RantsCounterRants:  Senator Levin on Estrada nomination…

Tim at Notes from Atlanta posted a response he received from Senator John Kerry in regards to the Estrada nomination.

Like Tim, I’d sent also letters to my Senators expressing my dissatisfaction with the nominee and with the Bush Administration’s refusal to cooperate with Congressional requests for documentation.  The following responsive e-mail arrived today from Senator Carl Levin:

Dear Friend:

    Thank you for contacting me about the nomination of Miguel Estrada to the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

    An independent federal judiciary is a fundamental part of our constitutional democracy.  In fact, nominating judges to the federal bench is among the most important and lasting decisions that a President can make. 

    Equally important is the Senate's role of advice and consent on judicial nominations.  Senators have a constitutional duty to evaluate a President's nominees.  Part of the proper exercise of that duty requires that Senators be given adequate information to evaluate nominees. 

    Mr. Estrada was nominated by President Bush for a lifetime appointment to what is arguably the second highest court in the land.  The D.C. Circuit Court has jurisdiction over a broad range of issues, from consumer and environmental protection to civil rights and workplace rules. Despite the importance of the position to which he has been nominated, Mr. Estrada's views on fundamental constitutional issues were not provided to the Judiciary Committee and therefore the Senate itself. 

    The facts that Mr. Estrada has no judicial experience and has published little do not disqualify him.  But they do make it even more important that he be willing to discuss his views on fundamental constitutional issues and to provide the Senate with his legal memoranda.  Unless and until the Senate is given access to the information necessary for us to exercise our constitutional duty to judge his nomination, I cannot support Mr. Estrada's confirmation.

Sincerely,

Carl Levin

Thanks, Senator Levin.  Stay the course.

3:48:15 PM    comment []

Shortie Sorties – little fly-by items

Lots of small and painful shrapnel falling today.  Lots and lots -- ouch, ouch.

Oil as extortion tool for peace

If this economy sucks now, wait until they put the screws to us with oil.  It’ll hurt them, but what do they have to lose?

Supreme Court rolls over and plays dead for anti-abortion protesters

They’re not racketeers, but they’re obstructing legitimate business?  If Wal-mart or Home Depot or Sears or Disney (or some oil company) had been parties to this case, they’d probably have ruled differently.  What a load of crap and a backhanded slap in the face of women’s reproductive rights.

Aloha, Pioneer

The Pioneer 10 mission has either run out of on-board energy or been damaged in space.  It’s a sad day to have to say good-bye to one of our more noble experiments.

Don’t Senators have better things to do?

Look, Senator Miller, your constituents aren’t paying you to worry about Beverly Hillbillies-The Reality Series.  Isn’t there something more important you should be doing, like saving this economy or protecting our ecology or otherwise helping your constituency?  Or are you bucking for a reality show of your own: Zell’s Hell, or The Life of a Georgia Senator?

1:26:23 PM    comment []

See Michigan suffering...

Taken this week from the south shore of Lake Superior, about 30 miles west of Marquette.

10:51:52 AM    comment []

My Big Fat Greek Flop…

Did you catch the premiere?  Am I imagining things or was it DOA?  I’m shocked that the premiere could be so flat in front of 22 million people.  What happened?  Did Vardalos lose grip on the storyline and have to make too many twinks or too many concessions, or were too many other copywriting-cooks in the Greek kitchen?

It smelled, big time. 

Maybe I was expecting something more like “Providence” with ethnic laughs; something more subtle and easy going, yet richly textured like the Greek families I know.  I want to be able to smell the food in the kitchen and hear the chatter of cousins in the background, feel the bite of sarcastic double-entendre laced with familial sweetness.

Can Vardalos pull it out in time?  I figure she’s got the next two shows to do it.  No pressure, hmm?

10:18:40 AM    comment []