DeLay Spins Out of Control

For all the right wing talk of "activist" judges and a judiciary run amok, it's fairly obvious that Tom DeLay's actions prove that he is the one out of control. DeLay proves beyond the shadow of a doubt the reason for an independent judiciary.

DeLay Calls Justice Kennedy 'Outrageous'[/font size]

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

WASHINGTON — The House Judiciary Committee is reviewing the activities of justices on the Supreme Court and in other circuits to determine whether they have overstepped their authority and must be reined in, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (search) told FOX News Radio's Tony Snow on Tuesday.

On that list for review is Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy (search), DeLay said, calling the judge's written decisions "outrageous."

"We've got Justice Kennedy writing decisions based upon international law, not the Constitution of the United States. That's just outrageous, and not only that, he said in session that he does his own research on the Internet. That is just incredibly outrageous," DeLay said in the interview.

DeLay said he and other members of Congress have just begun using the long-held authority vested in them by the Constitution to conduct judicial review.

"We've already passed six bills limiting the jurisdiction of the court in the last two years. They haven't gotten through the Senate but we're starting this body of thought. We have the opportunity to set up courts, we can also dismantle courts and re-organize them. We passed an amendment in September breaking up that leftist court in San Francisco, the 9th Circuit. We have plenty of opportunities and ways to hold the judiciary accountable," DeLay said.

Listen to the interview with FOX News' Tony Snow by clicking here.

DeLay has recently expressed hostility to the courts, in particular over the case of brain-damaged woman Terri Schiavo (search), for whom Congress intervened to demand the federal courts review the Florida court's decision granting her husband the choice to remove her feeding tube. The federal courts declined to re-open the case, and Schiavo starved to death. On the day of her death, DeLay issued a warning to the judges that "the time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior."

He later called his remarks "inartful."

DeLay has also been on a tear against Kennedy, backed up by conservative leaders who earlier this month attended a conference in which they argued the Ronald Reagan (search) appointee had gone off kilter by opposing the death penalty for juveniles.

One activist at the conference on April 8 said Kennedy's opinion to end an anti-sodomy statute, "upholds Marxist, Leninist, satanic principles drawn from foreign law" and quoted Joseph Stalin in suggesting that if Kennedy were not on the court, then the problem would be solved.

In his Tuesday interview, DeLay did not limit his criticism to Kennedy, though he is the only judge DeLay singled out by name. A spokeswoman for the court, Kathy Arberg, told the Associated Press that Kennedy could not be reached for comment.

DeLay also said that while he supports an independent judiciary, it is the job of the legislature to have checks and balances "so that you don't have an oligarchy of nine people on the Supreme Court separated from everybody else. All wisdom is not vested in nine people on the Supreme

Court."

DeLay said it's time for Congress to reassert its authority to review the judiciary, which he argued has been filled with activists who want to legislate from the bench.

"We're opposed to judges that don't follow the Constitution (search) and write their own laws," DeLay said. "And, of course, the left just hates it when we attack the left's last legislative body."

The House has no authority to determine which judges are confirmed for lifetime appointments to the federal bench. But impeachment proceedings do begin in the House.

DeLay said the Judiciary Committee will hold hearings on the clause in the Constitution that says "judges can serve as long as they serve with good behavior.

"We want to define what good behavior means. That's where you have to start," he said.

But even conservative thinkers question whether DeLay is barking up the right tree.

"Criticizing federal justices is not wise for any member of Congress no matter how strong" the support from constituents, Republican strategist Ed Rollins told FOX News.

Added former Texas Democratic Rep. Martin Frost, whose election loss is partly attributed to DeLay's inspiring the state legislature to remap districts to make them more GOP friendly: "Maybe some of his colleagues will send him on a vacation to get him out of the public view for a while."

If not, let's hope the voters send him on a more permanent one in 2006

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,154009,00.html

This is what happens when you turn your government over to sociopaths. And it's not like the U.S. wasn't forewarned about these nut cases. They went ahead and voted for them anyway. So Americans are going to have to live with the consequences of their bad decisions, just like everyone else on the planet does.

I'm puzzled as to why Doug has been so silent on these blatant attacks on the separation of powers and what is at stake if Congress begins harassing or impeaching judges simply because they disagree with their decisions.

We don't agree on much, but at least I think we share the notion that an independent judiciary is absolutely essential to maintaining a democracy.

Come on, Doug, speak up. I sincerely want to hear your thoughts on what is happening.

Even though he has thrown wild (and wildly false) accusations about me, in all fairness to Doug, when the whole Schiavo fiasco was unfolding, he did decry DeLay's tactics and impending harm to the judiciary, Bucky.

If it was wrong then, I'd assume he still thinks it is wrong, absent some fundamental change of circumstance. Maybe he's just decided there's no point in repeating himself.

>Even though he has thrown wild (and wildly false) accusations

>about me,

You're going to have to clarify that. There's nothing that Doug has said about you that is not true.

The beauty of it all is that you do NOT decide what I have to do.

Flashback to "Enjoy the Silence."

Gosh, that's the same thing Ethan used to do.

Oh wait, that's you!

Never mind

Doug has been so silent on these

>blatant attacks on the separation of powers and what is at

>stake if Congress begins harassing or impeaching judges simply

>because they disagree with their decisions.

As my good friend from Washington DC via Jerusalem, now of New Orleans, pointed out, I wrote several posts here, in the context of the Schiavo travesty, vigorously objecting to the full-scale attack by the Religious Right on the basic constitutional blueprint of separation of powers and an independent judiciary.

I think that what you're seeing now is just the bitter residue from that fiasco. Religious Right fanatics like James Dobson, Tom DeLay and Rick Santorum are obssessed with control and imposing their absolutist moral views on everyone else. They're used to winning, because they have been pretty much winning everything for the last 5 years or so. And the more they win, the more rigid becomes their convictions that they and their views are divinely inspired and mandated, and the more insistent becomes their demands for subservience to their views.

This time, though, they lost. They failed to breathe life into Terry Schiavo and, far worse, everyone hated them for their grotesque moralizing, which was, for several reasons, way more transparent and uglier than usual. And they're pissed that they lost - really, really pissed.

As usual, they blame everyone but themselves for their loss - liberals, the media, and in this case, most of all, judges - who had the temerity to exercise their own independent judgment rather than submit to the Fatwas of the Pure. I think that they have become so drunk and crazed with power and bloodthirsty ambition to rule that they actually see these disobedient judges (almost all of whom were appointed by GOP Presidents) as tratiorous heathens for whom no punishment is too severe. Before this whole Schiavo circus really exploded, I heard Dobson refer to Judge Greer as "wicked - truly wicked" - and he used a tone that made it clear that he favored his imprisonment, if not execution, and that he would be consigned to the deepest level of hell.

That shit is truly psychotic, and, if unleashed, would definitely be an unsurpassed danger. As the Founders repeatedly pointed out, an independent judiciary is the only true check on executive and legislative transgressions. It's really the only thing that stands in the way of majoritarian tyranny - something which the Founders feared as much as anything else. Since the Religious Right fantaics believe (inaccurately, in my view), that their unquenchable desire for theocracy is shared by most people (meaning good Americans, i.e., those who are like them), they naturally see as their Enemy anything that prevents unrestrained majoritarian rule - which, by definition, is an independent judiciary. Hence, the jihad against judges.

I firmly believe that they are about to become their own worst enemy. It is true that they command the obedience of a substantial minority in the population, but it is definitely a minority. And while they have been able to get a majority of the electorate to tolerate their shenanigans - and that majority has merely tolerated, not supported, them - they were able to do so only by exploiting what has been genuine judicial activism and transgressions of authority by judges along with actual cultural degradation in our country, as well as by smartly adopting an incremental approach to their agenda, so as to not alarm people.

But they are losing their patience. They want to implement God's America and they want it now. Anything that stands in their way - including constitutional fences or otherwise reliable allies who oppose them at all -must be destroyed. They are becoming increasingly unhinged and, as a result, their mask is beginning to evaporate and people are seeing their true faces - which are incredibly repulsive, tryannical, and dangerous. That's why - absent some extraordinary event (such as another catastrophic terrorist attack on U.S. soil) - they will defeat themselves.

There's no question that a majority of the population is not nearly as extreme as they thought. That's why I think the Schiavo case will be so significant - it really reminded everyone of what these people truly are. You even see "mainstream" conservatives (including Bush) running away from these fires now, and even Tom Delay had to apologize for some of his more inflammatory (insane) attacks on judges. But I think this war has begun and it needs to rage, because these people are slowly consolidating real power and they are dangerous and need to be exposed.

As a little present for those of you who have read this far, all of you should read this blog daily - digbysblog.blogspot.com. It's written by an unapologetic, hard-core liberal who is extremely smart, perceptive, and aggressive, and who is one of the best politiical writers I've ever encountered - a truly rare combination, to put it mildly. He focuses on exactly the right issues for liberals and articulates the liberal view more compellingly and honestly than anyone I've read. You can thank me later.

>As my good friend from Washington DC via Jerusalem, now of New

>Orleans, pointed out,

While we're ANYTHING BUT friends, I have to ask:

New Orleans I understand. You're wrong about Washington, but that's where the person you think I am lives, so that's easy enough. But, Jerusalem??? What's that one all about?

Doug:

Thanks for your thoughtful and reasoned response. I can't say there's much you've said I would dispute. My biggest fear is that too many Americans remain asleep at the wheel, and won't wake up before the collision. The latest CBS polls on Congress, Bush, and the low ratings on their job performance would give pause to normal folks, especially the numbers showing that a significant majority of Americans now believe our nation is headed in the wrong direction.

And thanks for the link.....I'll check it out.

>While we're ANYTHING BUT friends, . .

Really? That's devestating.

>But, Jerusalem??? What's that one all about?

That's where my good friend, Ethan, was from, originally.

Which reminds me: you have a very Irish name. Are you Catholic or Protestant or something else?

Scottish, and I'm not religious, but I suppose nominally Presbyterian.

>Scottish, and I'm not religious.

Are you Jewish? I noticed what appeared to be a cut dick, so just wondering.

I'm circumcized. Isn't that fairly routine in the US?

>Who is uncut? I'm circumcized.

That was a mistake which I fixed immediately after I posted. I changed "uncut" to "cut." But you answered before it was edited.

Being cut is very unusual for those who are Scottish, unless they are one of those rare Scot Jews. That's why I'm asking: are you Jewish?

Most people I know who are Jewish are quite proud of that and are happy to answer the question. How about you?

I wonder if ad rian (aka Auntie S) came back how soon we'd find out just how religious Ethan Erik really is.

And you still didn't answer the second half of Doug's question.

I already said Presbyterian, even though I don't "belong" to any church. We went a few times as kids, but I wasn't raised in a religious household.

I'm of Scottish descent; I wasn't born in Scotland. I don't think circumcision is so uncommon in the United States. 90% of the dicks I've ever seen here have been cut.

>I already said Presbyterian, even though I don't "belong" to

>any church. We went a few times as kids, but I wasn't raised

>in a religious household.

>I'm of Scottish descent; I wasn't born in Scotland. I don't

>think circumcision is so uncommon in the United States. 90% of

>the dicks I've ever seen here have been cut.

I'll bet anyone, including "Erik," any amount of money that some non-Ethan person writes the posts - like this one - denying that he's Jewish, so that Ethan doesn't have to commit such blasphemy, and then Ethan posts most or virtually all the other times under the same name.

I'm bored with this now, but if anyone - including Erik - wants to bet some real cash that this is true, let me know.

Pretty fair analysis of our national mess. Totally on point.

Let's get this straight:

First you accuse me of being some guy named Ethan.

Now you're accusing me of having yet a third person post?

Who are you, Fox Mulder? Do you wear an aluminum foil helmet to keep "them" out of your head, too?

You guys are nuts!

Thanks for bringing the thread back on-topic.

I wonder how long before the obsessive conspiracy theorists turn it back into something about me, though.

>As a little present for those of you who have read this far,

>all of you should read this blog daily -

>digbysblog.blogspot.com. It's written by an unapologetic,

>hard-core liberal who is extremely smart, perceptive, and

>aggressive, and who is one of the best politiical writers I've

>ever encountered - a truly rare combination, to put it mildly.

It is about time *SOMEONE*, *ANYONE* began to articulate the liberal perspective. I believe it was you (Doug69) who turned me on to juancole.com which is a mostly reliable source of Iraq information. Sometimes Professor Cole lets his dislike of all things conservative cloud his judgement. But, most of the time, he's spot on.

Here is a blog you might enjoy: http://www.boifromtroy.com. Boi from Troy is a gay republican living in WeHo (that's West Hollywood, CA). BFT has a bit of a mean streak, but is often entertaining, sometimes right and sometimes wrong. The whole gay republican thing just fascinates me.

His blog attracts a ton of readership.

--EBG

>Let's get this straight:

>First you accuse me of being some guy named Ethan.

>Now you're accusing me of having yet a third person post?

>Who are you, Fox Mulder? Do you wear an aluminum foil helmet

>to keep "them" out of your head, too?

>You guys are nuts!

What's nuts is that you continue to be dishonest. Do you honestly think that continuing to lie about what everyone already knows does anything to enhance your credibility?

RE: World Spins Out of Control

B of N, I guess I can settle this once and for all. Erik cannot be Ethan, because I am. My secret is out. Now can you drop it?

RE: World Spins Out of Control

As long as he continues to lie about it, I'll continue to point it out. And besides, I am Lucky, so you can't be