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Things are going from bad to worse at the Bush Department of Homeland Security. Do not be fooled by DHS chief Michael Chertoff's tough-sounding rhetoric. While the Washington muckety-mucks pay lip service to reforming the nation's broken detention and deportation system, catch-and-release of immigration lawbreakers remains the order of the day -- not only at the border, but all across the country's interior. The rudderless and overwhelmed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency still does not have a new chief. Which is just as well since Bush nominee Julie Myers (a nice Bush lawyer with virtually no immigration or customs...

Political cronyism has no place when it comes to public safety, and the Attorney General’s office is no place for on-the-job training David A. Crossan, Sr., Executive Director of the Republican State Committee of Delaware, issued the following statement concerning the choice before Gov. Ruth Ann Minner about whom to appoint to the office of Attorney General for the State of Delaware: “Given the immense impact the Attorney General’s office has on the safety of all Delawareans, Ruth Ann Minner is faced with a choice of great importance. She can dip into the vast legal talent and experience in Delaware...

WASHINGTON - Harriet Miers withdrew her nomination to be a Supreme Court justice Thursday in the face of stiff opposition and mounting criticism about her qualifications. Bush said he reluctantly accepted her decision to withdraw, after weeks of insisting that he did not want her to step down. He blamed her withdrawal on calls in the Senate for the release of internal White House documents that the administration has insisted were protected by executive privilege. "It is clear that senators would not be satisfied until they gained access to internal documents concerning advice provided during her tenure at the White...

President Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court has divided the conservative movement. Initially, most conservatives, but not quite all, expressed disappointment with the nomination. Since then, paths have diverged. Some conservatives, having gone on record as wishing that Bush had chosen someone else, have now migrated back into the fold, pronounced Miers a qualified candidate, and defended her nomination as the president's prerogative. Other conservatives have continued to ratchet up their attacks on Miers. Nearly every day produces yet another instance of Miers's alleged incompetence, inexperience, or suspected liberal sympathies. Some of the criticisms of Miers are...

WASHINGTON — Republican and Democratic senators called on President Bush yesterday to release documents relating to Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers' service as White House counsel, with some warning that she may not win confirmation otherwise. In discussions on television talk shows, senators of both parties said that the biggest obstacle to Miers' confirmation is a lack of information about her capabilities. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., ordinarily a Bush ally but also a social conservative who is expected to seek the GOP presidential nomination in 2008, warned that the Senate "is not a rubber stamp." "If we're to give advice...

Is Miers Pro-Wife? Here's a fascinating detail from a Reuters report on an appearance by six former Texas Supreme Court justices supporting the nomination of Harriet Miers to the U.S. Supreme Court: The six former justices, all of them men, said they had worked with Miers while she was a lawyer in Dallas and they endorsed her Supreme Court nomination. "I'd trust her with my wife and with my life," former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice John Hill told reporters on the White House driveway after a meeting with President George W. Bush. "I'd trust her with my wife"? This...

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans hope to begin confirmation hearings on Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers (search) the week of November 7, officials said Monday as President Bush sought to bolster support for her troubled appointment. Officials in both parties said Republicans have proposed a schedule for Miers' confirmation process that calls for a vote in the full Senate before Thanksgiving. It was not clear whether Democrats would agree or seek changes. "Harriet Miers is a uniquely qualified person to serve on the bench. She is smart, she is capable, she is a pioneer," the president said after meeting with the...

White House Counsel Harriet Miers reacts while speaking with Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N .Y., during a meeting to discuss her nomination to the Suprme Court Capitol Hill Monday, Oct. 17, 2005. Schumer is member of the Judiciary Committee, which will hold hearings and take the first vote on the nomination. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook)

Nice article highlighting Democrat confusion on how to handle the Miers nomination. Excerpts: "While the turmoil on the right offers Democrats a tantalizing opportunity, party strategists said, it also will confront them with a difficult choice: Confirm a conservative with close ties to President Bush, or oppose her and join ranks with hard-right activists who historically are their archenemies." and "Jim Jordan, a former presidential campaign manager for Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), agrees that Democrats will have plenty of reasons to oppose Miers, but he said some worry that Bush might replace her with a more forceful and effective...

Illegal Patronage Probe Snares Ky. Gov. By MARK R. CHELLGREN, Associated Press Writer 3 minutes ago For the past few months, Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher has been doing just about everything he can to fend off a criminal investigation into alleged political hiring-and-firing by his administration. But the investigation has steamed on, and appears to be getting closer to Fletcher himself. Eleven current or former members of his administration have been indicted so far in the probe by Kentucky's attorney general. And while there has been little or no evidence to publicly connect the governor to any wrongdoing, his efforts...

President Bush has divided conservatives with his choice of a “stealth” nominee for the Supreme Court who has no experience grappling with constitutional issues. But the conservative claim that we have insufficient guarantees that Harriet Miers is sufficiently conservative also reflects a conservative version of the kind of misunderstanding of the judiciary that liberals so frequently make. A plausible argument could be made that the greatest challenge in contemporary American politics is the restoration of judicial integrity. The only means for doing so is to appoint judges to the federal courts who are committed to applying the law as intended...

The e-mails are deeply divided and vehement on both sides. Anti-anti-Miers people want me to christen the Coaltion of Robert the Bruce and start naming names, call for the cancellation of various subscriptions, and gather Octavious Lepidus and Anthony for a list-making. The anti-Miers people want the same thing, just with different names attached. The nomination of Miers is one of three things: a brilliant move by the president; a blunder like Reagan's nominations of Justice O'Connor and Kennedy or the first Bush's of Souter; or a betrayal of the sort that occasions taking leave of the whole project. Other...

My favorite supporting character in the legendary strip, “Peanuts,” is Pigpen. His unique trait is raising a cloud of dirt everywhere, even on a clean, dry sidewalk. Pigpen came to mind when I saw the White House Press Corps’ question President Bush Wednesday on his nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. First, the status of the nomination. Monday afternoon, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid held a nearly unprecedented press conference with Harriet Miers, just hours after her nomination. Reid said that she was an “exceptional” candidate, and “the sort of person who should be nominated.” In short, the...

<p>WASHINGTON -- When in 1962 Edward Moore Kennedy ran for his brother's seat in the Senate, his opponent famously said that if Kennedy's name had been Edward Moore, his candidacy would have been a joke. If Harriet Miers were not a crony of the president of the United States, her nomination to the Supreme Court would be a joke, as it would have occurred to no one else to nominate her.</p>

The word Crony means "friend" and comes from the Greek word: "chronios", meaning "long-lasting." That could describe several things in this Maelstrom: read more

AUSTIN Governor Rick Perry has named Reece Rondon of Bellaire to be judge of the 234th district court in Harris County. Rondon will serve until the next general election, when he can opt to run for a full term. Rondon is an attorney with Andrews Kurth L-L-P, and is a former judge of the 334th district court.

MUNICH, Germany (AP) - U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton offered support Sunday for reforms to strengthen the United Nations, but also had a world of personal appreciation for U.N. chief Kofi Annan. "I also thank him for giving my husband a new job," she said, smiling. Annan recently appointed former U.S. President Bill Clinton as a special U.N. envoy to countries hit by December's Indian Ocean tsunami. Rodham Clinton was among a group of U.S. senators attending an annual security conference in Munich, where Annan was the keynote speaker Sunday. She backed his call for an overhaul of the world...