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Today, Connecticut became the first state to recognize civil unions between homosexuals without a court order. I think it is a step out of the Dark Ages and the acknowledgement that all people are equal before the law.

As you can see, Justice is truly blind, and her scales are balanced; therefore, it is unfair to say that one group has a right that another group doesn't.

Only 47 more states left to go!

Rita and John

Well, we lived through another hurricane. I wonder when the other will stop by. I guess we need to focus our attention back onto the distant Atlantic Ocean for the first sign of it. I'm sure there is a tropical depression out there somewhere!

Also, this week, we have the Senate confirmation of John Roberts. I guess he will be the next chief justice!

When's George gonna give us his next nominee?

Republicans Abandon Fletcher!

The Kentucky Republican Committee today abandoned Ernie Fletcher. Fletcher had called this past week for the dismissal of Republican Chairman Darrell Brock, but today the committee voted that the chairman will keep his position!

This really was one of the final nails in Fletcher's tenure as governor of Kentucky. You know it's really bad when a political party's committee doesn't listen to its most powerful son!

Ha! Ha!

The Pledge

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

To me, even with under God in it, I felt like I was droning out some fascist salute! I have to say when I was in school I always stood but I never said the words. I was offended by the fact I was required to stand and swear my allegiance to something. It was nonconsensual!

I agree the words under God should be stricken from the pledge if everyone insists it be said; however, we could just strike the archaic practice from our schools altogether, and then we don't have to worry about its verbiage!

Period.

Bush's Move

Well, when is George going to give us his nominee for associate justice? It's only two weeks until the Supreme Court is back in session!

What's he waiting for?

Ernie

Interestingly, I keep my attention on the national scene, but I have been following the Ernie scandal. I have to make a comment now about it!

Ernie Fletcher stood for election in 2003 and won making him the first Republican governor in 2 decades. Now, with all of this responsibility Republicans allegedly bring, it would seem he has made a muck of his office! He set the platform that the corruption in Frankfort would end, but instead, he has now made former Governor Paul Patton look like a pretty nice guy.

"The 'good-ole boys' system" of government in Frankfort was supposed to have been an infamous part of our state's past, but it seems that Fletcher took this system, that he berated as a sin of the previous Democratic administrations, and abused it to the n-th degree!

Ernie, I remember your cute little commercial about the hot pants, and how Kentucky was stuck in the old days of corrupt Democratic governors, but now it seems we are stuck in the new, stupid days of a Republican administration that has failed the people of the Commonwealth. Get it right, Ernie! At least Democrats know how to keep it on the low-down, beneath the table where it belongs!

Personally, I voted for Ben Chandler, who I believe would have made a very good governor (even if he is a Democrat)! Out of all the previous governors of Kentucky, he seemed to have the most dignified vision for a new direction!

So, in November 2007, we'll elect a Democratic governor and return Kentucky to its rightful path--as a progressive state!

:)

Halliburton

Halliburton got some nice post-Katrina contracts with the federal government! Good for them! I know that Vice President Dick Cheney had nothing to do with that happening; just like those billions of dollars in contracts in post-Saddam Iraq!

How could you even think that?!

FEMA

Well, the Bush Administration has its Katrina scape-goat: Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Mike Brown! He resigned!

Bad man! Bad man!

Homeland Security

Due to the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina, we have learned that the Department of Homeland Security is prepared to deal with any natural disaster like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off. They were so disorganized and inept! And the damned storm was coming on shore for days! We saw it coming ahead of time. They had time to prepare for any contingency and they fucked up. They had absolutely no idea who was even in charge of the operations! And that should be the most simple of all things to figure out and plan. Imagine how disorganized and disjointed they will be when the terrorists come back for us again! I rue the day already!

Kudos to those in charge of keeping us safe! Thanks guys!

September 11

It's hard to believe that four years ago I was glued to the television. We were subjected to seeing those towers fall over-and-over on all the major networks. We really didn't understand what was happening, or at least I didn't.

Four years ago, I remember my mother waking me around 9-ish to tell me that we were under attack by someone. She said buildings are falling in New York and planes are crashing all over the United States. I remember scrambling out of the bed and turning on the television to see what was happening. For a few days, I supported anything George Bush did (it's funny now, of course); I was scared and confused!

Looking at where we are today, September 11, 2005, I am confused by the whole ordeal. I understand there are terrorists cells around the globe. I understand wealthy people despise us as a nation, our ideals, our beliefs. I understand these people must be dealt with for our own national security, through the partnerships of our allies. I do not understand, however, the war in Iraq. How did we go from nationless terrorist organizations, like al-Queda, to dominating a country such as Iraq.

From 9/11, we have become an imperialist nation. There is no doubt about it. George Bush has said himself that the United States will spread democracy around the globe. The irony of this statement is that democracy is being forced on these people. Democracy is a choice, through elections and policies that allow for a free and just society. Iraq is not a democracy. It will never be a democracy as it exists now. Sure, it may seem "democratic" on the surface with its elections and constitutional conventions, but inside the heart of the nation it still breathes and exists as an Islamic state. Such states cannot co-exist with the principles of democracy.

In short, the legacy of those thousands of Americans who died on this day four years ago is this: terrorism is alive and well! America is an imperial master now. We invade sovereign nations and force change upon them.

This is not legacy I want!

Roberts' Hearings

Tomorrow, the Senate finally gets down to business on the confirmation hearing of John Roberts as the next chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. It seems that my original prediction that Mr. Roberts would fill the vacancy left by Justice O'Connor was incorrect. King George better get himself in gear and nominate someone to replace Justice O'Connor. I have a sneaking suspicion that he may be "swaying" Sandra Day O'Connor to stay on for an extra term on the Court. But it seems that predictions, where George is concerned, come out a bit different.

I guess that is what happens when a lovable liberal tries to predict a conservative maniac! =o)

C-SPAN2 tomorrow!

Katrina Confusion

I think that the downfall of this whole operation will come from the inability to figure out who is in charge. FEMA was in charge, but it's not anymore! But isn't FEMA part of the Department of Homeland Security? Who knows, right? Now they have a Coast Guard admiral in charge of the whole thing. Who does he answer to? God only knows!

Chief Justices of the Supreme Court through History

I did a little research. I found out that the United States has only had 16 chief justices in its history. I also discovered that out of those 16 only 5 were elevated from the position of associate justice of the Supreme Court; the rest were nominated by the president fresh off the street. Now, I concede that I can't make much out of this fact. I can, however, point out that out of these appointees all of them were a tad older than Mr. Roberts, with the exception of two: John Jay and John Marshall. And anyone who is a student of politics knows that John Roberts is not in league with John Jay and John Marshall!

Here is a list of chief justices of the Supreme Court of the United States:

• John Jay, Washington, 1789-1795, age: 43
• John Rutledge, Washington, 1795-1795, age: 55
• Oliver Ellsworth, Washington, 1796-1800, age: 58
• John Marshall, Adams, J., 1801-1835, age: 45
• Roger Taney, Jackson, 1836-1864, age: 59
• Salmon P. Chase, Lincoln, 1864-1873, age: 56
• Morrison Waite, Grant, 1874-1888, age: 57
• Melville Fuller, Cleveland, 1888-1910, age: 55
• Edward D. White, Taft, 1910-1921, age: 65
• William H. Taft, Harding, 1921-1930, age: 63
• Charles Hughes, Hoover, 1930-1941, age: 68
• Harlan Stone, Roosevelt, F., 1941-1946, age: 68
• Fred Moore Vinson, Truman, 1946-1953, age: 63
• Earl Warren, Eisenhower, 1953-1969, age: 62
• Warren Burger, Nixon, 1969-1986, age: 61
• William Rehnquist, Reagan, 1986-2005, age: 61

As you can see, the chief justices appointed in the 20th century were all 10+ years older than John Roberts. The examples of chief justices being younger are all from the 18th and 19th centuries. This will all be interesting. I plan on sharing this information with my conservative US senators in the coming days. I know, too, that I will get that lovable form letter that starts, "Thank you for writing to share your opinion, but...." Basically, that's their way of saying "fuck off!"

One day!

Screwed Priorities

I have heard over and over the desolation and desperation in New Orleans. I have heard the horror stories of how people have gone for days now without any food or water. This morning I heard the story of the man who left his hellish motel room to venture out to find food for his child. He arrived at a Dollar General store a little way from the motel. Instead of the police out gathering up decomposing bodies and dealing with the gangs of thugs armed to the teeth, they were there protecting the Dollar General. How sad is that? Sufficed to say, the man got nothing for his starving family except a laceration to his head from the butt of a policeman's gun.

First of all, Dollar General and all those stores are insured to the eyeballs against theft and destruction of their property. So anything stolen or damaged will be replaced. If I owned Dollar General, a supermarket, a local market, or any type of store, I would say to the police, "Let them have it. There's no point guarding things that people need in order to survive. There's no need to cause any more harm and humiliation to these distraught people."

In the end, it will be these horror stories that will last far beyond the wake of Katrina's desolation. People denied life, for profit. That's the saddest story of all!

Think about it!

WTF!

Okay, I just confirmed through CNN that what the BBC reported is true. I guess you can't even afford to sleep anymore in this country. I guess holidays are no longer safe!

Who has ever heard of this happening before? Maybe I should do more research and discover that every chief justice of the Supreme Court was nominated straight off of the street. (But I really don't think so!)

What next?

Ummm...wtf?

Okay, CNN never said this, to my knowledge, but I just read on my old-faithful back-up, BBC.co.uk, that King George has nominated John Roberts to be the next chief justice!

That is simply preposterous! Who ever heard of a greenhorn getting to go from an unknown to the chief of the highest court in the land. Talk about animosity among your colleagues! Frankly, there is no way in hell this can happen. I was all prepared for Scalia to step up the ladder (even if he is the most conservative member on the Court). I am honestly outraged. The youngest sitting member on the Court was 15 years old when Roberts was born! I'd be pissing in my judicial robe!

Okay, maybe I should find out for sure. One place I could find out is whitehouse.gov.

Middle East Generosity

How about instead of the Middle Eastern countries giving us money for this disaster they give us a break on the price of crude oil?

We could fly those helicopters for a lot cheaper and transport those displaced people a lot more easily for half the price!

Think about it!

Scalia

I bet top dollar that Associate Justice Scalia will be the next chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Mark my words!

Crisis Management

I believe everyone (mostly) remembers the tsunami. I know that was over eight months ago, so it places a strain on the typical American to remember such great lengths of time. During this natural disaster, it was said the world would not forget. I believe that for the most part it has. I remember all of the relief efforts, but those are all now gone or quietly under the radar. There were governments all over the world that gave generously to help the survivors of this natural disaster, including the United States. There were gifts made by the private sector, including individual American citizens.

Today, we are faced with another similar crisis in our own backyard. There are hundreds-of-thousands of Americans displaced from their homes and communities because of last week's devastating category 5 hurricane, Katrina. I believe it is important that every American who can get involved in this relief effort. If it is from volunteering your time or simply making a monetary donation. Last night, I made my contribution by giving money to the relief efforts. Although, I cannot be there to help personally, I have given some of my personal resources to help the hungry and homeless people.

Everyone has a voice. Use it to help those less fortunate.

Change

It seems now that we are faced with even more problems than we were one week ago. If we can remember back that far, we will recall that Katrina was just a bleep on a radar screen heading toward the Gulf coast. The United States had not yet been plunged into turmoil and strife. Although, I believe, we have made great gains on the Katrina issue. The government has finally stepped up to accept responsibility for the lives of those displaced. There was only one candidate for the US Supreme Court. Today, we wake up to find that now there will be three confirmation hearings in the Senate over the next few weeks: two for associate justice and one for chief justice. Unfortunately, Bush will be able to leave his mark on this highest court, but I believe that the battle will be hard pressed. I even heard someone say that since the US was already facing a battle against New Orleans and the Senate should go easy on Bush's nominees so they can divert their full attention to the other crisis along the Gulf. That's very funny, actually. They are living in the Twilight Zone if they believe that. I know fully well that the Senate Democrats are not going to give Bush's nominees carte blanche. The decisions made the Supreme Court will be far reaching and have greater impact on this nation, over the long term, than any storm could! So, we will not go easy into that good night! We will rage against the dying of the light! :)