Borked

NYTimes editorial Borks Bork: Bork v. Bork

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Blogtopia* RoundUp, Thursday, June 14, 2007

Happy Flag Day!

The Solicitor General will not fight for defrauded investors -- even though dozens of state attorneys general have -- on direct order from Herr Bush. There go defrauded investors rights and probably the pensions of the Enron workers. Robert Borosage, commonsense.com: Bank Shot: Bush Shafts Enron's Victims, via The Left Coaster

Speaking of lawsuits, (the good) Roger Ailes skewers Robert Bork delightfully.

At HuffPo, comedian Kate Clinton riffs on the gay bomb. You heard that right, the Air Force requested $7.5 million to develop a bomb to turn our enemies gay.

I'm surprised this request for millions for the gay bomb wasn't approved, as the New York Times reports today that the Justice Department has been take over by theocrats enforcing nonexistent religious discrimination. Or, as one clever blogger put it: Crusading Crackpots Taking over the DOJ

Speaking of DOJ, the multiple investigations have gotten into the White House. Former White House Counsel and exclamation point lover Harriet Miers and former White House political director Sara Taylor have both been subpoenaed to appear before Congress. Taylor's US Attorney email messages, and those of her deputy, Scott Jennings, were both sent on their Republican National Committee email accounts. Subpoena duces tecum, anyone?

Hypocrites-R-Us

Blue Mass. Group: Tort Reform Zealot Robert Bork Sues the Yale Club for $1M

We all remember Robert Bork, right? Reagan nominated him to the Supreme Court but we liberals kept him off. (Whoo, liberals, whoo!) Ted Kennedy described Bork and his philosophy in these immortal words (which helped sink his nomination), ""Robert Bork's America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens' doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists could be censored at the whim of government." Bork is also a long-time proponent of tort reform (or as we lawyers call it, tort deform) which would severely curtail access to the courts for individuals.

Mr roll-back-the-clock Borkie wants compensatory and punitive damages because he fell down and got a boo-boo. He was climbing onto a dais and fell off. Apparently he was the only person at the event who couldn't make the step up.

He seeks actual damages which he claims are in excess of $1,000,000, punitive damages, interest, and attorney's fees.

One of his tort reform buddies at the American Enterprise Institute called the suit "embarrassingly silly." I must concur.

Strip Search Sammy is a Borklette

For any Senator who is still laboring under any uncertainty about Strip Search Sammy Alito, read this from the WaPo:

Proving His Mettle in the Reagan Justice Dept.

His opinion of Robert Bork?

"I think he was one of the most outstanding nominees of this century," Alito told Michael Aron of NJN News's "Front Page New Jersey" in a little-noticed 1988 interview. "He is a man of unequaled ability, understanding of constitutional history, someone who had thought deeply throughout his entire life about constitutional issues and about the Supreme Court and the role it ought to play in American society."

A fellow Republican describes Alito thusly:

"He's a Borklette, a Bork without the edge," said Bruce Fein, who was associate deputy attorney general in the Reagan Justice Department.

Here's the link to the 1988 interviewo of Alito from a New Jersey television public affairs program: Alito Comments from 1988

Let's see whether our Democratic Senators have a spine.

Let's Stop Pretending: Roberts is a Far-Right Republican

Why haven't I blogged on John Roberts' confirmation hearings?

Because you know all you need to know about the guy is who he worked for.

Injustice Rehnquist, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Hogan & Hartson.

Ronald Reagan did not have a bunch of closet liberals or even libertarians sitting in his US Attorney's office sending out blizzards of compassionate memos.

He had hardcore right wing fanatics like John Roberts. John Roberts, to the right of Ted Olsen, Robert Bork and Strom Thurmond.

So, I gotta say, I knew who this guy was from the minute I read his resume. To pretend that he may undertake any confirmation or post-appointment conversion is a hollow and ultimately empty hope.

The corporate media keeps up the pretense that Roberts is a mystery:

From the Washington Post: E.J. Dionne: The Case For a 'No' Vote on Roberts

New York Times editorial: Too Much of a Mystery

Wingnuts: Women's Rights Optional

I caught the end of the re-run of Meet the Press (known in blogtopia as "Press the Meat") and heard an astonishing statement. Checked the transcript today, and yes, I heard right, women's rights are "not critical to the evolution of democracy."

David Gregory was substituting for Tim Russert and he put the following quote from the NYTimes up on the screen:

"[American ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay] Khalilzad had backed language [in the constitution] that would have given clerics sole authority in settling marriage and family disputes. That gave rise to concerns that women's rights, as they are annunciated in Iraq's existing laws, could be curtailed. ...

After getting the reaction of Larry Diamond, former advisor to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, also a fellow at the right wing think tank the Hoover Institution at Stanford (& don't get me going on the over-abundance of right wing views on the MSM, where are the liberals?) Gregory turned to Reuel Marc Gerecht, who he had introduced as a "former Middle East specialist for the CIA." (He's also Director of the Middle East Initiative at the Project for the New American Century, Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and contributing editor at the Weekly Standard Magazine.) Christopher Allbritton at BacktoIraq in 2002 described Gerecht's "ties to the American Enterprise Institute, a noted right-wing think tank peopled with with conservative cognoscenti with deep ties to the Bush Administration. Lynne Cheney, the veep's wife, is one of its scholars, along with Robert Bork, Newt Gingrich, Jean Kirkpatrick and (drum roll, please) Richard Perle, the bombastic hawk who's been itching to invade Iraq since before Bush ever got into office."

OK, now that we've established his right wing bona fides, here's his answer.

MR. GREGORY: Mr. Gerecht, the consequences of this?

MR. GERECHT: Actually, I'm not terribly worried about this. I mean, one hopes that the Iraqis protect women's social rights as much as possible. It certainly seems clear that in protecting the political rights, there's no discussion of women not having the right to vote. I think it's important to remember that in the year 1900, for example, in the United States, it was a democracy then. In 1900, women did not have the right to vote. If Iraqis could develop a democracy that resembled America in the 1900s, I think we'd all be thrilled. I mean, women's social rights are not critical to the evolution of democracy. We hope they're there. I think they will be there. But I think we need to put this into perspective.

So let me get this right. We're sending female soldiers to Iraq to establish a male-supremacy as well as a theocracy? American women are dying for this?

I guess the Bush administration is getting ready to throw the Iraqi women overboard.

They never gave a cheese sandwich* about women's rights anyway.




*I have taken a vow to use the phrase "cheese sandwich" in place of all curse words.