Real Numbers in the Filibuster Debate

From AP:

During President Bush's first term, Democrats filibustered 10 nominees to federal appeals courts and have said they will do so again this year for the seven that Bush renominated. As of late March, the Senate had confirmed 204 judges chosen by Bush, according to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

And, thanks to Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) for this often overlooked tidbit:

...he noted that Republicans prevented votes on many of President Clinton's choices for the federal bench.

"The Republicans' hands aren't clean on this either. What we did with Bill Clinton's nominees - about 62 of them - we just didn't give them votes in committee or we didn't bring them up," Hagel said.

Republican hands are not clean. Not even close. Everything Frist and company say about the constitutional aspect to this discussion is plain garbage. The nuclear option is the GOP payoff to the Theocrats. It's that simple, unfortunately. Read the rest of this post...

More on the Ohio GOP Rare Coin Scandal

The Toledo Blade has been doing great work on the growing Ohio GOP rare-coin scandal, a.k. "coin-gate." Sometimes, when you hear about scandals, you wonder if they will lead anywhere. This one has "legs."

In case you missed it earlier, the Ohio Workers Compensation Fund invested $50 million in a rare coin fund...which is considered a very risky investment. The person who controls the fund is Tom Noe who is a major, major player in the Ohio GOP. He's close to all the big names out there, has contributed hundreds of thousands to the state party and major candidates. And, he was a Bush Pioneer.

The Toledo Blade first broke the rare-coin story in early April. Then, it turned out that 121 of the coins purchased by Ohio were missing. Gets even better.

Apparently, Tom Noe, the major GOP fundraiser/Bush "pioneer" with whom the state of Ohio invested $50 million in a rare-coin fund, failed to tell the authorities that 121 of the coins were missing. The coins were allegedly stolen in Colorado:

"What's frustrating to me is I'm getting information from so many other people, but no legitimate victim … has ever called me with further information or further concerns," said Jennifer Gilmore, an investigator for the Jefferson County, Colo., sheriff's office.

"I get information from [The Blade] that there's 119 additional coins missing, but no one has ever called us to make a report of it or to add this to it. We would be more than happy to look into that for them."

An official at the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation - the agency that gave Mr. Noe $50 million to buy rare coins as investments for the state - said Friday the bureau also is concerned. A bureau spokesman said Mr. Noe took almost a year before informing them - in an audit report - of the loss of 119 of the coins.

And, the spokesman said, the state didn't learn until being informed by Blade reporters in March that two additional gold coins also were missing, two of the most valuable rare coins purchased for the state by an employee of Mr. Noe's at a cost of $250,000.

Maybe if you're Tom Noe the rules are different. He is, after all, good pals with the hierarchy of the GOP in Ohio. And sounds like he is an arrogant prick to boot:

Mr. Noe acknowledged on Friday that he has not contacted police about the state's rare coins that went missing in October, 2003.

"We are finalizing a forensic accounting at this time, [and] when it's time, we'll turn it over to the Colorado authorities," said the Maumee coin dealer and prominent local Republican fund-raiser. "I think once we give them what we have, it will make the investigation very easy. We're the experts in the coin business and they are not."

Mr. Noe has an extensive GOP pedigree. He is extremely close to Blackwell, Voinovich and Taft. And, obviously, he played a role in "delivering" the state to Bush last fall. Typical GOP fatcat:

Ohio's inspector general has launched an investigation into Mr. Noe's rare-coin investments for the Bureau of Workers' Compensation. He is also under investigation by the FBI and the U.S. Justice Department for allegedly violating campaign finance laws involving contributions to President Bush's re-election campaign.

Ohio is completely controlled by the Republican Party (much like the Federal Government.) The state is a fiscal mess. Rare-coins are a glaring example of corrupt policies that can bankrupt a state. Read the rest of this post...

Open Thread

What do you know? Read the rest of this post...

Don Sherwood: Stud

This man's a charmer?

Read the Times-Leader interview with Congressman Sherwood's 29 year old "acquaintance" (that's his word, not hers):

“We went to movies, dinners,” Ore said. “He is very charming, very gentleman. The wine and roses – that got me. I’m not someone to sleep around. With Don, it was exclusive.”

and

“He always said you’re my No. 1,” Ore said. “He got on his knees many times just to kiss my hand. He called me his angel.”

Um, ick, comes to mind. And besides, ick, he's another creepy Republican hypocrite. Read the rest of this post...

Bush making it all about himself again

I make it a point not to watch the news when it involves Bush because it's always the same thing with the canned questions, the canned answers and the hand-picked crowd fawning all over him in scenes that compare to any fabricated propaganda program from any tin pot dictator or totalitarian government. Some democracy we've evolved into. This AP story from yesterday's visit to Latvia certainly sounds like the Bush that we all know but I'm wondering if it was truly as bad as it sounds. If only he took questions to easily from our own press.

After Bush finished, Vike-Freiberga then explained that they would take four questions — one for each president. Again, Bush tried to interrupt, saying, "Or you can have all four questions to me," knowing that foreign reporters usually want to use the opportunity to probe the U.S. president.

Vike-Freiberga ignored the remark as she called on a Latvian journalist, and Bush threw his arms up and looked to help from aides offstage. The Latvian journalist said he would prefer to question the U.S. leader, and Bush responded, "Yeah, I thought that might be the case."

Read the rest of this post...

More Dirt on "Anti-gay" Mayor West

Man, this story is ugly and getting creepier. AP has details.

Mayor West sure represents GOP family values. And, remember, he's not gay. Read the rest of this post...

Nuclear Option This Week

Major papers seem to think this is the week of the nuclear option. And, when you read the articles one thing is clear: It is all about the theocracy. This issue is being driven by radical religious leaders who want to impose their extreme views on the rest of us.

NY Times reports:

With the Senate clock ticking toward a momentous procedural clash over judicial nominees, lawmakers and advocates on each side are readying a final push to win over the few uncommitted lawmakers and frame the fight to their best political advantage.

Beginning Monday, when both Republicans and Democrats will mark the four-year anniversary of President Bush's initial round of nominations, the parties and their allies will follow a day-by-day schedule of demonstrations, legislative maneuvers and other public events in anticipation of an imminent floor showdown.

With the climax nearing, the tone of the debate is escalating. A radio address taped by three Christian conservative leaders for broadcast Monday called the judiciary "the last playground of the liberal left." In the address, James C. Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, described the fight as the tipping point of the Bush presidency. "Nothing good took place last November, only the potential for something good," Dr. Dobson said.

Washington Post focuses on some of the radical religious groups leading the charge:

In his home town of Pearland, Tex., Baptist minister Rick Scarborough was tireless in promoting his conservative Christian way of thinking.

He attacked high school sex education courses, experimental medical treatments and transsexuals trying to change their gender identification. He recruited like-minded candidates to run for the local school board and city council. He crisscrossed the country to protest the ousting of Roy S. Moore, former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, for installing a Ten Commandments tablet at his courthouse. And Scarborough created a network of "Patriot Pastors" to lead evangelicals to the polls in 2004.

Now he has set his sights on bigger stakes: pushing Senate Republicans to change the rules so that Democrats cannot block President Bush's judicial nominees. The fight over the judgeships was once a largely academic argument over the constitutionality of the filibuster. But now it provides a fiery new front in the culture war. And Scarborough is emblematic of the Christian right leaders who have been drawn to the fray.

Scarborough and other grass-roots conservative religious leaders believe the federal courts are trouncing Christian values on marriage, abortion and other right-to-life issues raised in the Terri Schiavo case. While he lacks the name recognition of more prominent religious activists, such as James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council and evangelist Pat Robertson, Scarborough is a potent force with close ties to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) and influential Senate conservatives.

Trouncing Christian Values? This is all about the creating the theocracy. The judiciary is the only thing standing in their way. There's not a lot of room in the right wing world for gays, women, progressive, open thinking, contraceptives, the list goes on and on.... Read the rest of this post...

Sunday Morning Open Thread

A lot of dog comments yesterday...so here he is:



Great little guy...came from the pound five years ago...and promptly took over.

News? Read the rest of this post...

New species of mammal found in Borneo

This is seriously cool. It seems as though we too often read about animals that disapppear but this time it's good news. The downside is that this fox has been discovered in a forest that is scheduled to be cut down but there is growing optimism that this new discovery could help save this forest. The Indonesian government is now discussing a conservation area together with Brunei and Malaysia. Read the rest of this post...

Church News....

As the theocrats gear up for the "nuclear option" which we've all been told is all about religion, here are two great stories from the world of religion:

In North Carolina, a church is kicking out anyone who didn't vote for George Bush. Huh? you say...it's true according to the Associated Press:

Some in Pastor Chan Chandler's flock wish he had a little less zeal for the GOP.

Members of the small East Waynesville Baptist Church say Chandler led an effort to kick out congregants who did not support President Bush. Nine members were voted out at a Monday church meeting in this mountain town about 120 miles west of Charlotte. Forty others in the 400-member congregation resigned in protest.

"He's the kind of pastor who says 'Do it my way or get out,' " said Selma Morris, the former church treasurer. "He's real negative all the time."

Chandler told WLOS-TV in Asheville on Friday that the actions were not politically motivated, but on Saturday he refused to comment, citing the advice of his attorney.

Not politically motivated? Huh? you say again. How can it be anything but politically motivated. Is the Pastor telling the truth?

Here's the only response -- Yank their tax-exempt status:

The head of the North Carolina Democratic Party sharply criticized the pastor Friday, saying Chandler jeopardized his church's tax-free status by openly supporting a candidate for president.

"If these reports are true, this minister is not only acting extremely inappropriately by injecting partisan politics into a house of worship, but he is also potentially breaking the law," Chairman Jerry Meek said.

This story from Ohio is especially disturbing. There are some sick minds at work out there. Someone needs to contact the new boss, Pope Ratzi, and see what he thinks about this atrocious behavior in the Toledo Diocese as reported in the Toledo Blade:

The Toledo Catholic Diocese is stepping up its efforts to defeat a bill that would rewrite Ohio's statutes of limitations for victims of child sexual abuse.

Bishop Leonard Blair sent a letter to diocesan priests this week stating that Senate Bill 17 "should be of serious concern to all of us," and urged them to contact their state representatives to voice opposition to the legislation.

The legislation would extend the statute of limitations from 2 years to 20 years after the victim reaches the age of 18. So, yes, the Catholic Church is fighting a bill designed to aid victims of their abuse. That's right, pay no attention to the victims....it is amazing that the Catholic Church still just can't take responsibility for its pedophiles.

Theocrats. Scary. Read the rest of this post...