Judge Alito's family members pose in front of the White House portrait of their favorite president.
QUOTE / UNQUOTE
From Andrew Sullivan:
"Sam Alito is just what George Bush is looking for: a big government conservative who will almost always side with the government against the individual, and the federal government against the state," [Andrew Napolitano, a senior judicial analyst for Fox News and a former New Jersey Superior Court judge]
AMERICAN ATHEISTS states in a release dated Nov. 1:
...Judge Alito has an extensive paper trail of statements, including written opinions in about 300 of the 3,500 cases he has participated in. That record is already galvanizing a broad informal coalition of advocacy groups touching on culture war issues like abortion, gay rights, and state-church separation. Both supporters and opponents of Alito note that his possible confirmation to the high court could result in a profound shift affecting previous rulings like ROE v.WADE (abortion rights), and MURRAY v. CURLETT/ABINGTON TOWNSHIP v. SCHEMP that helped to end mandatory prayer and Bible verse recitation in public schools. Critics are already pointing to Alito's position in PLANNED PARENTHOOD v. CASEY where he dissented in the 2-1 ruling and voted to affirm a Pennsylvania statute requiring married women to inform their husbands prior to getting an abortion. The Supreme Court struck down the law in 1992, with justices pointing out that "spousal notification" gave husbands excessive authority over wives, especially those enthralled in abusive relationships...
While media buzz is focusing on Alito's disturbing views on abortion
rights, privacy and other civil liberties issues, there is also
concern over the nominee's hostility toward the First Amendment
separation of church and state...
Alito has written troubling positions concerning religion in public classrooms and religious iconography on the public square.
ALITO'S RECORD
demonstrates that he comes down on the side of the gummint against the
individual more often than not. There's more to consider about this justice than
whether his religion will dictate that he try to overturn Roe. I believe Alito
may be disposed favorably toward leaving Roe in place - but he seems disposed
favorably toward the side of the gummint when it comes to restricting a woman's
right to choose. Again, he usually errs on the side of governmental and
institutional sovereignty over individual liberty.
Alito appears to me
to be what I would expect from a conservative president, whether a Reagan or a
swaggering chimp in a cowboy hat. He may be the best we can hope for - however -
IF he is found to be overtly hostile to a woman's autonomy over her body or to
expectations of privacy, I hope the Dems will filibuster his ass back to
Philly.
Many Catholics are willing to allow abortion in the case of danger to the health of the mother or in the case of a pregnant teenage daughter.
(Photo - Laura Alito)
CHRISTIANIST ACLJ LAWYER JAY SEKULOW'S LAVISH LIFESTYLE
LAW.COM has a detailed report about the OTHER SIDE of Jay Sekulow, the right-wing religious activist litigator who has become a familiar face on
television in recent months and who has been a fixture in Washington legal
circles as head of the ACLJ, an organization founded by religious broadcaster
Pat Robertson in 1990.
But there is another side to Jay Sekulow, one that, until now, has been obscured from the public. It is the Jay Sekulow who, through the ACLJ and a string of interconnected nonprofit and for-profit entities, has built a financial empire that generates millions of dollars a year and supports a lavish lifestyle -- complete with multiple homes, chauffeur-driven cars, and a private jet that he once used to ferry Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia...
DISS OPRAH AT YOUR OWN PERIL!
Salon.com, in THE FIX, has this:
"Boondocks" creator Aaron McGruder has a warning: "We should all have a healthy fear of Oprah." McGruder's comic series is about to appear as an animated series on the Cartoon Network, and the show's producers asked that he "heavily edit" an episode wherein Oprah gets kidnapped. "They were scared of Oprah, which is O.K.," he said.
"Oprah has the power to lay waste to entire industries with a mere utterance" ...
LIBERAL, SCHMIBERAL!!
As it issues forth from the snarling pie-holes of so many know-nothing wing-nut blab-jockeys and columnists, the term "liberal" is heard more frequently as a pejorative followed by an exclamation point. It has been so misused (and abused) that the word liberal has fallen out of usage by citizens who may wish to distinguish themselves as somewhat to the left of Nixon in favor of the early 20th Century term "progressive".
It is interesting to remind ourselves as well as the wing-nut hordes that the original meaning of liberalism springs from the clash of new ideas that people dared to entertain during and after the years of The Enlightenment. The defining character of the term was freedom of the individual. This daring concept came to be applied to many areas of enterprise, for example:
*A political theory founded on the natural goodness of humans and the autonomy of the individual and favoring civil and political liberties, government by law with the consent of the governed, and protection from arbitrary authority.
*Liberalism also referred to an economic theory in favor of laissez-faire, the free market, and the gold standard.
*A 19th-century Protestant movement that favored free intellectual inquiry, stressed the ethical and humanitarian content of Christianity, and de-emphasized dogmatic theology.
*Liberal arts was the term originally used to designate the arts or studies suited to freemen.
In this age when the term "big government" is used as a epithet by people of various political persuasions, it is worth noting that "conservatives" who posture as champions of individual liberty, for the most part, favor an agenda that strengthens the power of government, established institutions (such as corporations and churches) and the will of the majority, to the detriment of individual sovereignty.
Jefferson and Madison serve as worthy representatives of traditional liberal political philosophy.
PRICK SANTORUM IS DUMBER 'N THE BOX THE DUMB ROCKS CAME IN
From Wonkette:
WHOA. We're not sure where to even begin with this one. Rick Santorum called in unannounced to Imus (Wednesday) after Imus apparently referred to (the senator) as a "suit dummy." Rick wanted to refute Imus' characterization of him. We don't believe he was successful.
- Says Libby, Cheney and Chalabi are all honest and didn't lie.
- Claims Joe Wilson is a liar.
- Says the CIA has a grudge against Chalabi and tried to destroy him.
- Snaps out on Imus for challenging his claims (a recurring theme we've discussed before).
- Compares not being able to safely drive from the Baghdad Airport into Baghdad today to conditions in Philadelphia in 1778 - to which, Imus points out there was no airport in Philadelphia then.
- Says that Imus' wife called him and said she wanted to "do a threesome."
- Calls Bill Frist "a really decent, honorable man."
In response to Santorum's analysis of the
situation in Iraq, Imus said, "You have an IV of the neo-con Kool-Aid, don't
you?"
Finally Imus dismissed the senator as being "so misguided it's
almost disturbing."
"When you need to stick it to someone..."
