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VIDEO: Jon Stewart Mocks the Republicans Dislike of the Word “Empathy”

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• Legislating From the Bench?

Legislating From the Bench?

Since the announcement of Supreme Court Justice Souter’s impending retirement, there has been much speculation online as to who President Obama might choose to replace him. Worth noting are comments from Obama himself during his surprise appearance at Friday’s white house press briefing. Video below, bolding is mine.

PRESIDENT OBAMA:

“Throughout his two decades on the Supreme Court, Justice Souter has shown what it means to be a fair-minded and independent judge. He came to the bench with no particular ideology. He never sought to promote a political agenda. And he consistently defied labels and rejected absolutes, focusing instead on just one task -- reaching a just result in the case that was before him.

He approached judging as he approaches life, with a feverish work ethic and a good sense of humor, with integrity, equanimity and compassion -- the hallmark of not just being a good judge, but of being a good person.

I am incredibly grateful for his dedicated service. I told him as much when we spoke. I spoke on behalf of the American people thanking him for his service. And I wish him safe travels on his journey home to his beloved New Hampshire and on the road ahead.

Now, the process of selecting someone to replace Justice Souter is among my most serious responsibilities as President. So I will seek somebody with a sharp and independent mind and a record of excellence and integrity. I will seek someone who understands that justice isn't about some abstract legal theory or footnote in a case book. It is also about how our laws affect the daily realities of people's lives -- whether they can make a living and care for their families; whether they feel safe in their homes and welcome in their own nation.

I view that quality of empathy, of understanding and identifying with people's hopes and struggles as an essential ingredient for arriving as just decisions and outcomes. I will seek somebody who is dedicated to the rule of law, who honors our constitutional traditions, who respects the integrity of the judicial process and the appropriate limits of the judicial role. I will seek somebody who shares my respect for constitutional values on which this nation was founded, and who brings a thoughtful understanding of how to apply them in our time.

As I make this decision, I intend to consult with members of both parties across the political spectrum. And it is my hope that we can swear in our new Supreme Court Justice in time for him or her to be seated by the first Monday in October when the Court's new term begins.”

While Republicans are focusing on the usual canard when it comes to judicial appointments --- “he/she/it is going to legislate from the bench”, let’s just clear that up right now and get on with speculation as to WHOM he might select.

A judge is obligated to consider not just the law, but the facts surrounding a particular issue. Those right wingers who want to interpret the Constitution by strict word-for-word literalism, just like many of you do with the Bible, don't have a fundamental understanding of the foundation of our legal system. To be specific….

Our legal system, like most systems in those nations which were originally English colonies, is based primarily on the system of common law. That means much of our law is based upon the principle of stare decisis, or a system of judicially decided precedent law. Our Constitution is a framework in light of our common law background, which was intended to organize our federal system and through the Bill of Rights as a list of limits on the power of the federal government. It was not designed as an exclusive and literal list of only those things that the federal government could do. If that were the case, it would have been in conflict with the existing framework of English common law which formed the balance of laws and legal theory during that period in our early history.

Currently, our law is based upon the framework of the Constitution, supplemented by common law, statutory law at both state and federal levels, and administrative regulations.

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Stuff……

I have tried, and tried again….to no avail.   Time to get real.

I’m in the middle of a divorce, and can’t seem to keep up with blogs right now. Once the divorce is over, I’ll be in the middle of moving. In other words, life is a little busy at the moment, and I am going to give in, and for the most part, stop blogging except very occasionally. I hope to get back to it more regularly at some point, but I have no idea when that will be.

No more news summaries until further notice.

Also, I am considering ditching Entrecard. All the stuff going on there is making me re-think an association with them. Haven’t yet decided, and I’d love some opinions!

IPD Political News Summary, Wednesday, April 22, 2009

| At a United Nations conference on racism in Geneva on Monday, the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,  launched in to a tirade against Israel. Delegates from a number of European countries walked out in protest.
The U.S., Germany, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and Israel all boycotted the conference as they had expected Ahmadinejad to use the conference as a forum to “focus on maligning Israel rather than on the global problems of discrimination, replaying the disputes that marked the first United Nations conference on combating racism in Durban, South Africa, in 2001.”
The countries that walked out: Austria, Belgium, Britain, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic (has left the conference for good), Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, , Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, St. Kitts and Nevis
Image courtesy of The NYT.

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| The release of the Bush torture memos last week caused many on the left to become more vocal, urging the current administration to hold accountable those who directed others to violate U.S. and international law. On Tuesday, President Obama stated publicly for the first time, that he is open to prosecution of the people responsible for directing others to commit acts of torture. Bolding is mine.From The New York Times:

But in response to questions from reporters in the Oval Office, he said, “if and when there needs to be a further accounting,” he hoped that Congress would examine ways to obtain one “in a bipartisan fashion,” from people who are independent and therefore can build credibility with the public.

Image of the scales of justice on top of the Old Bailey in London, by Andrew Parsons, courtesy of the BBC.

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| Congress is back in Washington this week, after a break for Easter recess. At the top of their agenda is the budget, healthcare, and credit cards.
The president has said that he expects Republicans to come back with a more “constructive attitude toward health care, energy and other administration initiatives.” David Axelrod via Huffpost:

"No one expects the Republican Party to fully embrace what we're doing," Axelrod said. "What they would like is for us to ratify the policies that we've had for the last eight years that have gotten us into the mess we're in. We have two parties for a reason, but there are areas of common interest, and we ought to pursue them."

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| On Monday, President Obama directed his cabinet to cut spending by $100 million, acknowledging that it’s a drop in the proverbial bucket.
The cabinet was directed to go through the expenses in each of their areas, and eliminate a total of $100 million from the budget.

Obama said the $100 million would come from "efficiencies" in agency operations, and would be in addition to future cuts in programs that aren't working.

Yet the red ink in the annual budget is currently in the hundreds of billions. He was asked if the efficiency saving isn't just "a drop in the bucket".

"It is," he replied. "None of these things alone are going to make a difference. But cumulatively, they make an extraordinary difference because they start setting a tone ... $100 million there, $100 million here _ pretty soon, even here in Washington, it adds up to real money."

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| In signing legislation that will triple the size of the Americorps program, President Obama called on students to volunteer to improve their communities. .
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| MEDIA MATTERS log, April 20 - April 26, 2009

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IPD Political News Summary: Monday, April 20, 2009

I got a late start on this last night, so will be finishing it piecemeal, throughout today. Check back later for more.

Political News Summary: Friday, April 17 – Sunday, April 19, 2009

| Last Thursday, President Obama directed the DOJ to release the Bush Torture Memos as part of an ongoing court case. The fallout has been wide, and varied.
In an editorial on Sunday, The New York Times called for the impeachment of federal judge Jay Bybee, the author of the memos, and John Yoo's boss.

“These memos make it clear that Mr. Bybee is unfit for a job that requires legal judgment and a respect for the Constitution. Congress should impeach him.”

President Obama has also drawn fire from the left, when he made it clear that he would not hold accountable those who actually committed the acts of torture. From Think Progress:

Yesterday, as he released four Bush-era legal memos authorizing the torture of terrorist suspects, President Obama made it clear he would not support any prosecutions of low-level interrogators who actually carried out Bush’s policies. “[I]t is our intention to assure those who carried out their duties relying in good faith upon legal advice from the Department of Justice that they will not be subject to prosecution.”

The ACLU's lead counsel, Jameel Jaffer, told Glenn Greenwald that Obama was very careful in his wording, and that nothing the President or Eric Holder had said precludes prosecution of the people responsible for these policies.

By the way, I read some of the torture memos myself, and they are as ugly and grotesque as you might imagine.

RELATED: :: The case for impeaching Jay Bybee.
:: Fox News Defends Bush Administration’s Use Of Torture
:: Hayden: The Torture Memos Show The ‘Outer Limits’ That ‘Any American’ Would Go To In Interrogations
:: Scott Atran: The Moral Measure of a Civilization Is in Its Treatment of Enemies
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Reference: Media Partisanship – Lies – and Incompetence as Chronicled by Media Matters, April 20 - April 26, 2009

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

• Politico doesn't challenge comparison of Obama health care plan to UK and Canada
• Fox's Angle did not disclose that "analyst" Holmstead is an energy lobbyist
• Scarborough slowly walked back criticism of Obama's interaction with Chavez
• Contradicting Bush Justice Dept., Angle equated waterboarding of terrorists, trainees
• NBC report on NY Times' five Pulitzers ignores military analysts report

Happy Friday!

I will not be posting the normal Friday news summary today. I’ll be posting the pol news again on Monday, April 20, as I have personal matters to take care of. Have a great weekend!

Faux Populist GOP Tax Day Tea Parties Are Anti-Obama In Spite of Their Claims to the Contrary

Although the Tea Party protesters are currently claiming that their protests are non-partisan (since they were busted for having no real talking points, and the organizers imbued them with a few), are not “anti-Obama” (meaning anti-brown skin), both the lack of brown people at their protests and their signage, begs to differ. Say what they like, they are protesting for 3 reasons.

1. They HATE Obama because most of them are right at home in white sheets.

2. They lost the election, and they feel the next one slipping away from them. They are big whiney crybabies aka very sore losers.

3. Rush, Fox News, and Freedom Works have been drilling them re “wealth destruction”. These pathetic dupes are protesting because those people earning over $250,000 annually will see a slight tax increase, or a return to Clinton-era taxes. Really. I know it’s hard to fathom. Think of sheep. Bahhhhhhhh……..

               Click an image below to view at a larger size.

In an excellent article by Bob Cesca, he notes:

Whether intentional or not, the talkers and bloggers who appear to be driving the post-Bush crazy train, have, intentionally or not, opened up the conservative tent to some pretty unsavory and dangerous characters. And in light of what happened in Pittsburgh, are they really so sure that deliberately conflating conservatism with the radical, violent end of the ideological spectrum is such a wise strategy? Beck and the others were so shocked and disturbed that their rhetoric was being partly blamed for Pittsburgh. But that was last week. This week, they definitely seem to be sharing their tea bags with the psychotics. And such behavior can cause a serious infection. Political infection. Is what I meant.

Arianna Huffington today on the tea parties:

Those pathetic, corporate lobbyist-backed tea parties clearly didn't do the trick. They were steeped in desperation. A bitter brew of misguided outrage and good-old-fashioned hate mongering.

It's what people do when the only two ideas they have -- tax cuts and deregulation -- have been given full expression for the last 8 years and failed. Miserably.

The GOP is so devoid of any actual solutions to the many crises we are facing they find themselves grasping at the vaguest hint of a talking point or, failing that, making stuff up out of thin air. So we get Rep. Spencer Bachus saying there are 17 socialists in Congress, and Michele Bachmann warning about "re-education camps for young people," and a Fox reporter "covering" a tea party saying we need to "wake up and start fighting the fascism permeating this country."

Silly name or not, the right wingers have made this in to something that portends more than just wingnutty chatter and parties, but rather something that smells like violence.

For more info on the teabaggers, read my previous articles:

:: The Unfortunate Implications of the Teabagging Revolution

:: Krugman on Faux-Populist Tea Parties, Republicans, and Democrats…..

IPD Political News Summary: Wednesday, April 15, 2009

               Pete Souza/White House

| The biggest story of the past couple of days was the introduction of Bo Obama, the newest resident of the White House, on Tuesday. A Portuguese Water Dog, Bo is completely adorable. If you'd like to see his intro to the press, the best video is from the BBC, and NYT has the best pics.
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| On Tuesday night, Reuters reported that another U.S.-flagged and U.S.-owned ship, the Liberty Sun, was attacked by Somali pirates. The pirates attacked with rockets and automatic weapons, but failed to board the ship. The crew was unharmed, but the ship did suffer damage, and contacted the U.S. Navy for help. They are now under escort by the USS Bainbridge. __________________________

Full DHS Report on Right-Wing Extremism

DHS Report on Right Wing Extremism - Free Legal Forms

Krugman on Faux-Populist Tea Parties, Republicans, and Democrats…..

| In his NYT column, Nobel prize- winning economist, Paul Krugman weighs in on tea parties, Republicans, and   Democrats…..And once again, I find myself agreeing with Krugman, the economist whom Republicans have just recently loved to quote, as Krugman has been at odds with the Dem mainstream over the handling of the economy. This time, however, I suspect that the right wingers won't be too happy about what Krugman has to say…..

Today’s G.O.P. is, after all, very much a minority party. It retains some limited ability to obstruct the Democrats, but has no ability to make or even significantly shape policy.

Beyond that, Republicans have become embarrassing to watch. And it doesn’t feel right to make fun of crazy people. Better, perhaps, to focus on the real policy debates, which are all among Democrats.

Krugman goes on to say essentially the same thing that I pointed out in my article last week --- namely that the tea parties are not a matter of public sentiment, are not spontaneous, but rather, organized and paid for by the corporatists, and promoted by Fox News.

Last but not least: it turns out that the tea parties don’t represent a spontaneous outpouring of public sentiment. They’re AstroTurf (fake grass roots) events, manufactured by the usual suspects. In particular, a key role is being played by FreedomWorks, an organization run by Richard Armey, the former House majority leader, and supported by the usual group of right-wing billionaires. And the parties are, of course, being promoted heavily by Fox News.

Liberals invented revolution in this country. Leave it to the Republicans to muck it all up and give it an undeservedly bad rep. Happy teabagging, tools.

UPDATE:

MSNBC’s David Schuster gives us some background on the teabagging movement. Hilarious and factual.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

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VIDEO: President Obama’s Speech on the Economy at Georgetown University, April 14, 2009

You can read the transcript of President Obama’s speech here.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy