Posted on 03/01/2006 6:27:28 AM PST by OXENinFLA
FRIST INTRODUCES RESOLUTION OPPOSING U.S. PARTICIPATION IN U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCILWASHINGTON, D.C. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, M.D. (R-TN) today made the following statement after introducing a Sense of the Senate resolution highlighting the shortcomings of the newly established United Nations Human Rights Council and opposing U.S. participation in, or support of, the council:
The newly created U.N. Human Rights Council fails to address the significant failures and shortcomings of the widely discredited U.N. Commission on Human Rights. Since its establishment in 1946, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights sacrificed efficacy and credibility by granting membership to some of the worlds worst human rights abusers, neglecting to condemn state sponsors of terrorism, and failing to act or speak out against numerous cases of egregious human rights abuse.http://corner.nationalreview.com/06_03_26_corner-archive.asp#093957The new council makes only superficial changes to the former commission structure and falls far short of the standards envisioned by President Bush and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The new council will not prevent serial human rights abusers from gaining membership and cannot be relied upon to monitor human rights abuses throughout the world.
I applaud the administration for opposing the creation of the new council and urge it to oppose U.S. participation in and support of the council in order to uphold Americas own credibility and deny the council unwarranted legitimacy.
If the U.N. refuses to make meaningful changes to the council structure, the U.S. should lead a group of like-minded democracies with a demonstrated commitment to the protection of human rights to create an effective and accountable human rights oversight body outside the U.N. system. The U.S. must adhere to its principles and continue to demonstrate its commitment to meaningful reform and to the protection of human rights.
LOL!!! ... Specter is making Feingold's witness' look like complete fools
Did you hear Rush play soundbyte from one of the witnesses today? Rush commented on one soundbyte and said "BAM! They should have ended the hearing right there".
No I didn't have a chance to listen to Rush today
I actually agree with Frist on something...but, I would go farther and get out of the UN altogether.
What was Feingold's original call for this resolution...when he left the floor, and wouldn't even take questions from a fellow Senator???
Hit and run, in my book.
The one who said it was John Taylor I think? Anyway, he ripped to shreds the Democrats charge that what president Bush is doing is illegal in less than 1 minute near the beginning of the hearings. Rush basically said that byte there should've ended the hearings right in it's tracks.
I remember Feingold began by first thanking the Chair, and then proceeded to bring his resolution to the floor for debate, and promptly skipped out of the chamber. Leaving Specter to wonder if Feingold is going to bring up a resolution to be debated on, on the floor, at least have the guts to stick around.
Which implies several things. One, Feingold is wasting everyone's time including his, two he's playing right in the hands of the Kos Kooks and DUmmies on the left, and three, he's up for re-election this year.
Well, he has already said he plans to run for POTUS, and I if I remember correctly, it was during that announcement that he bragged that he would be the "first" to demand a date specific plan for pulling the troops from Iraq...
So...we are NOT dealing with a Mensa member here, by any stretch of the imagination.
That's for darn sure!
The Senate Game Plan
Ed Whelan : Bench Memos on National Review Online: 03/31/06 04:51 PMAccording to a senior staffer in Senate leadership, the Senate will likely turn to floor action in May on the long-pending nomination of Terry Boyle to the Fourth Circuit and/or the long-pending nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the D.C. Circuit. The Kavanaugh nomination is still before the Judiciary Committee, but should be reported to the floor soon.
Meanwhile, the nomination of William Myers to the Ninth Circuit is stalled, as some Republican senators are sorting out how his testimony on one issue meshes with the documentary record.
According to a very knowledgeable non-Senate source, the news is much worse for Fourth Circuit nominee William Haynes: Senator McCain is committed to stopping Haynes's confirmation, and Senator Graham, as a favor to Senator McCain, will keep the nomination from being reported out of committee. If this news is accurate, it would appear that there is no hope for Haynes's nomination.
I wonder why McCain has it in for Haynes. Interesting too, that the REPUBLICANS are looking closely now, at Myers' nomination. Myers was reported out of Committee more than a year ago. His nomination was on the floor when the Senate debated and confirmed Owen, Brown, Pryor, Griffin, McKeague and Griffith - the May/June "success flurry" that omitted HALF of the President's nominees from consideration.
What the deal on judges means - Tom Curry - MSNBC.comMcCain likely has a a primarily political motivation (in contrast with objecting to Haynes as a matter of judicial principal), in that he engineered the Gang of 14, perhaps in part as a way to scuttle the Haynes nomination. He may have agreed with the DEMs to see to it the nomination not move forward. In these related regards, he has face saving and revenge motives. Of course, he can't admit either.But two other Bush appeals court nominees, William Myers and Henry Saad, were essentially "thrown overboard" by the seven Republican senators who signed the agreement.
Their nominations were filibustered last year and will continue to be, blocking confirmation. ...
One unwritten part of the accord, according to two Capitol Hill sources, was that Bush appeals court nominees William Haynes and Brett Kavanagh, will not get votes on the Senate floor.
"We will try to do everything in our power to prevent filibusters in the future," McCain told reporters.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7957783/from/RL.3/
Rice, Gonzales votes signal Dems' strategy - Tom Curry - MSNBC.comSoon to come: a battle over Bush's nomination of William Haynes, the general counsel to the Defense Department, who like Gonzales has been accused of complicity in abuse of prisoners. Foes of Haynes, such as People for the American Way, say he appointed members of a Pentagon group that proposed ways of evading treaties banning torture. Haynes, unlike Gonzales, is not a Latino, which makes him an easier target for Democrats. "Haynes - he's on deck - we're working on him," Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. told reporters Wednesday. Kennedy, himself a Democratic presidential contender in 1980, voted "no" on both Rice and Gonzales.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6871426/
Senator Kennedy's Satatement (sic) in Support of the McCain Torture Amendment...In response to questioning by my friend, Senator Graham, the witnesses acknowledged that the Justice Department's policy embodied in the Bybee Torture Memorandum's definition of torture was a violation of international and domestic law and alarmed the judge advocate generals who reviewed it.
Their alarm was well founded because their concerns were overruled by General Counsel William Haynes who issued the Defense Department's April 2003 Working Group Report. The report twisted and diluted the definition of torture, claimed that military personnel who commit torture may invoke the defenses of "necessity" and "superior orders," and advised military personnel that they aren't obligated to comply with the federal prohibition on torture.
S. Hrg. 109-38 : March 1, 2005
CONFIRMATION HEARING ON THE NOMINATION OF WILLIAM G. MYERS III <- PDF (11 Mb)
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