Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Agenda-driven Judicial Appointments
"Good Judges"
"And Dr. Frist, after discussing Congressional intervention in Ms. Schiavo's case in a telephone call to Christian conservative activists last week, moved directly to the need for 'good judges' and his plans to end the ability of Democrats to filibuster." (Carl Hulse and David D. Kirkpatrick,NY Times 3/23/05)
Senator (and doctor) Frist didn't leave any doubt about what he meant. What about you--when you think about it, what is your interpretation of a good judge?
Public opinion polls in the past few days reflected that between 60 to 80 percent of Americans were against the government's intervention in the Schiavo case. One would think that it would make the legislators pause, at least for a while, to think. Nope. Now their ire is against bad judges. Judge James Whittemore of the Florida District Court, who ruled to let the decision by the Circuit Court (to remove Schiavo's feeding tube) stand, is reported to be a registered Republican. When I ran a search in Google most of the articles lauded his rercord. Perhaps he incurred wrath of the extremists because he was appointed during the Clinton era.
The conservatives have become rabble rousers. It is the "winner take all", "my way or no way" position that is ominous. But right now the wind is blowing their way. They have a friend in the White House and they will trample over the rest of us. Whether it is targeted tax cuts, display of the Ten Commandments in public places, women's right to choose, or teaching of creationism, the extremists are determined to push their beliefs down our throat and stand ever-ready to amend the Constitution to do it.
NY Times-Judicial Appointments
"And Dr. Frist, after discussing Congressional intervention in Ms. Schiavo's case in a telephone call to Christian conservative activists last week, moved directly to the need for 'good judges' and his plans to end the ability of Democrats to filibuster." (Carl Hulse and David D. Kirkpatrick,NY Times 3/23/05)
Senator (and doctor) Frist didn't leave any doubt about what he meant. What about you--when you think about it, what is your interpretation of a good judge?
Public opinion polls in the past few days reflected that between 60 to 80 percent of Americans were against the government's intervention in the Schiavo case. One would think that it would make the legislators pause, at least for a while, to think. Nope. Now their ire is against bad judges. Judge James Whittemore of the Florida District Court, who ruled to let the decision by the Circuit Court (to remove Schiavo's feeding tube) stand, is reported to be a registered Republican. When I ran a search in Google most of the articles lauded his rercord. Perhaps he incurred wrath of the extremists because he was appointed during the Clinton era.
The conservatives have become rabble rousers. It is the "winner take all", "my way or no way" position that is ominous. But right now the wind is blowing their way. They have a friend in the White House and they will trample over the rest of us. Whether it is targeted tax cuts, display of the Ten Commandments in public places, women's right to choose, or teaching of creationism, the extremists are determined to push their beliefs down our throat and stand ever-ready to amend the Constitution to do it.
NY Times-Judicial Appointments
