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may tom tomorrow be blessed.

Roman Catholics' 5 to 4 Supreme Court Majority

America's Ayatollahs on the Supreme Court are Roman Catholics.

Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake writes
If the Shoe Fits
which quotes ABC News'
Abortion Ruling Raises Backlash for Catholic Justices

But academics, including the former dean of the University of Chicago Law School, also have said the Catholic faith of the five justices influenced their thinking in the case Gonzales vs. Carhart.

"All five justices in the majority in Gonzales are Catholic," wrote Geoffrey Stone, now a professor at the law school, in a faculty blog. "The four justices who either are Protestant or Jewish all voted in accord with settled precedent. It is mortifying to have to point this out. But it is too obvious, and too telling to ignore."

Stone said it was "sad" that the justices in the majority had "failed to respect the fundamental difference between religious belief and morality."

Operating an international conspiracy to protect and enable predator pedophiles would ordinarily considered bad enough.
But, no, you got to infringe and subvert Americans' right to privacy and reproductive rights.

Auth cartoon (at FDL link above) is so apt: Church And State
i'm pulling for Separation of Church and Hospital.
seems like half of our hospitals won't do even a vasectomy,
because the Pope doesn't like them.

friend of mine has just given birth at the hospital of her insurer's choice.
it was her second child and she wished to exercise a family planning option.
she asked if she could have a tubal ligation.

sorry.
Pope says, "No."

she was prepped and anesthetized and in surgery.

she would have to go through all that again
(along with the re-exposure to the associated risks)
at another facility to have her tubes tied.

i let anyone be as Roman Catholic as they want to be
AS LONG AS
The Roman Catholic Church and her agents let me exercise my medical options without their (government-sponsored) interference.

....


Lift the tax-exempt status for every church.
.... .... ....

updating the Bushco scandals list

This list attempts to compile the institutions that have been corrupted by /victims of BushCo scandals.

supreme court .... .... .... .... ....Bush v. Gore

national energy policy .... .... .... .... cheney's Energy Task Force

corporate governance .... .... .... .... .... Enron

U.S. Army ... ... ... .... .... ...Pat Tilman
Geneva Conventions .... .... ...Abu Ghraib
habeas corpus .... .... .... .... .... Guantanamo
House of Representatives ....Tom Delay/Jack Abramoff
House of Representatives Pages .... .... .... Mark Foley
FEMA .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... Katrina
Department of Defense .......... rumsfled
Iraq .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... Coalition Provisional Authority
CIA .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... Valerie Plame
FBI .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... National Security Letters
GSA .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... ....gross Hatch act violations
supreme court .... .... .... .... .... ..Alito
State department .... .... .... .... ..SOTU speech16 words /
.... .... .... .... no-talk policy toward iran, no. korean, et al
vice presidency .... .... .... .... .... dick cheney
.... .... .... and that deal with the Filipino spy working in the OVP
quail hunting .... .... .... .... .... ... dick cheney
dept. of Justice .... .... .... .... .... u.s. atty’s purge
Ofc of Faith-based Initiatives .... scamming the faithful for votes
the atmosphere .... .... .... .... .... Kyoto Treaty
journalism .... .... .... .... .... .... .... Jeff Gannon (thanks LJ/Aquaria)/ Judy Miller
NSA .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... domestic spying (thanks LJ/Aquaria)
NIH …. .... .... .... .... restriction on stem cell research
EPA …. .... .... .... ....political censorship of scientific presentations and publications
FDA …. .... .... delay on Plan B,
withheld food contamination info from public (3/23/07)
CDC …. .... .... .... censorship of scientific presentations and publications,
published a disproved link between abortion and breast cancer
(thanks for NIH through CDC to rxbusa)
EPA .... .... .... increased allowable levels of arsenic in drinking water.
Reversing Clinton’s EPA recommended lower levels. (thanks oceanbreeze)
U.S. Navy .... the joyriding fundraisers who accidentally killed
a bunch of Japanese students during a submarine trip (thanks Harold)
PBS .... .... .... .... .... Ken Tomlinson
death .... .... .... .... .... .... Terri Shiavo (3/05)
Student Loan Program .... .... (insert name of scandal here)
Consumer Product Safety Commission .... .... Michael Broody
dept of Education "Reading First" Program .... Margaret Spellings
NASA .... .... .... who was that guy they had to fire?
National Forest Service ....
dept of the Interior .... .... Scott Griles/Sue Ellen Wooldridge
Parks Service .... .... ....

ban on wars of agression .... .... .... .... .... Downing Street Memos

veterans .... .... .... .... Walter Reed

how to defund the war in Iraq

Big Tent Democrat over at TalkLeft suggests:

I ask for three things:

First,
announce NOW that the Democratic Congress will NOT fund the Iraq Debacle after a date certain. You pick the date. Whatever works politically. If October 2007 is the date Dems can agree to, then let it be then. If March 2008, then let that be the date;

Second,
spend the year reminding the President and the American People every day that Democrats will not fund the war past the date certain;

Third,
do NOT fund the Iraq Debacle PAST the date certain.

Some argue we will never have the votes for this. That McConnell will filibuster, that Bush will veto. To them I say I KNOW. But filbustering and vetoing does not fund the Iraq Debacle.

Let me repeat,
to end the war in Iraq,
the Democratic Congress does not have to pass a single bill;
they need only NOT pass bills that fund the Iraq Debacle.

works for me.

....

Kleptocrats at Work

Think Progress conveys this:

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) reports that the White House counsel’s office has been “unable to identify any contracts for furniture within the Vice President’s office” but that there may be “a different contract ‘related to WMD.’” From a Waxman letter addressed to White House Counsel Fred Fielding:

On April 17, 2007, Mr. [Emmett] Flood contacted Committee staff by telephone to state that he did not yet have the requested documents or even a schedule by which some or all responsive documents would be provided. Instead, Mr. Flood stated that he had been unable to identify any contracts for furniture within the Vice President’s office, but that he had heard “rumors” about a different contract “related to WMD” that raised “certain sensibilities.” Mr. Flood requested one additional week to prepare a response to the Committee, to which Committee staff agreed.

Indeed, “certain sensibilities” have been raised. The White House awarded the one-month, $140,000 contract to an individual — MZM contractor Mitchell Wade — who never previously held a federal contract. Two weeks after he got paid, Wade used a cashier’s check for exactly that amount to buy a boat for now-imprisoned Rep. Duke Cunningham at a price that the congressman had pre-negotiated.

Filed under: Ethics, Administration

Posted by Faiz April 20, 2007 5:55 pm

Permalink | Comment (86)

"exactly that amount"
these guys taking notes from Delay?


kleptocracy.
we are being ruled by audacious thieves.

So, who in the vice-president's office signed Mr. Wade's check?

help, Please

continuing from FDL:

i need help building this list
of pernicious subversions:

institution .... .... .... .... .... .... gwb43 scandal

supreme court .... .... .... .... ....Bush v. Gore
U.S. Army ... ... ... .... .... ...Pat Tilman
Geneva Conventions .... .... ...Abu Ghraib
habeas corpus .... .... .... .... .... Guantanamo
House of Representatives ....Tom Delay/Jack Abramoff
FEMA .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... Katrina
Department of Defense.......... rumsfled
Iraq ... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... Coalition Provisional Authority
CIA .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... Valerie Plame
FBI .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... National Security Letters
GSA .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... ....gross Hatch act violations
supreme court .... .... .... .... .... ..Alito
State department .... .... .... .... ..SOTU speech16 words /no-talk policy toward iran, no. korean
vice presidency .... .... .... .... .... dick cheney
quail hunting .... .... .... .... .... ... dick cheney
dept. of Justice .... .... .... .... .... u.s. atty’s purge
Ofc of Faith-based Initiatives .... scamming the faithful for votes
the atmosphere .... .... .... .... .... Kyoto Treaty
journalism .... .... .... .... .... .... .... Jeff Gannon (thanks LJ/Aquaria)
NSA .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... domestic spying (thanks LJ/Aquaria)
NIH …. .... .... .... .... restriction on stem cell research
EPA …. .... .... .... ....political censorship of scientific presentations and publications
FDA …. .... .... delay on Plan B, pending approval of bovine antibiotic cefquinome despite vote of Advisory Committee about safety risk to humans due to development of disease resistance
CDC …. .... .... .... censorship of scientific presentations and publications, lame-ass posting of link between abortion and breast cancer even though disproven (thanks for NIH through CDC to rxbusa)
EPA .... .... .... increased allowable levels of arsenic in drinking water. Reversing Clinton’s EPA recommended lower levels. (thanks oceanbreeze)
U.S. Navy .... .... .... .... .... .... "the joyriding fundraisers who accidentally killed a bunch of Japanese students during a submarine ride" (thanks Harold)
PBS .... .... .... .... .... Ken Tomlinson
death .... .... .... .... .... .... Terri Shiavo (3/05)
Student Loan Program .... .... .... .... .... .... (insert name of latest revealed corruption here)
Consumer Product Safety Commission .... .... Michael Broody
dept of Education "Reading First" Program .... Margaret Spellings
NASA .... .... ....
National Forest Service ....
dept of the Interior .... ....
Parks Service .... .... ....

i’m sensing a pattern here.
i need some chronology-izing.

oh, it’s a game!
pick any institution and see what BushCo has done to destroy it.
suggestions, please?

(Selise gave me a link to Hugh's List: Thanks!)

"Oh, Alberto ... "

i just steal these tasty bits.
go to FDL of course and read the whole thing.

Reddhead rocks.

Near the end of the process, as I have said many times, Kyle Sampson presented me with the final recommendations, which I approved. I did so because I understood that the recommendations represented the consensus of senior Justice Department officials most knowledgeable about the performance of all 93 U.S. Attorneys. I also remember that, at some point in time, Mr. Sampson explained to me the plan to inform the U.S. Attorneys of my decision.

So, let me get this straight, Alberto: you didn't know how the 93 U.S. Attorneys working for you were doing, you were talked into firing a few attorneys after you didn't think you could get away with firing all of them, you let other people make the decision who to fire, and you let your assistant tell you how you were going to tell them they were fired. Is that about right? Because, if so, that is the most pathetic excuse for leadership and administrative buck passing that I have ever heard. Pa. The. Tic. (PDF)

In hindsight, I should have handled this differently. As a manager, I am aware that decisions involving personnel are some of the most difficult and challenging decisions one can make. United States Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the President, but looking back, it is clear to me that I should have done more personally to ensure that the review process was more rigorous, and that each U.S. Attorney was informed of this decision in a more personal and respectful way.

Gee, ya think? Dude, you weren't firing the afternoon french fry basket guy at Der Wienerschnitzel for failing to change out the fryer oil on time.

yes.

these struggles for OUR Dem'08 nomination

the headline for this post is linked to Pachacutec's post at FDL.
he fills in the blanks on a lot of things for me.
things a close friend asked me about yesterday.
i didn't know what to say.
then i tried, but i didn't know how to say it.
Pach makes his (our) point exquisitely:

As political reformers, we've been doing a kind of therapy for a Democratic Party that had become weak, dependent and sort of masochistic in its subserviance to authoritarian right wing power. We've been performing an intervention, and we're making progress, but the party can never sustain itself as strong without outside accountability to a movement willing to challenge it. This requires members of the progressive movement to stick together, build together, work together and never forget their role in politics. Candidate partisans have their place, but to build sustainable change, we need to keep our heads about us, especially during the silly season.

Mr. Matt Stoller posts at myDD and has also elucidated many important progressive distinctions for Democrats.
Can Someone Start an Enemies List Already?
On Cutting Slack
During Which Post the Matts Argue Iraq
My Various Secret Agendas
and Matt has been targeted for some pushback/blowback for his efforts.
nothing really surprising there.
and Matt takes it well.
i thank him.

and then Pach comments at myDD:

Richardson has articulated a position consistent with that, so he gets props. Obama, Clinton and Edwards have not, though on a scale of 1-10, with 10 as high (anti-imperialist), Edwards is not perfect (7?) but edges out Obama (5?), whose stock is falling a little, and Clinton is near the bottom (1?).

The purpose of writing about this stuff is to make a public argument about the role of the US in foriegn policy, a discussion that is not really happening today. I happen to agree with Matt on all these fronts. This is what a progressive movement does: put pressure on the party and its high profile candidates to transform the conversation from one dominated by the Georgetown foreign policy elites.

beautiful, clear analysis.

excellent.

thank you!

...

Mussolini would be Proud

Please, please
Go Direct to
Fire Dog Lake
and read
Ms Christy Hardin Smith's

Getting Burned While Cooking The Books

But here's a hint for Rep. Waxman and his committee:

Some Republican activists say the e-mail request will not create great difficulty for the White House because nothing nefarious happened and because the RNC automatically purges some e-mails after 30 days. (emphasis mine)

"Some" e-mails are purged? Only "some?" Not all e-mails, but only "some," eh? Exactly who determines this "some e-mails" quotient for the RNC? Is it anything from the White House that might be questionable legally? Anything we wouldn't want the public to see? Things that might be in violation of the Presidential Records Act? How is it automatic that only some, and not all, e-mails are purged? Who made that determination? And why?

Get your investigators to make a duplicate copy of the RNC servers on which these e-mails have been stored. Pronto. Have it done forensically, by the white collar crime folks at the FBI. (emphasis ydj) They may say they purge "some" e-mails every 30 days, but there are likely still a large number of "some" of them there and recoverable…a large number of them…and I smell a big, fat, Turdblossom-reeking cover-up in the making.

"Permanent Republican Majority"?

not on our watch!