Who Will Ask The Hard Questions?

Ms. Miers, this question goes to the heart of your general competence to weigh matters fairly and with the scrutiny deserving of cases reaching the High Court.

Did you REALLY say that President Bush was the most intelligent man you know, and if so, did you mean it, and can you please elaborate in more detail, perhaps referencing some examples of the aforementioned brilliance?

No further questions... and I'm not kidding.

Bush wants to use the military to quarentine people with the avian influenza.

http://tinyurl.com/798h5

Please, G*d...Please use Crawford Texas for the quarenteen. I know a really nice house there with lots of too.

Sparrow... didja ever see "Outbreak"?

p.s. you win today's award for most ironic nickname.

Bush also defended Miers against Democratic charges of cronyism and questions about her conservative record, saying she shares his legal philosophy.

"I picked the best person I could find." Bush said. "People are going to be amazed at her strength of character and her intellect."

"I don't want someone to go on the bench to try to supplant the legislative process," Bush said. "I'm interested in people that will be strict constructionists, and Harriet Miers shares that philosophy."

He also said he picked Miers because her legal philosophy would not change if she sat on the high bench.

"I don't want to put somebody on the bench who's this way today and changes," he said. "That's not what I'm interested in. I'm interested in finding somebody who shares my philosophy today and will have that same philosophy 20 years from now."

Bush said, "I've known her for more than 10 years. know her character. She's a woman of principle and deep conviction."

The Seante is supposed to vote tomorrow on another $50 billion for the war in Iraq. Have you called your senators? The Capitol Switchboard is 202-224-3121

Posted by: jailbird9/26/05 at October 4, 2005 01:55 PM

Good point, jailbird. And if anyone needs 5 more reasons to call...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Four U.S. soldiers and a Marine have been killed in attacks in Iraq, military officials said Tuesday.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/10/04/iraq.main/index.html

Ever wonder what 2000 looks like?

http://theunitedamerican.blogs.com/Movies/2000A/2000.ht...

Very powerful & moving.

Warning: Pictures flash by fast & contains a 4-letter word.

Exactly Casey,

President Bush is asking Americans to support his candidate based on his personal relationship and understanding of Miss. Meir's character. All Americans should get to know her better so that we can make a judgement for ourselves. ANY question is fair game.

HIs comment that he expects his nominee to hold the same opinions twenty years from now is an important insight into his lack of critical thinking and his inability to consider that the Nation's founders NEVER expected static minds to sit on the supreme court.

OC... that comment about not changing opinions twenty years from now is why I posted it in the first place. So much for challenging or expanding your mind.

Don't Go Changin'

Monkey,

A mind is a terrible thing to waste or as Dan Quayle (?sp) said, "What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is."

p.s. you win today's award for most ironic nickname.

Posted by: monkey at October 4, 2005 01:33 PM

Thanks. I planned it that way. I knew sometime in the future it would come in handy.

Posted by: jailbird9/26/05 at October 4, 2005 01:55 PM

Thanks for the reminder! I'll call right now.

Casey and Oncall:

Are the following questions fair game?

Did you see the Gonzalez brief allowing torture?

Were you in on those meetings, did you or anyone in the W.H. advice the president on the Geneva Conventions?

Have you spoken to Bush, Cheney, Libby, Rove, or anyone associated with the Valerie Plame leak?

Have you witnessed any discussions on said topics and have you seen any material related to them?

How much additional time of your life have you devoted to studying constitutional law? Where have you taken additional classes or written additional material on said topic?

Do you support the previous Supreme Courts' tendency to inspect violations of CIVIL RIGHTS and do you guarantee that Civil Rights will remain a constitutional guarantee?

What will you do should Tom Delay, Frist, Bush, Cheney, Rove, Libby, et al come before the highest court in the land? Will you recuse yourself from making judgement?

Have you ever smoked marijuana or snorted cocaine and do you have knowledge of GWB violating the laws in our land by using them himself?

Have you ever stolen anything but not been caught?

jailbird and md,

What about the suggestion that Democrats (and moderate Republicans) show their support for the troops by walking out and refusing to hold meetings and a vote until each and every soldier is guaranteed and HAS their safety armor or their families have been reimbursed.

I'm not saying they should vote NO to giving the troops money, because I believe that vote will harm the soldiers.

I just think that they need to take a stand. Let them say clearly,

"GET THEM THE ARMOR NOW, REIMBURSE FAMILIES NOW AND NO MORE PRETENDING TO SEND MONEY TO SUPPORT THE TROOPS WHEN THEY ARE NOT SEEING THE BENEFITS OF IT!"

And then let each and everyone of them walk out and refuse to give a blank check to Halliburton and Bush's croynies any longer.

AND that is what I will be telling all the representatives!

To everyone celebrating the Jewish New Year today,

Shana Tova!

Thank-you Sparrow,

Like I said upthread, ANY question is fair game in order to get a better understanding of this woman. How about:

What is your favorite color?

Do you believe it is a fashion faux pas to wear white after Labor Day?

And the zinger, Why do you color your hair?

All of those can come after the questions about abortion, privacy, constitutional law, etc....etc.....

Did Bush administration attack peace movement with military grade biological bacteria?

Washington D.C. Public Health Director Greg A. Pane posed the right question in the Post article, “Why that day? That’s what is not explained.” Pane pointed that it was “just this 24-hour period and none since.”

http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/3/2005/1221

Well I just called my Senators and asked them to vote NO on the Iraq approprations bill.. On the somewhat naive belief that if we don't fund the war we'll have to get out of it.

It's a dumb arugment I agree, but at least the intern kid got my idea.

While I waa at it, I asked them to vote NO on Harriet Miers, simply because she's the most underquailfed nominee in History. That earned me a laugh from the kid.

I just re read my above post:

It seems blatantly chauvinist (and that is not how I feel about Miers), it was a bad attempt at humor, but Bush knows most of the things about this person that we don't, so I would like to get a better understanding of how she feels about the less weighty matters that effect her's and our daily lives. Sometimes the answer to simpler questions can tell us a lot about a person.

I think it is very scarey to put someone on the highest bench in the land, and not know anything about their ideology, character, personality, or mental health, let alone their credentials for the legal and moral aspect of the job.

Since the DCP has some of the finest political and moral minds anywhere, and it's purpose is to teach and share, I would like to ask a couple questions today. Would that be okay? (Anyone who enjoys this blog but mostly reads it, I have found the DCP to be kind and accomodating when teaching me as I have endeavored to learn, so, please, come on in and ask and share!)

My question today is this: What are opinions on why the President didn't just nominate someone who would satisfy the far religious right and do it overtly? And/Or, why didn't he just nominate a moderate?

I am interested to know why some of you here think he has nominated Ms. Miers?

(Is his political climate so bad he could run the risk of losing the confirmation of an extreme right nominee because some in his own party are distancing themselves from him?

Would he run the risk of alienating the far right by nominating a moderate?)

Peeps, don't be afraid to ask questions, this is a teaching, sharing, learning environment.

How about asking her about Aug. 6, 2001 meeting with Boy George???

Miers Briefed Bush on Famous Bin Laden Memo, But Newspapers Handle the AP Photo Quite Differently

NEW YORK On its front page Tuesday, The New York Times published a photo of new U.S. Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers going over a briefing paper with President George W. Bush at his Crawford ranch “in August 2001,” the caption reads.

USA Today and the Boston Globe carried the photo labeled simply “2001,” but many other newspapers ran the picture in print or on the Web with a more precise date: Aug. 6, 2001.

Does that date sound familiar? Indeed, that was the date, a little over a month before 9/11, that President Bush was briefed on the now-famous “PDB” that declared that Osama Bin Laden was “determined” to attack the U.S. homeland, perhaps with hijacked planes. But does that mean that Miers had anything to do with that briefing?

As it turns out, yes, according to Tuesday's Los Angeles Times. An article by Richard A. Serrano and Scott Gold observes that early in the Bush presidency “Miers assumed such an insider role that in 2001 it was she who handed Bush the crucial 'presidential daily briefing' hinting at terrorist plots against America just a month before the Sept. 11 attacks.”

So the Aug. 6 photo may show this historic moment, though quite possibly not. In any case, some newspapers failed to include the exact date with the widely used Miers photo today. A New York Times spokesman told E&P: "The wording of the caption occurred in the course of routine editing and has no broader significance."

The photo that ran in so many papers and on their Web sites originally came from the White House but was moved by the Associated Press, clearly marked as an “Aug. 6, 2001” file photo. It shows Miers with a document or documents in her right hand, as her left hand points to something in another paper balanced on the president's right leg. Two others in the background are Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Hagin and Steve Biegun of the national security staff.

The PDB was headed “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.,” and notes, among other things, FBI information indicating “patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks.”

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001221205

Posted by: oncall at October 4, 2005 03:35 PM

I don't think it was chauvinist at all. If the questions were asked we'd know more about her than we do now. And the white after Labor Day? That's passe.. if she does still believe that then we'd know what kind of a conservative we're dealing with.

And Happy New Years

OT, but just in case guns are anyone's issue:

From million mom march and shootfirst.org:

On October 1, 2005, Florida became a more dangerous place. That's when the Shoot First Law went into effect, giving the people of Florida the right to use deadly force as a first resort when they feel threatened, even in a public place. But the Shoot First doctrine isn't just staying in Florida — it's about to become a national disgrace.

In a country where thousands die needlessly every year in gun accidents and violent confrontations, this law is an enormous step backwards in civic responsibility and public safety. What's more, it envisions a society in which fear and distrust are the rule, and reason and responsibility are an endangered species.

If you live in Florida, or plan on visiting Florida, get the facts on the Shoot First Law. Know when you're safe, and how to avoid misunderstandings. Learn about when the people of Florida can shoot to kill... and when they think they can.

Posted by: Carol at October 4, 2005 04:23 PM

OMG. I hadn't heard about this... And this phrase scares the hell out of me..."when they feel threatened..." Who is to define what "threatened" means??? Does this apply to verbal as well as physical incidents of abuse???

Watching CNN a few minutes ago, and they presented a report where someone who knows Miers stated that her position on abortion is at the extreme end of the spectrum. We can safefy assume that the extreme end they are describing is not the pro-choice end.

Here's the Washington Post on it Madame:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/04/AR2005100400136.html

Posted by: Truth Shall Prevail at October 4, 2005 03:47 PM

Truth,

The ultra rights are saying that Bush choked. This was a calculated political decision by Rove et al. If it were Cheney, who knows if we would have seen a more obvious idealogue nominated? Bush and Rove have no doubts that Miers will continue the Conservative agenda. If she is confirmed that is probably true. Politically however, the Republicans are starting to lose the middle third of the electorate that doesn't consider itself beholden to a single party. By nominating an unkown quantity for the bench, the Republicans can claim that they have fulfilled their middle of the road duty by nominating a woman. Not only that, with this nomination Bush and the Repubs can claim that they didn't nominate and idealogue for the bench. That might prevent even more people from drifting away from the Republicans. Those are my thoughts for what they are worth.

Here in Los Angeles, an adult contemporary FM music station (KOST 103.5 - owned by Clear Channel like all other major LA area stations) this morning praised Miers as someone who has bipartisan support and has good qualities to be a Supreme Court Justice.

I agree with you oncall - W can paint Miers as a moderate, and the media will just play along. This will be a much easier approval than John Roberts. This is the only way for W to play the game, as "moderates" are indeed getting sick of W, especially after the Katrina fiasco.

Carol: I heard you on the Shoot First Law in Florida. No wonder you wanted to run to Canada. :) I feel the same way too, I see my relationship with the US as a marriage on the rocks. I tried to save it last week in the DC activities. But can it be saved? I don't know.

Here's what the conservatives are saying:

At the risk of drawing the undying enmity of The Herd, I'm going to state categorically that conservatism is sitting pretty at this hour. That's because Harry Reid has just been hosed – and he doesn't even know it.

http://www.patrickruffini.com/archives/2005/10/harriet_miers_c.php

Check out this site and watch the trailer:

http://www.firstrunfeatures.com/cs_onebrightshiningmoment.html

oncall,

sigh. memories...

It should have been different. But it wasn't.

Hey what's up everyone. This is old news, but well worth 30 seconds to help convict members of the administration

http://www.freepress.net/action/stopprop

Posted by: oncall at October 4, 2005 05:01 PM

Thanks for your opinion, OC. I also read the link you posted on some conservative opinions.

Listen to this song...
http://www.hurricanesong.com/

I think we should all take a moment to go explain to a beloved republican EXACTLY WHY bush can niether be called conservative or republican.

Lets drive a mac truck through those cracks that are opening up like a gaping wound in the RNC.

I said the mod repells would turn on the neocons and a fight for control would break out but I never once imagined how damn satifying it would actually be to witness.

HeHe

Check out the note that Ryan's mom just posted at the bottom of the thread for Ryan

here...

http://www.democracycellproject.net/blog/archives/2005/10/ryan.html

haha
This is sent by someone whose friend was neighbor to Condi in SF and has certain theories about her as well as claiming to have certain eyewitness evidence from during the period when she was Provost.

Condi‚s Cable Love Connection

http://www.radaronline.com/fresh-intelligence/2005/10/04/index.php#report_003363

After a grueling day of diplomatic affairs, Condoleezza Rice could probably use an affair of her own. But things must be pretty grim if even Fox News feels compelled to hook her up. Not surprisingly, the blog world is abuzz this week after a recent interview in which Fox correspondent James Rosen lobbied the defiantly single Secretary of State on the charms of a comely female colleague.

The odd interchange aired last Tuesday, when Rice sat down with Rosen for an interview in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Rosen opened the conversation with a few softball questions about President Aristide and Iran‚s nuclear ambitions. But he closed it with an impassioned testimonial on behalf of Fox & Friends anchor Lauren Green, a thirtysomething former Miss Minnesota who's apparently a big fan of the Secretary's. An excerpt:

ROSEN: All right. I close with a gift for you. You met this person once, I believe, but you really, I think, ought to know each other because this woman is I think you‚ll have an interest in knowing her. She is one of our Fox News anchors in New York. Her name is Lauren Green. She is brilliant, she's beautiful, she,s African-American, she's single and she's a concert pianist in her spare time.

RICE: My goodness.

ROSEN: And she asked me to give you her CD and I promised her that I would.

RICE: That's perfect.

ROSEN: And here's her doing a number of different classical pieces.

RICE: Well, that's special.

ROSEN: So there you have it.RICE: Thank her very much and I look forward to seeing her sometime.

ROSEN: All right. She‚s going to want to hear from you.

RICE: And maybe even playing dual piano sometime.

Not surprisingly, the curious exchange left many wondering if the wry reporter was trying to set Rice up on a date. But when we called to ask if
he was trying to play matchmaker, Rosen insisted „nothing could be further from the truth∑What I meant to say is that the two of them have a lot in common.‰ The veteran correspondent, who has frequently accompanied Rice on overseas trips, added, „I would never presume to deal at all with Secretary Rice‚s personal life."

Though Rice hasn‚t been publicly linked with anyone since she stepped out with football player-turned-actor Gene Washington in the late 1980s, State Department spokesman Edgar Vasquez dismisses online speculation about a Sapphic set-up. "I wouldn't read anything into that," he counseled when we called him yesterday. Vasquez says there is no date set for Rice‚s proposed
rendezvous to tickle the ivories with Green, but adds, "I don't think she‚d be averse to meeting her. Whether there‚s time and her schedule opens up, that‚s a different thing."

Green, whose album, Classic Beauty, was released in 2004, could not be reached for comment.

-------

Slightly different topic -
Remember when the tabloids used to have a field day with the Bush twins? Then after 9/11, they disappeared from sight and it seemed like "hands off" by the media for all this time?

Remember during the campaign when bloggers were so careful to try to be even-handed and polite, not to bring up certain suspected foibles of a certain GOP Presidential candidate, even after Kitty Kelly's book, the pretzel incident and multiple bike and Segway falls? & all this despite the nasty slime attacks waged agsint Kerry?

Well, to my surprise, I went to the cafeteria/bookshop at work this noon and picked up a copy of the National Enquirer to look at. In the middle, they had an "exclusive" which claimed that our Commander in Chief had begun to drink again and especially after Hurricane Katrina, much to the chagrin of the First Lady. Either they really want to up their readership, they have good lawyers, they have good information or some combination of the above.

General strike! Now there's an idea!!

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/10/04/international/i142352D30.DTL

Marshall Law

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush asked Congress on Tuesday to consider giving him powers to use the military to enforce quarantines in case of an avian influenza epidemic.

He said the military, and perhaps the National Guard, might be needed to take such a role if the feared H5N1 bird flu virus changes enough to cause widespread human infection.

"If we had an outbreak somewhere in the United States, do we not then quarantine that part of the country? And how do you, then, enforce a quarantine?" Bush asked at a news conference.

"It's one thing to shut down airplanes. It's another thing to prevent people from coming in to get exposed to the avian flu. And who best to be able to effect a quarantine?" Bush added.

"One option is the use of a military that's able to plan and move. So that's why I put it on the table. I think it's an important debate for Congress to have."

Bird flu has killed more than 60 people in four Asian nations since late 2003 and has been found in birds in Russia and Europe.

Experts fear that the H5N1 bird flu virus, which appears to be highly fatal when it infects people, will develop the ability to pass easily from person to person and would cause a pandemic that would kill millions.

"And I think the president ought to have all ... assets on the table to be able to deal with something this significant," Bush said.

He noted that some governors may object to the federal government commandeering the National Guard, which is under state command in most circumstances.

Police Duties Banned

"But Congress needs to take a look at circumstances that may need to vest the capacity of the president to move beyond that debate. And one such catastrophe or one such challenge could be an avian flu outbreak," Bush said.

The active duty military is currently forbidden from undertaking law enforcement duties by the federal Posse Comitatus Act.

That law, passed in 1878 after the US Civil War, does not prohibit National Guard troops under state control from doing police work. But, unless the law is changed, it would keep them from doing so if they were activated by Washington under federal control.

While the law allows the president to order the military to take control and do police work in an extreme emergency, the White House has been traditionally reluctant to usurp state powers.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters he was not aware of any current planning by the military to help respond to a flu pandemic.

But he noted that after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the Gulf region, Bush had asked Congress to consider giving the military control over initial response in dealing with major natural or other domestic disasters.

"Obviously the (Defense) Department has a tremendous amount of capability in a lot of areas. And we are a large force," Whitman said, noting also that the military had deployed field hospitals to Louisiana after the hurricanes.

Health experts are working to develop vaccines that would protect against the H5N1 strain of flu, because current influenza vaccines will not.

And countries are also developing stockpiles of drugs that can reduce the risk of serious disease or even sometimes prevent infection - but supplies and manufacturing capacity are both limited.

Bush said he was involved in planning for an influenza pandemic, which experts say will definitely come, although they cannot predict when, or whether it will be H5N1 or some other virus.

Indy

He's chomping at the bit to impose martial law, isn't he

Posted by: Indy at October 4, 2005 10:36 PM

Didn't he say something to the effect that he thought dictatorships were good just as long as he was the dictator?

Chuck in Houston for Truth:

Your post (Posted by: Truth Shall Prevail at October 4, 2005 03:47 PM) is kind of the million dollar question to my mind in the sphere of strategizing. My frustration is that we never seem to be able to flush this administration out on anything. Somehow, they always get away with platitudes and banalities, and it seems that 50% +1 give them the benefit of the doubt. I guess in a sense it's like a Roschacht (sp???) test -- people just read into the platitudes and banalities what they want -- if you want a no-nonsense female, Mier is your woman. If you want an abortion clinic bomber, Mier is your women, etc. I think the "triangualtion" strategy at work here is to keep 50% +1 of the voters in line (and 80% of the wealth if far less than 50% of the earned income). The way to keep that 50% +1 in line is to allow the fundmentalist evangelicals to keep believing that Bush is doing everything in his power to hasten the Rapture, or whatever, while keeping the confidence of the soccer moms that suburbia will be kept whole and the NASCAR dads that their loyalty will somehow be rewarded. It's a tough juggling act and I think that is why Rove et al are acting a bit like the proverbial deer in the headlights right now, the more so since the hammer is in the headlights too. The "Kansas" book with its mods and cons and the Berkeley professor's thesis of framing and the vengeful Old Testament father figure play into this as well, in my grossly untutored opinion.

Hope that made a modicum of sense. Your question is too tough. Sorry.

Chuck in Houston

Chuck in Houston with a reprise for Truth:

Oh, and I almost forgot -- while juggling all of that they have to try and convince the corporate stewards of this global world that they aren't off on some goofy tangent that will discombobulate the world economy. They have a tough row to hoe and I guess nominating a non-entity like Miers is a good "buy-time" expedient.

Chuck in Houston

Chuck in Houston again with a caveat:

Upon further consideration, my characterization of Ms. Miers above as a "non-entity" was inappropriate. I am sure she is a very dynamic and serious individual. I meant a "non-entity" only in the sense of the standard that should be adhered to when appointing folks to the SCOTUS. In that limited sense, from all I have been able to glean so far, she does not seem to represent the extremely high level of accomplishment that ought to be a necessary, if not sufficient, condition for occupying such a position of honor and trust. I hope I am wrong.

Chuck in Houston

THIS is funny. No, you are not seeing double.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2135504

Chuck in Houston for DiAnne:

A general strike requires a fairly cohesive labor movement -- is there one here? There used to be one, I think. At least that's what my dad always told me (he came up in Chicago in the thirties and ended up career USAF).

Chuck in Houston

Posted by: Carol at October 4, 2005 04:23 PM

Sign the petitition expressing your concern regarding this vigilante law in Florida.

http://www.shootfirstlaw.org?s_oo=AQT3a9cc2kjm-IkWbtuU9Q..

Hey Oncall:

What do you think of this Miers nomination? Do you think the White Socks have a prayer?

Chuck in Houston (Red Socks fan)

Albqurque had an local election today.. Watching the results I spotted the following tshirt

KERRY WAS RIGHT.

just couldn't resist....

(White Sox? Do they still play baseball?)

He's chomping at the bit to impose martial law, isn't he

Posted by: not my president at October 4, 2005 11:05 PM

Shouldn't he be being aggressive about finding and ordering hundreds of millions of bird flu vaccinations, instead of freaking about the right to corral infected areas of the country?

Priorities, once again, are wrong.

About the last thing I want is the executive branch having the power to contain people for any reason. If it turned into a pandemic I might feel differently then.

Kind of funny how his brain works.

Is it just me, or does he (Bush) seem to fail at things often, then want the citizens of the U.S. to suffer and make sacrifices to make up for them?

Case in point. Bush is suggesting in the news now that we buy special light bulbs to conserve on energy, and turn our thermostats down real low.

And.....don't order enough bird flu shots...(honest error??)then quarentine the people who get it and their neighbors.

Posted by: Chuck at October 4, 2005 11:44 PM

Chuck, thanks for sharing your observations and thoughts.

It helps to get people's opinions once in a while.
It helps to be sure I am putting the puzzle pieces together in order.

I appreciate you taking the time to reply.

Truth:

I am turning in. As far as the Bushes go, our job is to make any and all sacrifices such that them and theirs have it cushey. That's their view anyway. And we sit here and take it. Go figure, 'cause I can't. I've puzzled and puzzled 'till my puzzler is sore and I can't make heads or tails of it.

Chuck in Houston

Chuck and LadyTechie,

The White Sox are peaking now, just like they did at the beginning of a season. Baseball is a game of hot and cold streaks. The White Sox are on a hot streak.