« MORE ON THE PASOLINI MURDER CASE, FRANCE'S REFERENDUM ON THE EUROPEAN CONSTITUTION, UND SO WEITER... | Main | PASOLINI MURDER CASE UPDATE: THE JUDGE SPEAKS »

May 12, 2005

JUDICIARY FACES NEW G.O.P REIGN OF TERROR

The Republican Congress is launching a new campaign to intimidate and castrate the federal judiciary that amounts to nothing less than a reign of terror and a Constitution-shredding destruction of the seperation of powers. That's the meaning of a frightening report in today's Washington Post on a proposal by House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R.-Wisc.) to create an Inspector General for the judiciary.

Not content with stacking the federal courts with racist, reactionary, homophobic corporate lackeys by eliminating the Senate minority's right to filibuster judicial nominations, the Republicans -- under the command of Tom Delay, Tom_delay the most corrupt politician in Washington -- are planning to set up this Inspector General's office to be under the thumb of Congress, to which it will have to render report cards on judicial behavior, with budgetary and disciplinary threats in its arsenal to force judge to toe the Republican line on everything from the right to die with dignity to affirmative action to abortion to gay civil rights. This is tantamount to putting the Christian right in charge of policing our courts. Not only that, there's also a Republican plan to split up the federal 9th Circuit -- based in San Francisco, it's the most liberal federal bench in the country -- by slicing it into three parts, taking Oregon, Washington, four mountain states and Alaska out of the liberal judges' jurisdiction.

The chances of defeating these measures are slim indeed. When the Republican "nuclear option" of eliminating the filibuster goes through, Senate Democrats will be unable to block this legislation, which will without doubt pass the House (watch for anywhere from 40-80 House Democrats to go over the side and join the ironclad Republican majority to pass these measures. And the Republicans are determined to pass all this stuff this year.

Next year's mid-term Congressional elections offer little hope of any change in control of Capitol Hill, which means that what will be done this year cannot be undone in a new Congress. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid has already said in public that it would take a "miracle" for the Democrats to win back the Senate next year. And, given that almost every incumbent in the House was re-elected last year with around 60% of the vote -- thanks to gerrymandering by both parties -- the GOP control of that chamber next year is also not in doubt.

The founding fathers are turning over in their grave. But the progressive forces are outgunned and outnumbered by the well-financed shock troops of the Christian right, and not only the remaining handful of so-called "moderate" Senate Republicans but many Senate Democrats are increasingly pandering to the Christers. There won't be enough of either to stop this punitive Congressional control of the judiciary from becoming law.

The last shreds of meaningful democracy in this country are being dismantled before our eyes, one by one. Well, it was a nice little experiment for 236 years -- that's longer than any other republic has ever existed. But the mutant form of the new national security theocracy that will replace it will be unlike anything the likes of Jefferson, Madison, and Franklin ever envisioned--and much more like everything they feared.

Posted by Direland at 08:39 AM | Permalink

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
https://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341c0c4453ef00d83423f1d053ef

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference JUDICIARY FACES NEW G.O.P REIGN OF TERROR:

» A New Attack on the Rule of Law from Freiheit und Wissen
The always great Doug Ireland brings us a chilling report on the Christian Right’s agenda to destroy the separation of powers – the creation of an Inspector General for the judiciary... [Read More]

Tracked on May 14, 2005 10:25:25 PM

» University Calendar Podcast: May 26-June 9 from to highlights
to highlights from the Vanderbilt University Calendar for the week of May 26-June 9. [Read More]

Tracked on Jun 10, 2006 3:31:14 PM

» Child Blissfully Unaware Of Motel Swimming Pool's Sordid Past from Hoyer, 7, spent
7, spent all Sunday afternoon playing to the point of exhaustion in the swimming pool... [Read More]

Tracked on Jun 11, 2006 2:29:18 AM

» Asian Markets Tumble on U.S. Declines, Rate Worries from as concerns over
sharply Thursday as concerns over U.S. rate hikes and recent weakness on Wal Street weighed on the markets. [Read More]

Tracked on Jun 12, 2006 8:26:53 AM

» Iran Test-Fires Another 'Top Secret' Missile from television says
says it successfully test-fired a "top secret" missile, the third in a week. [Read More]

Tracked on Jun 15, 2006 12:50:05 AM

» Abbas' Referendum Gamble Risks a Palestinian Backlash from to call a referendum
President Abbas has threatened to call a referendum unless Hamas accepts a two-state [Read More]

Tracked on Jun 16, 2006 3:20:33 PM

» Prozac Doesn't Stop Anorexia Relapse from does not help
relapses in patients recovering from anorexia nervosa, new research shows. [Read More]

Tracked on Jun 18, 2006 3:59:29 AM

» Geographical Information Systems, and How They Can Improve Your Business. from Interviews ESRI's
host Neal Miller Interviews ESRI's Bill Davenahll, Health and Human Services Solutions Manager. [Read More]

Tracked on Jun 18, 2006 8:04:53 PM

» Heat's Dash Levels Mavs from Spurs one year
NBA Finals, for all the hand wringing in South Florida about the impending demise of the Heat, this much was true as Game 3 tipped [Read More]

Tracked on Jun 19, 2006 3:59:21 AM

» India - Social profile of key heads in the national media from upper caste men
the media. They are about 8pc of India's population but among the key decision makers of the national media their share is as high [Read More]

Tracked on Jul 2, 2006 11:08:19 AM

» Spurs Sign Jackie Butler from today that they
signed Jackie Butler. Per team policy, terms of the deals were not disclosed. [Read More]

Tracked on Jul 24, 2006 11:23:29 AM

» J&J says FDA cancels review of antipsychotic drug from has canceled
and Drug Administration has canceled a planned advisory committee review its experimental drug paliperidone ER, a continuous release pill [Read More]

Tracked on Jul 24, 2006 7:18:53 PM

» Israel Seizes Guerrillas in Lebanon Raid from Military Captures
Military Captures Guerrillas After Raiding Hezbollah-Run Hospital in Lebanon [Read More]

Tracked on Aug 8, 2006 1:54:53 AM

Comments

http://www.batteryfast.com/laptop-ac-adapter/toshiba/TOSHIBA-15V-3A-45W.php Genuine Toshiba PA3049U AC Power Supply 15V 3A 45W
http://www.batteryfast.com/laptop-ac-adapter/toshiba/TOSHIBA-15V-4A-60W.php New TOSHIBA AC ADAPTOR 15V 4A PA3048U PA3092U 60W L47

Posted by: herefast123 | Nov 28, 2008 4:12:24 AM

http://www.batteryfast.co.uk/acer/1670.php acer LC.BTP05.004 Aspire 1670 series laptop battery,

Posted by: herefast123 | Nov 26, 2008 3:17:36 AM

http://www.batteryfast.co.uk/hp/presario-x1200.htm hp presario x1200 battery,
http://www.batteryfast.co.uk/hp/presario-x1300.htm hp presario x1300 battery,

Posted by: herefast123 | Nov 24, 2008 5:06:19 AM

The comments to this entry are closed.