Bush's Pick Harriet Miers is no God

I grew up believing that Supreme Court nominees were supposed to be the gods and godesses of their profession. But with John Roberts and to a far greater extent Harriet Miers, President Bush is selecting people who not only others have not looked up to, but in the case of Ms. Miers isn't even a judge. I love that she was the first woman to do a number of things, but look: she's no Thurgood Marshall.

This is his biography:

"...Born in Baltimore, Maryland on July 2, 1908, Thurgood Marshall was the grandson of a slave. His father, William Marshall, instilled in him from youth an appreciation for the United States Constitution and the rule of law. After completing high school in 1925, Thurgood followed his brother, William Aubrey Marshall, at the historically black Lincoln University in Chester, Pennsylvania. His classmates at Lincoln included a distinguished group of future Black leaders such as the poet and author Langston Hughes, the future President of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, and musician Cab Calloway. Just before graduation, he married his first wife, Vivian "Buster" Burey. Their twenty-five year marriage ended with her death from cancer in 1955.



In 1930, he applied to the University of Maryland Law School, but was denied admission because he was Black. This was an event that was to haunt him and direct his future professional life. Thurgood sought admission and was accepted at the Howard University Law School that same year and came under the immediate influence of the dynamic new dean, Charles Hamilton Houston, who instilled in all of his students the desire to apply the tenets of the Constitution to all Americans. Paramount in Houston's outlook was the need to overturn the 1898 Supreme Court ruling, Plessy v. Ferguson which established the legal doctrine called, "separate but equal." Marshall's first major court case came in 1933 when he successfully sued the University of Maryland to admit a young African American Amherst University graduate named Donald Gaines Murray. Applauding Marshall's victory, author H.L. Mencken wrote that the decision of denial by the University of Maryland Law School was "brutal and absurd," and they should not object to the "presence among them of a self-respecting and ambitious young Afro-American well prepared for his studies by four years of hard work in a class A college."

Thurgood Marshall followed his Howard University mentor, Charles Hamilton Houston to New York and later became Chief Counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). During this period, Mr. Marshall was asked by the United Nations and the United Kingdom to help draft the constitutions of the emerging African nations of Ghana and what is now Tanzania. It was felt that the person who so successfully fought for the rights of America's oppressed minority would be the perfect person to ensure the rights of the White citizens in these two former European colonies. After amassing an impressive record of Supreme Court challenges to state-sponsored discrimination, including the landmark Brown v. Board decision in 1954, President John F. Kennedy appointed Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In this capacity, he wrote over 150 decisions including support for the rights of immigrants, limiting government intrusion in cases involving illegal search and seizure, double jeopardy, and right to privacy issues. Biographers Michael Davis and Hunter Clark note that, "none of his (Marshall's) 98 majority decisions was ever reversed by the Supreme Court." In 1965 President Lyndon Johnson appointed Judge Marshall to the office of U.S. Solicitor General. Before his subsequent nomination to the United States Supreme Court in 1967, Thurgood Marshall won 14 of the 19 cases he argued before the Supreme Court on behalf of the government. Indeed, Thurgood Marshall represented and won more cases before the United States Supreme Court than any other American.

Until his retirement from the highest court in the land, Justice Marshall established a record for supporting the voiceless American. Having honed his skills since the case against the University of Maryland, he developed a profound sensitivity to injustice by way of the crucible of racial discrimination in this country. As an Associate Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall leaves a legacy that expands that early sensitivity to include all of America's voiceless. Justice Marshall died on January 24, 1993."

She's also no Stephen Breyer, the top legal mind on regulation in America. I knew him for his great book called "Regulation and It's Reform" which I read cover to cover twice, because I was interested in the matter of arguements for airline deregulation. (Which I now think should be reconsidered.)

What has she done? Is she a teacher like Ginsburg? No. She's White House Counsel. I understand she's against choice as well.

I wonder if Bush floated her, knowing she would not pass the muster, and has a plan to pick another male. A white male. For some reason, that's my suspicion. Then he can say "I picked a woman, and it didn't work out." Not good.

Howard Dean on John Roberts

This came to me in an email from the Democratic Party - Zennie:

Governor Dean wrote the following op-ed for national distribution:

John Roberts is a decent family man and a bright, articulate, thoughtful judge. He has a quality absent in previous right wing candidates like Antonin Scalia and Robert Bork, namely a judicial temperament that makes litigants feel that they have been respectfully heard whether they are on the winning or losing side of a verdict.

But John Roberts is the wrong man for the job. Despite the fact that the White House has withheld key documents either out of incompetence or a fear that those documents might prove embarrassing, we have learned enough from the files on Roberts at the Reagan Library to make it clear that he should be rejected.

This conclusion has only been solidified by Roberts' testimony during this week's hearings. He has been a polished performer, but in failing to present clear answers to straightforward questions, Roberts missed a crucial opportunity to answer legitimate concerns about his record and show compassion for those who have been excluded from the American Dream. The consistent mark of Roberts' career is a lack of commitment to making the Constitution's promise of equal protection a reality for all Americans, particularly the most vulnerable in our society.

He has opposed laws protecting the rights of girls and young women to have the same opportunities in sports as boys and young men. He has argued that politicians, not individual women themselves, ought to control women's reproductive health care. He has opposed various remedies for the racial injustices which have occurred in America since slavery and which persist today. He has consistently joined the radical right in seeking to weaken voting rights protections, in essence attacking the rights of black and Hispanic voters to cast their ballot without paying poll taxes or being subjected to intimidation or gerrymandering. He fought against protecting all Americans from workplace discrimination. Most worrisome, he refused to answer questions on his limited view of the right to personal privacy that most Americans take for granted.

Over the last half century, we have made great progress in promoting equal opportunity for all Americans, but there is still much work to be done. Hurricane Katrina was more than the most catastrophic natural disaster in American history. Those who have in so many ways been denied the opportunity for full participation in our society once again suffered disproportionately in this tragedy -- seniors, African-Americans and those burdened by poverty.

Now is not the time for a Chief Justice who is bent on turning back the progress we have made in moving America forward.

Judge Roberts is said to love the law, but loving the law without loving the American people enough to protect their individual rights and freedoms will make our American community weaker. And the exercise of the law without compassion -- something that Judge Roberts and so many on the far right have consistently been guilty of -- undermines the grace and wisdom of the founders whose sense of balance and fairness made this country great.

In the past few weeks we have seen what happens when politics and indifference supercede compassion and organization. The enduring lesson of Hurricane Katrina is that there still are too many Americans who are disproportionately vulnerable. Despite the fact that they worked hard and played by the rules, their luck ran out. Americans are a compassionate, fair-minded people. Our nation is great and strong because of that compassion, not just because we have a strong military. We also have strong moral values which include an innate sense of justice often absent in many other parts of the world.

Our Government today shrinks from compassion. In doing so they have first diminished America in the eyes of the rest of the world, and now they have diminished America in the eyes of our own people. This is a time for justice tempered with mercy and understanding. There is no evidence of either in Judge Roberts's career. The President should be denied this confirmation.

FEMA Director Ousted From Post - Recalled To Washington

As CNN reported if you click on the title post, FEMA Director Mike Brown was recalled to Washington because of his lack of experience in handling disater relief scenarios. My question is this: why in the heck would President Bush hire someone who didn't have that kind of experience? What? He lied on his resume?

Well, this is what the Detroit Free Press reported:

RESPONSE TO KATRINA: FEMA chiefs new to disaster relief

Leaders have little experience for jobs

September 9, 2005



BY ANDREW ZAJAC and ANDREW MARTIN
CHICAGO TRIBUNE


Top officials of the Federal Emergency Management Agency have political connections to President George W. Bush, but they also share at least one other trait: They had little or no experience in disaster management before landing in top FEMA posts.


Michael Brown, who heads FEMA, has endured criticism for comments he made last week that seemed to suggest he didn't understand that thousands of hurricane victims had taken refuge at the New Orleans convention center.


Before joining FEMA in 2001, Brown, a protege of longtime Bush aide Joseph Allbaugh, was commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association and had virtually no experience in disaster management.


An official biography of Brown's top aide, acting Deputy Director Patrick Rhode, doesn't list disaster relief experience.


The department's No. 3 official, acting Deputy Chief of Staff Brooks Altshuler, also doesn't have emergency management experience, according to FEMA spokeswoman Natalie Rule.


Rule said the lack of experience managing emergencies is irrelevant because top managers need "the ability to keep the organization running."


But Eric Holdeman, director of the King County Office of Emergency Management in Seattle, said that familiarity with the specifics of disaster management is essential. "Experience is not just general managerial experience, it's experience in the field," he said.

_________________________________

FEMA Officials should have disaster experience. That should be a given. This realization is a disaster in itself.

Red Cross warns against fake Katrina websites

The New Zealand Red Cross (NZRC) is alerting the public to the presence of fake websites which siphon off donations to victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Acting director general Graham Wrigley said fraudsters were sending emails that linked to bogus American Red Cross websites.

The emails strongly resemble the American Red Cross website donation page, but donation information is sent to a completely unrelated third party.

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This is a terrible development. It's one reason why I thought of, then rejected, the idea of an online auction. There's too many online criminals out there that would destroy the credibility of any really true and good effort. Be careful.

New Orleans Water Problem - Word of Warning to Others in The South and Southwest

If you live in Central or East Texas, Mississippi, or Georgia you should be concerned that the dangerous water problem that exists in New Orleans not impact the quality of your water supply.

In my training as an urban planner, we were instructed how to be concerned with and measure environmental impacts of development projects.

What's not discussed at all -- by FEMA or the media -- is the spread of the "bad" water and which states will be effected. Given the run of the water system, it's a safe bet to assume that Texas (which is next to Louisiana), Missippi, and Georgia will be impacted more than other states.

Pass this on to your friends and any local politicians -- before another environmental disaster unfolds. Ask for answers to this question: What is being done about this?

House begins look at eminent domain legislation - Impact on New Orleans?

This is From Lexis Nexis:
"Copyright 2005 Environment and Energy Publishing, LLC

Environment and Energy Daily
September 6, 2005 Tuesday
SPOTLIGHT Vol. 10 No. 9
693 words
DEVELOPMENT: House begins look at eminent domain legislation
Dan Berman, E&E Daily reporter The House Agriculture Committee tomorrow will hold the first congressional hearing into the controversial Supreme Court decision on eminent domain and examine legislation designed to address the ruling. The June Kelo v. City of New London decision has galvanized private property advocates opposed to the ruling. In response, Congress and various state legislatures may move to curb the use of eminent domain. "I don't see this issue going away," said Cody Stewart, executive director of the House Western Caucus. "It definitely struck a nerve." The ruling reaffirmed the use of eminent domain by cities and the taking of private property for just compensation as long as the land in question is for public use, including private development. The ruling may expand the use of eminent domain for private development projects such as building a shopping center or a stadium, critics say. The Supreme Court last month declined a request to revisit the ruling. Several bills on the use of eminent domain were introduced in Congress over the summer, including H.R. 3405, which would cut off federal funds for city and state economic development projects that take private property for the benefit of private developers. Tomorrow's hearing will focus on that bill, sponsored by Rep. Henry Bonilla (R-Texas), Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo (R-Calif.), Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), among others. The hearing will focus on H.R. 3405 because it was referred to the Agriculture Committee, a committee spokeswoman said, but private property advocates have not said if they have a favorite among the competing eminent domain bills."

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My question is this: will this legislation impact the redevelopment of New Orleans? Can homeowners who suffered damage and loss expect to have their physical recovery efforts curtailed by a "pro-private" development plan?

Are there safeguards to prevent this occurence?

NBC Edit's Kanye West's Anti-Bush Comments - That's Not Right

Call me late to the party, but I just learned of Kanye West's "George Bush hates black people" comment while watching "The Big Idea with Donny Deutch." It was Deutch, who's a good friend of Russell Simmons, who revealed that NBC actually cut the West Coast feed from the show where West -- standing with Mike Myers of "Austin Powers" fame -- launched his tirade.

I wondered just what he said, so I cyberscrounged for some text. I found it in this account by Yahoo! News:

NEW YORK - A celebrity telethon for Hurricane Katrina survivors took an unexpected turn when outspoken rapper Kanye West went off script during the live broadcast, declaring America is set up "to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off as slow as possible."

ADVERTISEMENT

"A Concert for Hurricane Relief," which aired on NBC and other networks Friday night, began, fittingly enough, with jazz from New Orleans natives Harry Connick Jr. and Wynton Marsalis.

The host was NBC News' Matt Lauer, who invited viewers to contribute to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund by phone or on the Web. Some 18 presenters performed musical numbers or gave information on the tragedy's huge scope.

Since the hurricane, people have displayed a massive outpouring of charity. Total donations passed the $200 million mark by Friday, four days after the storm slammed into the Gulf Coast. The bulk of those funds were collected by the Red Cross, which said it has raised $196.9 million from individuals and corporations.

Appearing two-thirds through the program, West took the government to task, claiming " George Bush doesn't care about black people."

Comedian Mike Myers was paired with West for a 90-second segment that began with Myers speaking of Katrina's devastation. Then, to Myers' evident surprise, West began a rant by saying, "I hate the way they portray us in the media. If you see a black family, it says they're looting. See a white family, it says they're looking for food."

While allowing that "the Red Cross is doing everything they can," West — who delivered an emotional outburst at the American Music Awards after he was snubbed for an award — declared that government authorities are intentionally dragging their feet on aid to the Gulf Coast. Without getting specific, he added, "They've given them permission to go down and shoot us."

After he stated, "George Bush doesn't care about black people," the camera cut away to comedian Chris Tucker.

Concluding the hour a few minutes later, Lauer noted that "emotions in this country right now are running very high. Sometimes that emotion is translated into inspiration, sometimes into criticism. We've heard some of that tonight. But it's still part of the American way of life."

In a statement, NBC said, "Kanye West departed from the scripted comments that were prepared for him, and his opinions in no way represent the views of the networks.

"It would be most unfortunate," the statement continued, "if the efforts of the artists who participated tonight and the generosity of millions of Americans who are helping those in need are overshadowed by one person's opinion."

The show, simulcast from New York on NBC, MSNBC, CNBC and Pax, was aired live to the East Coast, enabling the Grammy-winning rapper's outburst to go out uncensored. West's comment about the president was cut from NBC's West Coast airing, which showed three hours later on tape.

There was a several-second tape delay, but the person in charge "was instructed to listen for a curse word, and didn't realize (West) had gone off-script," NBC spokeswoman Rebecca Marks added.

---

Is West correct? Well, it's certainly true that Bush has thumbed his nose at the NAACP -- the recognized civil rights organization for African Americans -- more than once by not attending their convention. I could go on and add that Bush essentially tried to set up Secretary of State Colin Powell to fail, thereby taking down the most powerful African American in the Republican Party (or trying to). But instead, I'm going to simply observe that West's ability to be a position to make such a statement is in itself light-years beyond where African Americans were when I was a little boy in the 60s.

Thus, we're moving into a fascinating and confusing time in American Culture. Now, there are several center of power and divided by age, race, and sex. Moreover, the group that West addresses -- young blacks like me -- are increasingly part of an interracial power structure that's growing. It's enemy is the older intra-racial power structure that's almost enterely white.

George Bush is widely viewed as part of the "old guard" structure, so from that narrow point of view, West may have a very good point.

But I'd like to know that NBC's not going to do that again. That was -- or should be -- illegal to do.

Only 39 Percent Polled Gave Aid to Katrina Victims

Click on the title of this post to see the poll. This is an outrage. I'm not surprised over the anger with the government, but the government is us. If only 39 percent of us gave -- I did -- it's no wonder we have a system that can't help people. We can't ask our government to do it, if we're not going to ourselves. Come on America -- dig deep and donate! Let's get this number up to 70 percent!

I need a Vector Animation Specialist

If you understand how to make animated representations of characters and buildings (like stadiums) on the web for online games, please contact me ASAP. If you have a website, share the address with me. I can't go into detail here!

The Progress of My Friend Jody

I have to share this with you all, as my friend Jody May gets ready for her participation in the "Nationals" in Atlanta later this year. She's a terrifically lovely woman with a kind heart. I wish the best for her. More on that later, but here's what she looks like, now:

My friends ask me why I like this kind of look, and I can't explain it except to say that it's been with me since I was old enough to realize I was attracted to this kind of woman. (Which was when I was nine years old and had the "hots" for a girl named Debbie who lived in the same townhouse we did in Chicago.) I also have always had an affinity for the way Robert Crumb -- "R. Crumb" -- draws women in his comics and cartoons. They have muscle and shape -- not skinny mini at all. (Oh, geez, nothing against the "thin" practiced by some of my women friends. You look terrific! Besides, it's not just the outside, it's the inside.)

But Jody's my friend and that's because she's just a good person. For me, it doesn't matter how great the woman looks, if she's not warm of heart, her outer beauty is diminished.

All of that aside, Jody -- in my view as a friend -- is at a major juncture in her life. I think bodybuiilding -- given its nature -- should be considered a stepping stone to something else. In Jody's case, I think she can be a terrific spokesperson for products and services. NO -- not one of those models than stands next to a car. I'm thinking more along the lines of commercials and ads. I think she's got a healthy and tight look that -- in a body-concious America -- can really sell. She can apply this to the medical industry to start, as that's her occupational home.

Beyond that, I think she can make a hellofa politician. She should run for some kind of office in Odessa to start.

My personal concern is that she listen to advice and get help from people who really are in her corner. I guess a large part of me sees her as kind of -- well, so "well-meaning" and trusting, that she can open herself to the wrong people. In that way, she's a lot like me! (LOL) I think that's why I kind of worry about her, and I shouldn't do that. But it's the way I am.

I'd like to see her develop a huge national network of successful friends -- women and men, but mostly women because it's good to have a connection with other successful women -- who really share their contacts wiithout some inner desire to "take" from Jody. There are a lot of people out there. I have such a small group of people I know, like my buddy Beth Schnitzer (an awesome person who will also make a great elected official). It takes time and determination and focus -- on building these relationships.

Bob Denver - Another Signpost in The Zeitgeist Passes On

I know I'm getting to the point of middle age, when this happens: Bob Denver, star of Gilligan's Island, passed away last week. I grew up watching the syndicated re-runs of Gilligan's Island, and fell totally in love with Dawn Wells (who played Mary Ann and marked the first time I realized I prefered brunettes to blondes!) and those terrific legs of hers.

But I always felt sorry for Denver's character. I always rooted for him. In retrospect, it was because even though he made mistakes, he had a good heart. Denver communicated that aspect of Gilligan very well.

I have to admit, that there's a weird feeling with all of these signposts passing. I think I need to create a kind of "rolling list" of people who "mark" our culture at a moment in time.

More on Dating From Sam and Gabe

We were returning from a rousing game of Laser Tag, and got onto the subject of women and dating again. John and I were talking about one of his women friends with John's twins, Sam and Gabe. (Both six years old at the time.)

I said "She's hot." So, Sam said "Dad, is she hot..or is she "hot." Gabe then said "Yeah, what is she?"

John said "Well, she's a friend. You know." And I said "She's hot. A good looking woman that you hang with but want to ..you know...but don't. That kind is just hot -- not 'Hot.'

John said "Yeah, she's just hot."

So, Gabe said "Dad, if she's just hot, are you telling us the truth?"