Month: July 2006

<![CDATA[I've written about the fact that their first rulings on the Supreme Court show Roberts and Alito Misled Us. Now, Senator Edward Kennedy responds to the gap between the picture presented during the confirmation hearings and the reality of the rulings:

The discussion should start with a few truths. First, any qualified nominee to the Supreme Court will have spent many years thinking about legal issues. We should require that nominees share that thinking with the Judiciary Committee, and not pretend that such candor is tantamount to prejudging specific cases. In particular, the Senate should have the same access to the nominee’s writings as the administration. Second, the Judiciary Committee will need to reorganize the way it asks questions. An in-depth inquiry will require something more than short rounds of questions that pass from senator to senator. Third, we need to remember what this process is all about. It is good to hear that a nominee has a loving family, faithful friends and a sense of humor. It is important to know that nominees possess the intellect, life experience and discipline that make a good judge. But it is essential that we learn enough of their legal views to be certain that they will make good on the simple promise etched in marble outside the Supreme Court: “Equal Justice Under Law.”

A nominee isn’t just a billboard for family values, they are accomplished lawyers and judges who should be willing to frankly discuss their philosophy, their record and the potential impact of rulings on the public.

Technorati Tags: accountability, democracy, SupremeCourt

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<![CDATA[Well, you would be erasing a flag if you leave it, once you are there.
There are lots of practical reasons to destroy a flag, the Boy Scouts cover the steps for destroying a flag. With all the issues facing this country, years of court debates about flag desecration (is anything with a flag on it sacred? do those cheap flags you buy for the lawn need to go in the trash or to a special facility) is so much misdirection from the real crisis. If you hear “flag desecration” is a campaign issue this fall, vote for the other guy, the one who is concerned about real problems.

Technorati Tags: democracy, politics

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<![CDATA[Bush’s Tactic of Refusing Laws Is Probed:

A panel of legal scholars and lawyers assembled by the American Bar Association is sharply criticizing the use of “signing statements” by President Bush that assert his right to ignore or not enforce laws passed by Congress.

The President has decided he is above many of the laws he signs, more than 800 in the past few years.
We live in a nation of laws, having decided some 230 years ago that we would not be governed by men who decided capriciously what would be right and wrong for some, not all, without the say of the people through the debate and passage of laws. If the President cannot sign a law without claiming an exception to it, he should resign the office he holds created by the Constitution passed by representatives of the people, because he has decided not to live by that Constitution.

Technorati Tags: accountability, Bush, Congress

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<![CDATA[Ben Stein, a conservative and funny man, has a great piece in The New York Times this Sunday, A City on a Hill, or a Looting Opportunity:

Is this America, where far too many of the rich endlessly loot their stockholders and kick the employees in the teeth, the America that our soldiers in Ramadi and Kirkuk and Anbar Province and Afghanistan are fighting for? Is this America, where we will end up so far behind the financial eight ball we won’t be able to see because of mismanagement by both parties, the America that our men and women are losing limbs for, coming home in boxes for?

I suggest you read the whole thing.

Technorati Tags: accountability, Economy

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<![CDATA[There is no other definition for what is going on in Iraq now than "civil war." Since we demanded credit as liberators, we now must admit we delivered Iraq into a vicious self-immolation masquerading as a functioning state.
The Washington Post reports Scores Of Sunnis Killed in Baghdad:

A deadly wave of violence that began early Sunday in a Sunni Arab neighborhood continued throughout the capital Monday, with car bombs detonating near police patrols and gunmen ambushing a commuter bus.

More than 50 people were killed Sunday when Shiite Muslim militiamen descended on the al-Jihad neighborhood after sunrise, residents said, setting up checkpoints, demanding identification cards and bursting into homes to single out Sunni Arabs to kill. Bodies, some of which appeared to have been tortured, were discarded in the streets, witnesses and Iraqi officials said.

Washington needs to acknowledge reality. Simply “staying the course,” whatever that slogan might mean depending on the Bush Administration’s political needs today, is a destructive path for Iraqis and Americans. We need a truly consistent plan for resolving this conflict and the mess we made of a messed-up land.

Technorati Tags: accountability, Bush, Iraq, war

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<![CDATA[
This just in from The Washington Post…. Well-Paid Benefit Most As Economy Flourishes:

Wages are rising more than twice as fast for highly paid workers in the Washington area as they are for low-paid workers, an analysis of federal data by The Washington Post shows.

That means the spoils of the region’s economic expansion are going disproportionately to workers who are already well-paid, widening a gap between rich and poor in a place where it is already wider than in most of the country.

Just pointing out the obvious disparity in the Bush recovery with some more hard data. This disparity is related to so many aspects of today’s challenges to our democracy, from how polarized Congress has become to the difficulties of fixing public education, and much more. The Post continues:

…from 2003 to 2005, the average wage for people in the lowest pay bracket, with salaries around $20,000, rose only 5.4 percent in the Washington region — not enough to keep up with rising prices. For the jobs that pay around $60,000, salaries rose 12.4 percent, well ahead of the 6.8 percent inflation in that period.

UPDATE: And, today there is this…. 2005 Compensation For Top-Earning Executives Grew With Stock Option Awards:

It was another banner year for the Washington area’s highest-paid executives.

The median total compensation for the 100 highest-paid executives at local public companies rose 21.2 percent in 2005, to $6.4 million from $5.2 million the year before. While the median salary for that group increased 4 percent, bonuses climbed nearly 14 percent, the value of the typical stock option grant went up by more than 25 percent, and other forms of long-term compensation leapt by a third.

Technorati Tags: democracy, Economy, politics

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