/06/international/middleeast/06cnd-iraq.html?hp&ex=1112846400&en=f282cf077a0b3f0c&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Otherwise:
(1) Mixed Bag on the military front: Attacks down to 30 a day, similar to the fall of ’03, but better coordinated…and larger. Today’s papers note (quietly) that 4 Americans were killed yesterday as well as noting a second attack on the Abu Ghraib prison. The larger, coordinated attacks brought forth a statement from the Abu Musab al-Zarqawi group that asserted, "We are going to use the same method that they used when they attacked Iraq," he said. "The soldier feels safe when he goes back to his base. If he is attacked in the place that feels safe, that place is really hell." http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A24808-2005Apr4?language=printer
2) Bushies Battle Labor. Just like at home, however counterproductive
From Poland to Brazil to post-apartheid South Africa, organized labor has played a critical role in helping new democracies emerge and stabilize. America's own history of successful occupation teaches the same lesson. After the Japanese surrender in World War II, the country's newly-appointed premier knocked on the door of Gen. Douglas MacArthur and was greeted with a memorandum outlining the framework for Japan's democratization. First on the list was the “emancipation of the women of Japan through their enfranchisement.” Second was “the encouragement of the unionization of Labor.” Had the American administrators in Iraq followed MacArthur's model and placed a similar emphasis on nurturing labor, that move alone would not have turned Iraq into a stable, civil society. But given the history of labor in emerging democracies and the dearth of other nation-building alternatives in Iraq, sheltering and encouraging a union movement ought to have been pretty close to first in the reconstruction playbook. Instead, it seems to have come somewhere near last. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2005/0504.harwood.html
(3) Spy Planes Fill the Iraqi Skies
In the skies over Iraq, the number of remotely piloted aircraft - increasingly crucial tools in tracking insurgents, foiling roadside bombings, protecting convoys and launching missile attacks - has shot up to more than 700 now from just a handful four years ago, military officials say.
As the American military continues to shift its emphasis to counterinsurgency and antiterrorism missions, the aircraft are in such demand that the Pentagon is poised to spend more than $13 billion on them through the end of the decade.
The aircraft are being put into service so quickly that the various military and intelligence branches are struggling to keep pace with the increased number of operators required and with the lack of common policy and strategy on how to use them. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/05/international/middleeast/05predator.html?pagewanted=print&position=
Using the Pope’s Death… The hypocrites reverse their previous condemnation of the Pope John Paul. Lest we forget…
Bill O’Reilly, March, 2003:
But as I’ve said before, I believe also that John Paul is naive and detached from reality. If America does not lead an attack on Iraq, once again, Saddam remains in power and is free to use his anthrax and other terrible weapons as he chooses.
So the pope does not seem to be concerned about that or about Saddam’s behavior in general. Once again, he must know Saddam is a killer. He must know he’s oppressed his own people using murder and torture. He must know that.
[Snip]
Summing up, Jacques Chirac is our enemy, and the pope, well, I don’t know what to think.
Now: But I do know that I’ve studied this pope as well as I’ve studied anybody. And I can’t find anything, anything that this guy didn’t walk the walk. You know, right down the line. Nobody’s perfect, but this guy was close in his personal behavior and the way he conducted himself. http://thinkprogress.org/index.php?p=561
Sean Hannity, January 2003:
COLMES: …And before you respond, let me just put up what the pope says.
“No to war,” says Pope John Paul II. “during his annual address to scores of diplomatic emissaries to the Vatican… ‘War is not always inevitable,’ he said. ‘It is always a defeat for humanity.’”
Are these a bunch of wild-eyed liberal loonies?
HANNITY: Yes.
http://thinkprogress.org/index.php?p=564
Wal-Mart News: ‘We’re good for America’. The chief defends his company. Meanwhile, the Bennington, Vt. store has won a vote that will allow them to expand their store.
In a feisty response to critics who accuse Wal-Mart of providing poverty-level wages and few benefits, the executive, H. Lee Scott Jr., said Wal-Mart offered good, stable jobs, noting that when it opens a store, more than 3,000 people often apply for the 300 jobs.
"It doesn't make sense," Mr. Scott said, "that people would line up for jobs that are worse than they could get elsewhere, with fewer benefits and less opportunity."
After pointing to headlines on editorial pages that say "Wal-Mart's low prices come at too high a cost," Mr. Scott said, "I'd suggest a better headline, 'Wal-Mart is great for America.' " http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/06/business/06walmart.html?pagewanted=print&position=
British to lead new hunt for bin Laden
Britain is preparing for a major redeployment of troops stationed overseas, withdrawing thousands from Iraq and boosting its military presence in Afghanistan.
Military sources say 5,500 troops will be pulled out of Iraq within the next 12 months, reducing the British presence there by almost two thirds.
Defence sources have told The Scotsman that Britain is preparing to spearhead a new offensive in Afghanistan next year, sending 5,000 troops into the country to lead the hunt for Osama bin Laden and tackle the country’s opium trade.
Military commanders in Iraq believe the campaign there has "turned the corner" and the country’s own security forces are now able to take on a greater burden of the struggle against the insurgency that has gripped Iraq since the United States-led invasion two years ago. http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=354212005
Bush and Debt: The Administration has now reached the $2 trillion mark, having added that figure to the already existing 5.8 trillion. Congrats! http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdpdodt.htm
-R
"I don't know if there is a cause-and-effect connection but we have seen some recent episodes of courthouse violence in this country. Certainly nothing new, but we seem to have run through a spate of courthouse violence recently that's been on the news and I wonder whether there may be some connection between the perception in some quarters on some occasions where judges are making political decisions yet are unaccountable to the public, that it builds up and builds up and builds up to the point where some people engage in - engage in violence.
Then, Rep. John Conyers ripped Cornyn for justifying violence against judges:
During the protracted coverage and debate of the Schiavo matter, I was struck by the disrespectful and reckless language being used against judges. One by one, my Republican colleagues took the House floor to attack judges as "unconscionable," lacking "human compassion," needing to be held in "contempt," and having "answering to do." I remember thinking that such dehumanizing rhetoric is especially dangerous in these times towards anyone, let alone judges.
Outside the halls of Congress, words flew even more recklessly and the House Majority Leader Tom DeLay called the removal of Schiavo's feeding tube an "act of medical terrorism." The Reverend Pat Robertson called it "judicial murder." I remember thinking about Judge Rowland Barnes of Georgia, who less than a month ago, was shot to death by an angry litigant in his courtroom, along with two other court employees. I remember thinking that irresponsible words can lead to tragic results. I thought of Judge Joan Lefkow, whose husband and mother are thought to have been murdered by an aggrieved litigant. Since then, I have been trying to think of the most appropriate forum to gently call this to my colleagues' attention, and to remind them that -- no matter how strong our feelings about individual decisions and cases, we need to be cognizant of the influence we may have -- especially on those that may be disturbed, and we always need to know that -- as elected officials -- our words have consequences.
That was to be a subtle message. It is unfortunate that today my message must be less subtle because things are very quickly spinning out of control....
This apparent effort [by Senator Cornyn] to rationalize violence against judges is deplorable. On its face, while it contains doubletalk that simultaneously offers a justification for such violence and then claims not to, the fundamental core of the statement seems to be that judges have somehow brought this violence on themselves. This also carries an implicit threat: that if judges do not do what the far right wants them to do (thus becoming the "judicial activists" the far right claims to deplore), the violence may well continue. http://www.conyersblog.us/archives/00000046.htm
Conference on Activist Judges: A two day this week in D.C. on Confronting the Judicial War on Faith, which will feature embattled Congressman Tom DeLay and conservative Senators Sam Brownback and Tom Coburn are scheduled to speak. The program screams that "unbridled" judges pose a "mortal danger". The web site also notes that the Republican Baptist judge in the Terri Schiavo case was "an activist Florida judge who, in effect, passed a death sentence on Terri Schiavo" and criticizes "liberal judges" who "defy the will of the people" in order to "force their radical theories on the nation," and that these judges have apparently declared "war.". http://www.stopactivistjudges.org/newser31.asp
New Book: Men in Black published by Regnery Publishing whose previous ‘success” was Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry, addresses "activist judges" that "now sit[s] in final judgment of essentially all policy issues, disregarding its constitutional limitations, the legitimate role of Congress and the President, and the broad authority conferred upon the states and the people."
Kudos to those who got on this. At least 3 groups responded immediately to Cornyn’s statements, breaking with the usual silence. So credit where credit… to the National Jewish Democratic Council, the Center for American Progress (a new group) and Democracy for America.
DeLay’s New Problems: Cronyism, Nepotism, Malfeasance. Reports in the NY Times and WaPost chronicle his generous employ of wife and daughter and his taking a trip to Moscow funded by a "mysterious company registered in the Bahamas." [House ethics rules just say no to legislators having their trips covered by lobbyists or foreign agents.] http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/06/politics/06delay.html?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28319-2005Apr5.html
Bush is Unpopular; So, why the deference? We’re used to people backing off, deferring, being afraid of the Republican Right. This disempowerment was understandable, if regrettable, following 9/11 and the 90% approval that Bush temporarily enjoyed. But, now we have consecutive polls that say he’s at 45%, the lowest ever for a president in March of his second term. Yet, Howard Fineman of Newsweek is not alone when he writes,
There’s a certain logic to the enterprise: don’t take on the Texas president, who remains popular, especially as commander-in-chief. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7338712/site/newsweek/
What’s Happening, Iraq: The “government” is ostensibly getting its act together, picking a president and other officials. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/06/international/middleeast/06cnd-iraq.html?hp&ex=1112846400&en=f282cf077a0b3f0c&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Otherwise:
(1) Mixed Bag on the military front: Attacks down to 30 a day, similar to the fall of ’03, but better coordinated…and larger. Today’s papers note (quietly) that 4 Americans were killed yesterday as well as noting a second attack on the Abu Ghraib prison. The larger, coordinated attacks brought forth a statement from the Abu Musab al-Zarqawi group that asserted, "We are going to use the same method that they used when they attacked Iraq," he said. "The soldier feels safe when he goes back to his base. If he is attacked in the place that feels safe, that place is really hell." http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A24808-2005Apr4?language=printer
2) Bushies Battle Labor. Just like at home, however counterproductive
From Poland to Brazil to post-apartheid South Africa, organized labor has played a critical role in helping new democracies emerge and stabilize. America's own history of successful occupation teaches the same lesson. After the Japanese surrender in World War II, the country's newly-appointed premier knocked on the door of Gen. Douglas MacArthur and was greeted with a memorandum outlining the framework for Japan's democratization. First on the list was the “emancipation of the women of Japan through their enfranchisement.” Second was “the encouragement of the unionization of Labor.” Had the American administrators in Iraq followed MacArthur's model and placed a similar emphasis on nurturing labor, that move alone would not have turned Iraq into a stable, civil society. But given the history of labor in emerging democracies and the dearth of other nation-building alternatives in Iraq, sheltering and encouraging a union movement ought to have been pretty close to first in the reconstruction playbook. Instead, it seems to have come somewhere near last. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2005/0504.harwood.html
(3) Spy Planes Fill the Iraqi Skies
In the skies over Iraq, the number of remotely piloted aircraft - increasingly crucial tools in tracking insurgents, foiling roadside bombings, protecting convoys and launching missile attacks - has shot up to more than 700 now from just a handful four years ago, military officials say.
As the American military continues to shift its emphasis to counterinsurgency and antiterrorism missions, the aircraft are in such demand that the Pentagon is poised to spend more than $13 billion on them through the end of the decade.
The aircraft are being put into service so quickly that the various military and intelligence branches are struggling to keep pace with the increased number of operators required and with the lack of common policy and strategy on how to use them. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/05/international/middleeast/05predator.html?pagewanted=print&position=
Using the Pope’s Death… The hypocrites reverse their previous condemnation of the Pope John Paul. Lest we forget…
Bill O’Reilly, March, 2003:
But as I’ve said before, I believe also that John Paul is naive and detached from reality. If America does not lead an attack on Iraq, once again, Saddam remains in power and is free to use his anthrax and other terrible weapons as he chooses.
So the pope does not seem to be concerned about that or about Saddam’s behavior in general. Once again, he must know Saddam is a killer. He must know he’s oppressed his own people using murder and torture. He must know that.
[Snip]
Summing up, Jacques Chirac is our enemy, and the pope, well, I don’t know what to think.
Now: But I do know that I’ve studied this pope as well as I’ve studied anybody. And I can’t find anything, anything that this guy didn’t walk the walk. You know, right down the line. Nobody’s perfect, but this guy was close in his personal behavior and the way he conducted himself. http://thinkprogress.org/index.php?p=561
Sean Hannity, January 2003:
COLMES: …And before you respond, let me just put up what the pope says.
“No to war,” says Pope John Paul II. “during his annual address to scores of diplomatic emissaries to the Vatican… ‘War is not always inevitable,’ he said. ‘It is always a defeat for humanity.’”
Are these a bunch of wild-eyed liberal loonies?
HANNITY: Yes.
http://thinkprogress.org/index.php?p=564
Wal-Mart News: ‘We’re good for America’. The chief defends his company. Meanwhile, the Bennington, Vt. store has won a vote that will allow them to expand their store.
In a feisty response to critics who accuse Wal-Mart of providing poverty-level wages and few benefits, the executive, H. Lee Scott Jr., said Wal-Mart offered good, stable jobs, noting that when it opens a store, more than 3,000 people often apply for the 300 jobs.
"It doesn't make sense," Mr. Scott said, "that people would line up for jobs that are worse than they could get elsewhere, with fewer benefits and less opportunity."
After pointing to headlines on editorial pages that say "Wal-Mart's low prices come at too high a cost," Mr. Scott said, "I'd suggest a better headline, 'Wal-Mart is great for America.' " http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/06/business/06walmart.html?pagewanted=print&position=
British to lead new hunt for bin Laden
Britain is preparing for a major redeployment of troops stationed overseas, withdrawing thousands from Iraq and boosting its military presence in Afghanistan.
Military sources say 5,500 troops will be pulled out of Iraq within the next 12 months, reducing the British presence there by almost two thirds.
Defence sources have told The Scotsman that Britain is preparing to spearhead a new offensive in Afghanistan next year, sending 5,000 troops into the country to lead the hunt for Osama bin Laden and tackle the country’s opium trade.
Military commanders in Iraq believe the campaign there has "turned the corner" and the country’s own security forces are now able to take on a greater burden of the struggle against the insurgency that has gripped Iraq since the United States-led invasion two years ago. http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=354212005
Bush and Debt: The Administration has now reached the $2 trillion mark, having added that figure to the already existing 5.8 trillion. Congrats! http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdpdodt.htm
-R
