Category Archives: Shrub Watch

Estrada – The Stealth Judge Nominee

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Okay so the deal with Estrada isn’t that there’s no way to determine how the guy feels about anything, because he’s not providing any information about his record.
In fact, the root of the problem is that there’s no way to determine much about him for sure, one way or the other. He has never served as a Judge anywhere else, so there’s no way to judge him on past decisions. He’s not a scholar so there are no academic writings from which his values can be derived.
He refused to provide the Senate with a single Supreme Court Decision he disagrees with, for instance. (Yes, in the entire history of the Supreme Court.)
There simply isn’t enough information about the guy, and it appears that Estrada has been instructed by the Shrub Administration to not make any statements about anything — even to the Senate attempting to evaluate him.
“He has refused to answer any basic questions. And he has no record…
The people deserve better,” said Senator Tim Johnson (D- South Dakota)
“I hope that never again will we see this kind of stealth process.”

Estrada Debate Going On Right Now On CSPAN

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Yeah, I’m recording it….Don’t worry…And on VHS because my TiVOs so full these days. (How quaintly retro.)
Right now Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-Georgia) is really hamming it up about Estrada being Hispanic, and working his way up from nothing as an immigrant, etc. “We think you’ve come far from a lowly background…and he’s taken advantage of the opportunities that have been given to you….”
Anyway, tune in for yourself if you’re interested…

More On The Estrada Filibuster

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Democrats Prepare for Estrada Filibuster
AP story by Jesse J. Holland.

The White House on Wednesday refused to release internal Justice Department (news – web sites) memos written by one of President Bush (news – web sites)’s nominees to an important appeals court, setting up a partisan showdown over Miguel Estrada.
Democrats say they will use a filibuster to keep Estrada from being confirmed for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit until the Washington lawyer answers more of their questions. They also want internal Justice memos Estrada wrote while working for the solicitor general’s office. Democrats say those writings would reveal how Estrada would think as a judge…
Democrats said the refusal means the Estrada debate will drag on. “I regret that the White House remains recalcitrant and continues to stand in the way of a solution to this impasse,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy (news, bio, voting record) of Vermont, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee (news – web sites).
Bush said the Democratic plan to block his nominee, who would be the first Hispanic judge on the appeals courts, was “shameful politics.” Senate GOP leader Bill Frist warned Democrats that he might force them to stay in the Senate chamber at night and on weekends until he gets a final vote on Estrada.
“I think it is important for America to understand that your side of the aisle is

Let The Dems Know You Support Estrada Filibuster

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If you haven’t heard about this Estrada guy until know and it doesn’t seem like it could be that important or you would have, please keep reading.
It’s important…Promise 🙂
This just in from Move On.
You can look up your reps to call and thank them (Congressmerge — anyone know of a better lookup service?)
In any case: do it now guys! Thanks!

Responding to thousands of our calls, Democrats have just launched
a filibuster* to prevent the confirmation of Miguel Estrada to
America’s second-highest court. This filibuster is the first sign
of real resistance to extremism in Congress and the White House…
Please call your Senators now, at:
Senator Feinstein (D)
Local Phone: 310-914-7300
DC Phone: 202-224-3841
Senator Boxer (D)
Local Phone: 415-403-0100
DC Phone: 202-224-3553
If your Senator is a Democrat, say:
“Thank you for supporting the filibuster
to block the Estrada nomination.
Please speak out on the Senate floor.”
If your Senator is a Republican, say:
“Please support the filibuster to block
the Estrada nomination.”
A story on the filibuster in today’s New York Times is at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/12/politics/12ESTR.html
For more information on Estrada, there’s a good fact sheet at:
http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=7795
* For more information on filibusters, see our recent bulletin at:
http://www.moveon.org/moveonbulletin/bulletin11.html

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Shrub Caught In Lie About Visit To Houston Space Center

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He just couldn’t help himself, it sounded too good in the speech…
I’m going to have to start a new category soon just to sub-group the specific lies.
WH uncertain about previous Bush visit to space center
No record of visit by Bush as governor
For CNN.

Fleischer’s boss, communications director Dan Bartlett, worked with Bush in Texas and said a review of governor’s office records suggests he had not been to the center — at least not as governor or president.
“I have no record of him going so I’m telling you in my judgment he didn’t go as governor,” Bartlett said.
On Monday, Fleischer dismissed suggestions that Bush had not been interested in the NASA program before the Columbia crash and rejected a report that Bush had never been to the Space Center. He told reporters the president visited the facility near Houston in 1995 or 1996.
The spokesman did not know the exact date, and promised to do more research.

Please, don’t make something up on our account. Quit while you’re ahead on this one…

Fleischer said Tuesday that after further review, Bush’s staff could find no record of the visit. “Johnson Space Center says that he did not go there, and I’m not able to find the exact date. So that’s why I say it’s murky,” Fleischer said.
“To the president’s recollection, he thinks he has been there,” his spokesman said, adding that Bush’s staff from Texas also thought they recalled such a visit.
The spokesman said Bush has never seen a NASA launch or landing, in part because there are so many other beautiful things to see in the country that he has yet to explore.

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More On The Economic Hole Shrub Is Digging For Us

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Peace is prosperous! This graphic proves it. (My mirror of big image originally published here.) (Thanks, Yahoo.)

Almost three-quarters of U.S. states, led by California, face the grim task of plugging budget gaps next year, even as the sour U.S. economy digs this year’s fiscal ditches ever deeper, fresh data showed on February 4, 2003. The National Conference of State Legislatures said a survey of legislative fiscal directors showed at least 36 states would have to cover a collective shortfall of some $68.5 billion as they prepare their 2004 spending plans. (Reuters Graphic)

Do The Math: We Will Never Recover Financially From Shrub Economics

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(My mirror of a large version of this graphic)
If you’re up for walking through an intelligent mathematical proof of this concept, Brad DeLong was nice enought to prepare one just for you:
I Really Cannot Understand Why Anyone Would Do This.

Now–one year later–things are very different indeed! The numbers in the back of the 2004 Budget documents project that the budget year that began when Clinton was still President will be America’s last surplus year, ever. The policies proposed in the 2004 Budget are projected to see the deficit widen steadily to 17.5 percent of GDP by 2050. By that date debt held by the public is projected to be 229.4 percent of GDP–a debt and deficit level that no economy could possibly sustain.

It’s A Right-Wing Hate Fest Baby!

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Shock troops for Bush
Partisans of the extreme right gathered outside of Washington this weekend to cheer on Cheney and Coulter — and vent their rage at the liberals who rule America.
By Michelle Goldberg for Salon.

It was another year at CPAC, ground zero of the vast right-wing conspiracy, the place where in 1994 Paula Jones was first introduced to the world. This year marks CPAC’s 30th anniversary, but not since the Reagan presidency has its agenda meshed so easily with that of the White House, which honored the event by sending both Cheney and Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao to speak. Republican National Committee chairman Marc Racicot, House Majority Whip Tom DeLay of Texas, Senate Whip Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and a bevy of other Republican congressmen were also there, cheered by hordes of college boys in blue blazers, soign

Virginian Republicans Challenge Womens’ Reproductive Rights

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Note: this is going on in Virginia. Not up in D.C.
Nevertheless — heads up people!
Get ready for a full on attack on a woman’s right to choose in the months to come.
5 Antiabortion Bills Advance in House
By Steven Ginsberg for the Washington Post.

Virginia’s House of Delegates approved a bill today that would allow health care workers to invoke a “conscience clause” if they wish to avoid participating in abortion or birth control procedures.
The measure was among five abortion limits that cleared various stages in the General Assembly, and activists on both sides of the issue said they were predicting a landmark year for abortion regulation in Virginia…
…The Senate narrowly upheld Warner’s late-term veto last year, but abortion opponents said they believe they have the votes to override one this year.
Despite the possibility of several new restrictions, abortion rights activists were pleased with the defeat of the clinic regulation bill, because they said its tough regulations would have forced most abortion clinics to close.
“It was the most important vote in the General Assembly so far on whether abortion rights would still be available to the women of Virginia,” said Bennet Greenberg, director of government relations at Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia, an abortion rights group.
Sen. Ken Cuccinelli (R-Fairfax), sponsor of the bill, said he would try to “come up with an alternate scheme that would improve the health and safety in those clinics. It can be done, and it can be done in this session.”…
“There’s been nothing like this, this wave of anti-choice legislation,” Sen. Janet D. Howell (D-Fairfax) said…

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