Posted on 04/21/2005 8:53:05 AM PDT by Trueblackman
On a 10-8 vote, Priscilla Owen has just gotten through the Senate Judiciary Committee. Now heads to the Senate floor for a full vote -- All up to Majority Leader Frist as to when.
Haven't they (Dems) already said they WILL filibuster Owen?
Thank you.
Come on, Dog! You should know better than to fall for all this mumbo jumbo.
Just once I'd like to see a democrat black vote for his people instead of for the "party". If Obama is a black first, then let's just watch and see if he'll walk the walk! Of course, maybe he's looking ahead and wants to be a moderate like Hillary and so will try to move to the middle!
I realize it's a big hill to climb, but the Republicans act like it's completely impossible to stand up to the opposition.
Hillary was last seen holding that lockbox, which also holds a bunch of FBI files.
If that's the case, then exactly how did the GOP manage to attain the White House, both houses of Congress, and a majority of state legislatures?
Perhaps they're not quite as incompetent & impotent as many here believe.
That's a given. There are quite a few Democrat Senators that will vote for these Justices if released from the cloture vote the Dem leadership has enforced. But he doesn't have the courage to vote to end that cloture.
By standing for certain convictions, and by promising to be guided by those convictions. It's now crunch time, and it's time to deliver.
If they filibuster, they should be made to do it the old-fashioned way, non-stop speeches, making their obstructionism fully visible to the populace.
Oh, sure. Kerry doesn't believe the People that elected Voinovich should have the right to tell him off for selling out to the Dems for a good write up in the LA Times!
Kerry's just afraid we'll drag Voinovich back into the fold by informing the Republicans we are no longer playing games. That they will lose election over this. He doesn't want these "mavericks" to know the Truth, that this will end their careers.
I think the only way that Obama DOESN'T vote for Janice Brown is if his vote is the deciding vote for cloture, or for confirmation---
If she is gonna be voted down or way up, he will vote for her---party before race, I believe...
The most use the filibuster ever got was by southern democrats who tried to block civil rights for blacks. Black democrats should be offended as they hear democrats defend the filibuster.
...and by passing tax cuts... and by improving and honoring our military...
BTW, I like your screen name. :-)
Oh, and here's a few more things the GOP has accomplished in the past few years, with proper credit given to Southack since I stole the code straight from his page. ;-)
Banned Partial Birth Abortion
Reversed Clinton's move to strike Reagan's anti-abortion Mexico Policy
Killed the Kyoto Global Warming Treaty
Killed U.S. involvement in the International Criminal Court
Killed Clinton's CO2 rules that were choking off all of the electricity surplus to California.
Killed Clinton's "ergonomic" rules that OSHA was about to implement; rules that would have shut down every home business in America.
Killed the U.S. - CCCP ABM Treaty that was preventing the U.S. from deploying our ABM defenses
Has CONSTRUCTION in process on the first ten ABM silos in Alaska and California so that America has a defense against North Korean nukes
Pushed through THREE raises for our military.
Increased Defense Dept funding which had deteriorated during the previous 8 years
Stopped foreign aid that would be used to fund abortions.
Supported and upheld the ban on abortions at military hospitals
Signed E.O. reversing Clinton's policy of not requiring parental consent for abortions under the Medical Privacy Act
Signed TWO bills into law that arm our pilots with handguns in the cockpit
Currently pushing for full immunity from lawsuits for our national gun manufacturers
Ordered Attorney-General Ashcroft to formally notify the Supreme Court that the OFFICIAL U.S. government position on the 2nd Amendment is that it supports INDIVIDUAL rights to own firearms, NOT a leftist-imagined *collective* right
Told the United Nations we weren't interested in their plans for gun control (i.e. the International Ban on Small Arms Trafficking Treaty)
Signed the 2004 Omnibus Budget 1/26/2004 that now MANDATES that gun buyers' background check information be fully and permanently destroyed within 24 hours of the completion of the check, no matter what.
Disarmed Libya of its Chemical, Nuclear, and biological WMD's without bribes or bloodshed
Successfully executed 2 wars: Afghanistan and Iraq. 50 million people who had lived under tyrannical regimes now live in freedom
Executed a WAR ON TERROR by getting world-wide cooperation to track funds/terrorists (has cut off much of the terrorist's funding and captured or killed many key leaders of the al Qaeda network)
Brought back our EP-3 intel plane and crew from China without any bribes or bloodshed
Started withdrawing our troops from Bosnia and has announced withdrawal of our troops from Germany and the Korean DMZ.
Signed the LARGEST nuclear arms reduction in world history with Russia
Initiated comprehensive review of our military, which was completed just prior to 9/11/01, accurately reported that ASYMMETRICAL WARFARE was critical.
Changed the tone in the White House, restoring HONOR and DIGNITY to the Presidency
Reorganized bureaucracy...after 9/11, condensed 20+ overlapping agencies and their intelligence sectors into one agency: the Department of Homeland Security.
Initiated discussion on privatizing Social Security and individual investment accounts.
Improving govt. efficiency with .8 million jobs put up for bid...weakening unions and cutting undeserved pay raises. Wants merit based promotions/raises only.
Orchestrated Republican control of the White House, the House AND the Senate.
Killed the liberal ABA's role in vetting federal judges for Congress.
GWB signed an executive order enforcing the Supreme Court's Beck decision (re: union dues being used for political campaigns against individual's wishes)
Turned around an inherited economy that was in recession.
Passed tough new laws to hold corporate criminals to account as a result of corporate scandals.
Signed 2 income tax cuts ---- 1 of which was the largest Dollar value tax cut in world history
Reduced taxes on dividends and capital gains
In process of eliminating IRS marriage penalty.
Increased small business incentives to expand and to hire new people
Signed into law the No Child Left Behind legislation delivering the most dramatic education reforms in a generation (challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations)
Reorganized the INS in an attempt to safeguard the borders and ports of America and to eliminate bureaucratic redundancies and lack of accountability.
Signed trade promotion authority
Committed US funds to purchase medicine for millions of men and women and children now suffering with AIDS in Africa
Passed Medicare Reform (authorized $39.5 Billion per year for preventive medicine such as drugs and doctor visits as well as included a ten year Privatization option)
Urging federal liability reform to eliminate frivolous lawsuits
Supports class action reform bill which limits lawyer fees so that more settlement money goes to victims
Submitted comprehensive Energy Plan--awaits Congressional action (works to develop cleaner technology, produce more natural gas here at home, make America less dependent on foreign sources of energy, improve national grid, etc.)
Endorses and promotes The Responsibility Era ("In a compassionate society, people respect one another and take responsibility for the decisions they make in life. My hope is to change the culture from one that has said, if it feels good, do it; if you've got a problem, blame somebody else -- to one in which every single American understands that he or she are responsible for the decisions that you make; you're responsible for loving your children with all your heart and all your soul; you're responsible for being involved with the quality of the education of your children; you're responsible for making sure the community in which you live is safe; you're responsible for loving your neighbor, just like you would like to be loved yourself. " -----this quote was too good to leave out)
Started the USA Freedom Corps
Initiated review of all federal agencies with a goal to eliminate federal jobs (completed September 2003) in an effort to reduce the size of federal gov while increasing private sector jobs.
Part of coalition (Russia, Israel, EU, Palestine, USA) for Israeli/Palestinian "Roadmap to Peace"
Challenged the United Nations to live up to their responsibilities and not become The League of Nations ( in other words, completely irrelevant)
Nominated strong, conservative judges to the judiciary.
Changed parts of the Forestry Management Act to allow necessary clean-up of the national forests in order to reduce fire danger.
As part of the national forests clean-up, the President restricted judicial challenges (based on the Endangered Species Act and other challenges) and removed the need for an EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) before removing fuels/logging to reduce fire danger.
Significantly eased field-testing controls of genetically engineered crops.
President Bush signed the workplace verification bill to prevent hiring of illegal Aliens... [click here to see more]
Yes given the distrust that Blacks have with the filbuster, Dems will let them both thru and save the fight for the next bunch of nominees.
Coop, I'm well familiar with what the Republicans have accomplished since Geo. W. Bush became president. But my #1 reason for voting for Bush in 2000 was to pull our judicial system back from the brink, so this is my #1 issue. I appreciate the tax cuts, the respect given to the military, and the prosecution of the war on terror, but remaking our judiciary and reversing the leftist tilt of judicial decisions is the biggest domestic issue of our generation. The Democrats understand this, but some of our esteemed members in the Senate don't, which is why we're over a barrel at the moment.
Okay, I can think of one difference. Miguel Estrada sadly withdrew his name.
Sorry, I've lost your train of thought here. Nothing has changed, but it's about time things did. We're over a barrel because the Dems are using the filibuster to deny Bush his more meaningful judicial appointments, and that obstruction hasn't been slapped down....I mean, isn't that what we're talking about? Estrada withdrew his name, but none of the rest of Bush's significant nominations that he put in along with Estrada's have been approved by the Senate.
I will say this about the difference between now, and what's existed over the past four years: From 2001-2003, the Dems were effectively in control of the Sen., thanks to Jumpin' Jim Jeffords, and even though the viewpoint was bogus, the Dems believed that Geo. W. Bush lacked the political mandate to name conservative judges to the bench. In 2003-04, the GOP had a very slim majority, and probably couldn't have "gone nuclear" what with the likes of Chafee, Collins, Specter, and Snowe...there weren't the votes in the caucus to effect a change. Today, we have 55 members, which seems to me to be sufficient to get work down in the Senate. I mean, 55 Republican members can't face-down 44 Democrats? How much of a majority do we need to actually start getting things done? -- 60 members? 66 members? The attitude of some is to suck it up and elect even more Republicans to the Senate in 2006, but IMHO 55 should be enough, and caving-in to the attitude that, well, I guess we'll just need to elect another 5 GOP senators, is unrealistic.
But now that we're into Bush's second term, the GOP realizes that its supporters are getting very frustrated and it has to act. I also think the Pubbies were dragging things out to use the nuke on a Supreme Court nomination if an opening occurred. Since that hasn't happened, we're now into showdown mode. (I hope.) Just my two cents...
How did the Dems "blink"? Wasn't this a party-line vote out of committee?
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