So now that Bush has nominated a female to the Supreme Court, who the hell is she? Personally, even if Bush is a hateful conservative, he would have gotten so much political gain in landmarking the first female Chief Justice in the history of the United States Supreme Court.




For Immediate Release
Contact: Lisa Bennett, 202-628-8669, ext. 123; cell 202-641-1906

Miers Nomination Raises Important Questions for Women

Statement of NOW President Kim Gandy

October 3, 2005

George W. Bush's nomination of White House Counsel Harriet Miers to serve as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court raises important questions for women's rights supporters. While we are pleased that Bush chose a woman for the High Court, her judicial philosophy is more important than her gender. Miers' potential as a justice is unknown at this point.

What we do know about Miers is that she is a Bush loyalist, having worked closely with him since at least 1993. With this nomination, Bush has raised to new heights his fondness for promoting close confidantes, like Dick Cheney and Alberto Gonzales, to top positions.

If confirmed, Miers would fill the seat of retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who was the key swing vote to preserve the basic protections of Roe v. Wade, to require a health exception to state-level abortion restrictions, to allow affirmative action in college admissions, and to protect Title IX's promise of equal educational opportunities for women and girls, among many others.

After careful consideration of O'Connor's record and judicial philosophy, NOW testified in support of her confirmation in 1981. While she was a conservative, O'Connor did support basic human rights and liberties that transcend the often rigid labels of "liberal" or "conservative."

It remains to be seen where Miers stands on those and virtually every other issue. She has no paper trail and has never served as a judge — quite simply, her future conduct on the Court may be impossible to determine. Should the Senate confirm someone to a lifetime appointment with so little information? We think not. NOW urges the Senate to ask tough questions, insist on answers, and refuse to confirm this nomination unless they can establish that Miers supports the fundamental rights of women.

The rights of women and girls are on the line; too much is at stake to confirm a stealth nominee to the Court.

###


--Diana

Current Mood: pensive

In spirit of the rant that Dr. Best gave about the New Orleans Disaster, I found this article online.  The real face of he Republican Party appears now in the time of crisis, where it is blatantly obvious where their priorities lie.

CNN.com

--Diana

Current Mood: cranky

So AGAIN, disgracing women, Bush decides to leave women behind and of all people choose Roberts for Chief Justice. He didn't even wait for Rehnquist's funeral! The biggest gain he could have had was to be bold enough to nominate the first female chief justice the U.S. has had, great political capital to be gained from that, but no, he is such a sexist pig!

Anyway, here's a message from the respectable, NOW-National Organization for Women.

Nomination of John Roberts as Chief Justice is an Outrage to Women
Statement of NOW President Kim Gandy

September 5, 2005

The National Organization for Women has been outspoken in our opposition to the nomination of an anti-women's rights, anti-civil rights judge, John G. Roberts, to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court. Now that Roberts' attitudes toward women have been revealed, it is an outrage and an insult to the women of this country that George W. Bush has nominated such a jurist to be Chief Justice of the United States.

First, there cannot be a "stealth nominee" for Chief Justice. Bush must release every document from Roberts' tenure as Principal Deputy Solicitor General under the first President Bush, and any remaining writings from his time as an advisor to the Reagan administration. How dare Bush nominate this candidate for the top position on the Supreme Court when his administration has deliberately concealed hundreds of thousands of pages of his writings, during a time that he was one of the top lawyers representing the people of the United States? If the Bush administration refuses to release these papers, we must ask ourselves what they are hiding. And the Senate must ask the same question.

The Senate Judiciary Committee and the full Senate must find its collective spine and not roll over for Bush's favored candidate. They must refuse to move forward until all requested documents are released, and they must ask even tougher questions of Roberts because of the critical nature of the Chief Justice appointment.

Second, NOW is even more concerned that John Roberts, as Chief Justice, will have a greater opportunity to move the Court and our country backward. The Chief Justice plays a key role in leading the Court, including deciding who writes certain opinions, making numerous appointments within the judicial system, and presiding, alone, over presidential impeachment hearings. If Roberts is confirmed as Chief Justice, Bush will have established right-wing leadership of the Court for another 30 years-a lifetime legacy of the Bush presidency that women and girls will have a lifetime to regret.

Third, I am taken aback (but not surprised) by Bush's cynicism and lack of compassion in nominating Chief Justice William Rehnquist's successor even as his body is being prepared to lie in repose at the Court. Bush's lack of sensitivity has been on prominent display this past month as he avoided Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan and was stubbornly slow responding to the humanitarian crisis in New Orleans and Mississippi. With the South still in turmoil from Hurricane Katrina, Bush is pressuring the Senate to rush through this very important process and confirm John Roberts to a lifetime as Chief Justice while the country is looking the other way.

Finally, Bush now has a second opportunity to honor Sandra Day O'Connor's legacy by naming a moderate woman to replace her as associate justice. He can get it right this time, and if Bush needs any help finding a woman who will uphold women's rights, NOW will be happy to help.



###

--Diana

Current Mood: annoyed

Time for a strong analysis on what the hell is going on.  Our military that prides itself in getting to foreign countries in a matter of a day or even a couple of hours when they are given a direct order to do so, took 5 FIVE days to get to a city that was hundreds of miles away.  What is wrong?? When TV reporter asked "What took you so long?" the reply was "well it was hard to get here dammit" "we [the media and the red cross] were here".

http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/articles/1811092.html

Take a look at what happened, for 9/11 Bush sent everyone out there to look for survivors.  The very next day you had the necessary equipment, now, they took 5 days! A person can only live without food for 15 days and no water for 3 days.  You can't tell me that the elderly stuck in New Orleans will actually last 5 days without water!  Why is this happening? Because the people left behind are the elderly and the minority.  

Turn on the TV, what do you see? African Americans and the elderly.  Not to mention the fact that when the buses made it to New Orleans, the National Guard stopped these people from getting on so that the people staying at the Marriott would get on.  It really makes me mad to think that outright, they are discriminating!

The rich white people got out in time.  Now the ultra conservatives are outright reporting things like "Only Sinners Remain."  Take a look at this article, which ends with ""’We must not forget that the citizens of New Orleans tolerated and welcomed the wickedness in their city for so long."

http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=107576

In a report where George Bush went to visit the survivors, he is shown with two African American women.  He PUSHES them away, saying "yeah i understand, i understand, go over there, they'll help you."  The mayor of the city, a prominent, African American man is outraged and screaming "What is wrong with these people?"  Where is Bush now? Well he's been seen in remote places asking people to give money to the Red Cross, like the Red Cross conviniently in the town he lives in, D.C.  The President is more worried about what is going to happen to his oil supply.  Foreign countries are offering help, but the Federal Government is saying "no."  Argentina offered $10 a barrel of oil, and the U.S. said no.  Sri Lanka after trying to deal with the Tsunami disaster, managed to give $24,000.  The U.S. is saying, well we don't need it. We DO NEED IT.  And if we didn't, can't we just save it for the future, when these people get back to their homes and try to find a job??

A rich woman from up north tried to send in planes with supplies to help the people in New Orleans, know what happened? She wasn't allowed to land the planes and help out, not even drop off the supplies [at a much faster rate than the military I might add].  WHAT IS GOING ON???  Please realize that these are the people you voted into office, the Republican Party.  Never believed they were discriminatory? Look around you, look at what's going on.

Getting his message across in one little statement and getting cut off right afterward, the brave Kanye West, this is from an email I received.

"George Bush doesn't care about black people." - Kanye West to check out the video go to :

 http://zebrality.com/article.php?article_id=93
http://huh.34sp.com/wrong/

Also Kanye West has a new music video on his website called "Diamonds from Sierra Leone". I dont find the lyrics to be too political but the beginning of the video is definately worth seeing. There is also an article on West's politics and philosophy at

 http://huh.34sp.com/wrong/2004/11/10/kanye-west-and-the-limits-of-aporia/

They quote several songs: I say fuck the police, thats how I treat em, we buy our way out of jail, but we can’t buy freedom. We’ll buy a lot of clothes when we don’t really need em, things we buy to cover up what’s inside, cause they make us hate ourself and love they wealth. That’s why shortys hollering “where the ballas’ at?” Drug dealer buy Jordans, crackhead buy crack, and a white man get paid off of all of that. "Golly, more of that bullshit ice rap I got to ‘pologize to Mos and Kweli (probably). But is it cool to rap about gold if I told the world I copped it from Ghana and Mali? First nigga with a Benz and a backpack, ice chain, Cardi lens, and a knapsack. Always said if I rapped I’d say somethin’ significant, but now I’m rappin’ ’bout money, hoes, and rims again… "
Oh by the way, anybody else think they killed Chief Justice Rehnquist just so the heat is off of them?

--Diana

Current Mood: bitchy

[L]eadership is everything we are not getting from this White House. Instead of challenging us to push ourselves to accomplish great things, we get platitudes. We can do better than that. I hope you had a chance to read today's editorial in the New York Times, called "Waiting for a Leader." If you haven't read it yet, please take a few minutes to do it. The Times is asking an important question. It's one I've been asking for a long time as well: Where is the leadership in America today?

. . . [J]ust this past week, there was at least 36 hours notice that a major hurricane was going to hit the Gulf Coast, including likely a devastating blow to New Orleans, which certainly came to pass. The President continued with his regular schedule on Monday and Tuesday in California, Arizona, and Texas to hold some staged Medicare events and enjoy more vacation time, while finally returning to the White House yesterday. The joint task force including National Guard set up by the Pentagon failed to be on the scene in New Orleans in a timely manner to stop the looting and assist in the evacuation. Where is the leadership?

Then just this morning, the President claimed that no one could have anticipated the levee breaches we've seen in New Orleans after Katrina hit. That's not leadership, that's an excuse. In fact, people have predicted this kind of disaster for many years, including President Bush's own FEMA in 2001, when they ranked hurricane flood damage to New Orleans among the three likeliest, most catastrophic disasters facing America. Instead, funding was significantly cut back, leaving key engineering projects on hold. Instead, this Administration focused on the war in Iraq, tax cuts, and private sector economic growth without asking the American people to make needed sacrifices for the good of the country. Again I ask you, where is the leadership?

I am glad I voted for Clark and I am glad he is speaking up.

Wesley Clark's Blog


The link to the FEMA article that Clark eluded too is here

and also from todays press conference

REPORTER: There's a lot of discussion going on about the funding of projects prior to this, whether projects in New Orleans in particular were underfunded because of the Iraq war or for other reasons. Do you find any of this criticism legitimate? Do you think there is any second guessing to be done now about priorities given that [a disaster in] New Orleans was sort of obvious to a lot of the experts?

MCCLELLAN: As I have indicated, this is not a time for politics. This is a time for the nation to come together for those in the Gulf Coast region and that's where our focus is. This is not a time for finger-pointing or politics. And I think the last thing that the people who have been displaced or the people who have been affected need is people seeking partisan gain in Washington. So if that's what you're talking about, that's one thing. Now, if you're talking about specific areas, I would be glad to talk about some of those, if that's what you want.

REPORTER: I'm talking about policy

REPORTER: One project, for instance, is the one where people felt they needed $60 million in the current `06 fiscal year, and they were given $10 million. Those types of projects. And a lot --

MCCLELLAN: Which project is this?

REPORTER: Southeast Louisiana Flood Control.

MCCLELLAN: Flood control has been a priority of this administration from day one.

Courtesy of Kos

And a must read is today is atrios

-Kevo
American Jobs
American Values

+++Updates when they come available+++

Current Mood: angry

Well according to Fox News, there wasnt a hurricane, or any suffering.

-Kevo
American Values
American Jobs

Current Mood: calm

BOGOTA, Colombia - A boat carrying more than 100 illegal immigrants capsized and sank in rough waters in the Pacific Ocean, and only nine survivors were found, clinging to a wooden box and buoys, officials said Wednesday.

Ecuadorean Navy Capt. Armando Elizalde told Colombian RCN television most of the 113 people aboard “sank with the boat.”

An Ecuadorean fishing boat found the survivors — seven men and two women — on Sunday, Elizalde said. They were later transferred to an Ecuadorean Coast Guard cutter.

The Colombian Navy said one of its planes and a boat were being deployed in a search-and-rescue operation. Ecuador’s Coast Guard was also participating.

So the biggest thing from reading this article is Ecuador has a Coast Guard, why the fuck do they need to protect their coasts, and Colombia has a navy, WHAT!?

:::Sad but true Colombia has a navy via msn:::

-Kevo
American Jobs
American Values

Current Mood: contemplative

One thing that I think is really funny is when you have to go to “secure” websites that force you to use internet explorer. Ha.

-Kevo

Current Mood: energetic

BOOYAH!!!

Oh wait, that isnt a good thing but there are three counties from Texas and four from California in the top ten.


:::We're Number 2!!! via El Paso Times Online

-Kevo
American Jobs
American Values

Current Mood: contemplative

Moon Landings.

-Kevo
American Jobs
American Values

Current Mood: complacent