Rehnquist Has Died
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I wonder if, when his replacement is nominated, we can have a grand national discussion about the importance of a strong, competent, central government.
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© 2000-2011 Oliver Willis
Christ Almighty! Where’s a military coup when you need one?
Seriously, there’s no point waiting for the replacement to be nominated before you start the debate. Bush must be overthrown now before he gets the chance to do any more damage to America.
Get 10 million people on the streets of DC now. Rose revolution, military coup. Whatever it takes, but drag that bastard out of there.
Too bad. He was an eminently competent Chief Justice, whether you liked his decisions or not. Some liberal justices said he was even better than Earl Warren in that capacity. I seriously hope Thomas doesn’t get it, though he probably will be nominated. Thomas would make us look wistfully back to the incompetent and low-down politicking of Burger.
Rest in peace, Chief Justice.
God, as if this week couldn’t get any worse.
I really don’t know Rehnquist’s record that well, so I won’t make any statements about him. And there is such a thing as respect for the deceased and his family.
May we all find peace at the end.
Say hello, Chief Justice Scalia.
Would you like some God with your Constitution?
Sidenote: Justice Stevens is what, 82?
All the Hue and Cry lamenting that jurists are unaccountable. THAT’S THE POINT, ISN’T IT?
When faced with branches of government run riot in the name of the so-called majority, it is vital that voices from a deliberative past are remembered. This SCOTUS is still trying to redeem it’s place in history. I have no wish to malign a dead man. However, Rehnquist has sealed his place in history.
Let us get this court back to where the Founders intended.
Why should there be a discussion about a “strong, competent, central government”? As scary as that sounds: Ever hear of the republic?
Republic: A state or nation in which the supreme power rests in all the citizens entitled to vote. This power is exercised by representatives elected, directly or indirectly, by them and responsible to them.
This whole disater thing has pushed your leftist caravan over the cliff, eh, Oliver?
Conservatism works perfectly well in disasters, too, as witness the fact that much more money, water, food, supplies and personnel are coming from the private sector, than the government, already.
Finally, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court has zero relevance in this instance.
From Frank’s meaningless dissertation about ‘Republic:’
A state or nation in which the supreme power rests in all the citizens entitled to vote.
Yet, most conservatives–including the late CJ–work their entire lives to ensure only the ‘right’ people vote.
Conservatism works perfectly well in disasters, too, as witness the fact that much more money, water, food, supplies and personnel are coming from the private sector, than the government, already.
Sometimes parody writes itself.
>>Conservatism works perfectly well in disasters, too, as witness the fact that much more money, water, food, supplies and personnel are coming from the private sector, than the government, already.
Seems to me, braintrust, that far less people were complaining about the government’s response to 9/11, Hurricane Andrew, the Oklahoma City Bombings. In fact (and this is something I happen to know a little bit about), when James Lee Witt was the head of FEMA, FEMA had the reputation of being a well-run, tight operation.
The way you talk about government vs. private sector, you’d think that the two couldn’t mutually co-exist, and God forbid, form partnerships when presented with opportunties or challenges. These partnerships exist everywhere, you’re just too damn thick to see it.
That trait, I have noticed, is a particular to those of conservative, or more particular to libertarian ideology. ALL government is bad if it’s not about national defense and building a few roads.
As far as Katrina goes, this is a disaster of uprecedented proportion. New Orleans is essentially in a soup bowl. You had 100,000 people, who largely by virtue of being poor, and having little other options, couldn’t leave the city.
Government’s response to these 100,000 people, on all levels (city, state, and federal) was delayed by at least a day, and maybe two…and that will have ended up costing countless lives, in the end. We will know the reasons for this delay at a later time, but it’s hard NOT to notice that FEMA was re-organized and downsized, in the past five years. The old “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” should apply here.
JK
JadeGold: no one, except you, of course, said anything about the “right people” voting.
Secondly, sometimes you’re totally befuddled and confused postings stagger th imagination…
In other words W in the F are you talking about?
JK: It is you and other liberals who are talking as if only government can solve this problem, just as it is you and other liberals, who are talking as if the city of New Orleans, and the State of Louisiana had neither the technical know – how, the finances, nor, for that matter, the responsibility to harness the Mississippi and investigate the requirements for hurricane defense, particularly for those who couldn’t fend for themselves.
This may have been the worst hurricane in the recent history of the Gulf, but it’s not the first disaster made worse by local bureaucratic incompetence.
BTW, for the government to move into action in two days is nothing short of miraculous… Tell me the last time they moved faster (I suppose it was during the “Golden Age of Clinton”)
JK: Yes, I remember now, it was during “The Golden Age of Clinton”: the Elian Gonzalez affair, and the Branch Davidian barbeque…
…The 80c/gallon gas, the World Trade Center, the 40% annual returns on my 401k, the historic low unemployment rate, the effective response to disaster, the boom in incomes for all segments of society..The decrease in poverty rate to an all time low…feeling like we had a president with a brain… foreign countries respecting the US….
The golden age of Clinton.
Myth, cheap shot (except for the fact that the first attack took place during his admin), lie: actions taken – none, same as now, evidence:none, .com boom: Clinton’s influence – zero, same – same, feeling like we had a lying President with a head full of facts and a sex addiction problem, and the exact same number of enemies and countries looking down their nose at us as we do now…
The “Golden of Clinton”
Keep on believing that Frankie boy, keep on believing.
Didn’t take long for you to work sex in there either, if only I had an egg timer.
First of all, for Cellulose: Justice Stevens is 85, and is now the senior member of the Court. He will be 86 when he retires next summer for health reasons, at which point President Bush will nominate Michael Luttig for his seat. Edith Clements will be nominated to replace Chief Justice Rehnquist, directly; there will be no promotion of Justice Scalia.
Why? Because the nomination of the first female chief justice will be hard for the Democrats to oppose. Judge Clements is conservative, but no more so than the late Chief Justice; her nomination is a net wash.
The Democrats will bluster, but not filibuster, the nomination of John Roberts. he has too much support, more than enough that if the Gang of Fourteen don’t break any filibuster, Senator Frist has the votes to employ the “nuclear option” in Judge Roberts’ case, and teh Democrats do not want to go into future judicial nominations with the filibuster weapon removed as an option.
It’s real simple: Judge Roberts isn’t much more conservative than Justice O’Connor, and Judge Clements (or anyone else, on the small chance I’m wrong about who gets the nomination) is no more conservative than Chief Justice Rehnquist. The real battle comes up next summer, when Justice Stevens is replaced.
Remember where you heard it first!
>>It is you and other liberals who are talking as if only government can solve this problem
You’ve got to be as dumb as a box of rocks. You read what I wrote, didn’t you? I spent (more like, WASTED MY EFFING TIME) 20 minutes writing what I thought was a defense of public/private partnership. I can see now, Frank, that I thouroughly wasted my time wih you.
And we get the above crap from you, which I assume has been going on for years.
Look, if you’re not even going to read or try to understand what it is that any of us are saying, why the F should we bother with your tired ass?
I DO NOT THINK GOVERNMENT IS THE ANSWER TO ALL PROBLEMS. FAR FROM IT. I am a liberal that happens to believe strongly in private ownership of proprety and business… and good grief…capitalism.
What are you going to do with me now, moron?
(I wonder what it must be like to go through life thick as molasses. Man.)
JK.
Frank..one more thing, you puddle of grey matter. You bring up Waco…yes, Waco was horrible. I wish Reno had waited it out. There was no reason not to.
But Randy Weaver happened on Bush I’s watch. Or do we have selective memory.
There’s no shortage of lousy decision making in government, AND in the private sector, nitwit.
JK
I will give you credit for one thing, JK: consistency. In three posts, you barely wrote a sentence without insulting me.
Was there a “a defense of public/private partnership”? Not hardly.
As for my “selective memory”: I didn’t mention Randy Weaver, and Randy Weaver wasn’t a child.
You’re an angry person, JK, way too angry for a professed sophisticated, compassionate liberal.
I’m a believer in Intelligent Design, myself, but you’re posts are remarkably convincing evidence for evolution, if you get my drift.
Can you say Zoloft?
Oh, well, I thought that we’d get Edith Clements as Chief Justice, but President Bush has “upgraded” John Roberts’ nomination to become the Chief. I’m still betting on Mrs. Clements for the now-open Associate Justice nomination.
>>Was there a a defense of public/private partnership ? Not hardly.
Yes, I’m angry. I get angry when I spend valuable time talking to a brick wall. I don’t have that much time these days, so, Frank, when I waste it, yes, I get angry. And I wasted my time with you–as I suspect others in here have for years, I’m just the latest victim. The quandry that I find myself in, however, is that your crapola should not go unanswered. So…bearing that in mind….
What is it, about the below statement, by myself, in support of public/private parnetship., that you don’t understand?:
“The way you talk about government vs. private sector, you d think that the two couldn t mutually co-exist, and God forbid, form partnerships when presented with opportunties or challenges. These partnerships exist everywhere, you re just too damn thick to see it.”
Speaking of Zoloft….first of all, it’s primarily an anti-depressant. It doesn’t necessarily make a person less angry, moron. Then again, conservatives generally aren’t smart enough to tell the difference between being an anti-depressant and a laxative, so we’ll give you an empathy pass on that one.
Secondly, there are countless drugs out there that have been developed by virtue of the public/private partnership. A lot of the research that goes on at the NIH, or is funded by the NIH but done at the University, or Hospital level, is the basic research that lays the foundation for private drug companies to develop these life-saving medications.
Does a bell go off in Frank’s head? Or does Frank continue to be dumb as a box of rocks.
These answers, and more, on our next edition of …….CAN FRANK LEARN?
JK
JK, I also remember Bill Clinton and Janet Reno taking responsibility for what happened. Has that EVER happened in this administration?
RIP in Mr Rehnquist. I remember your steady leadership and, aside, your great affection for Gilbert and Sullivan.
Dugger,
My object all sublime
I shall achieve in time –
To let the punishment fit the crime