"Beyond Thin" Judge Draws Notice for a SC Vacancy

Justice Diane P. Wood is drawing attention as a leading candidate to fill the first vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Wood is famous in some circles (especially in Wisconsin) for her judicial equivalent of voiced disgust shown towards Stephen Biskupic, former U.S. Atty for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, who launched several political prosecutions during his tenure with the Bush administration's Department of Justice, including the repulsive political prosecution of an innocent woman, Georgia Thompson.

Wood was nominated to serve as an appellate judge by President Clinton and confirmed in 1995.

As Mark Pitsch notes in a State Journal piece in 2007 [largely an it's-not-what-Biskupic-did-that-really-matters piece]:

Georgia Thompson, a state purchasing agent for Doyle's Department of Administration, was indicted in January 2006 and convicted six months later in the midst of a heated gubernatorial election.

She spent four months in prison before the federal appeals panel reversed the conviction and ordered her immediately set free - with one judge saying the evidence was 'beyond thin.'

The same judge, Diane P. Wood of the 7th U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, also had harsh words when the panel rejected a 2005 voter fraud conviction won by Biskupic's office against a woman who voted despite having a felony record, The New York Times reported.

'I find this whole prosecution mysterious,' Wood said. 'I don't know whether the Eastern District of Wisconsin goes after every felon who accidentally votes. It is not like she voted five times.'

Biskupic said he hasn't prosecuted for political reasons.

The evidence for the conclusion that Biskupic was an apolitical US atty is beyond thin, and Wood was not shy about pointing out the many deficiencies in Biskupic's prosecutions.

Wood's name has been mentioned in numerous news reports on President Obama's likely leaning toward appointing a woman to the court, and Wood came up again today in a piece in the Washington Post by Carrie Johnson:

At the White House, advisers already had begun drafting a short list for the court in case one of the several aging justices decided to retire this summer. Speculation has been that the list includes Harvard Law School Dean Elena Kagan, who has been nominated to serve as solicitor general; Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit; Judge Diane Wood of the 7th Circuit; and Stanford University law professor Kathleen M. Sullivan.

-

via mal contends

Herbert on the Republicans

From Herbert in the Times:

Republicans in Washington have behaved like a milling crowd standing in the way of firefighters trying to respond to a devastating blaze. The best that can be said for the party is that a few senators seem to have been able part the crowd enough to let the rescuers begin to inch forward.

President Obama addressed Republican inflexibility on Thursday night when he said at a gathering in Williamsburg, Va., 'Don’t come to the table with the same tired arguments and worn ideas that helped to create this crisis.' He added that without swift action on the stimulus bill, 'an economy that is already in crisis will be faced with catastrophe.'

The report of January’s enormous job losses came roughly a dozen hours later. It was the latest in a long and hideous pattern of employment woes, much of it resulting from the G.O.P.’s obsession with destructive supply-side economic voodoo.

On the front page of The Times on Friday was an article that said the number of women on the nation’s payrolls is poised to pass that of men for the first time in American history. This is not because women have been doing so well, but because men have been doing so poorly.

As I was reading the article, I thought of all the guys who used to listen to Rush Limbaugh while driving to or from work but are now tuning in from their living rooms because the benefits of the G.O.P.’s right-wing, tax-cutting ideology never trickled down to them and they are now jobless.

Military-Industrial Complex

Before politicians get too caught up discussing whether Obama is chopping the defence budget, they ought to read Seeking Alpha's Economic Costs of the Military-Industrial Complex by James Quinn. As Quinn writes:

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hope of its children."

These must be the words of some liberal Democratic Senator running for President in 2008. But no, these are the words of Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander during World War II, five decades ago.

The United States, the only superpower remaining on earth, currently spends more on military than the next 45 highest spending countries in the world combined. The U.S. accounts for 48% of the world’s total military spending. Where did the peace dividend from winning the Cold War go?

The United States spends on its military 5.8 times more than China, 10.2 times more than Russia, and 98.6 times more than Iran. The Cold War has been over for 20 years, but we are spending like World War III is on the near term horizon. There is no country on earth that can challenge the U.S. militarily.

So, why are we spending like we are preparing for a major conflict?

Krugman Wants Recovery

Go Krugman!

A not-so-funny thing happened on the way to economic recovery. Over the last two weeks, what should have been a deadly serious debate about how to save an economy in desperate straits turned, instead, into hackneyed political theater, with Republicans spouting all the old clichés about wasteful government spending and the wonders of tax cuts.

For an idea what Krugman is writing about: An e-mail from The National Republican Trust PAC —‘Stimulus': Your Money for Illegals, Welfare Recipients, Arts, and Sex suffices. They urge a "Republican filibuster" to stop the economic stimulus bill in the name of: Ronald Reagan.

These boobs should join forces with some of the obey-the-Party types I've encountered; they have much in common.

Damn, They're Dumb

Speaking Truth to Power, or Toeing the Line?

Ever wonder if those encrusted with the mantle of "progressive" are more open-minded and rational than political rightwingers?

Here's some evidence that many calling themselves progressive are just as bone-headed as the neocons. See the commentary responding to a piece in Uppity Wisconsin on the Dane County Executive's race at http://www.uppitywis.org/cap-times-civil-liberties-yes

The arguments made against presenting facts on Kathleen Falk's (and former Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler's) joining the War on Drugs and the Fourth Amendment boils down to this: Pointing out the facts on policy, judicial campaigns catering to self-proclaimed impartiality and bad government administration is bad for Democrats and progressives, hence not to be spoken or written.

Vis:

- ... Perhaps you can disclose whether you are paid by the Mistele campaign or the Republican party for the service you are doing for them in attacking Falk. ... It's shocking you can call yourself a progreessive after attacking Butler and now Falk.

- You slammed Louis Butler last year ...

Unconvincing.

Novak Bows Out

Just received an e-mail that Robert Novak, of the Evans-Novak Political Report among many other pursuits in political journalism, is stepping aside due to ill health. And the Evans-Novak Political Report, a fixture of American politics, will also cease publication after some 46 years.

Novak's farewell note is below:

Dear Reader,
As you may have read in the Evans-Novak Political Report, my recent health issues have forced me to give up active participation in the newsletter. Thankfully, my gifted deputy, Tim Carney, has ably filled the void for the past few months.

However, with the election and the inauguration behind us, and after much thought and deliberation with my publisher, we have decided that it is time to retire the Evans-Novak Political Report.

As you might imagine, this was an extremely difficult decision for me, and one I did not make lightly. It has been an honor to report on American politics for more than five decades, covering eight presidents, 23 Congressional elections and state and countless local elections and issues. I am grateful for your support of the Evans-Novak Political Report over the years, and wish you and your family all the best.

Sincerely,
Robert D. Novak

Israel, Nationalistic and Militaristic

Update: Israel's Unjust War on Gaza, Self-Defense Against Peace

Michael Mendal cites a Nuremberg judge:

On of the most amazing phenomena of this case which does not lack in startling features is the manner in which the aggressive war conducted by Germany against Russia has been treated by the defense as if it were the other way around. …If it is assumed that some of the resistance units in Russia or members of the population did commit acts which were in themselves unlawful under the rules of war, it would still have to be shown that these acts were not in legitimate defense against wrongs perpetrated upon them by the invader. Under International Law, as in Domestic Law, there can be no reprisal against reprisal. The assassin who is being repulsed by his intended victim may not slay him and then, in turn, plead self defense. (Trial of Otto Ohlendorf and others, Military Tribunal II-A, April 8, 1948)

---
Nationalistic and militaristic, that's Israel today.

A commenter wrote in response to a piece on Israel's human rights violations a few years back, "You can't be half-humanistic and half-fascist."

Apparently, Israel did not quite get the message. From Arik Ben-Zvi in Salon on the "The alarming rise of radical nationalism in Israel":

'No citizenship without loyalty' (it rhymes in Hebrew), Yisrael Beiteinu is pushing for a new law requiring all citizens to swear an 'oath of loyalty' to the state. Israeli-Arab citizens or others who refuse could have their citizenship stripped from them. ... In order to sell that idea, Lieberman has focused much of his campaign inciting public anger against Israel's Arab minority.

Well, this isn't the first time that the United Sates supported an anti-democratic state.

Van Hollen and the War on Drugs

After Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen veered into a rational policy position on Kathleen Falk and Co's new war against alcohol (to rightwing criticism), J.B. Van Hollen is out to prove that he is just as much a fool on the War on Drugs as any other politician.

From WisOpinion:

... Recently, in my law enforcement roundtables and conversations with local law
enforcement and school administrators I was disturbed to learn about the
evolving drug problem among our teenagers and in our schools. Marijuana still
serves as an entry drug for many teenagers. Cocaine, ecstasy and the rising use
of heroine have, appropriately, drawn attention of law enforcement at all
levels.

Yada, yada, Van Hollen wants your children using drugs in jail, if not now then later. The War on Drugs continues.

Obama: Now

Update: On stimulus, Senate Dems ready to go it alone

President Obama called for action today in a Washington Post op-ed piece implicitly reminding obstructionist Republicans that their policy views are what got us here in the first place and are precisely what was rejected by voters the last election.

In recent days, there have been misguided criticisms of this plan that echo the failed theories that helped lead us into this crisis -- the notion that tax cuts alone will solve all our problems; that we can meet our enormous tests with half-steps and piecemeal measures; that we can ignore fundamental challenges such as energy independence and the high cost of health care and still expect our economy and our country to thrive.

I reject these theories, and so did the American people when they went to the polls in November and voted resoundingly for change. They know that we have tried it those ways for too long.

Obama significantly did not single out Republicans but rather castigated "Washington," though this looks like the first major strike in a PR war for/against the stimulus bill that Obama has well positioned the doctrinaire Republicans to lose.

Cap Times: Civil Liberties, Yes

It's about time someone spoke up against Kathleen Falk's bone-headed approach to addressing the issue of operating a vehicle while intoxicated (OWI) and the non-issue of Wisconsin's alleged drinking "culture" problem.

Falk's criminalization and anti-civil liberties OWI agenda drew reproach from her opponent, Nancy Mistele, at the first debate (January) between the two likely candidates for Dane County Executive in the general election in April.

Mistele hit the statist, heavy-handed Falk program by pointing out that personal responsibility and private action were critical vis a vis government's involvement of changing the "culture," to a round of groans from Falk supporters.

Today's Captial Times hits Falk's approach, though not naming Falk as a leading advocate; [wish they had].

... But the drinking culture of Wisconsin -- rooted as it is in the state's broader culture -- is not the problem. There is nothing wrong, per se, with a drinking culture -- especially if it is rooted in good fellowship and good times. ...

But no moves should be made to implement or fund wrongheaded proposals to permit law enforcement authorities to establish checkpoints on Wisconsin roadways.

No matter how they are operated, checkpoints where motorists are forced to pull over even where there is no indication of impaired driving are a form of unreasonable search and seizure that cannot be sanctioned in Wisconsin. Other states, with less regard for basic liberties, may allow checkpoints. But there is insufficient legal or scientific justification to warrant such an intrusion by state and local authorities in a state that has always set a higher standard when it comes to protecting the right to privacy. ...

Checkpoints draw the attention of law enforcement authorities away from the offenders they say they are out to catch and turn it toward citizens who would not be under suspicion.

Wisconsin can crack down on drunken driving without cracking down on the Constitution.

Myself, I'm waiting for Falk to advocate mandatory arrests for being German, Irish or being in college at UW-Madison.

That ought to fix this alleged drinking "culture" problem.

Kathleen Falk's screw-ups on the 911 Center and UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann murder alone disqualify her from this voter's choice for Dane County Executive. The fact that Falk chooses to advocate chopping away at what little is left of the Fourth Amendment just closes the deal to give Falk the boot. Proust!

A New DOJ

Good-bye to Bush and his desecration of the U.S. Dept of Justice.

U.S. Atty for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Stephen Biskupic, is already gone and everyone of these low lives who misused their positions in the DOJ should be held accountable.

From ThinkProgress:

Yesterday, the Senate confirmed Eric Holder as the nation’s first African American attorney general by a vote of 75 to 21, 'opening a new chapter for a Justice Department that had suffered under allegations of improper political influence and policy disputes over and harsh interrogation practices.'

Andrew Card Is Nuts

Update: Bush Jacketless In Oval Office: Photo Uncovered After Bush Chief Of Staff Slams Obama's Informal Appearance (SLIDESHOW) (Huffington Post)

So former Bush chief-of-staff Andrew Card thinks the new administration disrespects the oval office?

I almost fell out of my chair laughing. Card is one of the guys who went to the hospital with Gonzales to bully a very ill Attorney General Ashcroft to sign off on something illegal (which even Ashcroft wouldn't do). [James B. Comey blew the whistle.]

They lie, cheat, cause thousands of people to be killed, spy on Americans.

Bush makes a joke of missing WMDs under desk, where could they be, in a total break from empathy from our country's common good, and now Card says Obama should wear a suit coat in the oval office?

I never realized Card was this sick. I thought he may have been one of the middle-bad ones; I was wrong!