Common Sense

I think the AP has some closet bloggers

The AP story from Gina Holland on Anna Nicole Smith's SCOTUS case is full of quotes that you would only use if you were cynical and on a caffeine binge. The only people I know like that are my fellow bloggers.

WASHINGTON — With an oil fortune on the line, former stripper Anna Nicole Smith encountered a sympathetic audience at the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

Several justices said they were concerned that the one-time Playboy Playmate was kept from pursuing a piece of her late husband's fortune.

"It's quite a story," said Justice Stephen Breyer...

Breyer said there was evidence that the son hired private detectives to keep Smith away from her elderly husband's bedside.

Smith's claim is simple, said Justice David Souter, "just give me the money I would have had."

Justices repeatedly referred to the amount of money at stake, and criticized arguments that only a Texas court had jurisdiction to settle the nasty family feud.

"That's just not the way our system works," said Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the only woman justice...

Douglas Baird, a bankruptcy expert at the University of Chicago, said: "I'd suspect some justices haven't the slightest idea who Anna Nicole is."

Of course, we all know that Justices Thomas and Scalia have lifetime subscriptions to Playboy and are regular visitors to The Grotto.

Cloture vote coming up

The moment of truth is coming up.

I'm listening to Frist go on and on now about how horrible the Democrats are being for their partisanship and how his party is above partisanship, so we should just do what they say.

I haven't been around much this weekend so I have no idea how most Democratic senators stand on a filibuster. I got an email back from Sen. Clinton's office, but it was just a thank you form letter thingy.

God, I'm getting such a deja vu feeling from Frist and his "give them a fair up or down vote" speech. Didn't he give this exact same speech at Justice Sunday?

Cloture is a vote to cut off debate for those of you who are not C-SPAN junkies. Instead of actually filibustering anymore, they just call for a vote to end debate, or cloture. If they don't have 60 votes, then they assume a filibuster would be going on. As long as 41 votes or more vote against cloture, debate on Alito will continue until his nomination is withdrawn or until the majority can convince some of them to turn their votes and call another cloture vote. There cannot be a confirmation vote until debate ends.

Well, I've heard that HRC voted no, as did the Mighty Obama. Sen. Lieberman, on the other hand... That was really disappointing. I'd heard he was ready to filibuster on Thursday, today he's ready to end debate and let him walk. I'm not going to call him names or call him a Republican stooge or anything like that. I'm just going to say I am disappointed.

And cloture passes 72-25. You can't help but see all the Republicans smiling. Bastards.

The vote will be tomorrow at 10 a.m. Anybody want to guess how it will go?

Pass it around

Save The Court has a very important fax that they are asking people to send to Democrats who are on the fence about filibustering Alito.

Please, take a minute to click over and send it electronically.

Confirming Alito

I'm listening to Sen. Lamar Alexander and other Republicans bloviate wax philosophical about Alito's views on impartiality in judiciary. And because a filibuster has not be mounted, we are now at 54-31 yeas. There's some buzz about John Kerry leading one, but nothing has happened yet.

Alito's views are pretty clear. He has a lifetime of memos expressing his views, regardless of what wasn't said during his hearings. His belief in the unlimited powers of the executive and the limited role of Congress are enough to object to his sitting on the Bench. Republicans, no matter how moderate or reasonable, know where the gravy train is coming from and can't afford to oppose him. The others just don't care.

So a filibuster is our only recourse. And Frist has just brought a cloture motion to the floor. Cloture will be voted on during Monday's debate.

Griping that the people who are supporting the filibuster are on "some island" or are out of touch with the people is shortsighted and wrong. Plenty of us here in Texas are screaming for this nominee to be blocked. And this isn't a states' rights issue anyway. It is about the government making medical decisions for women, it is about the federal government giving a single person almost limitless power, it is about understanding that this man has views that a clear majority of the people don't think suit an associate justice of the Supreme Court.

Call or email those Democratic senators still sitting on the fence about a filibuster. They need to know that we do support them and this is the one worth fighting.

That's how I roll on Alito

Today's NY Times editorial says the Democrats need to grow a new pair and Filibuster Alito. I wholeheartedly agree. If there were any nominee that represents extreme views and is worthy of a major fight, Samuel Alito would be it.

Thanks to The Agonist.

Well fudge

What came as total surprise and shock to most of us paying attention, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 10-8 along party lines to confirm Samuel Alito.</snark>

That's why these hearings were a total farce. The Republicans knew from the get-go that they would vote yea and the Democrats knew they would vote nay. It would have taken a bombshell to change their minds and the White House was going to make sure that didn't happen.

Now it goes to a floor vote where the Democrats promise a fight. That, of course, means that they will say some mean things before Alito is voted onto the High Court for life. They're not going to risk putting up a real fight like a filibuster because that might make them look like they are really trying to keep him off the Bench.

Thank you for joining us in the real world

You know, you would think the memo he wrote where he said the Justice Department should work  to overturn Roe would have been their first clue, but the WaPo wasn't convinced until yesterday where Sam Alito "Leaves Door Open to Reversing 'Roe'"

Honestly, I can't understand professional media people sometimes. Working at a newspaper like the Waco Tribune-Herald, I see writers who care a lot about getting the story right and are devoted to actually reporting things. They are something to aspire to.

Then, I read the Washington Post, only to be dumbfounded by their complete disregard for the truth. Some faux sense of balance or just utter stupidity reigns in their newsrooms.

It just amazes me that really good reporters are covering Robinson city council meetings and some really stupid people have their own show on a cable news network or are writing for the paper of record. The world turned upside down, indeed.

The ultimate pursuit of journalism is the truth. These people are after something entirely different.

Reaction shots

I'm not paying that much attention to the hearing. Let's face it, it is kind of a farce, and I've already done it once before. No one is going to say anything really out there and it is will end rather anticlimactically. No winners or losers, just a gavel and a wait for the actual voting.

But the way people react to it, that is a different story.

I'm listening to some of the call ins on C-SPAN and they are just priceless. The people that call in to Washington Journal are some of the lamest, most uneducated people it seems. Real political junkies don't call in, the sit around and make fun of the people who do.

One Republican from Kentucky called in and just reminded me of that. First, he said the Democrats were being "typical" by bringing up the NSA spying program in their questioning. That's not typical, that's topical. I would think that a Supreme Court justice may have to deal with something like this at some point, a discussion on whether a sitting president had overstepped his constitutional authority. What is his constitutional authority in wartime? Are we at war if Congress did not declare war? Isn't that overstepping his authority? Good questions all.

Then, then he actually said he was impressed by Alito's "family values." Ha ha. That just brough a smile to my face. Then a look of perplexity. How, in this yokel from Kentucky's mind, does that make Alito a better nominee for the Supreme Court? What does being a good father or loving your grandfather have to do with deciding cases?

For all the pomp and exaggeration, being on the Supreme Court is mostly deciding whether subpart B of such and such statute applies in such and such a circumstance. Very few landmark cases, a whole lot of boring ones. Parental ability has nothing to do with it.

I'm not even sure the argument is over ideology anymore. It is over practicality and electability. Some senators see this stuff as impractical observations on the nominee, but they support him anyway because the money keeps coming in from the national committee and they can get re-elected. Others see all this as an impractical waste of time, but oppose Alito because money from some interst groups rolls in and make it easier to get re-elected.

I wonder just how few of our United States senators are really there to try and glean something from the nominee and will support or oppose him on the merits. We should pray to God that there is a presidential candidate amongst them.

Nominations are now open

The nomination hearings for Judge Samuel Alito opened today, which means I should be in my room watching C-SPAN. What am I hanging around you people for?

Chairman Sen. Arlen Specter gave an opening statement cautioning people not to jump to conclusions about Judge Alito.

Alito's record as a federal appeals court judge shows he can "look like a flaming liberal" in one case or "an arch-conservative" in another, Specter said. He pointed to a tendency of Supreme Court justices to surprise those who thought they could predict how the nominees would vote once they came to the high court.

Why do liberals have to be "flaming?" Anyway, the WaPo has a poll, scientific as it may be, showing that a majority approve of Alito because they believe he will not vote down Roe. They expect him to follow a middle course despite all the evidence being to the contrary.

Stunning, but predictable.

Make up your minds

The latest Harris Poll on still-nominee Samuel Alito:

Almost equal thirds of all adults believe that Judge Alito should be confirmed (34%), should not be confirmed (31%) or say they aren't sure (34%), according to the poll. A majority of Republicans (65% vs. 9%) favor his confirmation, the polls shows, while a plurality of Democrats (48% vs. 14%) oppose it, and Independents are split (34% for confirmation; 38% against).

I guess some of us haven't been doing our job, because the same poll says "However, nearly 70% of those surveyed in the online poll of 1,961 adults would oppose Judge Alito's confirmation if they thought he would vote to make abortion illegal."

Well, I think everything we know about Alito says that he would indeed overturn Roe and that he's not too sure about habeus corpus or a right to privacy, either.