The US Supreme Court decides in favor of The Torturers ...

..The decision does not bode well for either state secrets cases or for suits trying to hold Bush Administration officials responsible for torture (such as the Yoo appeal being heard in the 9th Circuit today).

Which I guess means we’ve officially become a country that finds protecting those who commit torture more important than justice for those who were tortured.

Oh great, now we're 'supporting' Sotomayor because the hyenas are attacking ...

Non-progressive Obama nominates apparently non-progressive Sotomayor. The GOP sludge attacks with lies as well as racist and sexist attacks. I don't know how long it's been since I've heard menstruation a criteria for job selection, but the GOP resurrected it.

Greenwald documents the nature and vileness of the attacks on Sotomayor.

But Crooks and Liars instead of critiquing Sotomayor based on what we know about her and working to get a productive confirmation hearing, C&L is supporting a campaign to get Sotomayor confirmed as a response to GOP sludge.

We Stand With Sonia Sotomayor By David Neiwert Saturday Jun 06, 2009 10:00am

"I stand with Judge Sotomayor, and urge the Senate Judiciary Committee to give her nomination a speedy hearing and a positive confirmation."

Seems all that's required is for the Republican to be unreasonably against something for us to support whatever non-progressive non-liberal Obama chooses to do.

How in the world ...

... could a list of possible Supreme Court nominees be entirely made up of women? After all almost 50% of the population is comprised of men!

Thank you Obama, for placing a few pebbles in the shoes of some of the pompous blowhards who continue to enshrine sexism and racism in this world.

The joke's on Killer Kyl? ...

Boy I sure hope Obama asked potential [Supreme Court] nominees which they enjoyed more, drowning kittens or puppies? Kyl is going to want to know.

Wonder which Jon Kyl prefers -- kittens or is it puppies? Or maybe lizards? Or pulling wings of butterflies? Though Kyl has graduated to bigger things. Like giving away federal and state lands to the rich. Like working to destroy the successful and well funded Social Security program so he can watch the old eat cat food. Like insuring that there will be no national health care. That Medicare can not survive without health care for all. There is just so much for Killer Kyl to enjoy looking forward to ...

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Today's QUOTES:

My guess (or is it only a hope?) is that we wouldn't tolerate such reckless endangerment and likely killing of innocent Americans. Why we apply a different calculation when the victims are Afghanis has always escaped me. -- Bombing Afghani Civilians Is Not a Big Deal, Except When It Is by Scarecrow, firedoglake.com ... The President who promised a public health plan to compete against the dysfunctional, unsustainable private insurance system is letting the Senate throw advocates of a public plan for all out of the hearing room ... -- David Brooks Weeps/Shills for America’s Tortured Corporate Titans by Scarecrow, firedoglake.com This happens all the time: where people -- mostly self-described "conservatives" -- claim to oppose an outcome-based judiciary, yet decide if they approve of judicial opinions based on their preference for the outcome rather than legal arguments. The most obvious example was Terry Schiavo, ... [...] Those who scream the loudest about opposing outcome-based and politicized judicial decision-making are so often those who demand exactly that. They criticize rulings because of their dislike of the outcome, not based on any legal arguments. The Sotomayor attacks are proving that as clearly as anything else has.-- False excuses for anonymity and irrationality on affirmative action by Glenn Greenwald, salon.com

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When logic doesn't convince ...

Habladora at The Feminist Underground posted this:

1. Antonin Scalia sounded like a complete ass on Monday as the Supreme Court heard arguments on a federal gun ban that bars those convicted of domestic violence from owning guns.

I won't dispute Scalia's ass-ness but in this case his argument is rather logical. And as much as I hate defending Scalia, his job is judging constitutionality of US laws. Too bad he doesn't do that more often ... then one might give him credit for something other than siding with domestic abusers.

Precious ...

Looks like the whales lose.

Couldn't the US Supreme Court bench sitters pretend to be wise and open minded before they decide in favor of the GOP extremist ideas of greed and destruction? Guess not:

Justice Stephen Breyer: "I thought the whole point of the armed forces was to hurt the environment."

and

Justice Samuel Alito: There is "something incredibly odd" about a trial judge making a decision "contrary" to the Navy's requirements.

and

Justice Stephen Breyer: "an admiral (who) comes along with an affidavit that seems plausible" might outrank a "district judge who just says" the training should stop.

Outrank? When did judges start reporting to the military which reports to the President. Oh, 9-11, that's right, how could I forget?

We already know that the GOP mind cannot comprehend (or does not care) that at some apparently fast approaching (or maybe it's already passed us by) point the steady environmental destruction cannot be reversed. Or is it that they don't really believe that the human race could depend on a livable environment for it's survival. Processes that take centuries are beyond their ability conceptualize, I suppose.

Yesterday's QUOTES ...

I'm sure glad we elected a Democratic Congress. Otherwise we would be seeing rubberstamping of Bush Administraion all over the place.

FISA vote could come as early as this evening. No one outside Hoyer, Bond, Rockefeller, WH negotiators and a select few staffers and lobbyist pals have seen the bill.

I'd like to underscore the fact that in 2006, when the Congress was controlled by Bill Frist and Denny Hastert, the administration tried to get a bill passed legalizing warrantless eavesdropping and telecom amnesty, but was unable. They had to wait until the Congress was controlled by Steny Hoyer, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to accomplish that.

... The utter reality is that John McCain has evolved into a master kiss-ass, a sellout who abandoned core principles on torture and immigration simply to politically survive in a Republican party run amok in disastrous radicalism. ...

... But what makes it all the more notable is how repeatedly Gingrich invokes this same deranged formulation in order to argue for a whole array of policies he supports -- we better accept what Gingrich wants or else we'll "lose a city" ...

I don't know who John Pilger was, but he certainly hit the nail on the head. I saw this quote in an article about Barack Obama and his support for the American empire. No, there will not be change coming from him. As always change will come from us, or not at all. Actually I take that back. Good change will come from us. There is going to be change, the only question is whose and who will it benefit.

... In fact, whenever a national crisis has occurred, Bush has been conspicuously absent. ...

... Arbitration: "Set up to squeeze small sums of money out of desperately poor people" ...

It's still hard to believe we've descended to the point where we're relieved when the United States Supreme Court rules in favor of a restraint on the executive that is clearly spelled out in the United States Constitution, rather than marching in the streets to protest the fact that four of its members actually failed to join the majority and instead wrote insane dissents.

The NAHB gets US Supreme Court support ...

The NAHB (National Association of Home Builders) 'applauds' the US Supreme Court for easing their path to faster and more thorough species and environmental destruction.

High Court Rules For NAHB In Clean Water Permit Case