Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => Politics => Topic started by: RocketMan on May 01, 2009, 12:01:42 AM
-
Supreme Court Justice David Souter is going to retire at the end this current term. No real change in the make-up of the court is anticipated, given how Souter typically votes, and the type of nominee Pres. Obama is likely to send up.
From NPR:
NPR.org, April 30, 2009 ·
NPR has learned that Supreme Court Justice David Souter is planning to retire at the end of the current court term.
The vacancy will give President Obama his first chance to name a member of the high court and begin to shape its future direction.
At 69, Souter is nowhere near the oldest member of the court. In fact, he is in the younger half of the court's age range, with five justices older and just three younger. So far as anyone knows, he is in good health. But he has made clear to friends for some time that he wanted to leave Washington, a city he has never liked, and return to his native New Hampshire. Now, according to reliable sources, he has decided to take the plunge and has informed the White House of his decision.
The story is here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103694193 (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103694193)
-
Not surprised. Frankly, I think the guy was starting to get senile anyway.
I don't think this won't change the balance of the supreme court. He was pretty far left, and even with the democrats in charge I think Obama would have trouble appointing someone further left than Souter. Too many blue dogs that might side with the Republicans. Hell, he's having trouble stocking his own cabinet; he may have to choose a moderate just to get someone nominated.
-
Hell, he's having trouble stocking his own cabinet; he may have to choose a moderate just to get someone nominated.
Yeah, but a SCOTUS appointment is a far more attractive plum than a position as undersecretary of giveaways in the current cabinet.
TC
-
Grrrrrr..
And Souter announces that he will retire.
Irony, anyone?
At least it is Friday!
-
I'm betting that one of the Clintons (Bill or Hillary) will be nominated to that spot....as payback for the election help....
Won't THAT just make the Heller cert cases all shiny?.... =|
-
Pan, Pan, Pan!
-
News today was opining that Souter is a liberal anyways, and Obama will replace him with another.
I merged these up since they are about the same thing. And since I'm pretty sure where this is going, its getting moved, too. Damn that's alot of work. I need a beer.
-
Would someone get Fly320 some bread already. Poor guy must be hungry.
-
I'm betting that one of the Clintons (Bill or Hillary) will be nominated to that spot....
I doubt it. Congress seems to like either judges who already serving on a federal bench or lawyers who have a long history of arguing before the SC. The Clintons are neither, and I think even the current congress would balk at such an obvious political move. Also, Bill Clinton isn't even a current member of the bar; he resigned before they could get around to disbarring him after the whole perjury thing.
-
I doubt it. Congress seems to like either judges who already serving on a federal bench or lawyers who have a long history of arguing before the SC. The Clintons are neither, and I think even the current congress would balk at such an obvious political move. Also, Bill Clinton isn't even a current member of the bar; he resigned before they could get around to disbarring him after the whole perjury thing.
Wasn't Bill also banned from arguing cases before the Supreme Court as well? Wouldn't that be ironic for him to get the nod. :O
-
Obama's first criterion, we've learned, is "empathy." And this from a guy who was, we have been told a million times, was the editor at Harvard Law School.
I think Obama has the perfect candidate in his immediate circle...
MICHELLE.
-
Bill Clinton continues to have been disbarred to argue before the SCOTUS bench, since the whole Monicagate thing blew over. (No pun was intended). Would be rather ironic if he were nominated, despite the fact that the Clintons and the Obamas aren't exactly bussom buddies.
I believe Hillary Clinton continues to be more interested in the White House, already has a highly visible and prominent executive position to give credence to her future arguments about foreign policy and affairs.
Its only fitting that the president will maintain the balance of the court by nominating a young, far left reaching liberal to the bench. I'm fairly sure he already has a short list of nominees to quickly fill a seat, considering the senior justice, John Paul Steven recently turned 89 years old.
-
Obama the Narcissist picks his perfect reflection: Michelle.
She is the greatest woman in America and no one has more empathy than Michelle. You can look it up.
-
Silver lining time... I can hear the circus music already. This upcoming nomination and confirmation should keep congress from actually doing anything for a few months. And that is a win for us.
-
Silver lining time... I can hear the circus music already. This upcoming nomination and confirmation should keep congress from actually doing anything for a few months. And that is a win for us.
Even better is the thought that we may not end up with a total lefty wackjob. I just read an article at fox news and it mentioned a committee rule that any candidate has to have at least 1 Republican vote. With Specter switching sides, they really lost the one guy that would probably give them that vote. Of course, this all means nothing because, like the House Dems, the Senate Dems will change the rules to get what they want and we'll all get screwed.
-
Well, thing is, that same article mentioned that they are unlikely to change the rules to get what they want because of how dangerous a precedent that sets.
-
Given how some of the "conservative" nominees have turned out in the past, maybe we'll end up with a net improvement over Souter.
-
I don't think this won't change the balance of the supreme court. He was pretty far left, and even with the democrats in charge I think Obama would have trouble appointing someone further left than Souter.
So I take it you think Bill Ayers and Ward Churchill are out of the running?
-
Maybe we'll get lucky and Obama will pick a Bizarro-Souter.
Someone who looks lib but then swings conservative.
Wouldn't that make for a fine "change." =D
-
Maybe we'll get lucky and Obama will pick a Bizarro-Souter.
Someone who looks lib but then swings conservative.
Wouldn't that make for a fine "change." =D
I like it. Heh, heh, heh. =D
-
Not surprised. Frankly, I think the guy was starting to get senile anyway.
I don't think this won't change the balance of the supreme court. He was pretty far left, and even with the democrats in charge I think Obama would have trouble appointing someone further left than Souter. Too many blue dogs that might side with the Republicans. Hell, he's having trouble stocking his own cabinet; he may have to choose a moderate just to get someone nominated.
Yeah, but better the devil you know than a younger one appointed by a Marxist that you don't.
This has been our fear all along. The current mooks in charge can do a lot of damage to the country, but not like the long-term damage that can occur as a result of appointing a fellow traveler to a lifetime appointment on the SCOTUS.
-
He was pretty far left, and even with the democrats in charge I think Obama would have trouble appointing someone further left than Souter.
And the Supreme Court is not supposed to be political. Souter waits until Obama is in office and announces his plans.
-
And the Supreme Court is not supposed to be political. Souter waits until Obama is in office and announces his plans.
IIRC he (Souter, that is) stated prior to the election that he'd be retiring if Obama was elected and could pick his replacement.
It was *ALWAYS* about politics, in this case.
-
(R) Appoints Justice > 50-50 chance they'll go liberal
(D) Appoints Justice > precisely 0% chance they'll go conservative.
-
Chief Justice Sears a possible nominee
By Bill Rankin
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (http://www.ajc.com/services/cont)
Saturday, May 02, 2009
Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears’ name has popped up as a potential nominee to succeed retiring U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter.
Sears, 53, describes herself as a judicial moderate. But court watchers say she has long been one of the state Supreme Court’s most liberal members.
On Friday, Sears declined comment on speculation she could eventually be a high court nominee.
________________________________________________________________________________________
This to me, is the worst thing about the whole whole deal. We will have to live with Obama's choice for the Supreme Court for a lot of years. Souter was pretty Liberal but, at least once in a while he voted with the conservatives. His choice to retire only if Obama was elected was the most Liberal (and extremely political) vote he could make.
Trouble is, we probably wouldn't have done that much better had McCain been elected. =(
-
Education, media, entertainment, the bureaucracy, Congress, the law, the courts. One by one they drop. Of course the military is always the last shoe, the most important shoe. If you want your nation, understand that you are on the outside looking in, and give up the fantasy of taking back what's already been lost.
-
Viva la Revolucion?
-
Viva reality, unpleasant as it may be. The culture war has been lost; we were asleep and failed to fight it as we should have. Now we will have to deal with the consequences of that.
-
Education, media, entertainment, the bureaucracy, Congress, the law, the courts. One by one they drop. Of course the military is always the last shoe, the most important shoe. If you want your nation, understand that you are on the outside looking in, and give up the fantasy of taking back what's already been lost.
Have you ever watched Return of the Jedi?
I recommend you acquaint yourself with the first 40 second of This video. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypq5ikdb94A)
-
(R) Appoints Justice > 50-50 chance they'll go liberal
(D) Appoints Justice > precisely 0% chance they'll go conservative.
Just one more example of "The Political Ratchet". Political movement is always in one direction.
-
Just one more example of "The Political Ratchet". Political movement is always in one direction.
(https://armedpolitesociety.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv42%2Fallanea%2Ffedemploy.jpg&hash=42e40861df020137d47bab6d9709ba72f36571ee)
-
I'm skeptical of that graph . . . source?
-
What exactly does it mean by "Executive Branch" federal employees? Cause that obviously doesn't represent the number of people employed by the fed.gov as a whole.
-
I'm skeptical of that graph . . . source?
What exactly does it mean by "Executive Branch" federal employees? Cause that obviously doesn't represent the number of people employed by the fed.gov as a whole.
Truthfully, I don't know. Had it lying about on the hard drive for a while, looking for an opportunity to use it.
Here's a statistic of total Federal government employment per 1,000 population, via the kind ministries of the GPO:
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/USbudget/fy07/sheets/hist17z5.xls
Observe the decrease of both executive and other branch employees.
-
Nothing like posting a random graph with an unknown meaning. That'll show us! ;/
-
Nothing like posting a random graph with an unknown meaning. That'll show us! ;/
It's not random, and it's quite meaningful.
-
It's not random, and it's quite meaningful.
It's not as meaningful as you think. One of the trends in government service has been moving work from employees to contractors (often, the same individuals who just change titles and get pay bumps). Whether it's construction or food service, tasks formerly by federal employees are now done by contactors, and the numbers don't get counted in that graphs. So, to paraphrase the Princess Bride, that number doesn't mean what you think it means.
-
Viva reality, unpleasant as it may be. The culture war has been lost; we were asleep and failed to fight it as we should have. Now we will have to deal with the consequences of that.
I'm not sure what "culture war" is supposed to mean. Could you explain?
Over the last few years, the 2A has made significant progress. We have forced it down the throat of both parties. AWB has lapsed, CCW has spread, Montana is fighting intrastate federal RKBA infringes, etc. When the AG said he wanted a new AWB, it was Dems who shot him down the fastest. Yes, they might not like the 2A, but they are scared of touching it. We have started to turn the 2A into a third rail, one touch and you get fried in the elections. Heller has opened a breach that will allow us to win many future victories.
Sure, other liberties have taken a beating under Bush, and will continue to take a potentially worse beating under Obama. But the 2A fight has proven that we can gain back ground if we work hard enough. I just don't get the defeatism.
-
It's not as meaningful as you think. One of the trends in government service has been moving work from employees to contractors (often, the same individuals who just change titles and get pay bumps). Whether it's construction or food service, tasks formerly by federal employees are now done by contactors, and the numbers don't get counted in that graphs. So, to paraphrase the Princess Bride, that number doesn't mean what you think it means.
As a govt contractor, but never an actual govt employee, that is exactly what is going on. The govt does not want to own anything, be it employees or hardware, that it doesn't absolutely need to own. While the "contractor" might cost more in terms of salary, they're cheaper overall because the govt doesn't have to deal with healthcare, retirement, etc. That falls to the contractor's company (or themselves if self-employed).
Chris
-
I'm not sure what "culture war" is supposed to mean. Could you explain?
Over the last few years, the 2A has made significant progress. We have forced it down the throat of both parties. AWB has lapsed, CCW has spread, Montana is fighting intrastate federal RKBA infringes, etc. When the AG said he wanted a new AWB, it was Dems who shot him down the fastest. Yes, they might not like the 2A, but they are scared of touching it. We have started to turn the 2A into a third rail, one touch and you get fried in the elections. Heller has opened a breach that will allow us to win many future victories.
Sure, other liberties have taken a beating under Bush, and will continue to take a potentially worse beating under Obama. But the 2A fight has proven that we can gain back ground if we work hard enough. I just don't get the defeatism.
The culture war is very real. Some folks refer to it as the soft war, as well.
The 2A is a distraction in many ways. By the time the 2A is pertinent to the situation, the culture war or soft war is already lost. The 2A is a thermometer or gauge of public sentiment in regards to the culture war... not a battleground in itself.
The battle is over principles of self reliance, self determination and self responsibility. We're losing on those fronts, and we lose more ground every day that people like Obama, Frank, Pelosi and Reed are empowered to pass legislation to erode our country's backbone.
What good is the 2A when the population has become so milktoast that it lacks the fortitude to even vote for freedom, let alone fight for it?
-
By culture war I mean the ongoing transvaluation of values that began to take hold in the '60s. Like the Soviet Union the French Revolution (along with The Terror and Napoleon waiting in the wings) never really died. You are seeing the impact of both all around you. This is not the say that there are no pockets of resistance--the people here, with their advocacy for gun rights, represent one--but I'm referring to the overall climate of values and mores that has obtained over the last two generations.
What good is a Second Amendment in a society that doesn't believe in self-defense, much less tyranny? Ask the British; they'll explain the future to you better than I can.
Meanwhile, American continues to dismember and dismantle itself. Maybe we should ask ourselves why and for whose benefit and at whose instigation? While we still can. We just gave away two of our three automakers. Take notice. The following quote's from The Financial Times:
"The move marks the opening move in a long-awaited consolidation of an industry in deep crisis, with Mr Marchionne the first car chief to take advantage of heavy state involvement in the sector, and the availability of valuable assets being offered by GM and Chrysler essentially for free.
He said: “It’s an incredibly simple solution to a very thorny problem”.
This follows a week in which Fiat was endorsed by Barack Obama, US president, as Chrysler filed for bankruptcy protection and the two companies signed an alliance that will see Fiat take an initial 20 per cent of the US carmaker when it emerges from “surgical” bankruptcy proceedings."
-
What culture war?
THIS culture war. The ground on which we think we walk is in question. Hear the tremors.
It is now racist to believe in western culture, America, or, God help us, the vision of the Founding Fathers. Yeah, that includes the Second Amendment, I'm afraid.
March 30, 2009
Youth for Western Civilization group at Vanderbilt stirs furor
By Jennifer Brooks
THE TENNESSEAN
Meet the Youth for Western Civilization.
Its members, 13 strong and counting on the campus of Vanderbilt University, are out to "promote the survival of Western civilization and pride in Western heritage."
The club has sprung up at seven colleges around the country in the past few months, sounding a warning cry against "radical multiculturalism," "mass immigration" and the "leftist occupation" of America's college campuses.
To its critics, it's the new face of intolerance on America's college campuses.
At a YWC-sponsored event at Vanderbilt last week, protesters outnumbered club members by a margin of 10-to-1. The Southern Poverty Law Center has the group's national founders on a watch list, suspected of ties to white nationalist groups.
Vanderbilt sophomores Trevor Williams and Devin Saucier, who founded the local chapter last fall, say it's their critics who are intolerant.
A matter of perception
"We're not racists," Saucier said Friday, sitting on the steps of Nashville's concrete Parthenon, a monument to the kind of Western heritage he believes is vanishing from college textbooks today — squeezed out by lessons on non-Western cultures and non-Western heritage.
In other circles, Youth for Western Civilization is being hailed as a bold new right-wing youth movement, out to light a fire under fellow conservatives and wrench the national debate back to the topic of immigration.
The group had its coming-out party at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., in February.
"There are four policies on campuses that have led to the subversion of Western values," Williams said, ticking them off one by one.
"Mass immigration without regards to assimilation. Illegal immigration. Affirmative action. And multicultural ideology."
Almost every large wave of immigration in American history has sparked a backlash. The Chinese, the Germans, the Italians and now Hispanic immigrants have stirred fears that a wave of newcomers will overwhelm the national culture, breed crime and weaken the nation.
In the mid-18th century, the Know-Nothings railed against the hordes of Irish immigrants, who sent their children to separate schools and held allegiance to a foreign pope.
Reminded of the legends about "No Irish Need Apply" signs that used to hang in shop windows, Williams thought about it for a moment, then said, "They probably had the right idea … at least, until (the Irish) assimilated."
Talk disturbs some
No one has accused the local chapter of YWC of being a hate group, but its talk of assimilation and the preservation of Western culture above all others gives many people pause.
"It's totally fine for them to talk," said Southern Poverty Law Center spokeswoman Heidi Beirich, whose organization tracks hate group activity around the country.
But the language the group is using, she said, "To us, it's racism, pure and simple."
Many recognized hate groups, from the Ku Klux Klan to the Council of Conservative Citizens, begin their mission statements with a rallying cry to preserve this country's Western heritage.
"When I hear a statement like that, I have to wonder — is it a euphemism for white civilization?," said Frank Dobson Jr., director of the Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center at Vanderbilt.
"A lot of groups use language that's veiled, but still the intent is clear."
Immigration lecture
Last week, the YWC sponsored an evening lecture on immigration by former U.S. Treasurer Bay Buchanan, who shares the group's views on immigration and assimilation. The event attracted more than 100 protesters, all organized over the course of a single weekend by Vanderbilt junior Erica Santiago.
"All week long, I've been seeing the signs they put up against immigration," said Santiago, standing in a long line of protesters formed at the entrances to the lecture hall last Monday night, holding up pro-immigration and pro-diversity signs.
"We came here to show our disapproval. To show people that this is the face of Vandy," she said.
The message Santiago gets from this group is that immigration weakens America, and she finds that concept unacceptable.
"My mother came from Colombia. You want to take my entire existence away."
To become a recognized student organization on campus, groups must show that there is no existing campus group with similar goals and that others on campus are interested in joining their proposed organization.
Youth for Western Civilization met those criteria, filled out all the necessary paperwork and lined up a faculty adviser, said Courtney Salters, director of student governance in Vanderbilt's Office of Student Organizations.
Vanderbilt was aware of the unsavory rumors swirling around the group, she said, but found no evidence that YWC was involved in harassment or hate speech on campus.
The Southern Poverty Law Center issued a warning last month that the national founders of Youth for Western Civilization, Marcus Epstein and Kevin DeAnna, have posted to white supremacist Web sites in the past.
Youth for Western Civilization say DeAnna is the sole founder of the group. And DeAnna denies that he or Epstein has racist leanings. He blames the allegations on a "crude, tribalistic instinct that's opposed to us."
Williams and Saucier started out in the College Republicans club at Vanderbilt. The group met once or twice a year, they said, and everyone wore suits and talked about getting ahead in the party and maybe, at some point, going out and canvassing for John McCain.
Frustrated, they started looking for a group with fire in its belly. A group that could go toe-to-toe with the liberal activists on campus.
Broad agenda
The YWC's agenda spans the political and cultural spectrum. It picketed a campus production of The Vagina Monologues, branding it pornography, and invited Bay Buchanan to lecture on immigration and assimilation.
At the moment, Williams is planning a YWC-sponsored lecture series on opera and its importance in Western culture.
March was Multicultural Awareness Month at Vanderbilt, but "there wasn't a single event about Western culture," Saucier said. "Our contributions have been heavily overshadowed. We're kind of that [forgotten] voice."
But for all its opposition to multiculturalism on campus, Youth for Western Civilization welcomes it in its own ranks.
On Saturday, Saucier and Williams called in with the news that they'd recruited their 13th member — Neelam Khan. She's a Memphis-born Muslim of Pakistani descent, and YWC won her over at the Bay Buchanan speech.
"I absolutely loved it," she said. "I found I really agreed with everything they said. I felt so comfortable with them, and we agree on so many topics."
She sees nothing at odds between her Eastern heritage and her membership in a group that believes Western culture should predominate in this country.
"I love my culture, I love my heritage, but having lived here all my live, I identify more as an American," she said.
-
t picketed a campus production of The Vagina Monologues, branding it pornography,
TVM is pornography? I thought it was just plain boring.