Andrew Wilkow Live Show Thread 01/08/06 (10:00 a.m. - 1 p.m. EST)

WABC Radio ^ | 1-8-2006 | Aliveritas

[AliVeritas]

LISTEN TO ANDREW: WILKOW on WABC

Sunday, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. EST

THE NEXT GENERATION OF GREAT TALK RADIO

Andrew Wilkow is the newest and youngest member of the WABC air staff. Yes, he's in his very early 30's, but we don't want to reveal his real age because we don't want to come back and update this bio every year. He does speak a little bit of a different language than your typical WABC talk show host, but we think that's a good thing.

[AliVeritas]

Hey Andrew, you have time for a DeLay opinion after Alito?

[AliVeritas]

Here's another piece of crap:

Sunday, January 8, 2006

Alito Nomination: Time isn't right

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD

In another time, with a different president, under slightly changed circumstances, Judge Samuel Alito might make a fine addition to the U.S. Supreme Court. But there is too much at stake for him to be confirmed now.

Even before Senate hearings start Monday, it's clear that Alito is a decent, honorable person and a distinguished legal thinker. But it is impossible to imagine that he can say anything in the hearings that would remove the concerns created by the clear record of his legal philosophy. He is a brilliant ideologue whose presence on the court would make much of the nation ache for the very justice he would replace, the court's great reconciler of differences, Sandra Day O'Connor.

The nation faces a domestic spying scandal, an administration's obsessive desire for control and a wrongfully launched war. His presence on the court would tip power the wrong way on issues of the role of government and executive power and personal privacy. Indeed, Alito has done more than his share to heighten tensions.

Early in his career, Alito outlined a strategy to erode the Roe v. Wade decision on abortion rights. That should be a particular concern for this state, with its history of support for women's rights and reproductive rights. Long before al-Qaida, there was Alito, then an assistant to the U.S. solicitor general, writing a 1984 memo proclaiming that government officials should be able to order domestic wiretaps without fear of legal retaliation by their subjects. Almost every worry about the Bush administration goes back to its arrogant, sweeping view of executive powers. There again, one finds Alito. In 1986, as The Washington Post reported, he outlined an idea, picked up occasionally by President Reagan and used frequently by President Bush, of having the executive issue his own view of legislation he signed. Although courts haven't paid much attention, the aim is to give the president more say in how laws passed by Congress are interpreted.

While favoring executive powers, Alito's judicial record also indicates great deference to the business sector. Again, such pro-corporate attitudes have played a role in unraveling the country's ability to act on a sense of the common good.

Last week, Bush kept pushing the envelope of presidential power by issuing a long, provocatively timed list of "recess appointments" of officials who normally would be subject to congressional confirmation. When senators get back to work Monday, they should look at Alito's nomination in the proper context, one in which administration excesses have voided the deference normally due a presidential nominee to the court.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/254770_alitoed.asp?source=rss

[DCPatriot]

My question...

If a tobacco or firearms company can be sued for damages, why can't a government be sued for sanctioning tobacco through higher and higher taxes on the product?

[AliVeritas]

Here's another piece of crap: Anti-Alito campaign kicked off in Arkansas (2006-01-04) Judge Samuel Alito's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court is drawing opposition in Arkansas. One day after supporters kicked off a campaign for Alito, critics launched their own campaign against him. NAACP Washington Bureau Director Hilary Shelton was among those speaking out against Alito at a Little Rock event. And yes... they even have audio at the site. http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kuar/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=861443

[Mr Cobol]

What a load of crap. Liberalism is a mental disorder.

[CAluvdubya]

I just watched the video. I can quote Jim Moran word for word!

Moran: Er.....ah....ah.....ah....er...I, ah, support the troops. yeah, right!

[AliVeritas]

you left out a few ers.

[AliVeritas]

Amen Andrew.

[TomGuy]

I quit 3 years ago this month, after 38 years.

It was surprisingly easier than I thought it would be, once I made THE decision to do it. I had sort to planned for a long while. I had strong cravings only about 3 times a day, and they only lasted about 10 seconds. I thought, I can handle that. And I did. They subsided over the next 6 months.

Up until that time, I had sort of tried to quit several times. Even went a whole 24 hours once. lol.

[AliVeritas]

Amen Andrew.

Abortion Advocates Disrupt Pro-Life Press Conference on Samuel Alito Email this article
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 7, 2006


Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Abortion advocates disrupted a press conference on Thursday by pro-life women's groups seeking to express their support for the Supreme Court nomination of Samuel Alito.
Alito, who has said there is no right to abortion in the Constitution, would replace pro-abortion Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, something abortion advocates don't want to happen.

As Family Research Council vice president Connie Mackey addressed the press conference, NARAL and a group of angry abortion advocates tried to disrupt her speech and the press conference.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, a pro-life political group, described the scene.

"Pro-abortion protesters barged into the press conference wearing 'blood'-spattered shirts and chanting, 'Bush and Alito will outlaw abortion and women will die," she explained.

"You do not represent the majority of women in this country," Mackey politely informed the protesters. She quoted polling data that shows American women support pro-life legislation such as parental notification and oppose partial-birth abortions.

"True to form, advocates of so-called “choice” angrily tried to silence our choice to support Judge Alito’s fair confirmation process," Dannenfelser added.

Dannenfelser said abortion advocates are angry "because they know that they cannot extract a commitment from Judge Alito to continue the judicial damming-up of mainstream, commonsense legislation to restrict abortion."

Polls continue to show that a majority of American women take a pro-life position on the issue of abortion.
A June 2003 poll conducted by the pro-abortion Center for the Advancement of Women found 51% of women took a pro-life position opposing most or all abortions while only 30 percent said it should be generally available.

A September 2003 survey conducted by the Polling Company found 54 percent of women selected one of three different pro-life views opposing all or almost all abortions. Only 39 percent backed abortion.

FRC president Tony Perkins said of the incident, "It's almost funny. NARAL professes to believe Judge Sam Alito wants to silence them, while they're busy silencing other women."

TAKE ACTION: If you're a pro-life woman, write a letter to the editor citing the above polling data and mentioning this incident. Tell your community that women are pro-life and oppose abortion.

Related web sites:
Susan B. Anthony List - http://www.sba-list.org
Family Research Council - http://www.frc.org

[AliVeritas]

Check this out:

January 8, 2006


Verdicts are in, even before Alito hearings begin
By Dana Milbank
The Washington Post
January 8, 2006


Do not be surprised if, at some point during the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, a trumpet blast is sounded in the hearing room, winged angels descend, and Democrats on the Judiciary Committee turn into pillars of salt.

This undoubtedly would be the wish of the Rev. Rob Schenck, president of the National Clergy Council.
He held a news conference Thursday outside the Hart Office Building to announce that he would "consecrate Room 216 Hart" -- the hearing room -- in hopes of having, in the sacred words of Fox News, "a fair and balanced hearing."
"By dedicating it to God, we look to God to orchestrate and direct the activities that take place at that location," Schenck, who provided similar blessings for John Roberts' confirmation, explained to the TV cameras.
It's unclear if this would violate Senate rules, which give Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., sole authority to direct activities in the hearing room.
With days to go until Alito's confirmation hearings, the rush to judgment was in the home stretch Thursday.

The day began with a gathering of groups, including Law Students Against Alito. An hour later at the National Press Club, a group of Women Against Alito crashed a meeting of Women for Alito and heckled the participants with chants of "Women will die!"

While that fracas ensued, a group of Law Professors Against Alito was meeting down the hall.
Pat Robertson set the tone for the week when he said on Tuesday that God had told him Alito would be confirmed and another justice -- a liberal! -- will retire this year.
"The president is going to strengthen, and Alito is going to get confirmed," Robertson prophesied, provoking the liberal Americans United group to wonder if Robertson "is confusing his wish list for God's will."

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060108/NEWS06/601080453/1012

[AliVeritas]

Someone's out of the closet... I'm an Alitofile and proud.

[AliVeritas]

Sorry for the post length.

US Jews weigh in ahead of Alito hearings

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MATTHEW E. BERGER / JTA, THE JERUSALEM POST Jan. 7, 2006

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Amid the Hanukka parties and the New Year festivities, the organized Jewish community has been gearing up to make itself heard on the next nominee for the US Supreme Court.

Several Jewish organizations already have spoken out against Judge Samuel Alito Jr., who will go before the Senate Judiciary Committee for confirmation hearings this week. Those groups and others are pushing key lawmakers to ask pointed questions about Alito's record on abortion and the separation of church and state.

The goal is to prevent the feeling many in Washington had last year about the nomination of Chief Justice John Roberts - that it was a fait accompli.

Alito is considered a more controversial jurist, with a longer record that has raised concerns among liberal groups, including the National Council of Jewish Women and the Union for Reform Judaism. Both organizations, who announced their opposition to Alito last year, are getting members in touch with key senators, pushing them to reject Alito.

Eleanor Levie, an NCJW leader in Pennsylvania, met with Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania), who chairs the Judiciary Committee. Specter assured Levie and others that he would raise the issue of reproductive rights and executive-power questions with Alito when hearings begin January 9.

"Specter's staff was very interested in the probing questions we want raised," Levie said.

The organization plans to reach out to other lawmakers, including Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Connecticut), a moderate Democrat and one of 14 moderates who likely will decide whether the nominee is filibustered. NCJW members planned last week to present the Connecticut offices of Lieberman and Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Connecticut) with a petition, asking them to oppose Alito.

The Reform movement also planned significant outreach to its members, asking them to call their senators.

"Part of our challenge is putting together for our people all the stuff that has come in in dribs and drabs over the past months," said Mark Pelavin, associate director of the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism. "Every day there has been something in the press about Alito that has been of concern to our members and our activists."

Both groups believe Alito's nomination will get more attention than Roberts's hearings last year. The key reason, they say, is because Alito was nominated to fill the vacancy of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the court's most moderate voice.

Roberts's hearings also were overshadowed by Hurricane Katrina, which reached the Gulf Coast one week before the session commenced.

"I have a different feeling of where Democrats in the Senate are right now," Pelavin said, noting that several were gearing up for a "serious fight." Orthodox groups are also expressing their views on Alito. While not endorsing the nominee, the Orthodox Union sent a letter to Judiciary Committee members last week countering the view that Alito's position on the separation of church and state is outside the mainstream.

"When people say a record like his is outside the mainstream on religion-state issues, it's a distortion of the mainstream," said Nathan Diament, director of the OU's Institute for Public Affairs. "We are very encouraged by Alito's record." Diament also noted Alito has a "very vigilant understanding" of the Free Exercise clause of the First Amendment, contrasting it with the view of Justice Antonin Scalia, who authored a much-maligned decision limiting an individual's right to religious expression.

Agudath Israel of America, which announced its support of Alito last month, plans to send a letter to senators as well, but hasn't planned an advocacy campaign.

"The course of events during the next two weeks might dictate that," said Rabbi David Zwiebel, the organization's executive vice president for government and public affairs.

The Conservative movement has not spoken out on Alito. The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism made headlines last year when it deemed Roberts qualified for office after evaluating his judicial record, which was a first for the movement. But the organization's Social Action and Public Policy Committee crafted a new charter last month that says the group won't routinely weigh in on nominees.

Lewis Grafman, USCJ's director of social action and public policy, said the committee hadn't yet met to discuss Alito.

Several major Jewish groups have chosen to keep to traditional their position of not endorsing presidential nominations.

But the American Jewish Committee and Anti-Defamation League are readying letters to the Senate Judiciary Committee with questions they want posed to Alito.

Jeff Sinensky, the American Jewish Committee's counsel, said the letter would mirror a letter sent to lawmakers last year on Roberts, focusing on concerns about reproductive rights and the separation of church and state.

The Anti-Defamation League's letter, obtained by JTA, questions Alito's support for student-initiated prayer in public school graduation ceremonies, and his position on key civil rights issues.

"As an appellate judge, Judge Alito dissented in several cases where people were found to have been discriminated against on the basis of race in employment," said the letter, signed by ADL President Barbara Balser and National Director Abraham Foxman. "Regarding discrimination based on gender and disability, Judge Alito's dissenting opinion in several cases would have made it considerably more difficult for victims of gender and/or disability discrimination to prove their cases."

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1136361032426&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

[CAluvdubya]

I was an idiot! I quit twice when I was pregnant and started again both times. Now it has been 25 years. Every other day I think about quitting and on the "off" days i think I can't. Time to get serious.

Congratulations on 3 years. It gives me some incentive!

[AliVeritas]

Congrats. I have to quit also.

[AliVeritas]

FYI, one of the Law Readers on Alito:
http://www.loc.gov/rr/law/alito.html

[AliVeritas]

Warning liberal slant... but you know it when you see it.

[CAluvdubya]

I wish I didn't have to work this week. I hate to miss most of the Alito hearings. I can't believe the dems showed their hand before the hearings even began!

[AliVeritas]

They can't help themselves.

[MarineMom613]

Hi, Please ad me to this ping list. I have been listening to Andrew for a long time and he is really good. Tells it like it is.
Is he a FReeper?