One of the more bizarre Senate republicans is Orrin Hatch of Utah, a guy whom when he ran the Judiciary Committee would not have known the truth if it bit him in the ass. In fact, unlike Arlen Specter, who made Abu Gonzales at least show up unsworn to lie to the committee about all the 1600 Crew felonies, would have let Gonzales literally "phone it in".
During the committee hearings today concerning Feingold's censure motion Oral Orrin had the Rove-inspired cojones to accuse Democrats on the Judiciary Committe of being politically motivated. Now that's comedy.
"Quit trying to score political points," Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, shot across the aisle at committee Democrats.
Yeah, between him and Huckleberry Graham it's a wonder that the entire republican caucus did not get down on their knees and thank Jeebus for the opportunity to defend the shredding of the Bill of Rights and the issue of Republican Neuticles courtesy of Unka Karl. If they could get his dick out of their mouths long enough.
Hatch was a more one-dimensional figure when he arrived in the senate almost 30 years ago. A fire-and-brimstone values crusader, he introduced a constitutional amendment to overturn Roe v. Wade and was prone to saying things like, "Democrats are the party of homosexuals." In his early career, he routinely tallied one of the most conservative Senate voting records. His intensity rankled even his GOP colleagues, one of whom later admitted he thought Hatch was an egomaniac with an irritating "save-the-world complex."
But that helped him score points in the GOP as a reliable attack dog. During the Iran-Contra hearings, no one defended Oliver North and the Reagan White House more stubbornly. And during Clarence Thomas's 1991 confirmation battle, no one trashed Anita Hill with more zest. (Among other things, Hatch bizarrely suggested Hill might have lifted her famous tale about pubic hair and Coke from The Exorcist.)
Why yessir, that Orrin Hatch. I suspect that the Morons of Utah will keep returning his stupid ass to the Senate if only to beat Strom Thurmond's record for longevity. After all, no nasty Southern Baptist should be able to out-senile a Moron, right?
Oh, and here's his take on a blow-job and impeachment.
Of great concern to me is what the standard should be for impeachment in this and future trials. The President's Counsel has argued that the President can only be removed for constituting, what Oliver Wendell Holmes termed in free speech cases, a "clear and present danger." It was contended that a President can only be removed if he is a danger to the Constitution. As such, according to the President's Counsel, removable conduct must relate to egregious conduct related to performance in office. Even if the House's allegation -- that President Clinton committed acts of perjury and obstruction of justice is proven true -- it was argued -- than such behavior does not rise to impeachable offenses because it was private, not public, conduct. In this case an inappropriate sexual relation with a subordinate employee -- was the predicate of the charged offenses.
But such a standard establishes an impossibly high bar as to render impotent the impeachment clauses of the Constitution. I hope that no matter the outcome of this trial, President Clinton's view of what constitutes an impeachable offense does not become precedent. If it does, I fear the moral framework of our Republic will be frayed. If it does, the legitimacy of our institutions may very well become tattered. It would create the paradox of being able to convict and jail an official for committing, let's say, homicide, but not to be able to remove that official from holding positions of public trust. Committing crimes of moral turpitude, such as perjury and obstruction of justice, go to the very heart of qualification for public office.
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...Impeachment is thus seen by many scholars as a means of removing unqualified office holders.
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But I must emphasize that even if the President's Counsel is correct in that private acts unrelated to performance in office are not impeachable offenses, I believe the gravamen of what President Clinton committed are public, not private, acts that are unambiguous breaches of public trust. Perjury and particularly obstruction of justice are conduct that attack the very veracity of our justice system. (Furthermore, I vehemently disagree that the underlying conduct was a purely private concern because the conduct involved a federal employee in a work environment).
Lying under oath, hiding evidence, and tampering with witnesses destroy the truth-finding function of our investigatory and trial system. Perjury and obstruction of justice are particularly pernicious if committed by a President of the United States, who has sworn pursuant to the oath of office to protect the Constitution and laws of the United States. Whether perjury and obstruction of justice can be considered private or public acts is of no moment. They are twin "high crimes" harming the political order and requiring impeachment and removal from office.
I sure am glad that Orrin never went for any politically-motivated actions to be mean to a sitting president. Or expended his energy in politically-motivated rhetoric about blow-jobs. Raping the Constitution publically? Fine by him, as long as it's his republican pals doing the deed.
I guess that to him, a republican Preznit who breaks the law is just, well, Okey-be-dokey. In all his long years that Orrin has warmed a seat in the Senate Chamber he has learned the one most-invioble rule: You don't Shit where you Eat.
Yeah, it's Death Squad Days in Iraq. Gosh Golly, who would have thought that an administration stocked with the remnants of adminstrations from Nixon to Bush 1 would be egging on the development of Death Squads as Foreign Policy.
The U.S. ambassador urged Iraq's divided leaders to rein in militias on Saturday as political blocs failed again to break a deadlock on forming a unity government that they hope can avert civil war.
... "More Iraqis are dying from the militia violence than from the terrorists," he told reporters during a visit to a Baghdad youth center newly renovated with U.S. funds.
"The militias need to be under control." my emphasis
Yeah, we're doing good over there...rebuilding power plants, painting schools, fomenting democracy and goddamn...encouraging the development of Death Squads as Foreign Policy. We've seen this movie before. What's the difference between an "insurgent" and a "death squad"? Seems that it's whether or not your ultimate nominal leader is Osama bin Forgotten, or Preznit Sniffin' D. Coke
Goodness, now all we need is a never-ending war, a breakin at a swanky hotel and Preznit who thinks he's above the law...
The FBI, while waging a highly publicized war against terrorism, has spent resources gathering information on anti-war and environmental protesters, and activists who feed vegetarian meals to the homeless, the agency's internal memos show.
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He stressed that the agency targets individuals who commit crimes and does not single out groups for ideological reasons.
The FBI's encounters with activists are described in hundreds of pages of documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union under the Freedom of Information Act.
"Any definition of terrorism that would include someone throwing a bottle or rock through a window during an anti-war demonstration is dangerously overbroad," said Ben Wizner, an attorney with the ACLU. "The FBI will have its hands full pursuing anti-war groups instead of truly dangerous organizations."
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ACLU attorneys say the FBI documents show the agency has monitored groups that were not suspected of any crimes.
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An FBI counterterrorism official showed 35 slides listing militia, neo-Nazi and Islamicist groups. Senior Spec. Agent Charles Rasner said that one slide, titled "Anarchism," listed groups an analyst thought people intent on terrorism might associate with. It included Food Not Bombs, which mainly serves vegetarian food to homeless people, and, with a question mark next to it, Indymedia, a Web site featuring articles written by radical journalists and activists.
COINTELPRO. For those of us old enough to remember those bad old days, it makes me shudder. Perhaps, like the aftermath of the bad old days of Nixxon, Congress will pass legislation restricting the actions of the Executive Branch once the Village Idiot goes home either in disgrace or via statutory means. Or, given the way Congress is these days perhaps they'll just vote themselves all medals and cash awards and go home forever returning only for lucrative lobbying gigs when the cash runs low.
It seems that the Christofacists are kind of upset because they aren't getting all their wishes in a 'timely' fashion.
Social-conservative groups have warned Republicans that their voters feel unappreciated and frustrated with Congress and that the party must get more aggressive on such values issues as marriage, human cloning, religious freedom and abortion if they want a decent turnout from the conservative base in November.
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Leading conservative activists have been sounding off lately, frustrated that since 2004, when their voters turned out in force to help President Bush win re-election, the Republican Party has backed off the values issues. A constitutional amendment against homosexual "marriage" failed in 2004 to get the required two-thirds majority in both houses.
"I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Let's address values issues," wrote conservative activist Gary Bauer last week in a memo to friends and supporters, noting that 19 states have amended their state constitutions to protect marriage with an average approval vote of 70 percent, yet many lawmakers still shy away.
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On tap for action in the Senate, Republican aides confirmed, is an anti-flag-burning amendment ...
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"Just those three alone -- marriage, abortion and religious freedom ... that would be really exciting to our grass roots, and it'd probably ensure that the Republicans keep the House and Senate," Mr. Backlin said.
I have to believe that as politically active as they are, and as much as the "average" American self-identifies as being a believer in the pleasant delusion of a life-after-death existance, the core hatred and self-loathing espoused by the Christofascist American Taliban goes too far for most Americans. I have to believe that, because somehow, some way even the most nutcase politicians seem to reject the worst of the worst American Taliban hate-filled legislation.
Oh, and that whole flag-burning thing that was Duke Cunningham's baby...wonder how long that's gonna last? Again.
