No..Free..Passes.. for SCotUS

Supreme Court nominee Sotomayor should not be vilified.  She should not be crucified.  She should be scrutinized, and verified, to be qualified.  At age 54 now, she could easily serve on the court for 20 to 30 years.  This is no time to be timid or tepid in exercising diligence.  I’m already reading too much about “we don’t want to alienate the Latino voters”.  What about alienating the U.S. Constitution for ALL voters by approving a judicial activist judge who said at a conference in 2005 that a “court of appeals is where policy is made…”?

Even the usually liberal-leaning Denver Post had a few pertinent comments in today’s editorial:

“Despite an intriguing tale, Obama's high court nominee needs to explain controversial past comments in a full Senate review.”

“She also took issue in 2001 with the notion that a wise man and a wise woman would reach the same conclusion in deciding a case, saying: "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."

It will be important to see how Sotomayor explains these statements. Deliberately setting policy from the bench isn't exactly an appropriate role for a judge. And the second statement is also troubling and merits further explanation. Clearly, a Supreme Court justice needs to be fair-minded.”

President Obama did interview 3 other women for the position, so it’s not like Sotomayor was the only person considered.  If I was of gay or lesbian black Asiatic origins then I might be marching in the streets, but I’m not.  I just want a fair and balanced vetting of any nominee.

No..Free..Passes..

Fear Mongering, and Judicial Empathy

There are 2 excellent opinion columns in the Friday, 22 May, Denver Post newspaper. David Harsanyi writes about Fear: Our national pastime. Mike Rosen writes about Empathy and the Supreme Court.

Democrats accuse Republicans of fear mongering and being the party of NO anytime Repubs disagree with Dems. But when Dems want to exercise haste in instituting policies in the name of economic bailouts, global warming (I mean, “climate change”) and the like, then it’s not fear but expeditious prudence driving them. This conservative, for one, has had a healthy and reasonable fear (as well as shock, awe, amazement, and disbelief) at how far down the road to Euro-Socialism this country has been dragged in Obama’s first 100 days, despite the efforts of the Party of No.

Harsanyi makes numerous cogent (reasonable and convincing) points in his column. One example:

“During the "debate" over the government's "stimulus" plan, the president claimed that the consequences of not passing his plan would mean the "recession might linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse."

To contend that a country that survived the Great Depression, world wars, a Civil War and the social upheavals of the past century could not reverse a recession without an immense government bailout is farcical. (Moreover, almost nothing the president's economists predicted has come to fruition; the opposite has. We are still approaching double-digit unemployment and sinking deeper into crisis, despite the passage of the "stimulus" plan.) “

Read his short column.

As for Mike Rosen and judicial Empathy:

–noun

1.the intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another.

2.the imaginative ascribing to an object, as a natural object or work of art, feelings or attitudes present in oneself: By means of empathy, a great painting becomes a mirror of the self.

(Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.)

Although we all surely want the absolutely BEST QUALIFIED human being possible to be the next Supreme Court Justice, in the interest of being “fair” we may get a Hispanic female (who hopefully worked her way through college while digging ditches from the confines of a wheelchair all of which she has since risen from, or not). (I’m kidding… somewhat.)

As Mike Rosen notes in his column: “…the president proclaimed that his replacement must be an individual endowed with "empathy," adding, "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 reality of people's lives."”

Mike says further: ”In fact, justice is very much about legal theory and case law. The principle of stare decisis holds that courts will generally honor the decisions of prior courts. This is what makes our system of justice predictable and consistent, rather than random and arbitrary.

When empathetic judges rule on their feelings, they are exceeding their authority.”

A few other excerpts from Mike’s column:

by Congress and signed by the president. The courts are a co-equal branch of government, not a superior branch. Their job is not to rule on what they think the law ought to be. That's government by a presumptuous, unelected judiciary.”

“To use a sports metaphor, judges are referees, not rulemakers. They're not there to represent or empathize with the fans or the players. They represent the rule book, and they aren't authorized to rewrite it or make it "fairer."”

I highly recommend reading the entire column.

For a counterpoint see this article: Goodman: Supreme Court nominees and empathy.

In addition I highly recommend the book The Politically Incorrect Guide(tm) to the Constitution by Kevin R. Gutzman. (It is also in audiobook version.) He thoughtfully and factually describes how the Supreme Court has continuously strayed from the Constitution and practiced judicial activism almost since it was created. It is educational and YOU need to be informed.

NEW GOP SPOKESWOMAN and INTELLECTUAL

I’m probably not the first to say it, but dare I try anyway? LIZ CHENEY FOR PRESIDENT. Too much Dad Dick Cheney baggage you say? By the time she gets around to it (she’s not even old enough yet (43 in July) (she and hubby Perry have 5 children however)) Obama and the DSP (Democratic Socialist Party) will have spread California-style fiscal irresponsibility across the country. Democrats and Republicans alike will be stark-raving starved for a person with the REAL intelligence, reason, and clear-thinking perception that Ms. Cheney has been displaying recently.

She has been making the rounds of liberal and conservative talk shows with the likes of Anderson Cooper, Joe Scarborough, Sean Hannity and others. Perhaps “FOR PRESIDENT” is a bit strong, but her ability to talk factually and not be buffaloed or cowed by her emotive interviewers (umm, where’s the beef?) has been earning her respect from liberals and huge kudos from conservatives.

Here is a blogger’s post impression on Anderson Cooper’s blog:

Jeff C: May 22nd, 2009 10:39 am ET

Very shocking interview. Liz is a tremendously intelligent woman who quite literally outclassed Anderson in this particular conversation. It was uncomfortable to observe Anderson continuously interrupt her, and in a sense struggle to paint a different picture to try to get his point across. Liz graciously displayed professionalism, during, what could be perceived to be an attempt to bully or impose a partisan ideal coming from Anderson’s position. A classic example of rationality versus emotion.

I’m historically a big fan of Anderson, which is why this conversation was such a big shock to me. I’ll be going out of my way to listen to Liz Cheney talk from this point forward. I’m glad Liz brought insight and merit to this issue to help me get off the fence.

_______________________

I haven’t watched the interview but you can watch it from the same page.

Another good excerpt:

COOPER: But --  more than 100 people are known to have died in U.S. custody. Twenty --  I think about 20 of those have been ruled a homicide. I mean, if -- if these were just tightly-controlled things, how come so many people are being murdered in U.S. custody?

L. CHENEY: Well, Anderson, I think that your question is highly irresponsible, and I think that you’re --

COOPER: Why?

L. CHENEY: Because you are conflating things that aren’t conflated.

COOPER: What --

L. CHENEY: When somebody dies or is murdered in U.S. custody, then we are a great nation, and we take the people who are responsible, and we put them on trial, as you’ve seen happen a number of times now throughout the last eight years. That is not the enhanced interrogation program. And to somehow suggest that those two things are the same, I think, willfully conflates something, and -- and ends up in a situation where we aren’t able to sort of take a truthful look at the last eight years as we go forward, because we are muddying the waters about what really happened in the last eight years.

COOPER: Do you personally have any reservations about what may have gone on with these enhanced interrogation techniques, as you call them, under CIA control, or in Abu Ghraib, or in Bagram, or in Guantanamo? I mean, do you have -- do you have any doubts at all? Because your father seems, very clearly, to have no doubts.

L. CHENEY: Look, of course -- of course, as my father made clear today, what happened at Abu Ghraib should not have happened. Nobody is defending what happened at Abu Ghraib. I have no doubts at all, no reservations and no regrets, and, in fact, I feel that we all owe a debt of gratitude to the men and women at the CIA who carried out this program. I think there are Americans alive today because of that program, and I think that it is the height of irresponsibility for the president to release those techniques, so that, you know, the terrorists can train to them, and now we have our hands tied. Every future president’s hand will be tied and will not be able to use those techniques, if necessary.

_______________________

(Now Anderson Cooper is probably buffaloed about what “conflated” means.)

conflate

  • verb combine into one.

— DERIVATIVES conflation noun.

— ORIGIN Latin conflare ‘kindle, fuse’.

Joe Scarborough Show Video (13 minutes long, after a commercial, of course).

Wikipedia Liz Cheney

Liz has been all over the media lately and thus is now all over the ‘Net.  Be sure and listen to her next time you have a chance. We ALL need people like her articulating clear and reasoned facts.

NO DOH’ FO’ GITMO

No money for closing Guantanamo Prison, that is, at least for now. I just had to add my 2 cents worth to this widely reported story.

Wednesday's 90-7 Senate vote stripped the $80 million from a war-spending bill, and the decision to bar, for now, transfer of detainees to the United States, raised the possibility that Mr. Obama’s order to close the camp by Jan. 22, 2010, might have to be changed or delayed. (Denver Post, New York Times)

It is momentous in that not only did Pres. Obama not get an automatic free pass, go-directly-to-GO but he got a resounding, bi-partisan NO for one of the first times since he became president. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, in an extraordinary case of foot-in-mouth that seems to be infecting California female political representatives these days worse than the swine flu, said “she knew of one federal facility that would be a perfect fit — Supermax prison in Florence, Colo.

"It isn't in a neighborhood. It isn't in a community. It's an isolated Supermax facility," said Feinstein, standing next to a large blowup photograph of Supermax.

"This facility houses not only drug kingpins, serial murderers and gang leaders, but also terrorists who have already been convicted of crimes in this country," she said.”

As we Coloradans know this is not just a case of NIMBY Colorado (not-in-MY-backyard), it is a case of not-in-ANY-backyard in the U.S. Kansas has the military prison at Leavenworth and Kansas doesn’t want them. Nevada has possibly the most desolate, barren stretches of land remaining in the U.S. (look how long it took to find the remains of plane crash victim and mega-millionaire Steve Fossett) and even Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) said “Guantánamo makes us less safe. However, this is neither the time nor the bill to deal with this. Democrats under no circumstances will move forward without a comprehensive, responsible plan from the president. We will never allow terrorists to be released into the United States.”

The proper backyard for a suspected terrorists prison is exactly where it is now, GUANTANAMO. The U.S. has leased it since 1903. No one else in the WORLD wants those prisoners. The main reason Obama wants to close the prison? It doesn’t make us “look good”. I’ve seen and heard enough about “looking good” in my life to know how superficial an approach this is. Guantanamo works. We will “look” even worse with any other alternative, and function much worse than that.

FYI, Florence, Colorado, in Fremont county, is 29 miles W of Pueblo, Colorado (center to center) (pop. 102,000 in 2000) and 34 miles SW of Colorado Springs, Colorado. (Pop. 360,890 in 2000.) There are 3,653 residents in the city. (Florence.) (REF: Florence, Pueblo, Colo. Springs. So much for isolated, Sen. Feinstein.

Pres. Obama and the Democrats continue to harp on FEAR and Fear-Mongering when anyone opposes their policies. Some of us DO fear Big Brother and the Democratic Socialist Holding Company Government when they continually set logic and reason aside and merely go with “just trust me on this one”. NOOO WAYYYY.

While he accuses dissenters of Fear-Mongering, Obama continues to disparage the previous administration. His speech about Gitmo today is more of the same. (MSNBC1, MSNBC2.) He says, to the effect (my words) “they were wrong, wrong, wrong, but now we have to move on and do it MY WAY.”

NOOOO WAYYYY. Not-in-my-backyard, Not-in-my-backcountry, NOT-ON-MY-WATCH.

1. REFERENCES:
Denver Post
New York Times
Historical Look at Guantánamo Bay
Guantanamo Bay detention camp - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Florence
Pueblo
Colo. Springs
Obama calls Gitmo 'a misguided experiment'
Barack Obama's national security remarks
Dick Cheney's national security remarks

Takin' it to the STREETS!

Street maintenance, that is. We’re getting major road repairs in my neighborhood and it’s a welcome site. (Pun.) Road maintenance is something I’ve always favored be done by government, though I can see the merits of having some private highways (usually tolled). My street historians tell me it’s the first time in the 17-year history of our street that it has had extensive (any?) work. It has remained in good condition despite the length of time, which attests to the quality of the original construction. (Must not be the same guys that built my HOUSE!)

I shall miss the now patched street-wide crack that was in front of my domicile (pictured). We didn’t lose any children in that crack, and it didn’t get tooo much bigger during the nine years I’ve lived here, but it sure was a crack, never sealed, never filled, just there. When they tore it up you could see the pavement was at least 8-10 inches thick, so no wonder it lasted so well.



A couple of months ago we had these weird-looking reddish pads installed on the street corners in the neighborhood. I assume they are a traction or skid plate to prevent you from slipping or falling. I had never seen the likes before and we already had the handicap accessible, gently sloped to curb-less road entries as I believe were mandated ages ago by the American Disabilities Act. Anyway, Thoutt Construction had the honor to totally tear up all the corners, install the pads, and repave around them. (Glad to see the govt. money going to private companies I presume.) They were so dedicated to doing a good job that they actually tore up at LEAST 3 of the finished corners and redid them because something wasn’t right. I haven’t slipped since! (Or before, actually, but…)

...


About a week ago we received a notice that the streets would be milled (ground to that corduroy surface you see during repairs sometimes, I presume) and paved in the near future. Then came the “crack” repair crews. (Pun.) They have since finished most of the cracks in my immediate area and today were doing all four corners at once at my nearby intersection.







LaFarge Construction has been doing the honors for much of the current repair. They are efficient, well-organized, and fast, from my uninformed point of view. It seems too soon for this to be the result of Stimulus money, especially considering the advance planning required. I did find this document: 2009 ASPHALT OVERLAY PROJECT, PROJECT LOCATIONS specifying the work. It came from this page of the DougCo website: http://www.douglas.co.us/publicworks/engineering/Capital_Improvement_Projects.html. Glad to be seeing it done, regardless.

DougCo Term Limits

There was a front page headline article in the recent Highlands Ranch Herald about efforts to remove term limits for the county sheriff and coroner. It seems like a newsworthy subject, but the article didn’t say: a) what are the lengths of the term, b) how much of the term is left, c) is the current office holder up to the current term limits, d) who is the current sheriff and coroner (not names I recall on a daily basis).

a) From this: http://www.douglas.co.us/clerk/elections/documents/2006primary-officialcumulativereport.pdf it states the terms for sheriff and coroner are each 4 years.

b) & d) From this: http://www.douglas.co.us/government/Elected_Officials.html I deduced that current sheriff Weaver has been in office since Jan. 2007 and his term expires Jan. 2011. Current coroner Riber has been in office since Jan. 2003 and his term expires Jan. 2011.

From this: http://www.state.co.us/gov_dir/leg_dir/lcsstaff/research/termlim.htm I found that the term limits are 2 consecutive terms if the terms are longer than 2 years.

c) Thus, private “I” that I am, I’ve deduced that Sheriff Weaver can serve another term if elected and Coroner Riber cannot run for re-election in 2011.

Well, I’m glad I figured THAT out! I’m not going to pursue the respective office holders for their opinions, though that would have been newsworthy also. As for should we have term limits, I can’t decide. There’s an argument for having continuity and experience in office and an argument for having a fresh, new (but less experienced?) perspective every so often. Hmmm. Something to keep me awake at night.

Glass-free biking!!

What a novel idea! I went on my first bike ride of the season this morning (avid bicycler that I am (NOT)) and was pleasantly surprised to find the sidewalks and pedestrian paths I traversed in my (central) area of H.R. to be glass free. Judging from the dust trails they may have been recently swept by whichever dedicated maintenance org has that particular responsibility. (Metro, HRCA, DougCo?)

Usually when I bike I am ALWAYS dodging broken glass at many points of my ride. I have been tempted sometimes to carry a dust pan, whisk broom, and sack to clean up, but I wouldn’t get much riding done. I’ve thought it would make a good senior, volunteer job (albeit a very thankless one) to ride the trails and cleanup. I certainly don’t expect the maint. orgs to go to the expense and manpower of roaming the trails looking for glass, most especially in these economic times.

Of course it would be NICE if people stopped breaking glass on the sidewalks. As I frequently see beer bottle glass I wonder if this is the result of joy riding ‘utes merrily discarding empties as they motor around. Nothing would surprise me as I actually saw an ADULT driving a shiny new pickup down the 2-lane residential street behind my house throw a BANANA peel out about ten days ago! Oh, I guess that was ok, it’s biodegradable. I couldn’t believe my eyes anyway. I’ve also seen a young teen girl, jr. high or high school age, drop an empty beer bottle out of her pack on that same residential street. No doubt chugging on the way home from school, and a future candidate for AA. But I digress.

I should just go on another bike ride soon, while the trails are still clean. That would work.