[dutchess]

It's Thursday at the Finest... stop in and read JohnHuang2's biting take on the latest judicial nomination fight!!! Enjoy!!!

[dutchess]

God Bless Our Military
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Below are names of some of our FReepers' loved ones who are serving our country. If you have someone you would like to add, please address a post to Billie; Mama_Bear; Dutchess, Aquamarine; The Mayor or DollyCali and we will add their name to this list. As we pray for them, we pray also for all our nation’s leaders, and military personnel, and their families and friends. May God hold them close to His heart.

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We ask Lord, that You guide the leaders of our great country in their hour of decision. The burden that has been placed on their shoulders is overwhelming. We ask that with Your infinite wisdom You guide them gently to the right decisions.

Please give us the strength, Lord, to get through each difficult and devastating day that faces each of us and our country. Protect and guide our Military that are now being called to duty, strengthen them in their trials and temptations; give them courage to face the perils which beset them; and grant them a sense of your abiding presence wherever they may be; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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gator girl........................husband severa............husband, brother Maigrey............................cousin mystery-ak.............son, husband Gogrammy...................grandson Inspectorette.......................son Blessed American..........nephew Slip18..........................nephew anniegetyourgun...........nephew Diver Dave.......niece, nephew ConspiracyGuy........2 nephews Pippin............niece's husband sneakers..............................son weldgophardline.....brotherinlaw jamaly.................brotherinlaw Future Snake Eater..........cousin WaterDragon.............grandson WaterDragon...........son-in-law BeforeISleep...................son kimmie7......................brother Armymarinemom............3 sons american_ranger.............son LadyX.........................grandson fawn796.......................nephew Dubya............................nephew ValerieUSA....................2 sons Lakeside........................2 sons LakeLady......................nephew Spruce.........................daughter Philman_36..............2 nephews bjcintennessee.......son, niece TheMayor...............friends'son mhking.........................cousin eaglesiniowa.....................son visualops..........................cousin auboy.............................cousin Ladysmith..nephew, friend's son tina07......soninlaw & his friend Katydidnt.............................son MontanaCowgirlCop.......brother Colorado Slim................nephew Tapatio....................2 nephews Kramster.....................stepson Alouette................................son Q6-God...................twin brother Q6-God.....................active duty Warrior Nurse...........active duty SK1 Thurman...........active duty David Osborne.........active duty fc2tomschermuly......active duty bkwells....................active duty LongCut....................active duty cjk...........................active duty Trish.........................active duty ODC-GIRL.................active duty AF_Blue...................active duty Notwithstanding.......active duty thumperusn..............active duty Veloxherc.................active duty Don Simmons...........active duty wingnutx...................active duty Old Sarge.................active duty CGblue.....................active duty bigghurtt...................active duty frankiep....................active duty

scubachick.....................husband OhioWfan................................son ladtx..................................2 sons Its_me_K.E.T.........................son Hostel............................cousin MozartLover...........son, nephew LBGA (RIP)..........................son katykelly..............................son cookcounty.............................son SpookBrat........................nephew SpookBrat........................cousin Doug from Upland............soninlaw Himyar....................................son boxerblues........................2 sons the piper....................................son sheeza................................husband kemathen7.........................husband Tiffee4Bob..........................boyfriend deadhead.............................cousin JimRobinson...............2 nephews TexKat.......................son, step-son StarCMC.............................brother Consort........................2 daughters Consort.......................son-in-law Darheel...............................niece Donaeus...........................nephew dixie sass........................nephew BeAllYouCanBe........................son Repubmommy........................brother AgThorn................................2 sons homeschoolmama...............nephew kneezles.................................son RoseinRoseBear.....cousin's hubby Atomic Conspiracy......half-brother Atomic Conspiracy...........nephew Atomic Conspiracy..............niece Sunflowergal....................grandson mrstank..............................husband MrsMike31........................husband spotbust1............................husband Leofl...........................................son chena............................................son campfollower............................fiance LUV W........................................son painter...................................nephew ProudAFDad...................................son Misty4jc................................husband Bykrbayb........................................son Hope and Glory.........................son ak_daddoo..............................nephew SilentServiceCPOWife........husband Walkenfree................2 grandsons Walkenfree.................. 3 nephews Walkenfree..................granddaughter ariamne.........................2 cousins Zechariah_8_13.......brother-in-law Zechariah_8_13.......................cousin DirtyHarryY2K......................daughter DirtyHarryY2K................son-in-law nelibeli...................................nephew Skimask.....................................son El Gato...............................nephew Palladin...............................grandson MississippyMuddy...................sister MississippyMuddy.....2 nephews

[Aeronaut]

Good morning Dutchess.

[FreeTheHostages]

[LadyX]

**LadyX pauses at the threshold of The Finest Family Room --
straightens up to her full 5' 4 ' height --
clears throat, trying desperately to stifle the laughs and guffaws always evoked by JH2's Essays..:))**

All bettah now, I do believe, Dear John, addressing first this:

The Deal is the product of 14 "moderates," all eagerly seeking to 'preserve' a 'long-standing, venerated Senate tradition' -- interprets as:

"all eagerly seeking to 'preserve' a 'long-standing, venerated Senate tradition'
of trying to cinch their chances for reelection,
and a firm place in history footnotes"....
[AKA known as "Inserting-Foot-in-Mouth"].....

Call it
"A Lesson on How to be Ignominious without Really Trying"
[ignominy = shameful or dishonorable quality or conduct or an instance of this)]

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Presenting a Byrd's Eye View --

Next is "Which is why I give this 'Deal' a few weeks. Then it unravels. It unravels at precisely the moment Bush names Janice Rogers Brown or Priscilla Owen to the Supreme Court. Then we're right back where we were before The Deal. See how much Moderates always accomplish? These are the people who make things not happen."

"Soon, Sen. Frist brings back the "Nuclear Option," because when there's a problem, you nuke it."

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It just so happens, JH, my weekly 'Dear Maggie' letter from Senator Bill Frist contains these encouraging sentences:

"The Constitution gives the Senate the power to govern itself. And we were fully committed to use that power to establish a process by which a confirmation vote would occur after reasonable debate. This approach had a lot of precedent. The minority attempted to demean it by calling it the nuclear option. But the nuclear option is what they themselves detonated with their filibuster power grab. The proper term for our response is Constitutional option, because we would rely on the Constitution's power of self-governance to restore Senate traditions barring judicial filibusters.

Against their nuclear option, the Constitutional option is the only effective antidote.

The moment of truth was to have come on May 24. But action was preempted by an agreement between seven Republicans and seven Democrats to forestall use of the Constitutional option in exchange for confirmation votes on several nominees and a promise that filibusters would only be maintained in extraordinary circumstances. I was not a party to that agreement nor was the Republican Leadership.

Now we move into a new and uncertain phase. Under the agreement, this week the Senate confirmed Priscilla Owen to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Several more of the nominees will follow her. Priscilla Owen, a gentle lady, accomplished lawyer and brilliant Texas jurist was unconscionably denied an up or down vote for more than four years. The minority distorted her record, cast aspersions on her abilities, and rendered her almost unrecognizable. She had the fortitude to see the process through. And very late, but at long last, she was confirmed.

Without the Constitutional option, Priscilla Owen would never have come to a vote. Neither would any of the other nominees.

Without the Constitutional option, judicial filibusters would have become a standard instrument of minority party policy. The agreement is based on the trust that casual use of judicial filibusters is over.

Without the Constitutional option, the minority would have adhered to the path it was on and deal brokers would have had no deal to broker.

I am now hopeful but wary. As Ronald Reagan was fond to say, trust but verify. If nominees are confirmed and the sword of the filibuster is sheathed, then the Republican Leadership can be proud that its courage arrested a dangerous and destructive trend. If filibusters again erupt under circumstances other than extraordinary, we will put the Constitutional option back on the table and move to implement it.

-- [LadyX says HOORAY!!]

Abraham Lincoln once said that when it is not possible to do the best, it is best to do what is possible. Standing fast for the principle of fair up or down votes, we have made real progress. That is something we all can celebrate. And that principle will be our guidepost as the rest of this great Constitutional drama unfolds."

Bill Frist

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Indeed, that is something we all can celebrate!!

**LadyX sidles out the door to go play in her yard some more -- waving to you** and