Dan at Pruning Shears writes:

H. Candace Gorman is “a civil rights/human rights lawyer in Chicago who is representing two Guantánamo detainees pro bono.” Here is the latest on her Kafkaesque trip through our extralegal nonjudicial system for detainees:

Pravda buries the lead:

Allies [of departing White House counsel Gregory Craig] also note that he oversaw the successful confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court and praised him for trying to keep Obama in synch with some of the ideologically liberal ideas he promoted in the campaign.

McClatchy called their shot on this "Rahmian act of public humiliation" back in September.

On a separate thread where folks are discussing possible legal challenges health care bill, I said I'd look around to see if there have been any challenges to Massachusetts mandatory coverage law and how they fared. This is by no means comprehensive:

Mass.
Against the Mass. law, I could find only one challenge and that was thrown out on what seem to be procedural grounds rather than on the merits. (I can't find the slip op. online to confirm).

Tea Party Challenges

I'm playing the world's smallest violin. And at this time, I think it a propos to quote, once more, Michael Lewis:

Rumor No. 1: “Goldman Sachs controls the U.S. government.”

Every time we hear the phrase “the United States of Goldman Sachs” we shake our heads in wonder. Every ninth-grader knows that the U.S. government consists of three branches. Goldman owns just one of these outright; the second we simply rent, and the third we have no interest in at all. (Note there isn’t a single former Goldman employee on the Supreme Court.)

No Associated Press content was harmed in the writing of this post

Believe it or not, Harriet Miers, Inerrant Boy's latest attempt to drown another instiution, this time the Supreme Court, has never served as a judge.

So why'd Bush nominate her? Still trying to win approval from Babs?

"[BUSH] Harriet's greatest inspiration was her mother..."

Gag.

Pass the treacle!

UPDATE Let's ignore the winger frothing and stamping. And let's ignore the easy cheap shot that Miers, like Cheney (and Napoleon) crowned herself—in charge of the search, she determined she was the best. (No notion of conflict of interest with Republicans; it's lost to the Republican conscience, along with the duty of care.) No, what Bush did was put his consigliere on the Court that should, if there is any justice, try Him.

I've been noticing two distinct camps over at dKos and I've been struggling to come up with what to call them. The only thing I could think of is "Liberal Elitists" vs "The Rabble". I hate to use a term culled from Republican Propaganda but it fits like a glove. If anyone can come up with something better let me know.

The recent discussions about Senator Obama's post about John Roberts and debate over the Anti-War Protests brought this into focus for me. RenaRF's post today in response to Obama was brilliant and passionate. But she's catching some flak from the Liberal Elitists.

The Beltway Democrats

In his post, Barack Obama made obvious he has internalized many of the principles espoused by Beltway Democrats:

Elect Us Now, We'll Stand up for You Later

Since the absurdity that is the "Intelligent Design" crusade currently targeting the Dover School District of my home state is on the front page of The NYTimes, and also since I'm not feeling so well, this seemed as good a time as any to re-visit the post I put up last November about this issue. As the Times article says:

"What happens here could influence communities across the country that are considering whether to teach intelligent design in the public schools, and the case, regardless of the verdict, could end up before the Supreme Court."

ID posits, not a "scientific theory", but a philosophical and theological question: was life created by an animating force with self-awareness and intent? And because this is a question for clerics and philosophers, it simply doesn't belong in a science classroom. Fini.

Now.
Set the Wayback Machine to November 21, 2004---