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DEL.ICIO.USCourt ruling is legislating from the bench
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Judicial activism?
No need to quibble about definitions. All of Georgia has before it the definitive example of judicial activism in last week’s decision by four members of the Georgia Supreme Court to legislate from the bench in the Genarlow Wilson case. Mark it down: Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears, justices Carol Hunstein, Robert Benham and Hugh Thompson are guilty of judicial activism.
Of those, Hunstein and Thompson are five years removed from the voters, having just been re-elected. Sears is three years removed. Benham faces the voters next year.
Hunstein’s legislate-from-the-bench decision is most surprising. As the able strict constructionist Justice George H. Carley noted in dissent from the 4-3 opinion written by the chief justice, Hunstein now crosses a line she chose to honor prior to her re-election last year.
Wrote Carley:
“When Wilson applied unsuccessfully for a writ of certiorari to review the Court of Appeals’ affirmance of his conviction, Presiding Justice Hunstein concurred and took that occasion to note for the benefit of the bench and bar that … ‘this Court is bound by the Legislature’s determination that young persons in Wilson’s situation are not entitled to the misdemeanor treatment’Â ” set forth in a 2006 law.
This was not an oversight by the General Assembly. More from Carley:
“When Wilson engaged in the very public act of oral sodomy with a 15-year-old child, he committed the crime of aggravated child molestation and, as a result, he received the felony sentence mandated for that offense.”
Some 18 months later, the General Assembly revisited the law, writing a new one that took effect July 1, 2006. In writing that law, the Legislature could not have been clearer. “Provisions of this Act shall not affect or abate the status as a crime of any such act or omission which occurred prior to the effective date of the Act repealing, repealing and re-enacting, or amending” the law under which Wilson was sentenced.
Plain and clear. “Obviously,” wrote Carley, “the effect of this clear and unambiguous provision is to preclude giving retroactive effect to the 2006 amendment so as to ‘affect or abate’ the status of Wilson’s crime as felony aggravated child molestation punishable in accordance with the sentence authorized at the time the crime was committed.”
Hunstein acknowledged as much before the election. She lamented Wilson’s situation, but noted that a clear separation of powers prevented the Supreme Court from substituting its judgment for that of 236 elected officials.
That was then, though, and this is now.
The four judges in the majority “simply ignores that express legislative intent” and has no sound basis for concluding that “a felony sentence which was authorized when Wilson committed the offense of aggravated child molestation became cruel and unusual punishment when, more than a year later, the General Assembly lessened the penalty for that offense and mandated only a prospective application for that change.”
The General Assembly knew what it was doing and acted with full awareness of the facts in the Wilson case — and chose not to apply the new law retroactively, as was its right.
Make a note, here and now. This is a results-oriented Supreme Court that reacts to the 6 o’clock news.
It concluded that Wilson had served sufficient time for the offense, as they weighed it, and overriding the Legislature, they wrote the law they wanted. Part of its reasoning, as expressed in Sears’ opinion, is that “a review of other jurisdictions reveals that most states either would not punish Wilson’s conduct at all or would, like Georgia now, punish it as a misdemeanor.” The relevance?
That’s a line no conservative jurist would write. But then this is a cross-the-line decision no conservative court would have issued.
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Comments
By Mid-South Philosopher
October 27, 2007 8:09 AM | Link to this
Good morning, Jim. Sorry, but on this one, we disagree. I believe that in the Genarlow Wilson case the Georgia State Supreme Court “did justice”… something that the judiciary rarely does. You know as well as I that the legislation under which Wilson was convicted was terribly written and even more terribly reasoned. It was so bad that even the buffoons who drafted it in the General Assembly repealed it. To have kept Wilson in prison for 10 years would have been as big an injustice as allowing that drunk from Massachusetts to waddle around the United State Senate for 40 years!
By Curious Observer
October 27, 2007 8:17 AM | Link to this
Yes, to explore the full implications of Wooten’s argument, no legislator ever wrote a law that was unconstitutional. And if a law is passed, courts are bound to uphold it, for no legislator ever wrote a law that was unconstitutional. Of course, courts have a duty to rubber-stamp every law that goes on the books, saith Wooten.
Genarlow Wilson is yet another victim of redneck justice—the kind that believes that if one year’s imprisonment is good, then ten years is better. And if ten years is better, then life in prison must be even better than that. And if life in prison is that good, then the death penalty must be even superior to that.
Read the opinion, Wooten and all you extreme conservatives who supported Wilson’s imprisonment. The opinion says Wilson is a victim of cruel and unusual punishment, which is proscribed in the constitution you pretend to adore. Your support for this extreme action renders you guilty of inflicting cruel and unusual punishment. You are, in other words, mere criminals trying to hide under the cloak of constitutionality. You have, in fact, violated the very constitution that you say your support. And that also goes for the legislators who pandered to you by refusing to make the change in the law retroactive.
What more do you want from this kid? He is already branded for life as a felon. He cannot vote, and his college admissions and career prospects are severely hampered. Only a return to burning at the stake will apparently satisfy you “law and order” extremists.
By GodHatesTrash
October 27, 2007 8:26 AM | Link to this
It looks like Woo-ten will have to have a gathering of his Klan to handle this slap in the face to Georgia white soopremacy.
Clean your sheets, ladies, time for a cross-burning!
Trash.
By Analchord
October 27, 2007 8:29 AM | Link to this
The Ga. supreme court mistook pertinacious prosecution for pernicious persecution. (Hi @@).
This decision sets a dangerous precedent. What other legislative mandates will be mitigated by the magistrates? Will they overturn our booze-free sundays? Will they allow my wife to retain water on even days?
Where will it all end? I demand the resignation of the 4 assenting members to this decision, (effective noon tomorrow, ditto Sonny P.), and I insist we allow the 3 dissenters to appoint and annoint four new justices with more adjoining jurisprudence.
By GodHatesTrash
October 27, 2007 8:31 AM | Link to this
Good post CO. Rednecks love punishment, the crueler and more unusual the better.
I would say they are animals, but animals aren’t usually so stupid and vicious.
They are trash though.
Awaiting the usual psychotic misanthropes to weigh in - @@, Dusty, Andi/e-duh, RW, tft-tranny, etc…
Vermin all.
By State Retiree
October 27, 2007 8:38 AM | Link to this
Mr. Wooten is absolutely correct. The justices voting in the majority clearly ignored the legislative intent of the law and bowed to mob pressure. A sad day for Georgia.
By sansho1
October 27, 2007 8:39 AM | Link to this
Wooten is partly right — there was a great deal of activism on behalf of Wilson, but it was undertaken by an outraged community, not by the judiciary. We shone a light on a plainly, patently, on-its-face unjust sentence.
In Wooten’s world, though, the “judicial activism” test takes precedence over justice. Petty sloganeer.
By Keith
October 27, 2007 8:46 AM | Link to this
I’ll bet the dummy doesn’t make any more sex videos. He’ll be back in jail within 5 years.
By Analchord
October 27, 2007 8:52 AM | Link to this
Grading Wooten. A+ Bravo! Despite minor miscues, like improper forms of verbs in the compound sentences, (overiding the legislature-ouch), and ruining the impact of his last sentence with another last sentence not nearly as powerful, (and never start a sentence with a preposition. It takes a genius to get away with it, it has to do with the trend of the reader’s predicted involvement in the narration. Just dont do it. You nearly ruined this, you horrid troll……there I go again. Who am I to criticize a great writer like Jim Wooten who inexplicably has changed his writing style after a couple of teasing reviews by me? I greatly appreciate that Mr. Wooten admires my writing. But everyone admires my writing. I can write like this only because of what happened to me in my childhood, you know. My childhood. If only I hadn’t been raised on air force bases. I hated the smell of barracks in the morning. If I had to stare out the window at the enlisted men marching around aimlessly all morning one more time…..Then there were the planes. Planes everywhere. Taking off. Landing. Circling. Climbing, diving, power up, power down, or just sit there at 15000 feet and go as slow as a stall warning will let you and torture me with the drone….the drone of a C-47…..droning….droning…..DROWNING ME!!!
Anyway, Wooten’s article gets an A+ because the tact taken ticks people off and we get a more invigorating blog, which is what a blog is 4.
By DP
October 27, 2007 8:54 AM | Link to this
World of Wooten Genarlow Wilson, Wooten no like decision thus is dreaded JUDICIAL ACTIVISIM Bush v Gore, Wooten like decision thus is enlightened jurisprudence
By Analchord
October 27, 2007 9:00 AM | Link to this
Joke, people. Dont you get it? I pretend to scold the master by making the exact same syntactical errors I criticized him for, (ruining, IF).
Lol? ROFLMAOSMKWMCOMN (roll on the floor laughing my azz off slapping my knee with milk coming out my nose)?
By GaLiberal
October 27, 2007 9:07 AM | Link to this
I’d respond to Moron Jim’s backward redneck rants, but why bother bless his heart. He’s too stupid to see the falsehoods in his diatribe. He’d get more sympathy if he worked for Fox News, but he’s not good enough even for them. So he continues to write his cr@p for a second-rate newspaper like the Atlanta Urinal. Of course, he does appeal to the racist, homophobic, xenophobic readers that make up a significant part of the metro Atlanta population. I can only assume that the Atlanta Urinal is so desperate for readers that it finds it necessary to cater to these miscreants.
By Analchord
October 27, 2007 9:10 AM | Link to this
If we can rely on the only data we have about supreme court jurists, then we should understand this decision. “Long Dong Silver” must have been circulated high and wide in all the high courts in our contiguous lower forty+ (wouldn’t you have gotten a Anita Hill-recommended copy if you were on a supreme court?)
If monkey see, monkey do, then no high jurist could enforce anti-lewinski legislation. One thing judges aint: hypocrits.
By Kieran
October 27, 2007 9:19 AM | Link to this
To say nothing of “The four judges in the majority ‘simply ignores…’” It’s a bit of nit, this that that they hit.
The law is the mob in robes. [Rene Girard]
By GaLiberal
October 27, 2007 9:19 AM | Link to this
I forgot to add my tag.
When you vote Rethuglicon, you vote against your own best interests. And Moron Jim and the racist backward rednecks running this state are living proof.
By Billy
October 27, 2007 9:28 AM | Link to this
Will they overturn our booze-free sundays?
God willing.
By Analchord
October 27, 2007 9:28 AM | Link to this
GaLiberal, you cant be against Wooten, AND call his newspaper the urinal. Wooten is a dissenting opinion in the AJC, moron.
What a dope. See what I mean people? I am forced to criticize. I mean, words HAVE to mean something or how else can we communicate? If Ga Liberal is against everything he would have revealed that long ago. He simply doesn’t understand what he’s writing. He’s as useless as a potato peel.
Blogging 101: Write your comment. Delete it. Write another comment. Delete it. Write a third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh comment, but only after you had already unplugged the keyboard so you dont have to delete nothing, you nitwit.
Then write an eighth comment and only keep one sentence and post that.
Then go stick your head in the toilet. That may be a far, far better thing you do than anything you have ever done, rally it is, rally.
Let me apologize, Mr. Wooten, for this uber-spudnik. (Not for criticizing you, but for being a moron). There’s simply no excuse what with all the blackmarket RushRX.
By RW-(the original)
October 27, 2007 9:41 AM | Link to this
Curious Observer,
I think you would have a good argument if the Georgia Supreme Court had ruled that the clause in the law that didn’t allow it to be applied retroactively was somehow unconstitutional.
It appears they didn’t do that and simply decided to let this one guy go free under the duress of public pressure. Anybody else in jail for a similar offense receives no benefit from this ruling which makes this a pure case of judicial activism.
By NotOkay
October 27, 2007 9:44 AM | Link to this
The sad fact is that we would not even be holding this conversation if the girl had been black. I am sick and tired of those of you who deny the existence of racism in this country and its institutions. You deny all but a few people of color grand opportunities and use them as examples to substantiate your flawed position with regard to racism. The fact is that it does exist and we have a responsibility for minimize and eradicate it. I will be the first to admit that everything that happens to people of color in this country is not due to racism even though some opportunists in our community would have you think so. However, what amazes me is that those of you on the right are the only ones to deny its existence. Your touting of a color free society is just a reason for you to do nothing about what is going on in this country. All I am asking here is for all of us to stop and ask a very fair question. Would this man have been arrested if caught having consensual oral sex with 15 year old black girl? Before I close, I want to make one thing perfectly clear. I am black and I do vote Republican at times. As a matter of fact, I voted for Bush.
By RW-(the original)
October 27, 2007 9:49 AM | Link to this
NotOkay,
It isn’t really possible for someone under the age of consent to give consent. Would you allow any aged child to “consent” to sexual activity?
By jbmlaw
October 27, 2007 9:53 AM | Link to this
Good morning all. I have ambivalent attitudes in this case. Overturning a lower court decision is the way a higher court says, “You idiot judge, you screwed up.” I think by any rational perspective, the lower court faithfully applied the law as written by the legislature. Jim’s argument on our learned-solons - “substitution of their opinions for the collective wisdom of the legislature” - is unarguably correct, unless we are now saying the legislature is constitutionally precluded from suggesting crimes or sentences.
And if we are interested in some sort of cosmic “justice,” as suggested by our other friends on the blog so far today, I have qualms about absolving one who manufactures kiddy-porn by engaging in sexual activities with a minor before cameras.
However, I also think the prosecutor charged the wrong crime; the long-standing common sense view (I think it was Cardozo) condemns the legal tradition, “because the constable blundered, the felon goes free.” (The aphorism actually describes events such as an error by the police in reading Miranda rights, but the principle is still appropriate here.) The DA failed to do an adequate job in his prosecution, so a thug walks the streets again. The porn charge would have been a slam dunk.
By Dusty
October 27, 2007 9:55 AM | Link to this
Ahem…Analchord aka PoFo
Would you take your own advice and stick your head in the toilet? You’re running wild this morning. (Absence makes the heart grow fonder!!! Try it.)
All you OTHER LIBERALS, stop crying over injustice. Invite that poor innocent boy over to your home to date your sixteen year old daughter. He needs a good time. After all, he was only molesting a fifteen year old girl. Just having a bit of fun you have all proclaimed.
Furthermore, many libs have said that EVERYBODY DOES IT. Maybe at your place, but NOT at mine. So justice is done, but fractured. Let us hope it heals before the next “innocent” is let loose on the streets to meet the nice little girl down the street.
By Kieran
October 27, 2007 9:59 AM | Link to this
GA Lib, you say that the AJC is a second-rate newspaper. Could you please turn me on to a first-rate one? I’d just as soon read a better one online. (Even if it doesn’t contain juicy local stuff like the CEO of Cobb’s energy co-op making off with the money, the meters, the lock & the stock, etc.) Thanks!
By RW-(the original)
October 27, 2007 10:00 AM | Link to this
jbmlaw,
Do you honestly think a kiddie porn charge wouldn’t have met with the exact same arguments?
You would still have a 17 year old and a 15 year old doing something they agreed to do and if we’re to throw out the rape charge because the 15 year old “consented” it means we’ve elevated her status to one of an age to be legally able to consent. In that case the same argument would elevate her age above whatever age it would take for a kiddie porn charge.
By NotOkay is wrong
October 27, 2007 10:04 AM | Link to this
The girl in this case is black. Get you facts straight.
By @@
October 27, 2007 10:15 AM | Link to this
Never underestimate the abilities of a shrewd, publicity-seeking attorney.
So the judges reacted to the public’s unconstitutional conscience with “shock and awwhhhh”.
Give me a heads up when they remove the line down the center of the road Jim — driving on the left will be so quaint.
I predict that although well-intended, this ruling has opened up a can of worms and the legal wiggling has yet to begin.
By D
October 27, 2007 10:17 AM | Link to this
How come everytime a clearly unconstitutional law is overturned, it is considered legislating from the bench? That is why we have the courts to tell the other two branches when they have overstepped their bounds. Just because a law is popular doesn’t mean it is legal. 10 years without the possibility of parole for a stupid choice as a teenager that didn’t have a real victom (and you can’t say the 15 year old was when she conscented to what she did) was cruel and unusual. Now, the original intent of the law to catch the older men doing nasty stuff with kids, that is different and I say lock them up and throw away the key. They are a danger. Mr. Wilson is not and never was a danger.
The other thing I am curious about is why do we elect our Supreme Court justices in Georgia? The founders had the US Supreme Court appointed so that they would not have to bow to political pressure. That is really the only way we can have a truly impartial judiciary. I would think people concerned about judges bowing to political pressure or popular pressure should advocate doing away with electing the judges so that we can have judges that are truly in favor of upholding the Constitution of both the state and the nation rather than worrying about their jobs.
By ray
October 27, 2007 10:25 AM | Link to this
great comedy today. perhaps the rightwing would be more understanding had genarlow solicited his action from another man in the setting of an airport bathroom. few things more humerous than watching moral republicans rage at heterosexual conduct.
god hates trash ‘08
By jbmlaw
October 27, 2007 10:27 AM | Link to this
Dear RW @ 10:00, you have much force in your argument. Certainly the law did not keep the court from imposing its will on the state, so arguably “which” law would not have made any difference. I guess that is the core problem when leftists are on a court.
Dear D @ 10:17, please outline the circumstances under which the legislature can pass any law that will be constitutional.
By Redneck Convert
October 27, 2007 10:27 AM | Link to this
Well, I see this God Hates Trash is back making fun of us godly rednecks and calling us stupid. I don’t know why there ain’t a law to keep him off of this blog. So what if we like lots of punishment and don’t take a bath only oncet a month? We still run this state and what we say goes.
All Wooten was doing was telling us to vote against these librul judges when they run again. If you don’t like the court ruling change the court, is what I say. We already got a awful mess because a court said we got to let Those People go to school with white kids and let them vote and such. We can’t even rub our True Religion in the face of Jews and towel heads by putting up the 10 Commandments and the cross in court houses and making kids learn it in school so they won’t turn out like this Wilson prevert.
The constitution is what we say it is, not what some librul judge says it is. Its something that can be bent like a pretzel to make sure good white Christian folks is pertected. That’s what was so smart about the Founding Fathers.
I’m with Sister Dusty on this one. If we don’t stand up for what’s Right, next thing we know this Wilson kid will be coming into our home and bothering our women. Even Sister Dusty, though he would probly shrivel up like a prune if he seen her. She’s the kind of person that makes you think of everything else but You Know What.
Well, I got to get ready to have my buddy Jim Earl and Joe Bill over to watch my Dawgs today. I felt a lot better knowing this Wilson prevert was in prison, but I guess I got to let it pass till the next election. You might of knowed the state attorney general wouldn’t appeal again. He’s one of Those People.
Drink lots of beer this weekend, folks. It will keep me in a job.
By jbmlaw
October 27, 2007 10:30 AM | Link to this
Dear D @ 10:17, just for the fun of it, what do you get when you google “most dangerous branch”?
By jbmlaw
October 27, 2007 10:31 AM | Link to this
Dear Ray the moron @ 10:25, spewing the usual leftist homophobic stuff early today, aren’t you?
By lane tucker
October 27, 2007 10:36 AM | Link to this
I hope that the state of Georgia is now forced to release other CHILD MOLESTERS due to this judicial activisim
Wilson was 17 but weeks short of 18, the girl was 15 but was just weeks from being 14.
By D
October 27, 2007 10:43 AM | Link to this
I would disagree with the google results — when we have a president who has turned American focus from the war on terror where the terrorists really were — Afghanistan — to this now out of control $2Billion a week war. I’m not saying our troops haven’t done good stuff in Iraq, quite the contrary, but we should have finished the main job in Afghanistan first before we got committed to this war that was Mission Accomplished 4 years ago.
By ray
October 27, 2007 10:43 AM | Link to this
jbmlaw: only someone suffering from larry craigitis would have come back at my comment with a personal attack. it was a test. and it worked.
By lane tucker
October 27, 2007 10:44 AM | Link to this
I hope that the state of Georgia is now forced to release other CHILD MOLESTERS due to this judicial activisim
Wilson was 17 but weeks short of 18, the girl was 15 but was just weeks from being 14.
By D
October 27, 2007 10:47 AM | Link to this
Lane, how would the state be forced to release real child molesters? The revised law wouldn’t cover real child molesters and they would not have the precident to get out.
By Kieran
October 27, 2007 10:50 AM | Link to this
Those are some very good questions, D.
By gayamaya
October 27, 2007 11:00 AM | Link to this
Jim Wooten your age is showing. News for Mr. newsman! American teenagers like sex! Lots of it! Sorry to tell you this Mr. Wooten but yes even fifteen year old girls. If you ever took an Anthropology class you would know that sex can be b=eautiful for young people also. With nobody getting hurt and its OK with society. OK with you? Of course not! That’s why you don’t understand what is happening when the judges grow out of your old dead constipated taboo. Its called paternalism MISTER Wooten. And I have more news for you (unfortunatly) Young people have a love of nature that you will nevere get. That goes for sex also, just in case you haven’t got the message. WE are the future and the judges know it even if you stay clueless.
By AmVet
October 27, 2007 11:02 AM | Link to this
This case is clearly titillating for our esteemed columnist as it involves both race AND sex.
And here in the reactionary deep south, that is a winning combo when one writes an editorial column that is targeted to the “faithful”.
And with such a juicy recipe and much faux concern by both the heathen liberal reprobates and the champions of justice, the Christian conservatives, it is no wonder that people play loose and fast with the facts.
{{The General Assembly knew what it was doing and acted with full awareness of the facts in the Wilson case — and chose not to apply the new law retroactively, as was its right.}}
Agreed. Absolutely. But seemingly lost in all of this is the question, was it right? As in the right thing to do?
Killers, rapists and armed robbers walk free all of the time it seems, but this dumbass gets 10 years for being a male teenage slut?
We are going to need a boatload more prisons, methinks, if we are to keep society safe from these under aged horny no goodniks, but then again that endeavor seems to be a very, very popular one in Georgia anyway.
And could one rightfully wonder if this case is not just dripping with hypocrisy as it involves not young people of the white persuasion but the unter menschen.
I would like to know more about this “new” law that apparently went to great lengths to intentionally not grandfather out victims of what seems to be a case of overly severe if not outright injustice. Could it be that it was because of this very case?
By Dusty
October 27, 2007 11:06 AM | Link to this
RedNeck Convict,10:27
You ignorant acting slob. Every day you get on here just to make all Southerners look like the dregs of society. In your case, that may be true, but not for the real ones. You are sooo tiresome.
If only Lewis Grizzard were here to put you in your place as he would so well and so cleverly. He loved the South, the most delightful place on earth. Now it is invaded by recent “others” who start trying to make it like the place they left in a hurry. Figures!
Why don’t you be as honest as God Hates Trash and say you hate Southerners, etc. etc. instead of this cute act you try to pull off?
Well, that is all the attention you get for today, you onerous creature. I will never agree with you. Enjoy your “fame” because blogs are the only place that you could even be a little bit “funny”. (There!! I feel better. I’m no diplomat like jbmlaw.)
By Craig
October 27, 2007 11:07 AM | Link to this
Keith you’re a moron. The kid was an above average student - who did a dumb thing. Give him a break.
By Craig
October 27, 2007 11:11 AM | Link to this
Thanks Redneck - you’re the reason I check out the daily drivel from Wooten.
On the subject of judicial activism - a recent study looked at US Supreme Court justices, and found that one individual voted to overturn the clear instructions of the Congress more than any other. Who? Wooten’s favorite, Justice Thomas. So spare us the crying about how horrible “judicial activism” is - it’s no more than another right wing talking point.
Good luck Gennarlow.
By RW-(the original)
October 27, 2007 11:14 AM | Link to this
AmVet,
I only nodded off six times trying to wade through that 11:02. Maybe your writing is improving or perhaps my tolerance for the absurd has grown.
Nothing to see in your first eight paragraphs, but the ninth is actually germane to the discussion.
It would seem that the Supreme Court could easily have used the exclusion clause in the new law as a basis for their decision and nobody would be claiming judicial activism. Basing the decision on a clause in the law would be exactly what we expect our courts to do. So why didn’t they do that do you suppose?
By Analchord
October 27, 2007 11:17 AM | Link to this
Mini-me’s: You complete me!
By D
October 27, 2007 11:19 AM | Link to this
I still haven’t seen any evidence of this so-called legislating from the bench. The job of the court is to uphold the Constitution, and when the founders wrote the 8th Amendment, they wanted to prevent people from suffering from punishments that don’t fit the crime. Mr. Wilson’s punishment did not fit the crime, and the Supreme Court of Georgia realized that and upheld the 8th Amendment as written.
Also, to reiterate my point from earlier, Jim says we need to vote against the justices that upheld the 8th Amendment, I still say we as a public have no business electing judges. With voter turn out as low as it is and too many of the people who do vote do so with way too much ignorance, we end up with people running the court more interested in keeping their jobs than doing what their job really is, interpreting the Constitution.
By RW-(the original)
October 27, 2007 11:21 AM | Link to this
Craig,
Would you please provide a link to that recent study of the Supreme Court Justices? Thank you in advance.
By D
October 27, 2007 11:24 AM | Link to this
I still haven’t seen any evidence of this so-called legislating from the bench. The job of the court is to uphold the Constitution, and when the founders wrote the 8th Amendment, they wanted to prevent people from suffering from punishments that don’t fit the crime. Mr. Wilson’s punishment did not fit the crime, and the Supreme Court of Georgia realized that and upheld the 8th Amendment as written.
Also, to reiterate my point from earlier, Jim says we need to vote against the justices that upheld the 8th Amendment, I still say we as a public have no business electing judges. With voter turn out as low as it is and too many of the people who do vote do so with way too much ignorance, we end up with people running the court more interested in keeping their jobs than doing what their job really is, interpreting the Constitution.
By Corporate
October 27, 2007 11:25 AM | Link to this
If the races had been reversed, and it had been a black girl giving the blow job to a white honors student jock, would mr kkk wooten still have the same stupid opinion? I think not.
By Process this
October 27, 2007 11:26 AM | Link to this
Wilson admitted to being sexually active at age 13. How old were the girls who consented?
By jm
October 27, 2007 11:27 AM | Link to this
well, right or wrong, the judges decision was the christian thing to do.
By AmVet
October 27, 2007 11:28 AM | Link to this
Craig, it strikes me as humorous how the political right relies so excessively on sloganeering and meaningless sound bites.
With the material from the past few years, one could practically write a book of these inane slogans.
And as today’s pithy topic is about “legislating from the bench” and it’s brilliant corollaries, “activist judges” and “strict Constitutionalists”, I wonder if soon there won’t be resulting cross accusations of “adjudicating from the legislature”, “activist representation” and “flexible Reconstructionists”?
And yet such tripe and mental masturbation sells very well among certain groups. But it is little wonder that they are reeling, trying to avoid a second straight bloodbath on the national stage.
By RW-(the original)
October 27, 2007 11:29 AM | Link to this
D,
Aren’t you intermixing the Georgia state Constitution with the United States Constitution?
The job of the Georgia State Supreme Court is to uphold the Georgia Constitution. If the Georgia Constitution is found to run afoul of the US Constitution it’s the job of the Federal District courts and/or the US Supreme Court to make that decision.
One of the problems with this decision is that the Georgia Supreme Court looked to other states for guidance in their decision. That is as clearly judicial activism as it is when the US Supreme Court looks to other countries laws for guidance.
By Analchord
October 27, 2007 11:31 AM | Link to this
The Georgia Supreme Court mistook pertinacious prosectution for pernicious persecution. This decision sets a dangerous precedent. What other legislative mandates will be mitigated by the magistrates?
Will they overturn our booze-free sundays? Will they allow my wife to retain water on even days?
I demand the resignation of the 4 assenting judges and insist that the 3 dissenters be allowed to appoint, annoint, and adjoin 4 less-adjustable adjudicators.
By D
October 27, 2007 11:33 AM | Link to this
RW Actually any officer of any national, local or state government is required to take an oath to support and uphold the Constitution of the United States. True, they did reference other staes in the decision, but nevertheless, the basis of the decision I believe was that the punishment outweighed the crime and did fall under the cruel and unusual provision of the 8th Amendment.
By getalife
October 27, 2007 11:37 AM | Link to this
2 years for a bj and a bad choice to tape it is enough.
The gop Senator caught red handed (pun intended) in an airport mens room and will not resign in disgrace is no big deal to the wingnuts.
What a disgusting example you send the children and you want to cut their health care.
Pitiful.
By Glenn
October 27, 2007 11:38 AM | Link to this
jbm, did you notice that Citizen Luckovich is opposing the last war again today?
By Glenn
October 27, 2007 11:42 AM | Link to this
hotdamhammocking
Whether sanctioning Genarlow Wilson
Or the banned sabbatarian pilsen,
It’s all in the lime
And the coconut rhyme
Of the sagacious Nilsson of Schmilsson. * * Rudy 08
By AmVet
October 27, 2007 11:46 AM | Link to this
Analchord at 11:31, well said.
You should write the preface to the book I mentioned at 11:28.
By RW-(the original)
October 27, 2007 11:48 AM | Link to this
D,
Officials taking an oath to support and uphold the US Constitution is a very different thing than the State Supreme Court’s charter to rule on and interpret matters of the State Constitution and State laws.
The basis for the decision was obviously that they felt that in this one particular case the punishment outweighed the crime. The author of the law Wilson was sentenced under also feels that way, but feelings don’t make very good precedent for Constitutional rulings.
The court really should have dealt with the law supporting the case rather than the individual involved and it seems they had a very easy issue to use with the exclusion clause in the law meant to fix this type situation.
By Glenn
October 27, 2007 11:48 AM | Link to this
Analgram & Dusty, your arguments are phenomenologically phalse and spherical, but phunleyput.
By Analchord
October 27, 2007 11:53 AM | Link to this
How can one blogger set the tone for elevated discussion with one or two impertinent jabs at the handful of trolls? That blogger must be influential. Indeed he must rule the internet as surely as an evil dictator rules his citizens.
RW notches up his prose whenever I decide he should. However, he uses 100 words when 25 or less will do. Brevity will get you more readers, RW. Dont assume you have readers. Always earn them.
You could have just written, “Federal statutes should constrain local reversals based on contiguous congruence.”
Nine words to your 150! I see a turboflushing in your future. (ten bucks sez he counts his 11:29 blog)
still love a fallguy and I always will.
By Craig
October 27, 2007 11:54 AM | Link to this
Here ya go, RW.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-sunstein22oct22,0,5512088.story
(In all fairness, a conservative group of law professors presented an opposite column a few days later, but I’ll let you look that up yourself….)
Amvet, the Republicans are good at it, I have to admit - “death tax”, “judicial activism”, “Fair Tax”, and on and on. Unfortunately, since most people aren’t too involved with politics, it often works too, so that they vote against their own interests.
By getalife
October 27, 2007 11:54 AM | Link to this
Well, if you want to talk about the Constitution, lets address why Ron Paul had to write the Freedom Act:
“On October 15, 2007, Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) introduced the American Freedom Agenda Act of 2007 (H.R. 3835). This important piece of legislation would reverse many of the Constitutional abuses that have occurred over the past six years.
The American Freedom Agenda Act would bar the use of evidence obtained through torture; require that federal intelligence gathering is conducted in accordance with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA); create a mechanism for challenging presidential signing statements; repeal the Military Commissions Act, which, among other things, denies habeas corpus to certain detainees; prohibit kidnapping, detentions, and torture abroad; protect journalists who publish information received from the executive branch; and ensure that secret evidence is not used to designate individuals or organizations with a presence in the U.S. as foreign terrorists”
Lets get real, w and cheney chose to legislate their own laws and ignore the rule of law and the Contitution. This bill proves this fact.
Liberty and justice for all? No, they want immunity for telecom companies that illegally spied on you.
They broke the like Nixon and when they are not prosecuted, this opens up appeals for many criminals.
By RW-(the original)
October 27, 2007 11:59 AM | Link to this
Thanks Craig,
That’s what I figured and I don’t care for hyper-partisan “studies” from either side so I won’t bother looking for the other one.
Later all!
Even you Polly
By jbmlaw
October 27, 2007 12:03 PM | Link to this
Dear Ray @ 10:43, your post is the traditional leftist method for apologizing for mindless epithets.
Dear D @ 11:19, your jurisprudence is original with you. “they wanted to prevent people from suffering from punishments that don’t fit the crime.” I think that does not show up anywhere in the Federalist papers. The 8th Amendment was aimed only at the Federal government, and was primarily to prevent torturing criminals.
Dear RW @ 11:29, I think D’s response is close to correct. The Georgia court is supposed to follow the US Constitution also. I think they did not in this particular case, as they clearly miscontrued the meaning of “cruel and unusual.”
Dear Glenn @ 11:38, I never look at Lukovich so anything you tell me there is news to me. But I will have to pay attention to anyone acquainted with Moonbeam Harry, one of my favorites.
By Analchord
October 27, 2007 12:04 PM | Link to this
Dusty, will do. I’m having a bad hair day, so it wont matter. Absence makes the heart grow fonder? So you’re saying there’s a chance for me + you? (jim carrey)
By Dusty
October 27, 2007 12:05 PM | Link to this
Glenn @ 11:48 & 11:42
Is that good or bad???
Your coconut rhyme
Is very fine.
But may I guess
That surely you jest.
I do admit to some fearful fog
About your surreptitous “blog”.
So what??
By leobrackett
October 27, 2007 12:10 PM | Link to this
I would be interested to see if Mr. Wooten thinks any legislatively created sentence can ever be considered “cruel and unusual” under the Constitution. Further, on what ground can any law that is properly passed by a legislative body ever be declared unconstituonal? If one worships at the alter of the legislature, then no legislatively authorized punishment can ever be nullified, not matter how absurd it is. The philosophy seems to be that if the legislature passes a law, it is always proper under every circumstance. Period. Of course, Republican-style conservatives reject this notion if a “liberal’ legislature enacts a law thay they find philosophically troubling .. then they want a Court to “legislate from the bench”. An example of this is the Republican furor that greeted the US Supreme Court’s decision which respected the will of the Connecticut legislature and expanded the power of eminent domain laws.
By Analchord
October 27, 2007 12:12 PM | Link to this
Good one, glenn.
By Dusty
October 27, 2007 12:12 PM | Link to this
Dear Analchord & other IDs @12:04
Yes, your absence will make my heart grow fonder even on a bad hair day. Here’s to a fond farewell!!(Dusty)
By Luckoduh
October 27, 2007 12:17 PM | Link to this
{{{{Californians return to hardships-Urinal}}}}
Yes, I’m so sure that the “Californians” are just laying in bed sobbing about how horrible Bush is, like the perverts in New Orleans did.
You sniveling cry babies at the AJC have no idea how to care for yourselves, it’s right out of mommy’s arms and into the tender loving care of the federal government.
I’ll bet that the “Californians” have already met with their insurance agents and are shopping the unsold homes of the San Diego area, or maybe even calling the builder about replacing what they had, but they damn sure are not tearing their clothes and gnashing their teeth.
Any other news organization would have headlined this as Californians pick up pieces but since we are dealing with the AJC, whose only experience in life is to whine and moan, we get some candy as-s article about how horrible it is to be alive during the Bush administration.
What cheesy little cowards you liberals are.
From day number one, when they told the people of San Diego to evacuate they did just that, there was no idiocy at work, no fleet of parked school buses, they just did what they had to do to get out.
Ironic that Qualcomm stadium did not resemble the bedlam of the Superdome, isn’t it?
The people of San Diego shamed, utterly and totally shamed you losers and you just cannot stand it.
You made your bed.
~~~~~~
The Atlanta Urinal Constitution, in cooperation with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, is pleased to bring you the following blessed news:
{{{{Iran’s leadership boasts it is safe from U.S. military action, saying Washington knows an attack would find no world support and send oil prices skyrocketing. That confidence is buoying the government in its standoff with the West, despite new sanctions.}}}}
We have new confidence and great strength in our fight against the infidels, now go blow yourselves up for us, god willing.
~~~~~~
{{{{Hillary Clinton Accuser Claims New Evidence of Fraud in Documentary}}}}
{{{{One gift that Hillary Clinton is unlikely to enjoy on her 60th birthday Friday is the premiere of “Hillary Uncensored,” a scathing documentary whose 13-minute trailer has been No. 1 on Google Video since Oct. 10, with more than 1.1 million views to date. Hillary Clinton still hasn’t filed reports to the FEC enumerating Paul’s excessive contributions to her 2000 Senate campaign.}}}}
The “gift” that keeps on giving.
By getalife
October 27, 2007 12:17 PM | Link to this
Wow, Mike’s toon is spot on as usual. Great stuff.
I remember a blogger who said it was very dangerous to have a lame duck President with no credibilty or accountability.
And now we are at the WWIII point with Rudy’s neocon advisor discussing WWIV.
So, this election will come down to if Americans want WWIII and IV (whatever that is), a draft, with millions more killed and bombing of cities.
Of course, this is insane but many Americans will still vote gop.
By Atco
October 27, 2007 12:21 PM | Link to this
getalife you need to getalife.
By Analchord
October 27, 2007 12:26 PM | Link to this
Well!
By getalife
October 27, 2007 12:27 PM | Link to this
MN Star-Tribune: “Sen. Larry Craig will argue before an appeals court that Minnesota’s disorderly conduct law is unconstitutional as it applies to his conviction in a bathroom sex sting, according to a new court filing.
This is the first time Craig’s attorneys have raised that issue. However, an earlier friend-of-the-court filing by the American Civil Liberties Union argued that Craig’s foot-tapping and hand gesture under a stall divider at the Minneapolis airport are protected by the First Amendment.”
Wow, but lets give a kid 2 years for a bj with the opposite sex.
Geez.
By Cheryl Barons
October 27, 2007 12:36 PM | Link to this
This is a primary example if why constructionism and originalism are flawed, Thomas Jefferson’s intent was for a Living Constitution, How could a 208 year-old document, written for a small agricultural nation of thirteen states endure through the tests of time to apply to today’s immense, modern highly industrialized society? This is because of the flexibility with which the Constitution was imbued. The framers knew that they could not possibly plan for every circumstance or situation. As such, they provided various methods by which the Constitution and its laws could be modified as society grew and changed.
I am not a black person, yet I have thought, what if Genarlow Wilson had been white? Would he had ever gone to prison? The young (white) men at Duke University were innocent but the were numerous complaints on campus about rowdy and destructive behaviour at their frat prior to the day the incidents that lead up to the false accusations,yet unlike Genarlow they were never in prison
By Bosch
October 27, 2007 12:38 PM | Link to this
I’m glad to see the kid is out of jail, and I’m glad to see this law has been adjucated.
The law can be argued all day, but it seems that a majority of people think that this was an injustice.
Was it? Well, the kid was tried and convicted and served time in jail.
The one thing missing from discussion of this were the parents’ role in all of this. I think the parents should shoulder some of the responsibility here, even though Wilson was 17, almost 18 at the time. Yes, kids that age need to be responsible for their actions, but as parents we need to guide our kids to act responsibily and in responsible ways.
I know several kids this age that are very mature and very responsible, I also know several kids this age who I wouldn’t trust with the simplest of tasks.
I’m glad the law was changed, and this case is just evidence enough that we need to do more to educate our kids about their sexual behavior.
By Cheryl Barrons
October 27, 2007 12:39 PM | Link to this
This is a primary example if why constructionism and originalism are flawed, Thomas Jefferson’s intent was for a Living Constitution, How could a 208 year-old document, written for a small agricultural nation of thirteen states endure through the tests of time to apply to today’s immense, modern highly industrialized society? This is because of the flexibility with which the Constitution was imbued. The framers knew that they could not possibly plan for every circumstance or situation. As such, they provided various methods by which the Constitution and its laws could be modified as society grew and changed.
I am not a black person, yet I have thought, what if Genarlow Wilson had been white? Would he had ever gone to prison? The young (white) men at Duke University were innocent but the were numerous complaints on campus about rowdy and destructive behaviour at their frat prior to the day the incidents that lead up to the false accusations,yet unlike Genarlow they were never in prison
By Typical Georgia Redneck
October 27, 2007 12:40 PM | Link to this
Those wites in California showed they knew how to drive away from a grassfire.
Makes me proud to be wite!
Wite power!
By Cheryl Barrons
October 27, 2007 12:40 PM | Link to this
This is a primary example if why constructionism and originalism are flawed, Thomas Jefferson’s intent was for a Living Constitution, How could a 208 year-old document, written for a small agricultural nation of thirteen states endure through the tests of time to apply to today’s immense, modern highly industrialized society? This is because of the flexibility with which the Constitution was imbued. The framers knew that they could not possibly plan for every circumstance or situation. As such, they provided various methods by which the Constitution and its laws could be modified as society grew and changed.
I am not a black person, yet I have thought, what if Genarlow Wilson had been white? Would he had ever gone to prison? The young (white) men at Duke University were innocent but the were numerous complaints on campus about rowdy and destructive behaviour at their frat prior to the day the incidents that lead up to the false accusations,yet unlike Genarlow they were never in prison
By Truthifer
October 27, 2007 12:40 PM | Link to this
If I recall correctly, Mr. Wooten defended the President’s pardon for Scotter Libby, saying that he was within his legal rights to do so. The Georgia Supreme Court is within its legal right to free Genarlow Wilson. The GOP mantra about “legislating from the bench” is getting extremely tiresome. The GSC did not legislate, they made a ruling on a case brought before the court. That is their job.
By getalife
October 27, 2007 12:41 PM | Link to this
duh,
Craig is the gift that keeps on giving.
The ACLU, ouch.
Bwa.
By The right(W)ong
October 27, 2007 12:41 PM | Link to this
Jim Conservatives think like this, there world view. This is how (W) got in the white house the first time ruling from the bench. You can’t have it both ways. Conservatives are just like the Pharisees in the bible. Jesus talk about your kind and he said they will point out what’s wrong and not lift a finger to help the people only to give them more law to hold them down. Jesus call them Snake, pit viper. Conservatives are pharisees!!!
By D
October 27, 2007 12:43 PM | Link to this
Last comment for today since I am heading out — I may be wrong, since it has been a while since I looked at the Georgia State Constitution, but I do believe the 8th Amendment to the US Constitution is worded into the Georgia Constitution as well.
By huh?
October 27, 2007 12:46 PM | Link to this
There is something I have never understood about this case. Some claim that Genarlow Wilson is a sex offender, a child molester even, for having had consensual oral sex with a 15 year old when he was 17. In this argument, the 15 year old is a child and the 17 year old is an adult. However, if a 17 year old girl has consensual oral sex with an 18 year old male, then the 18 year old is an adult and the 17 year old - in this case - is a child. So, is a 17 year old a child or an adult? In every other developed nation the age of consent ranges from 14 to 16 years old. I’m absolutely not saying that a 30 year old needs to be having sex with a 14 year old, but I think it is just common sense that a 15 year old and a 17 year old are peers. There is not adult/child relationship going on there.
By Bosch
October 27, 2007 12:46 PM | Link to this
Well, it appears that I’ve done what I do so very often and use the wrong word, so let me rephrase:
I’m glad the law was ADJUSTED, “adjucated” isn’t a word now is it?
By wHAAAT
October 27, 2007 12:48 PM | Link to this
Will the AJC cover the shout down at Emory when Horowitz was prevented from speaking at the university?
So much for free speech from liberals.
By ray
October 27, 2007 12:48 PM | Link to this
jbmlaw 12:03: The fact that you and your republican brethren have merely shrugged your shoulders at the financial cost and loss of life in Iraq disqualifies you from using the word ‘apology’.
By Bosch
October 27, 2007 1:02 PM | Link to this
Oh, that’s too bad if Horowitz and his Islamo-Fascist Awareness Week machine weren’t allowed to speak. I think Emory is wrong.
I think people do need to be aware of the dangers of terrorism and if Horowitz had used that message instead of one of complete vile and hatred, he may have had more of a captive audience.
I read through some of the goals of his campaign, and I actually agreed with two of them: protest oppression of women in Islamic culture, and a memorial service for those killed.
It just goes to show, a majority of people in this country are sick of hate.
If you want to get a message across, shouting about it and throwing it in someone’s face doesn’t work. Most people are rational adults.
I’ll talk to people I disagree with, but when they start yelling and telling me my opinions are just stupid and wrong, well, that doesn’t accomplish much.
By Typical Georgia Redneck
October 27, 2007 1:02 PM | Link to this
I am so proud today to be wite. All them wites drove away from the grass fires, and nun of them dyed.
Great day to be wite.
Right Wootenduh?
By getalife
October 27, 2007 1:09 PM | Link to this
He spoke, they heckled him
He is an idiot like Malkin and Coulter.
By sansho1
October 27, 2007 1:10 PM | Link to this
Paragraph XVII of the Bill of Rights of the state of Georgia states:
“Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted; nor shall any person be abused in being arrested, while under arrest, or in prison.”
So much for “judicial activism”.
By here to save the way
October 27, 2007 1:14 PM | Link to this
adjudicated
By getalife
October 27, 2007 1:16 PM | Link to this
“Blanco said in a press statement that it took federal forces nearly a week to arrive in Louisiana after the storm. “I was the only game in town, leading for nearly a week without the president’s help,” Blanco said. “Of all the lessons learned from Katrina now being put into place in California, I would hope the one he would remember is that politics has no place in any disaster.”
So much for that idea.”
Everything w does is political bs but it is okay if he does it in the mind of a wingnut.
The Constitution was written to stop what w is doing today.
By Bosch
October 27, 2007 1:23 PM | Link to this
here to save the way,
Thanks! I am spelling challenged.
By getalife
October 27, 2007 1:26 PM | Link to this
Bosch,
The google toolbar has a check spelling feature but I fail to use it sometimes.
By More help
October 27, 2007 1:31 PM | Link to this
If you use Firefox there is an option to check your spelling automatically as you type in a comment box.
By Dusty
October 27, 2007 1:39 PM | Link to this
This case somehow reminds me of illegal aliens. Should we change the laws when judges feel like it or do we follow what has already been passed and established?
In Genarlow’s case, the judges changed the established law to suit their feelings. Four judges changed the law instantaneously. Wooten called it “legislating from the bench”, judges assuming they know better than standing law.
In Genarlow’s case, the law was changed after his conviction. But it still said that it was NOT retroactive.
In the recent effort on the part of illegal aliens, the established law was questioned and there was an effort to “overrule” it for something considered better for the moment. The public disagreed vociferously and it did not happen.
I think we need to decide whether laws are to be enforced or whether they will change to the moment at hand. To have “optimal law” will make it very hard for the justice system to enforce laws when they do not know what law will be changed when their case appears before a judge.
By Bosch
October 27, 2007 1:41 PM | Link to this
getalife and More help,
Thanks again! I am really spelling challenged, and sometimes even use the wrong word. It’s a curse of the family, it seems.
By Analchord
October 27, 2007 1:47 PM | Link to this
Spelling? That reminds me of the time in my youth when I entered a spelling bee. Well it was down to me, and this red-haired girl. She got the word, “amateur” and spelled it right. Then I gets up and draws the word, “sigmoidoscsope”. Well, I just bent over and dropped trou and spread with both hands, brown-eyeing the judges. They gave me credit for knowing what it meant, so I survived the last round. The red-haired girl got, “suffragette”, which she mispelled. Then it was just me. I got, “ectoplasm” and spelled it right.
By Typical Georgia Redneck
October 27, 2007 1:56 PM | Link to this
One time my trailer cot fire when my meth works got to hot. I saw the fire so I got my kids and my dogs owt in the yard and my nabor called the fire men. Nobody dyed.
I am a real smart wite man, smarter than those peepul in New Orlins fer sure.
Wite power!
By Bosch
October 27, 2007 1:59 PM | Link to this
Dusty,
The immigration issue is a hard one, and I think we should uphold the laws we have.
In both cases, morality seems to be the underlying issue, and mores change in society. Someone earlier said, and I agree, that the Constitution should be a living document, and should change according to the changes in society.
In the Wilson case, it seems to me, that the law was flawed and adjusted to fit majority opinion. Is that right? Not in all cases, but if it can be proved, and in this case, I think it was, that there are grounds to change it, then I think it should be changed.
With immigration, I think our government has been very negligient in turning a blind eye and letting illegal immigrants in because they provide cheap labor. I don’t think that’s okay.
What this case makes me think about are my own children. I teach my kids to be responsible, but kids are kids, they mess up. If they broke the law, then they need to be responsible (my oldest son is out right now working overtime at his job to pay for a speeding ticket).
But, I simply do not think we should have laws in place that punish kids for having sex. I also know there are children that rape other children, and there definitely needs to be laws to punish those offenders and protect those that are victimized, but this wasn’t the case.
By Flip/Flop
October 27, 2007 2:01 PM | Link to this
Democrats Plan a Shorter Workweek
By Typical Georgia Redneck
October 27, 2007 2:03 PM | Link to this
One time I was driven my truck when I saw sum smoak so I figgered thare must be a fire over that wey. So I drove home. I herd on the raydeo later that thare was a big trafic jam - I bet it was mostly colored folks, don’t you think Wootenduh? Exsept it was in Dawson County off 400 so maybe not.
Wite power!
By Stuart Smilely
October 27, 2007 2:04 PM | Link to this
Oh boy, that was a wonderful story Anachord. By god your struggle to spell “echtoplasma” correct really means something to all 4 of us here today. Thank you.
YOU ARE SOMEBODY Anachord!
Don’t make me break out my magic mirror to prove it! Use your mirror at home….Look into it ….and say OUT LOUD…..”I AM SOMEBODY”…..
By Bosch
October 27, 2007 2:05 PM | Link to this
Dusty,
And just so you know, I read something that Jesse Jackson said yesterday, not to quote, but he was somehow comparing Wilson to Jesus. He was using “resurrection” references, and I found that repulsive.
By RW-(the original)
October 27, 2007 2:20 PM | Link to this
If the constitution is supposed to be a living, breathing document that changes with every whim of the populace why have one at all? The beauty of the United States Constitution is that the framers knew they couldn’t take every possible future occurrence into account and they didn’t try. There is nothing in our constitution that can’t be applied as easily to today as it could when it was written.
By Analchord
October 27, 2007 2:20 PM | Link to this
Like I said, I won the spelling bee.
By Typical Georgia Redneck is black
October 27, 2007 2:26 PM | Link to this
Only a black person impersonating a white person would talk like that. This same idiot would be offended if a white person mocked them.
Hypocrite.
By Typical Black person
October 27, 2007 2:30 PM | Link to this
Dat Mike Vick boy be innocent! Genarlow Wilson be innocent! Jena 6 be da wust crime in da history of mankind. I be don’t like America ‘cause dey don’t be likin us black folks!
By Chuck Jones
October 27, 2007 2:32 PM | Link to this
I don’t think you’ll find anyone more conservative - and more against the judiciocracy in this country - than I am, but I’m going to have to respectfully disagree with the column here.
The issue in the Wilson case was our society’s evolving standards of decency. Wilson was not set free under the amended Georgia statute, he was set free under the Constitution. In other words, the Court simply used the amendment as an example of our evolving standards of decency. It is true that the amendment says that it is not to be applied retroactively - the legislature does not have the power to dictate to the Court the factors that the Court can look to in determining a Constitutional question.
In the end, the responsibility of the Court is to do Justice. I think ANY prison term for consensual sex is unjust - certainly a 10 year prison term for a teenager having consensual sex is extremely unjust.
By Ken
October 27, 2007 2:38 PM | Link to this
Wooten is dead wrong on this one. No one should ever be placed in jail for consensual sex with someone of a similar age. In my opinion, the entire law should be ruled unconstitutional. The Supreme Court has already struck down restrictions on sex for adults, but so some patronizing reason we think it is okay to outlaw sex among minors. Minors will not simply stop having sex because you may it illegal.. instead you will sentence otherwise good kids to decades in jail for committing no crime whatsoever. Lets reserve our jails for thieves, murders, and rapists.
This is about as clear cut a case of cruel and unusual punishment as you can get. The conservatives that are against this ruling are just downright against justice.
By Ms. Writer
October 27, 2007 2:42 PM | Link to this
Typical Black Person: The funny thing is that you actually think that you are being cute..You must not know any Black people or you would use this forum to give intelligent comments. I guess all white women behave like Britney Spears trash and all white men are closet homosexuals. Go hang yourself..pun completely intended
By @@
October 27, 2007 2:44 PM | Link to this
Would there have been a public outcry if the judge had applied a “shaming sentence” in lieu of prison for Genarlow?
Genarlow was convicted of child molestation. The judge could have made young Mr. Wilson secure a babydoll face forward on the crotch of his pants.
He’d have to wear it for the remainder of his days in high school and his first year of college. Payback for public humiliation.
There are those who have opposed shaming sentences because it’s cruel and unusual punishment.
Did those girls know they were being videotaped?
By Ms. Writer
October 27, 2007 2:45 PM | Link to this
This country is so backwards..
we give 11 year olds birth control (read front page) but want to put a 17 year old in jail for having sex with a 15 year old.
we don’t want illegals here, but we finance their healthcare.
if this is our future—-our future is f^&%ed.
By Typical Black person
October 27, 2007 2:46 PM | Link to this
Ms. Writer,
I was responding to Typical southern redneck.
Now that you’ve attacked me(as expected), why don’t you attack Typical southern Redneck? You won’t,will you(as expected)?
By RW-(the original)
October 27, 2007 2:48 PM | Link to this
I think ANY prison term for consensual sex is unjust.
Chuck Jones,
Surely you can’t mean that the way it looks. Should a 12 year old be able to consent to sex with a 30 year old?
Ken,
The law has already been changed so how is the Supreme Court supposed to strike down a law that’s no longer on the books?
By getalife
October 27, 2007 3:01 PM | Link to this
There they go again wanting government to legislate your private sex lives. Perverts, get out of my bedroom.
There would be no case if the tape did not hit the media.
Geez.
By getalife
October 27, 2007 3:04 PM | Link to this
Homopohbes.
Good thing my male lover and I aren’t on tape.
Geez.
By Shar
October 27, 2007 3:05 PM | Link to this
This case is interesting because there are two legitimate sides to it. On one hand, statutes on the books mandated (to the regret of most of the people involved in the case, including the girl’s family and the jury) that Mr. Wilson be given a ten year sentence. That was the law, and in a nation of laws the law should be upheld. (Signing statements notwithstanding?) In addition, it is not in society’s interest to have teenagers doing drugs and having indiscriminate sex, and the videotaping of these activities added to the offense. Punishment was called for, and the ten year sentence was unavoidable.
On the other hand, the law and people in general realize that teenagers do stupid things. That is why juveniles are treated differently under the law than adults. Coincidentally, Mr. Wilson was precisely the same age at the time of his crime as was Laura Welch Bush when she was so busy chattering away with her pal Judy D** that she didn’t notice a stop sign, ran it and slammed into a classmate’s car, killing him immediately. No charges were ever filed, because all concerned realized that adding the destruction of Ms. Bush’s life to the loss of Michael Douglas’ would serve neither justice nor any useful purpose.
The Georgia Supreme Court has weighed the facts of the case, considered the mitigating factors such as the age of those involved, the consensual nature of the sex, the intent of the original sponsor of the law (who testified that cases such as Mr. Wilson’s were never intended to be covered by his legislation) and the subsequent reduction of this kind of sex act from a felony to a misdemeanor with a maximum term of 12 months, and the Court decided that the amount of time served and a felony record is punishment enough - more than Mr. Wilson would receive if he committed the crime today, but less than the ten years that the law, in its flawed writing, required but never intended that people such as he would serve.
Seventeen year olds do stupid, thoughtless, selfish things without regard to consequences. Just ask Laura Bush. It is up to adults to assess punishment that discourages the activity without destroying the individual.
By Vomitous Right Wing Hypocrisy
October 27, 2007 3:11 PM | Link to this
Betcha money that old, predictable Jimmy-boy would stand up and applaud “judicial activism” if it put George W. Bush into office…or if it ever overturned Roe v. Wade.
Gotta hand it to the hypocritical right. They flip. They flop. And then they win a presidential election by accusing the other side of doing just that.
Enough to make me sick, Jimmy-boy.
By getalife
October 27, 2007 3:13 PM | Link to this
“Homopohbes”.
PF,
I doubt you won the spelling bee and again stop hitting on me pervert.
By getalife
October 27, 2007 3:22 PM | Link to this
“District Attorney David McDade said the videotape was critical to his case. “There is no doubt that without the videotape we would have to be relying on the statements of these young people, and that would have been a more difficult prosecution,” he said.”
And
“I mean it wasn’t even an hour [of deliberation on the rape charge],” said jury forewoman Marie Manigault. “We immediately saw the tape for what it was. We went back and saw it again and saw what actually happened and everybody immediately said not guilty.”
Not guilty.
By Ms. Writer
October 27, 2007 3:24 PM | Link to this
Typical Black Person — you must not frequent this blog often, typical redneck is probably white, liberal and a democrat…frequent the blog more often…
By Dusty
October 27, 2007 3:28 PM | Link to this
Well, all I can say is “Watch out children. The day you are over 16 you are chopped meat for predators.”
This free fall sex attitude is just what “poachers” are looking for. And some of you are ready to hand it to them on a legal platter. As RW said,” Should a 12 year old be able to consent to sex with a 30 year old?” Absolutely not and don’t make it legal.
Speaking of strange situations, liberal promoters of S-chip are saying that 25 year olds are children. On the other hand liberals are saying that 15 year olds are adults…….oh..nevermind.
By Vomitous Right Wing Hypocrisy
October 27, 2007 3:28 PM | Link to this
If Mr. Wooten was half the man he thinks he is, he would be rallying for pressing charges against the DA in this case.
Let’s face it: he widely distributed the videotape of minors engaging in sexual activity to media outlets and other law enforcement agencies around the state and country.
The DA is likely guilty of distribution of child pornography.
Would Jimmy-boy raise a stink if charges were brought against his righteous DA?
Damned straight he would. Because Jim Wooten is afflicted with vomitous right wing hypocrisy.
By Najeh Davenpoop
October 27, 2007 3:30 PM | Link to this
Thankfully, the Georgia Supreme Court has more regard for a person having his life stolen from him by the government than some b****** catchphrases like “judicial activism”. Who gives a damn if they are “legislating from the bench”? They gave Genarlow Wilson what he deserves, which the legislature refused to do by making the new law non-retroactive. Ultimately the justice system is designed to impart justice, trendy neo-con catchphrases be damned. What an idiotic article. Congratulations, Genarlow.
By getalife
October 27, 2007 3:32 PM | Link to this
I see a lawsuit for Mr. Wilson and you taxpayers will pay.
Karma.
By Luckoduh
October 27, 2007 3:34 PM | Link to this
{{{{By Typical Georgia Redneck October 27, 2007 12:40 PM Those wites in California showed they knew how to drive away from a grassfire. Makes me proud to be wite! Wite power!}}}}
{{{{By getalife October 27, 2007 1:16 PM “Blanco said in a press statement that it took federal forces nearly a week to arrive in Louisiana after the storm.}}}}
Uh, I forgot to add something to my 12:17, not only did the people in San Diego not sit around waiting on the federal government to get them out of harm’s way, they also didn’t play the race card, like some POS on this blog like to do.
I guess this dumbas-s doesn’t believe that all men were created equal, seeing how race is always the first thing that comes to their weak little minds.
san diego qualcomm fire images- google search
The first picture that came up.
Filthy maggot.
By Analchord
October 27, 2007 3:43 PM | Link to this
Football.
By Dusty
October 27, 2007 3:44 PM | Link to this
Shar@ 3:05
Oh great!! Shar has now drawn President Bush’s wife into the Genarlow Wilson case. Isn’t that just like a dedicated liberal for you? Even Jesse Jackson hasn’t sunk low enough to attack the president’s family.
Laura Bush had an ACCIDENT which was declared an accident since she was perfectly sober, old enough to drive, had a license and no intention to run into anybody.
But Shar wants to compare an automobile accident to sex with a child. This liberal mantra of “I hate Bush” will go to any extremes. We have the obvious example right here.
By steve-o
October 27, 2007 3:47 PM | Link to this
The hypocrisy on here is absolutely appalling. I went to a mostly white high school in an affluent suburb in the Midwest and I knew a lot of senior guys back in school who dated sophomore girls. Of course, many of them had sex or oral sex. So I guess by the twisted, jaded, myopic logic of many on this blog, they should all be locked up for 10 years.
By getalife
October 27, 2007 3:49 PM | Link to this
duh,
Your comparisons of disasters is moronic as usual. Not even close.
Way to play the race card idiot.
Geez.
By @@
October 27, 2007 4:01 PM | Link to this
Getalife:
To satisfy my curiosity, answer this question for me.
Back in high school…if you had a good friend that had dated the same girl for several years and their relationship ended, would you have pursued or accepted a close, intimate relationship with your friends ex-girlfriend?
By getalife
October 27, 2007 4:13 PM | Link to this
@@,
No relationship but if they hit on me (not you PF, pervert) I could never say no.
By RW-(the original)
October 27, 2007 4:15 PM | Link to this
steve-0,
Could you point me to these appalling comments that say Wilson should have stayed locked up for ten years? They don’t seem to be up ^^^ there.
I think you’re seeing things you want to see just because have that race baiter chip on your shoulder.
The discussion is over the way the the court substituted it’s judgment over that of the legislative branch. If you read the decision it’s loaded with irrelevant information about how it’s possible for manslaughter cases and such to carry lighter penalties.
I really think if the court would have said the provision that kept this new law from being retroactive was the basis for the decision you would see very little questioning of the court’s decision.
By Bosch
October 27, 2007 4:45 PM | Link to this
Dusty,
All children, regardless of their ages are potential victims for child molesters.
This wasn’t the case here. Wilson had consensual sex with a girl two years younger then him.
I had a very good friend when I was younger whose mother married her dad when she was 15, he was 20. Should he have been put in jail?
Yes, of course, 12 year olds should not have sex with 30 year olds, that’s ridiculous and that’s not what the debate is about here.
The 15 year old was not molested in this case, and to me, it’s insulting to those who are victims of child molestation to insinuate (?sp) that she was.
This law was flawed, and adjusted. The boy served time for his “crime.” He probably served more time than many do for similar offenses.
By RW-(the original)
October 27, 2007 4:46 PM | Link to this
“It’s outrageous,” he says bluntly. “These are decisions that should be made by the families of our deceased veteran comrades and not by Washington bureaucrats — and most certainly not by any narcissistic, disaffected, offended atheist, agnostic, or any other [person] who is upset or offended by the word ‘God’ or a religious symbol which might offend his delicate sensibilities.”
Amen
By getalife
October 27, 2007 4:48 PM | Link to this
The case is history.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is pushing $25 million in earmarked federal funds for a British defense contractor that is under criminal investigation by the U.S. Justice Department and suspected by American diplomats of a “longstanding, widespread pattern of bribery allegations.”
You need a new leader.
Geez.
By RW-(the original)
October 27, 2007 4:53 PM | Link to this
Bosch,
Dusty repeated that question of mine about the 12 year/30 year old.
If you would follow the blog instead of just trying to bully Dusty you would see it was asked in response to someone that said there should never be ANY penalty for consensual sex. That poster made no age stipulations, only consent.
By Luckoduh
October 27, 2007 4:55 PM | Link to this
{{{{The House majority leader, Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, told fellow Democrats this week that the House would not be in session next year on Fridays, except in June for work on appropriations bills.}}}}
{{{{Explaining that decision to reporters, Mr. Hoyer said, “I do intend to have more time for members to work in their districts and to be close to their families.”}}}}
I’m sorry but I lost track.
Could anyone tell me which campaign promises the democrats have kept?
Or are there any?
By getalife
October 27, 2007 5:00 PM | Link to this
Time for a 4 day work week don’t ya think duh? They get socialized health care too.
Talk about the blind leading the blind
Good luck with that Ga.
Geez.
By Reality Check
October 27, 2007 5:08 PM | Link to this
I know Andy is proud to be white today, but he needs to get things in perspective.
There were 200,000 homes destroyed by Katrina within the city limits of New Orleans the day after the hurricane hit.
So far this last week, the fires in Southern California have destroyed 1,800 homes - about 1% of the Katrina total.
By Kieran
October 27, 2007 5:10 PM | Link to this
Analclism @ 1:47,
I think you recapitulated the history of rock ‘n’ roll. The ’60s were “ectoplasm”, the ’70s were “suffragette”, the ’80s “sigmoidoscope”, and ever after we’ve had “amateur”. I BROKE THE CODE!
Now, if I can just figure out Dusty’s last poem I’ll be Scooter free!
By Cynthia
October 27, 2007 5:10 PM | Link to this
Sorry Mr Wooten you are wrong here. It is not leglislating from the bench. The court has a duty to determine the constitutionality of laws when they are challenged. They did precisely that when they determined that this conviction was unconstitutional in that it became cruel and unusual punishment. Fifteen year olds have sex everyday with a boy that is a year or two older and none of them in the past went to jail for it.
By Dusty
October 27, 2007 5:11 PM | Link to this
RW-(the original)@4:45
Can anything get more rediculous? You can’t bury a veteran in a national cemetery and mention God? Let me guess. A liberal atheist from California complained.(Probably one of Barbara Boxer’s constituents!)
California has done so well responding to the fires that I hate to mention all the “nuts” from there. They seem to have a surplus and now Cynthia McKinney has joined them. Only Louisiana can equal California with liberal loons in Congress and elsewhere. (Right, getalife?)
By RW-(the original)
October 27, 2007 5:13 PM | Link to this
getalife,
Not being in session on Friday means they’ll be wrapping up Thursday morning to travel home. The next Monday they’ll travel back to Washington to get started Tuesday. That’s more like 2 1/2 days than four.
Don’t get me wrong though. The less time these thieves and pickpockets spend in Washington the better off we are.
On another note, did you just say Republicans need new leadership? You realize you’ve got Harry and Nancy leading your circus don’t you?
By Typical Georgia Redneck
October 27, 2007 5:13 PM | Link to this
My fambly is to smart to get cot in a nachural disasster. One time Mawmaw fell asleep smoaking and the bed cot fire but Daddy pored a beer on it and put it owt. He punched her owt for doing that sheel never do that agin.
Wite power!
By gayamaya
October 27, 2007 5:14 PM | Link to this
Reading this blog I can’t believe the lame things you people write about children. You don’t even know what a child is. Or how old. We are ALL children of The Earth, dickwads. Oviously you don’t know it, but even fifteen year olds can have healthy normal NATURAL relation. You are way messed up almost all of you.
By RW-(the original)
October 27, 2007 5:17 PM | Link to this
Cynthia,
The decision is only 48 pages long. Would you please go read it and tell us what law the Georgia Supreme Court deemed unconstitutional? Thank you in advance.
Here is the decision of it’ll help you.
By gayamaya
October 27, 2007 5:18 PM | Link to this
Cynthia is RIGHT! That is what I am saying also.
By Dusty
October 27, 2007 5:19 PM | Link to this
Kieran@ 5:10
You are still trying to figure out my poem ALL this time? Awwwwww (and it was so good!)
Don’t feel bad. I’m still trying to figure it out too. Maybe the Rosetta stone will help.
By RW-(the original)
October 27, 2007 5:24 PM | Link to this
Dusty,
It is ridiculous and shouldn’t be up to anyone but the family. The grieving family shouldn’t have to do the recitation themselves like the idiot bureaucrat decided.
I don’t think this was necessarily an atheist though. The part they complained about was where they honor the Jewish faith when folding the flag. It could have just been your garden variety bigot.
By Glenn
October 27, 2007 5:26 PM | Link to this
Dusty, CA cut a deal with ICE and Homeland Security. Deal was, Sheehan out, McKinney in. One more nutball was too much to bear. CA wanted the feds to take Sheehan plus Julia “Butterfly” Hill for one Cynthia McKinney, but the feds sed “no go” — or, come, or whatever. So now CA has a chip on its shoulder.
By getalife
October 27, 2007 5:26 PM | Link to this
Actually dusty, we are living in the only red states left in this country.
RW,
They should shut it down and according to the Constitution, we should establish a new government.
It is broken but I am way ahead of that learning curve. The dems are part of the broken government and their leadership shows this reality.
By Glenn
October 27, 2007 5:30 PM | Link to this
If we reckon Al’s Green regs and glam mix
With sybaritical Omar Kayyamics,
Then that psychotic Seussian’s
The Zeus of Malthusians
And rattanical aerodynamics.
[Rudy 08]
By @@
October 27, 2007 5:31 PM | Link to this
Thanks for answering Getalife. I’m not sure how you would explain that to your friend but at least you were honest. Did you get your butt kicked a lot?
Semper says there’s a code of ethics among guys…They never date their friends’ ex-girlfriends. It just isn’t RIGHT.
It still holds true with my daughter’s guy friends.
By GaLiberal
October 27, 2007 5:32 PM | Link to this
Moron Jim says: It concluded that Wilson had served sufficient time for the offense, as they weighed it, and overriding the Legislature, they wrote the law they wanted. Part of its reasoning, as expressed in Sears’ opinion, is that “a review of other jurisdictions reveals that most states either would not punish Wilson’s conduct at all or would, like Georgia now, punish it as a misdemeanor.” The relevance?
That’s a line no conservative jurist would write. But then this is a cross-the-line decision no conservative court would have issued.
What Moron Jim fails to comprehend is that courts are not (and should not be) driven by ideology. The only standard applied should be what is a just punishment. His assertion that the Georgia Supreme Court should be “conservative” proves he does not understand this simple concept. Just because some legislature passes a law does not mean that it is exempt from judicial review. This basic concept seems to be lost on the backward rednecks that seem to migrate to the south. Clearly, this law as flawed and the sentence was unreasonable. That’s why the legislature passed an amendment. Even the Rethuglicon jerk that wrote this law said it was never intended for cases like Wilson’s. But Moron Jim and his redneck, racist, homophobic, xenophobic brethren are all too willing to sacrifice Wilson just so they can feel criminals are being severely punished. After all, he’s just another immoral, uneducated, antisocial black male that’s best locked up away from God-fearing Christian white people. Thanks Moron Jim, but no thanks.
When you vote Rethuglicon, you vote against your own best interests. And Moron Jim and his redneck buddies are living proof.
By Glenn
October 27, 2007 5:38 PM | Link to this
missing an aitch that makes me itch and ache. Ah, the spelling bee stings still. Make that “Khayyam”.
By GodHatesTrash
October 27, 2007 5:39 PM | Link to this
@@, your redneck behavior codes are strange to us decent folk - your sons won’t have sex with their friends’ exes, but they will with their own sisters and their mother. And anonymously with other men in restrooms, of course.
How effed up is that?
Trash.
By getalife
October 27, 2007 5:44 PM | Link to this
@@,
My friends know how I am and have accepted that it is their ex hitting on me. They usually have moved on to other women and could give a damn.
Semper is old school and times have changes. I had girlfriends who would get their best friends to hit on me as a test of my monogamy.
Needless to say, I failed the test.
By Shar
October 27, 2007 5:50 PM | Link to this
Dusty @ 3:44 - The point is not to attack. The point is to compare. Seventeen year olds do stupid things, thoughtless things, for which all too often others pay the price. Not that we all don’t do such things, but teenagers - and particularly those in that dangerous golden mean when they are starting to get adult perogatives and they are really not ready for them - do them more often than most. Laura Bush did not have an accident, she made a mistake in her early days of driving a car (not paying attention to the road) which resulted in breaking the law (running the stop sign) which resulted in Michael Douglas’ death. Gennarlow Wilson was not the victim of racist persecution, he made a mistake in his early days of being allowed to go to unchaperoned parties (got drunk and stoned) which resulted in breaking the law (having consensual sex with a minor) which resulted in a repellent video, a trial, conviction and imprisonment.
In both cases, there is no doubt about guilt. In both cases, had the offender been an adult, harsh penalties would have been assessed. In both cases, adults went over the facts of the cases. Mrs. Bush never faced charges, which is not to say that she has not suffered punishment. An old college friend of mine who did much the same thing as Mrs. Bush did never could get his life back together afterwards and blew his brains out last August. One often punishes oneself more harshly than the law would have done. Mrs. Bush’s case was weighed by adults who had discretion in what her punishment should be, and they decided what would best serve justice and a young girl’s future. Mr. Wilson’s jury did not have the same discretion, as a law written to protect minors from adult predators unintentionally applied to him as well. The jury, the judge and the victim were all horrified at the sentence that was mandated, feeling that neither justice nor a young man’s future was served.
The Georgia Supreme Court has stepped in and taken upon itself the discretion that Laura Bush benefitted from, not excusing Mr. Wilson’s crime but mitigating the punishment to be in line with current law. The question is whether the justices overreached in granting themselves that discretion, or if the punishment was so egregious as to require redress. I am very uncomfortable with any group deciding they are above the law (hence my reference to President Bush’s signing statements, which I believe are completely unwarranted and illegal), but I also think that Mr. Wilson, as a non-violent, first-time offender who was appallingly stupid and selfish but whose act was consensual, did not deserve to be sentenced as an adult predator would have been.
By Kieran
October 27, 2007 5:56 PM | Link to this
GaLiberal, I don’t vote self-interestedly; I vote in the interest of the People and our Republic. Sometimes placing perceived national interest before my own is a small sacrifice, but usually my one hand washes the other quite nicely provided I spend my vote on conservatives. They don’t offer as many goodies to someone of my humble station, but there are of course other compensations, such as resting a bit more comfortably in the knowledge that I’ve done my tiny part to keep the American experiment out of the hands of wastrels, dawnists, social engineers, and lovers of huge and complex tree-chippers into which children are fed.
By Analchord
October 27, 2007 5:59 PM | Link to this
How about the officiating at the Ga-Fla game? Referees on Ice?
By RW-(the original)
October 27, 2007 6:00 PM | Link to this
Shar,
If I might jump in for a second, the powers that be decided that no crime should be charged when young Miss Welch had her automobile accident, therefore there was no court or jury involved.
The very same discretion was available to the powers that be in the Wilson case, but they decided there was criminal activity and took it to court where a jury agreed with the prosecution on the molestation case.
The two things couldn’t possibly be more different and I agree with Dusty that you’re just using this as an excuse to drag Laura Bush through the mud for you own cheap thrill.
By GodHatesTrash
October 27, 2007 6:04 PM | Link to this
I wonder if Laura’s accident has anything to do with her alcoholism, and her willingness to remain married to a sociopathic fratboy homosexual moron?
Could be…
By getalife
October 27, 2007 6:07 PM | Link to this
Bad call on that last long completion but the dawgs have come to play today.
6 sacks.
Go dawgs, Kentucky lost too which is great for LSU.
By @@
October 27, 2007 6:09 PM | Link to this
GodHatesTrash:
I see you’re still lying at the curb waiting for pick-up day. Are you growing mold there? Breeding maggots?
By Shar
October 27, 2007 6:16 PM | Link to this
RW @ 6:00 - Two things made the difference in the outcomes of these cases. Mr. Welch was a friend of the chief of police, the judge and the father of the dead boy. In a small town there is more latitude for making this kind of decision outside of the confines of a court, and that was how it was handled.
In Mr. Wilson’s case, there were no similar personal contacts. There was, however, a video. The visceral punch of that film brought teenage stupidity right to the jury, and there was no leeway available to mitigate the sentence.
No cheap thrills. Who could be thrilled at the thought of a dead boy or a devastated girl? Just comparing and contrasting to reflect on the wisdom of allowing discretion and consideration of circumstances when handing down sentencing - or changing them ex post facto.
By Glenn
October 27, 2007 6:23 PM | Link to this
getalife, you slut.
Shar, thanks for your considered answer to yesterday’s ed q. I think I fall between your opinion and Analchord’s — that the damage to children is a concommitant of the adult-centered machinery — and your husband’s position, that the damage is deliberate. I’d peg it as something like criminal negligence. (And that, translated into constitutional terms, is just about exactly what the Supremes have found in, for example, several eq. prot. cases involving schools.) One problem is that the children are schoopified by schrooped up teachers trained by people who were all schrooped up by the schoopified, &etc. in a continuum of officious duncery. It’s such a neatly closed system, like the rats and the chincilla farm, that nobody really needs to have e.g. Hillary Clinton or Dick Cheney send them the memo. Thus the very most conspicuous contours of the beast escape notice. For example:
No one dares to enquire (believe me, the research simply has not been done) whether students actually retain any of the crap they’re fed;
It is never proposed that the public school enterprise should be expected each year to do more with less — the aim of any well run business or organization;
The trustees of the system invariably assume that the machinery would break down were not fully one third of its clientele stigmatized and expunged, the better for the top third to “excell” relative to the rest;
Such is the generational cycle of schoopification that almost all of its victims think they’re victors. This is especially true of the “educators” themselves, who cannot, as you do, conceive of education as a service, embedded in a service economy, that is independent of its present, horrifically counterproductive delivery system. Much less could they ever, ever be expected to conjure another.
By RW-(the original)
October 27, 2007 6:28 PM | Link to this
Shar,
No way that I’m buying that two cases that were decades apart and had nothing to do with each other, either in events or outcomes, were the only two you could think of to contrast. Fatal auto accidents are tragic, but happen all the time with no charges being brought.
I hope you’ve had your fun and I hope even more you feel a twinge of conscience one day.
By Jim Philips
October 28, 2007 8:21 AM | Link to this
As long as there are people trying to rewrite the Constitution in the legislature, then we will need to have judges “legislating from the bench”. Our founding fathers didn’t create the Constitution so that some short term lesgistaure could trash the whole thing with a series of crappy laws. Long live activist judges!
By Jim Philips
October 28, 2007 8:22 AM | Link to this
As long as there are people trying to rewrite the Constitution in the legislature, then we will need to have judges “legislating from the bench”. Our founding fathers didn’t create the Constitution so that some short term lesgislature could trash the whole thing with a series of crappy laws. Long live activist judges!
By catlady
October 28, 2007 9:02 AM | Link to this
Dusty, please see my recent response to you re: peachcare on Friday’s blog.
To the current matter: did the court rule that in this case the punishment was cruel, unusual, etc. or did it rule that the law itself, as written by the Legislature, was unconsitutional? We expect the court to rule on constitutionality issues, don’t we?
The nasty part of me wonders how much “catching up” wilson will be doing in the next few days, and their ages.
By Analchord
October 28, 2007 9:12 AM | Link to this
The Georgia Supreme Court decision came during a media inquisition; not so much Salem as Kool and the Gang. They’re never going to teach sex education in our schools. Carnal folklore will keep our children occupied for decades. My God, they’ve made a sacrament out of f******; a prayer out of oral dictum. With Sen. Craig as high priestess, the only victims of high tech lynchings are the founding fathers.
By Analchord
October 28, 2007 9:24 AM | Link to this
Sodomy was a felony in Georgia. My wife once made a deal with the DA and ratted me out. I got probation, and a new appreciation for the missionary position. I guess it’s true: some chicks just dont like f******…….D’OH!
By Bill
October 28, 2007 9:24 AM | Link to this
Every high school kid in Cobb County is giving or receving blow jobs. Get a life. Kids are going to experiment. Mr. Wooten, if you have ever received a blow job inside the State of Georgia, you have broken the law and I hope you are prosecuted for it. Moron……
By Pope rednecks - America's Al Qaeda I
October 28, 2007 9:34 AM | Link to this
Greetings from We your Pope.
It looks like Woo-ten and his KKKlanners are ready to lynch the “activist judges” on the Georgia Supreme Court. (Think of it - you’re a judge on the Supreme Court, but you look at your office door and it says - Georgia. How sad.)
You rednecks will be happy - of the four who voted that 10 years is cruel and unusual punishment for one minor getting fellated by another, 3 of them are black, and the other one’s a Jew woman. It’ll be just like the not-so-old days.
God, what vicious stupid animals you are.
We, the Pope, pray that you receive the miracle of intelligence.
By Lowell
October 28, 2007 9:49 AM | Link to this
An independent judiciary is a necessary safety valve for justice when the politicians screw up. The Constitution has to trump the latest crayon-written product of the moronic demogogues under the Gold Dome. I bet if every sex act with a consenting person two years from the same age were made a felony, we would have a tough time getting a quorum in the General Assembly.
That is not to endorse Wilson’s reprehensible and ammoral conduct. If my kid had done that at 17, I would have taken away his pickup truck and grounded him for life. Fortunately, booze, drugs and wild girls were not a major component of my son’s high school life, but with a different set of peers it would have been beyond my control.
But 10 years to serve in prison? That is truly “cruel and unusual punishment.” Rather than condemning these Justices for “judicial activism” we should give them a “Profiles in Courage” award.
By Bubba
October 28, 2007 9:58 AM | Link to this
The Wilson case is partly a product of the Douglas County court system and politics. A self-righteous demagogue DA prosecuted it, and a priggish, inflexible and self-righteous Superior Court judge passed sentence. With just a little exercise of common sense discretion, the trial court would have gotten past the poor legislative drafting to treat this case as the misdemeanor it should have been. But they had to play to their constituency with a judicial lynching of a 17 year old black kid whose conduct differed from the white kids primarily in that it was caught on video. He deserved some punishment, but not ten years to serve.
By Glenn
October 28, 2007 10:39 AM | Link to this
Greetin’s, Cretins —
There is no Democrat. It’s as simple as that. The Party’s become a mere label For mystical greens And overgrown teens Who crave a new mystical fable.
And do not realize that A power-grab lies at The bottom of globalist treaties That dictate the weather And the elements nether And determine the content of Wheaties.
With the Dems DOA’d On Gaianic Kool-Aid And the DNC thoroughly mastered, The greens came to the fore With the seminal Gore To produce Gaia’s first Turkey Bastered.
[Rudy 08]
By Glenn
October 28, 2007 10:51 AM | Link to this
Guess I’m the cretinous one. Again…
There is no Democrat.
It’s as simple as that.
The whole Party’s become a mere label
For mystical greens
And overgrown teens
Who crave a postmodernist fable.
And do not realize that
A power grab lies at
The bottom of globalist treaties
That dictate the weather
And elements nether
And determine the content of Wheaties.
With the Dems DOA’d
On Gaianic Kool-Aid
And the DNC thoroughly mastered,
The greens came to the fore
With the seminal Gore
To produce Gaia’s first Turkey Bastered.
By Redneck Convert
October 28, 2007 11:02 AM | Link to this
Well, its kind of quiet on this blog this a.m. I guess because jbmlaw and Sister Dusty and @@ and all is in church praying for God to make poor people disappear. That’s how us godly conservatives deal with problems where we don’t want the guvmint to get involved. We say “socialized medicine” this and “guvmint giveaways” that and say we don’t want guvmint to get involved and there must be some other way. Its just that we never come up with another way. That ain’t our job. Our job is to keep guvmint out of things so our taxes don’t go up.
Anyway, back in the old days we knowed how to deal with this Wilson guy and all Those People. It didn’t take a judge, just some rope and reglar old muscle power. But the libruls never stopped till they outlawed it and made us go whining in front of a judge for Justice. What we need is more Manly Southren Justice.
Well, I think everything is back to normal here at the trailer park. The police come last night after a guy went outside and fired off some shots after the Dawgs beat Florida. Its got to the point you can’t even fire a gun without the police coming. The libruls won’t stop till all the Dawg fans is shut up. Just look at a Dawg crowd on TV sometime. You will see a couple thousand students and about 78,000 rednecks with no teeth and lots of beer but plenty of money to buy tickets. You can’t be a real Dawg fan and go to school there too.
Have a good Sunday everybody.
By Lex
October 28, 2007 11:02 AM | Link to this
Unlike most of those posting comments, I have read the entire Supreme Court decision at http://www.gasupreme.us/pdf/s07a1481.pdf.
If I were on the Supreme Court, I would not have joined in Chief Justice Sears’ majority opinion. It contains too much loosely liberal reasoning that is legitimately subject to criticism for reflecting a philosophy of judicial activism. Nor would I have joined in the dissent which reaches the wrong result,
I would have written a separate opinion concurring in the result only. That concurring opinion would have been concise and tightly reasoned. It would have condemned the conduct — a bacchanalian orgy at best. But it would have applied common sense reasoning and established rules of statutory construction and constitutional law to conclude that the sentence was unconstitutionally disproportionate to the offense.
Both sides of this debate are partly right and partly wrong. Certainly nothing in Wilson’s conduct establishes him as a hero or a martyr. But it is grossly disproportionate to impose ten years in prison without possibility of parole and brand him for life as a registered sex offender.
By Kieran
October 28, 2007 11:03 AM | Link to this
Lowell,
Flaps? Check.
Left aileron? Check.
Right aileron? Right aileron?
You’ve remembered your checks but forgotten your balances. You could equally say, as they did in the day, “An independent legislative branch is a necessary safety valve for justice when the judges screw up.”
By Analchord
October 28, 2007 11:03 AM | Link to this
You can go see Queen Latifah in Vegas. Or the Smothers Brothers. or Cats.
war is hell.
By Lowell
October 28, 2007 11:16 AM | Link to this
Kieran,
Pardon my omission of the legislature. The legislature had already acted to try to clean up this mess by amending the statute to except consensual sex between teenagers less than four years apart in age. They just forgot to include in the amendment oral sex along with intercourse. It is a well established rule of statutory construction that the court can look to what the legislature was obviously trying to do, even if the statute was poorly worded and fell a little short of obvious intent. Legislators who meet 40 days per year, and spend most of their time arguing about such earth-shaking issues as the design of the state flag just can’t anticipate all possible scenarios that may arise, so judges applying the law to the facts often have to attempt to discern what they were trying to get at.
Neither judges nor legislators are perfect. We need both providing checks and balances to the other.
By Glenn
October 28, 2007 11:18 AM | Link to this
Lex Americana @11;02,
Unlike most of those posting comments, I have read the entire Constitution of the United States. Not once, twice!
Jibing aside, I like the cut o’ yer jurisprudential jib. I’d far rather see you on the Court than the incumbent Supremes, whom I’d rather see in Vegas.
[Rudy 08]
By zeke
October 28, 2007 11:19 AM | Link to this
Could not say it better. The courts do not have the constitutional right to make laws, only to interpret those laws and enforce them completely! And, to use the excuse that other states or districts or countries have done such and such in similar cases is the most vile excuse for judicial stupidity yet! What Ny, Ca, Ma or other states do has no validity in Georgia. This case may have been poorly judicated, but, the law is the law and must be enforced by the judiciary regardless of their personal preferences! Mob rule here for sure! Any time Jesse or Ralph are involved, you know for sure that extortion is the intent!
By Vomitous Right Wing Hypocrisy
October 28, 2007 11:21 AM | Link to this
*There is no Republican.
So get over it, man.
The whole party’s just a front
For moralist jerks
And rich boy perks
And child predators on the hunt.
They flip and they flop
And play morality cop
They start a war
And lie as to why
As Americans die
While Bush shoots par.
So Romney’s your God? Or Rudy or Fred?
Yet another sign
Your party is DEAD.*
By Lex
October 28, 2007 11:24 AM | Link to this
Thanks for the attaboy, Glenn. But I will never be on the Supreme Court. First, I have have not been sufficiently supportive of either political party. Second, I can’t afford the pay cut.
By Prophetess Kelley P
October 28, 2007 11:27 AM | Link to this
Well, well,….It appears that Analchord is a full blown gingerphobe.
Figures. The haters love it here.
By AmVet
October 28, 2007 11:27 AM | Link to this
It is great to see some well articulated alternatives being written this morning to counter the claptrap claims and less than erudite sound bites from our esteemed columnist who offers such “common sense”.
Although some of the worst on the far right, as well represented here, wish beyond wish, they could silence any and all of the voices that disagree with them - on a wide variety of topics - these pigheaded neo-cons have little choice left but to deny the reality of their fast dwindling numbers.
And yet their politics of intolerance, a myopic longing for “the good old days” and an imperious self-righteousness always have and continue to sell very well in much of Georgia. Though most of the rest of the nation, as well as those of us here who are fairly repulsed by the agenda of these “compassionate conservatives”, laugh sardonically.
So go ahead “conservatives”, use the most specious reasons you can still find and jail all of the black kids you can while the jailing is good, but even the blindest of you fools can sense that the tables are turning.
And that is why IMHO, the free falling/imploding GOP, and their repudiated neo-con agenda, is going to suffer through a second straight electoral butt kicking in most locales throughout this home of the brave and the land of the free.
By stupid laws
October 28, 2007 11:33 AM | Link to this
If this was a white UGA football player we would all be saying boys will be boys and moving on.
UGA football players can smash people in the face, drink and drive, carry a little weed and face a one game suspension. Some black teen has oral sex with a 15 year old and he is treated like a menace to society. Sure send him to prison for 10 years and surely when he gets out at 28 with no education, no employment, and no life, he is gauranteed to be a menace to society.
I’m glad I met my wife when I was 26 and not 18 or I would have been sent off to prison and forced to be on that ridiculous sex offender listing with many other teenagers that have made stupid mistakes.
There is a difference between two teens making risky decisions and that 38 year old, fat, bald guy that lives next door enticing my 2 year old and molesting him. Can anyone else see the difference?
By Kieran
October 28, 2007 11:41 AM | Link to this
Lowell, I quite agree with your level-headed reasoning. It was just a nudge to remind you to nod to the bloggers who decry the perceived judicial usurpation.
Reckon you’re right that the constructionist problem isn’t de minimus. And even though I realize that the Legislature is too busy with declarations of Sunburn Awareness Week or whatever, still I find it odd that they didn’t debate the clean-up bill enough to produce a fair stack of documents speaking to legislative intent, e.g. hearing transcripts, committee analyses, Floor remarks, the author’s memoranda to counsel and letter to the Governor, the Governor’s signing statement, etc. If it’s true that among this mount of manure there’s no clear indication of intent to include oral sodomy, then how can we say that “they just forgot to include in the amendment oral sex”?
Of course you’re right in saying that the pols make a mess of things, but it’s something altogether more tragicomic when they make an even bigger mess whilst attempting to clean up the first one. What would the late Molly Ivins have said of this particular spectacle?
By Luckoduh
October 28, 2007 11:42 AM | Link to this
It’s History Revision Day at the Urinal!:
{{{{France wants to be ally, not aligned, with U.S.-Urinal}}}}
Huh?
It’s the way of the pinko, if current events to toe the liberal line, then just change the “news” around so that it fits the views of your party.
France used to be a socialists Utopia, 35 hour work weeks and government benefits galore, and the libs spent endless amounts of time whining and moaning about the world not “liking us” and how we should be more like them.
Well, instead of the United States of America capitulating on it’s beliefs and traditions and becoming just another Eurostan, like John Kerry wanted, now the French are becoming more like the U.S.
{{{{France’s Sarkozy raises prospect of Iran airstrikes}}}}
And all the credit belongs to George W Bush, hence the liberals writing goofy, mindless articles trying to demean the relationship between the two countries that Bush has nurtured.
But the good thing is, know for certain that the new relationship between the U.S. and France is just burning the liberal’s as-ses up.
Good for us.
~~~~~~
Queen Pinko rearranging the furniture in her own little madhouse:
{{{{Last week, the Senate —- ((((((((pushed by a craven White House)))))))) —- rejected the Dream Act, which would have put high-achieving young immigrants on the path to citizenship.-Urinal}}}}
Who is this woman trying to fool? The “White House” would give the keys to the whole country to the Mexican President if it wasn’t for the Conservative base giving him the largest foot in the as-s in political history.
{{{{It was an ugly bit of nativism, a shortsighted and nonsensical decision made to appease the Know-Nothings}}}}
Now wouldn’t you think that the editorial page grand pooh ba of the Atlanta Urinal would at least know a little bit about history?
{{{{In the tempestuous 1855 campaign, the Democrats won by convincing state voters that Alabama Know Nothings would not protect slavery from Northern abolitionists.}}}}
So Queen Pinko is using the anti slavery Know-Nothings in service to bringing another entire class of slaves into the United States illegally.
Amazing the people they’ll give the pulitzer to.
~~~~~~
{{{{ THE ROAD TO 2008 / WEEK IN REVIEW: Slip of the tongue or something else?-Urinal}}}}
What are we talking about, Biden’s very revealing statement that minorities are why Washington D.C’s scholastic test scores are so low? Well, of course not, we wouldn’t want to let that one get out:
{{{{Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, has not offered an apology for confusing Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) with Sept. 11 terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.-POS Urinal}}}}
You mean the same thing that Swimmer Kennedy did, oh I’m sorry, you libs probably didn’t hear that one:
{{{{Kennedy: “Osama Obama”. Ted Kennedy flubbed Osama Bin Laden’s name in an interview this week, substituting freshman Senator Barak Obama’s name instead.}}}}
So, POS Scumbag Urinal, is Swimmer a racist like you are insinuating that Romney is.
You filthy race baiting Pieces of Sh-it.
Disgusting perverts.
~~~~~~
The Urinal tech guy gets it:
{{{{Until a demented fellow used a baseball bat to break through a door at my home last year —- a heck of a way to wake up, by the way —- our home security system was seldom used. Now I’m more prepared, with a dog named Glock,}}}}
Uh oh, I don’t think Bill checked with the Urinal Censor before he let that one fly.
~~~~~~
{{{{“They’re part of the whole river system that both people and mussels depend on,” she said as it starts to rain. “They’re like the canary in the coal mine. We need to all work together to protect the mussels so we can protect people, too.”}}}}
Oh, O.K. so the whole human race depends upon the health of some freaking mollusk, even to the extent that the humans start dying of thirst.
This is supposed to be good enough of an explanation for the Urinal, for them to devote a whole page and half of why we should destroy whole Atlanta area industries, kill off CO2 absorbing vegetation, risk running totally out of water which will cripple the entire Atlanta Metro area.
This is warning enough more than any freaking mussel will ever give us.
Absolute stupidity being substituted for common sense, is this not the very definition of junk science environmentalism?
The most dangerous thing facing the Earth and humanity, hands down, is hysterical liberalism and their garbage ideas.
By Glenn
October 28, 2007 11:46 AM | Link to this
getalife! Phunleyput! Strap this one on for size:
If the weather is anthropogenic
And the Nobelist Gore’s photogenic,
Let me turn you on
To a breaking New Dawn
And a future that’s brightly Edenic.
[Rudy 08]
By time now for the I told you so truth
October 28, 2007 12:05 PM | Link to this
Seeing the usual LYING filthy black racist scum and depraved bestiality luvin’ yanKKKee COCKroaches puking up their pandering black hate and sickening excuses for sick black rapists/predators like this utterly unrepentant knuckle dragging hippety hop vermin Wilson is just an average day on here.
This retarded ebonics spoutin’ Wilson thug should still be in jail, but was despicably let out by a chitlin’ gobbling herd of sullen racist quota appointed pandering black nonentity sickos and a truly vile GA klone of that shrill shrewish feminazi Ginsberg who’s not even worthy of being allowed to shine Justice Thomas’ shoes.
Nice to see the psychotic transgendered sewerRAT godKILLtheyanKKKeetrash/redneKKKs NAMBLA the inveterate, veteran VT schoolboy rapist has finally been let out of solitary confinement and been allowed brief access to a state mental hospital laptop for a few minutes. Venting its should have been aborted long ago cancerous spleen is always better therapy for it than the richly deserved court ordered electric shock treatment. Better still would be a week long, very aggressive water boarding session at Niagra Falls!!
The maggot brained oafish yanKKKee genetic detritus Lce Kpl Syphilis/inbred redneKKK turd is as abjectly unfunny and deranged as the analwart ridden vainglorious wankpig aborted foreskin. Both these plebian yanKKKee t wats need to bugger off back up north. Dixie is mighty tolerant, but this is a couple of obsessive compulsive mentally flatulating C**(roach) sucking extra-chromosomed nasal whining yanKKKee puff adders too many!!
That was fun suitably and quite wittily mirrors back much of the hate these yanKKKee vermin and their racist/bigoted black thug homies have vomited up.
This was a despicable act of judicial activism, driven by the hysterical black racial spoils, lets free black criminals crowd who NEVER EVER saw a GUILTY AS HELL black predator they couldn’t disgustingly bleat and whine on behalf in the unerringly pandering liberal LETS IGNORE THE BLACK CRIME EPIDEMIC MEDIA!!
Time now for live premiership football - Arse-nal vs Man ure.
By Sailor
October 28, 2007 12:07 PM | Link to this
the sailor said Åndi/e-duh, you’re a fine girl
S/he’s really taken with Rudi - s/he likes the “fabulous dresses and the makeup”. That’s my gal, Andi/e!
Sailor
By .
October 28, 2007 12:07 PM | Link to this
that should be Liverpuuuuul vs Arse-nal … the game’s at Anfield
By RW-(the original)
October 28, 2007 12:10 PM | Link to this
neo-cons longing for the good old days?????
Blowhard,
Just a thought, but while you’re admiring your prose on the computer screen why don’t you try seeing if it makes any sense before you hit post?
By Vomitous Right Wing Hypocrisy
October 28, 2007 12:11 PM | Link to this
Legislative intent has ALWAYS been integral in the judiciary’s review of caselaw and precedent;
The legislator who wrote this bill has testified that the Wilson case falls outside the purview of the intended application of this law.
For those of you who have been poisoned by 20 years of the demonization of the word “liberal”, and have steadfastly clung on to the propaganda that “judicial advocacy” is a dirty word only propounded by the left wing: please recall that your beloved liar of a President was placed into office by the most egregious case of JUDICIAL ADVOCACY in American history.
Before casting aspersions at the straw man, start cleaning up your own house, Republican hypocrites.
By Typical Georgia Redneck
October 28, 2007 12:12 PM | Link to this
Let me tell you one dam thing. I am prowd to be wite. Remembur when all those peepul were kilt in that soonamie? Not very many of them were wite, becaus we are to smart to get cot in something like that knot like them coloreds.
Wite power!
By Dusty
October 28, 2007 12:12 PM | Link to this
Hey Glenn, a poetry follow-up (brace yourself)….
*Oh yes, there is a Democrat!
Let me explain that obvious fact.
When it comes to our country’s support
They sigh and simper and garble the vote.
The war is only a Bush endeavor.
(Terrorists think that is so clever.)
But on Dems go, full speed ahead.
Investigate all, alive or dead.
Let’s look around to place some blame.
Surely Bush did tell on Plame??
Now block the funds to the military.
Dems don’t find those terrorists scary!
But Dems don’t care to go and fight.
Leave that to the loyal “right”.
Stick some “pork” on every bill
So folks at home will get their fill.
Oh yes, there is a Democrat,
Right in the middle of a do nothing spat.*
By mythbuster
October 28, 2007 12:13 PM | Link to this
looks like the fake christians are home from services and ready to share some of their old time religion say amen and hide the children
By getalife
October 28, 2007 12:16 PM | Link to this
Has anyone noticed lately that the right is seething? I mean more than normal, they’re absolutely furious these days, in general, at everything it seems, and I have no idea what it is they’re so p** about half the time. Any guesses? It’s weird: These clowns have had everything they could have dreamed of handed to them in the last few years. And yet when I read a conservative site or fundie tract, more and more lately, it often sounds like they’re foaming at the mouth p** off. I was talking about this with a fellow blogger just a little while ago in a more specific context. But it struck me that the Angry Right is madder than hell about everything. But what the f******* do they have to be angry about?
Well, the blowing up babies in Iraq is slowing down so they want to blow up more babies in Iran. They are pro death and have to hate others to be happy. Otherwise they would blow up clinics and policeman.
Geez.
By Glenn
October 28, 2007 12:16 PM | Link to this
LuckoduhDraw @ 11:42,
I suspect the secret’s in the final suffix of your final question. It’s all in the “-ism”. It’s not just their flight from reason that’s driving the looniness, it’s a power-seeking civil religion that’s taking hold, and like interbellum Germans they don’t even know it. You’re right, they’re dangerous dupes and magical thinkers. They’re ripe. Instead of der fuhrerprincip they have der grunprincip, awaiting a leader. They’re even beyond the green of the German Latter Day Greens. They’re so mass-psychotic they’re ripe.
The prediction’s come to pass. The b*** that bore them is back, and Gaia’s in Global Heat.
[Rudy 08]
By Glenn
October 28, 2007 12:22 PM | Link to this
getalife, old chap, I suspect it’s to do with the prospect of President Hillary Clinton and post-theocratic greenism, the latter of which is, to me, truly frightening.
By getalife
October 28, 2007 12:25 PM | Link to this
Then they have come to realize that their party has screwed this country so bad, the Clintons will have to clean up their mess again.
The karma will be great because this time they will have a large dem majority with cheney handing them unlimited power.
By Glenn
October 28, 2007 12:32 PM | Link to this
getalife, please please tell me you don’t buy into that Cheney of Oz schtick. If nothing else W’s a Texan. He’s not gonna let anybody else make a finger-puppet out of him. No, W. really is the one in charge. And it really is all his fault.
By getalife
October 28, 2007 12:37 PM | Link to this
dick is the decider. He chose himself as VP.
w is a moron way over his head.
By Glenn
October 28, 2007 12:49 PM | Link to this
Dusty! On the Frank Fat scale, “Dassa gootwong!”
Gottariff, probably ungrammatically: can’t say they’re do-nothings and also call them legislatively hyperactive (which they congenitally are, from the school boards to the Senate and Supremes). Can’t bemoan their obstructionism (even though it’s a sign of weakness for a party in power), because GOP voters also demand, as the late Dutch did, obstruction of the over-secreting legisloid gland. So we’re left with the content and the details of their deeds, which I still maintain are speeding greenward, into the territory of a neo-pagan theocracy. It’s hugely funny if you enjoy gallows humor as I do. Especially scary for Halloween, the holiday they’ll preserve, without reference to the following day of course. They’re mostly all terrified as teenagers of overweening religion, and that’s just what they’re asking for. The scholars who engage in the scientific study of religion have been aware for some time, but their colleagues in the Poli Sci departments are caught unawares.
My advice is to buy the large size, with lots of butter and salt.
[Rudy 08]
By catlady
October 28, 2007 12:53 PM | Link to this
I see Sen Craig now is whining that taking away foot tapping and hand waving under the stall is the same as taking away his first amendment rights. So, he WAS trying to say something? Seems like he just confessed.
What will the idiot do next to keep his job? Seems like he is headed for some kind of White House position (which may be better than the “position” he was “headed” for in the bathroom!) Can’t anyone slap a muzzle on this guy?
By Analchord
October 28, 2007 12:57 PM | Link to this
gingerphobe? I’ve created a monster.
Okay, lets back off the ostentatiously metaphoric double-entendres, complete with vague references, ambiguous ironies, and iambic pentameter abuse.
Haikus are only supposed to have three lines and 17 syllables.
Blogging 101: Write your comment. Delete it. Write another comment. Taser yourself, then delete. Write another 5 comments, but not before you unplug your keyboard.
Then stick your head in kitty litter.
By AmVet
October 28, 2007 1:08 PM | Link to this
Re your 12:16 getalife; among the numerous 10,000 pound elephants in the middle of the GOP room that no one wants to talk about, this is one of the more illustrative and laughable for those not so humorously challenged.
From Nixon’s accomplished scowl and Agnew’s withering tongue, from the “permafrown” on the faces of Buchanan, Gingrich, Chambliss, Hunter, Cheney and Frist to the nervous tittering of the President when delivering his endless stream of bad news, they undoubtedly have an obvious anger management problem.
The reasons are probably many, and would take years of counseling by Jack Nicholson to undo, but essentially I think it comes down to, in most cases, just being self centered pr!cks who take especially themselves, their very powerful but temporary positions and their sometimes very odd beliefs WAY too seriously.
And their most rabid zealots and high priests/oracles from Limbaugh to Boortz to O’Reilly to Malkin to Hannity to especially Coulter parrot this disturbed behavior and attack speech perfectly, as do the well trained but small handful of the most indignant and perpetually sniping extremists here.
And while most of the rest of us continue to chuckle at this impotent rage, this ultra angry and self righteous political right becomes even MORE infuriated and never admits this reality they have created.
By getalife
October 28, 2007 1:10 PM | Link to this
Paul is running on the Freedom Act and Dodd is running on restoring the Constitution.
Geez, I wonder if our government is broken?
By RW-(the original)
October 28, 2007 1:18 PM | Link to this
I hope all the people on these blogs, and you know who you are, that are always scolding us for being too patriotic or even jingoistic and telling us to act more like Europeans, just saw 90,000 people stand up and sing God Save the Queen at the top of their lungs.
getalife,
Is it the liberal position today that we need to restore the Constitution? Just yesterday you guys wanted it to live and breath. It’s all right up ^^^ there.
By AmVet
October 28, 2007 1:20 PM | Link to this
An oldie but goody from Nov. 2005
GOP Leaders to Bush: ‘Your Presidency is Effectively Over’
A growing number of Republican leaders, party strategists and political professional now privately tell President George W. Bush that his presidency “is effectively over” unless he fires embattled White House advisor Karl Rove, apologizes to the American people for misleading the country into war and revamps his administration from top to bottom.
“The only show of unity we have now in the Republican Party is the belief that the President has failed the party, the American people and the presidency,” says a longtime, and angry, GOP strategist.
With the public face of support for Bush eroding daily from even diehard Republicans, the President faces mounting anger from within his party over the path that may well lead to loss of control of Congress in the 2006 midterm elections and the White House in 2008.
“This presidency is in trouble,” says a senior White House aide. “Even worse, I don’t know if there is a way out of the trouble.”
Congressional leaders journeyed to the White House before Bush left on his South American tour this week to tell the President that his legislative agenda on the Hill is dead, his latest Supreme Court nominee faces a tough confirmation fight in the Senate and he is facing open revolt within party ranks.
“The Speaker is having an increasingly difficult time holding his troops in line,” says a source within the office of House Speaker Dennis J. Hastert. “Anger at the President grows exponentially with each passing day.”
At a recent White House strategy session, internal party pollsters told the President that his approval rating with Americans continues to slide and may be irreversible, citing his failed Iraq war, the failed Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers and his failure to deal decisively on a number of fronts, including Hurricane Katrina, the economy and the Valerie Plame scandal.
In meetings, leaders and strategists have suggested a number of things that Bush must do to try and save his presidency and GOP prospects in upcoming elections, including:
* Apologize to the American people, Congress and our allies for misleading them on the reasons for invading Iraq; * Revamp the White House staff from top to bottom; * Fire Rove.“We keep coming back to Rove,” says a GOP pollster. “He has escaped indictment, so far, but the feeling within the party is that another shoe is ready to drop and the longer he waits to jettison Rove the greater the damage. As long as Karl Rove remains at the President’s side, the Bush presidency is effectively over and he is just riding out the days until the nation elects a Democrat to replace him. Even with Rove gone the damage may be irreparable.”
Bush, however, has dug his heels in on Rove. When a GOP strategist suggested last weekend that the President fire Rove, Bush exploded.
“You go to hell,” he screamed at the strategist. “You can leave and you can take the rest of these lily-livered m0therfuckers with you!” The President then stormed out of the room and refused to meet further with any other party leaders or strategists.
Bush’s escalating temper tantrums and his intransigence on political issues increase Republican worries about the long term effects on both his presidency and the party’s prospects in upcoming elections.
“Right now, George W. Bush is the Republican Party’s chief liability,” says a GOP strategist who has advised Presidential campaigns for 30 years. “The entire political future of the party and perhaps the nation now rests on the shoulders of a President that no one - Democrat or Republican - believes in or trusts.”
By getalife
October 28, 2007 1:35 PM | Link to this
Yes RW,
I will argue that this experiment they call democracy has come full circle back to king george.
How about a little intellectual honesty in admitting there is something incredibly wrong when two Presidential candidates from both parties are running on restoring the Constitution?
I would think you would have caught up to that learning by now?
By @@
October 28, 2007 1:36 PM | Link to this
Florida Democrats aren’t pleased with their party:
“The party bosses have barred them from campaigning here, except for private fundraisers,” said U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, eliciting jeers from the crowd and touting his lawsuit against the national party.
”This is unacceptable. Paying for political participation is unacceptable.”
In his speech, Nelson cited a recent Quinnipiac University poll in which ——->22 percent of independent voters said they are less likely to vote for a Democrat for president<——- because of the DNC’s refusal to seat Florida convention delegates.
After his speech, longtime activist Jack Shifrel of Coconut Creek handed out fliers urging Democrats to withhold donations from the national party and the candidates.
Then I read another article written by a liberal journalist warning liberals not to be fooled by a RINO like Rudy.
Why does that journalist need to warn liberals about Rudy? Is he afraid they might vote for Rudy instead of Hillary.
I’m gonna love ‘08….yes indeed!!!!
A Gallup poll showed that 69 percent of “religious Republican evangelicals” deemed the mayor an “acceptable nominee”.
A Pew poll found that only 7 percent of Republican voters consider abortion their chief concern, compared with the 31 percent who named Iraq.
But today’s liberals should also remember what their forbears knew in their bones not so long ago: that in a democracy, leaders are given power by the people; if you use it on their behalf, they not only appreciate it but admire it — and they want you to continue to wield it.
Not only has Giuliani consistently led the GOP field, but pluralities of survey respondents tend to agree that he “shares the same values as most Republicans” and that on social issues he’s neither too conservative nor too liberal but “about right.”
By Nostraglenus
October 28, 2007 1:40 PM | Link to this
Let the record show that I am a confirmed psychic. My credentials lie in your very midst. Very few of you know how privileged you are to be favored with my prescient readings. And none of this he-who-grips-the-talons-of-the-shehawk-will-himself-be-felled kinda rubbish for me. No, I deal in the real thing.
On October 20th last, at the propitious hour of 4:38 in the afternoon, your personal PalmPilot reader fersoothed to Jack as follows: “California may be ineFFably [sic] screwed up, but at least they know how to respond to natural disasters.” And this, before the fires! Jack had set my mystix to working on accounta his breach of the Magician’s Code when he revealed some of the inner workings of the great Medicaid Trick, thereby forcing former politicians and professional embezzlers in several states to seek other employment. His invitation to the dark arts was all I needed.
I feel it coming on again. Yes! Yesssss!
I see…what is it…what IS it?…it’s some kind of…it’s a Scottish sea creature cavorting in Glasgow Harbor with 72 synchronized swimmers in burkas and the amazingly well preserved Esther Williams, all accompanied by a tribute band called the Bay City Strollers.
Wait, there’s more!
I see the unionized iron lawn jockeys of Buckhead going on strike in protest of the rulings of Mr. Justice Thomas.
And…oh, NO!…I actually see…
…Rudy in 2008!
By Analchord
October 28, 2007 1:44 PM | Link to this
The right side of the round table discussions this morning support the unilateral sanctions against Iran Bush implemented. Napolean tried to beat the British by closing the ports along the channel. This is what undid Nappy, long before Waterloo. Iran’s allies, russia and china wont stand for bush’s economic boycott of Iranian companies seeking financing on the world bank. Doesn’t Cheney own companies dealing with Iran? Bush is playing to poll numbers for the GOP candidates as they talk tuff to get elected. We’re going to goad people who aren’t even our enemies into ww3.
Iran’s nuclear threat is real, but it’s real before 911, after 911 and long after we bomb iran. By declaring war on Iran, we give them the moral right to nuke the west. War is war.
Did you know that even after hiroshima the jap warlords, (their McRoves), were for continuing the war, not negotiation. The GOP wont be happy till we’re all cocoa crispies. For what? For the Military Industrial Complex.
By Nostraglenus
October 28, 2007 1:52 PM | Link to this
RW & getalife,
“How about a little intellectual honesty in admitting there is something incredibly wrong when two Presidential” nominees of the same party repeatedly and publicly insist, with evident conviction, that they were in several places unvisited, doing various deeds not done, seeing things that never existed?
[Rudy 08]
By Luckoduh
October 28, 2007 1:54 PM | Link to this
{{{{Iran has responded, naturally, by both condemning and mocking the sanctions, and predicting that they will fail — which Iran would do even if they promised to be effective. But they are doomed to fail, as all legalistic sanctions have always failed to deter criminal regimes. They will, to some mild degree, make Iran depend more on trade with Russia and China, and to that degree, happily enough, a more reliable customer for inferior technology.}}}}
{{{{This does not represent much change, however. To use perhaps the best example, the Iranians are already saddled with a Russian air defence system with loopholes to compare with those in the sanctions. The Israelis demonstrated this in early September, while penetrating Syrian air space en route to an “alleged” nuclear reactor under construction on the upper Euphrates — right across the breadth of the country from where the Israeli planes went in. The Syrians clearly did not know what was happening until this airborne commando operation was over. And the Syrians bought approximately the same air defence system as the Iranians.}}}}
By Analchord
October 28, 2007 1:59 PM | Link to this
When I read RW’s constitutional take on current events, it’s like reading a high-tech Thomas Jefferson.
By Analchord
October 28, 2007 2:11 PM | Link to this
Football.
By Luckoduh
October 28, 2007 2:14 PM | Link to this
{{{{Take the Scott Thomas Beauchamp debacle at the New Republic, in which the magazine ran an atrocity-a-go-go Baghdad diary piece by a serving soldier about dehumanized troops desecrating graves, abusing disfigured women, etc. It smelled phony from the get-go – except to the professional media class from whose ranks the New Republic’s editors are drawn: To them, it smelled great, because it aligned reality with the movie looping endlessly through the windmills of their mind, a nonstop Coppola-Stone retrospective in which ill-educated conscripts are the dupes of a nutso officer class.}}}}
{{{{It’s the same with all those guys driving around with “9/11 Was An Inside Job” bumper stickers. That aligns reality with every conspiracy movie from the past three decades: It’s always the government who did it – sometimes it’s some supersecret agency working deep within the bureaucracy from behind an unassuming nameplate on a Washington street; and sometimes it’s the president himself – but when poor Joe Schmoe on the lam from the Feds eventually unravels it, the cunning conspiracy is always the work of a ruthlessly efficient all-powerful state. So Iraq is Vietnam. And 9/11 is the Kennedy assassination, with ever higher percentages of the American people gathering on the melted steely knoll.}}}}
{{{{There’s a kind of decadence about all this: If 9/11 was really an inside job, you wouldn’t be driving around with a bumper sticker bragging that you were on to it. Fantasy is a by-product of security: it’s the difference between hanging upside down in your dominatrix’s bondage parlor after work on Friday and enduring the real thing for years on end in Saddam’s prisons.}}}}
By Glenn
October 28, 2007 2:18 PM | Link to this
Analogist,
I’ll resist rhyming the word “Napoleonic” (fish in barrel), but would like to say that your reference does seem to rhyme historically. (Or, per Twain, at least it stutters.) However, with all due respect to you and Ike I can’t see the M-I Complex here, though maybe the politico-journalistic one. “You provide the pictures, Mr. Remington; I’ll provide the war.”
Naw, it seems more like that their reasons are more straightforward. Pax Americana Victrix, etc. And one mustn’t mention it here, but the military reality is that we could cripple the offensive capabilities of both Russia and Iran before breakfast, and still hold off China at lunchtime. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to sound breezily macho, just trying to put myself momentarily in the heads of the brass in Moscow and Tehran and Beijing. It goes without saying that the challenge before our Peeps is to stop the zanies from summoning Hell. But maybe showing the flag, launching the White Fleet, rattling the sabres, etc. is a feasible play. One thing about modern wars: even the generals sometimes don’t fully know what the conflict’s about until the things over, as vide Ike’s comments after having gotten his first snootful of Camp Ohrdruf.
And speaking of historicity, wouldn’t it be macabre were we to have Lafayette and John Bull flanking us? How really weird.
[Rudy 08]
By Luckoduh
October 28, 2007 2:24 PM | Link to this
{{{{LTC Frank told me the other day that his best weapon system is his cell phone. Calls come to him (through his interpreter) every day and into the night, with information from locals about the whereabouts of wanted JAM members. Many local people are clearly fed up with the violence. Some even send e-mails with Google Earth maps showing exactly where suspects are, and they are doing it in real time.}}}}
{{{{We’ll be sitting there in the TOC (tactical operations center or HQ) and an e-mail comes in and it’s literally a map (or a photo of one) with detailed descriptions of wanted men and/or caches. And the information is turning out to be true. I have never seen anything like this before.}}}}
{{{{It’s becoming almost bizarre how specific the informants are becoming. Informants have called up saying they are with bad guys right now and giving their location. Our guys show up and arrest everyone. Hours later, the U.S. soldiers let the informants go. JAM and AQI are getting slammed in many areas because local people are sick of the violence and local people trust Americans to help them end it.}}}}
By halstoon
October 28, 2007 3:05 PM | Link to this
Mr. Wooten, I have a question. Wouldn’t cases like Brown v. Board and Powell v. The State be examples of judicial acitivism? In fact, wouldn’t judicial acitivism be the reason for the balance of powers?
After all, if the only thing a high court can do is to uphold the will of legislators, why have the review process? When judges strike down laws as unconstitutional, aren’t they being activist? Isn’t activism exactly why we have the review courts in the first place?
Indeed, conservatives like to rail against judicial activism b/c their attempts to consolidate their power and impose their will on the masses is often overturned. Just because Georgians continue to elect GOP representation doesn’t mean the rest of us have to be subjected to your rule, unable to speak up for ourselves.
Genarlow Wilson should never have been in jail. To have let him stay in jail for another eight years would certainly have been cruel, if not unusual for the law & order crowd. When a judge is presented with a case in which justice has been ignored, they have an obligation to act, regardless of what the “conservative” legislature would have them do.
Thank God there were 4 people on that bench who recognized that obligation.
By Glenn
October 28, 2007 3:07 PM | Link to this
Luckoduh, fascinating & intimidating stuff. Thanks for the dispatch.
Dusty, presumably you think I’m kidding with my allusions to the study of religions, but I’m not fooling, really. Whenever I bring up this stuff with friends who are comparative religionists, they think it’s laughably obvious that the ultramoderns are venerating the Green Man all over again.
Later I’ll attempt to explain further, if you’re interested.
By RW-(the original)
October 28, 2007 3:30 PM | Link to this
John Edwards says if he’s elected president, he’ll institute a New Deal-like suite of programs to fight poverty and stem growing wealth disparity. To do it, he said, he’ll ask many Americans to make sacrifices, like paying higher taxes.
You Democrats sure are one trick ponies.
Edwards, a former Democratic senator from North Carolina, says the federal government should underwrite universal pre-kindergarten, create matching savings accounts for low-income people, mandate a minimum wage of $9.50 and provide a million new Section 8 housing vouchers for the poor. He also pledged to start a government-funded public higher education program called “College for Everyone.”
Why no new cars? He could trade them for votes and claim to be bailing out the auto industry at the same time.
By Dusty
October 28, 2007 3:42 PM | Link to this
Ah Glenn, my friend,
You have dug into the depths of dark religion and I only know the light. Neopaganism? Green Man? Are you saying the Gore crowd is pagan? As one lady at church said “He made a nice movie!!” Yes, that and he changes his light bulbs. Sounds pretty pagan to me. Oh for the Druids and the real thing.
But…heavens—you are probably talking about something else entirely! I am not the comet of complexities in which you evolve and revolve. But as our goodly Omar Khy said “the moving finger writes and having writ..moves on and all the computers in the world cannot erase one word of it”. He forgot delete.
But do tell me that of which you speak. I may be guilty and I must know, but I do not think that I am venerating the Green Man, now or ever. I am interested!
Perhaps I fell asleep during AmVet’s sermon—oh no—that was soemthing else.
By AmVet
October 28, 2007 3:48 PM | Link to this
The approval rating for all members of Congress sits at a dismal 22 percent, according to the CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll. About 75 percent of those surveyed said they disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job.
Approval of congressional Democrats stands at 43 percent, twice that of Congress in general.
If you apologists are capable, do the math and tell us, what is the approval rating of Congressional Republicans?
Hint. Think VERY small numbers.
By getalife
October 28, 2007 3:50 PM | Link to this
“Following FEMA’s fake presser, Face The Nation host Bob Schieffer lambasted the agency for their hackery and suggests they do the right thing by firing those responsible for deceiving the American people and try doing their job if they want to improve their reputation.
Schieffer: “…Fire these people and the people who hired them, then explain to the new people that the best way for a disaster relief agency to get good publicity is to do a good job helping victims. As part of a massive new PR campaign, you might even consider taking the PR staff from behind their desks and sending them out to deliver food and water to fire victims. Now that would make a great start.”
UPDATE: From Think Progress -
On Tuesday, while “wildfires raged” in California, FEMA staged a live press conference at which agency staffers posed as journalists and asked softball questions. One of those staffers, Director of External Affairs John “Pat” Philbin, has now resigned. He has instead landed an “amazing opportunity” to head public affairs at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
Wow….really, just wow”
Yes, when the Clintons do all this crap, the wingnuts should remain silent like now.
Bwa.
By RW-(the original)
October 28, 2007 3:59 PM | Link to this
However, the 43% figure is not included anywhere in the summary.
I guess Blowhard is trying to impress you with made up numbers again.
Did I mention that Democrats are one trick ponies? It appears moonbat(ic)® bloggers are too.
By RW-(the original)
October 28, 2007 4:10 PM | Link to this
*WASHINGTON (AP) - The homeland security chief on Saturday tore into his own employees for staging a phony news conference at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.*“I think it was one of the dumbest and most inappropriate things I’ve seen since I’ve been in government,” Michael Chertoff said.
“I have made unambiguously clear, in Anglo-Saxon prose, that it is not to ever happen again and there will be appropriate disciplinary action taken against those people who exhibited what I regard as extraordinarily poor judgment,” he added.
Center/right blogs have been blasting FEMA all week over this. Do you just make it up as you go getalife, or did it just pop up on DU?
By Dusty
October 28, 2007 4:10 PM | Link to this
RW-(the original)3:30
Hey, are you trying to make me a Democrat?? Otherwise, I love your thought..
You think Edwards might take my sweet little Cavalier and give me one of those voluminous Volvos? Now that is a bit tempting.
But…nawww..I would have to vote for Edwards. NO..NO..no I can’t do it…that is too much of a sacrifice…oooo NO! ^-^-^-(hiccups)!
By AmVet
October 28, 2007 4:17 PM | Link to this
Sermon, now THAT is a strange choice of words from one of the supposed “faithful” and sounds oddly derisive, especially on the Christian sabbath, no?
BTW, terrible b******* of that pagan believer in the laws of nature, Kayyam, whose quote is: “The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.”
He too apparently had little use for the mythology of “truths”, such as resurrection and eternal life espoused by organized religions like Christianity and Islam.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/26/poll.congress/index.html
And how could one possibly doubt the veracity of some blogging tool named Jason Aslinger? Who, being a good neo-con, probably couldn’t find his own a$$ with both hands, much less data that he doesn’t want to know about.
Some should pull their heads out and just look around. If they want numerous other links verifing those same range of well known numbers, it is just a testament to their inept blindness.
BTW, no guesses on those Congressional GOP approval numbers?
Cluck, cluck, cluck…
By RW-(the original)
October 28, 2007 4:21 PM | Link to this
Out of that half sample in a poll that admittedly oversampled African-Americans the approval was 43%.
Notice how this is an entirely different question and there was no companion question about Republican leadership for the year to date?
CNN took this number to deceive you into thinking they had asked for a breakdown among the sample they used for Congress as a whole. Blowhard/Amvet is either blissfully ignorant or willfully trying to con you into believing this propaganda.
By RW-(the original)
October 28, 2007 4:25 PM | Link to this
Dusty,
It’s only a matter of time until one of them thinks of the car for votes scam. There has to be a way for you to get from your government provided house to your government provided college classes you know.
If Edwards was so concerned about unequal distribution of amassed wealth he could’ve tried taking a 5 or 10% fee when he used junk science to bilk millions of dollars in lawsuits out of the health care system. I guess all these things today are on top of his government provided and mandatory checkups too.
By getalife
October 28, 2007 4:28 PM | Link to this
OMG, they are bashing fema?
GFY (good for you) RW, there is hope for you and your ilk but if you trust this government you are truly gullible.
“WALLACE: Of course, Mrs. Bush, with a higher profile almost inevitably comes criticism. And some conservatives in this country are upset with you — and we have a picture up there on the screen… BUSH: Oh, you’ve got to be kidding.
WALLACE: … for putting on a scarf given to you…
BUSH: Oh, really?
WALLACE: … by a Saudi doctor. And let me put up a blast, if you will, from The Weekly Standard. That she would oblige her hosts by wearing a shmata, which is Yiddish for a scarf, on her head is a tacit endorsement of Islam’s subjugation of women.
BUSH: Well, I did not see it that way at all. In fact, I’d had the meeting with them totally uncovered. I mean, you saw other photographs, obviously.
WALLACE: Right.
BUSH: And they saw this as giving me a gift from their culture. And it was the scarf with the pink ribbons and the pink edging on it, the breast cancer scarf, that I put on.
I will say that I told them that I had always felt like they were closed to me, that I wouldn’t be able to reach them because of the way they’re covered, and one of the women said to me — she said, You know, I may be all dressed in black, but I am transparent.
And what they were saying to me is they want to reach out. They want American women to know what they’re like. And these women do not see covering as some sort of subjugation of women, this group of women that I was with.
That’s their culture. That’s their tradition. That’s a religious choice of theirs.
Now, I did meet, on the other hand, in Kuwait, where women just got the vote in 2005, with a group of women activists, several of them who had run for office the first parliamentary election after women got the vote — didn’t win, any of them, but they made the first step, certainly, by getting in the political process.
And in that meeting, very few women were covered. And they don’t feel like they have to be. But you know, I think we all have these stereotypes of each other, Americans and Arabs, and it’s a really good thing to be able to break those stereotypes down and get to know each other.”
You eat your own but it is little late to sit down and get to know them after you blew up their babies and occupied their land.
Geez.
By Analchord
October 28, 2007 4:32 PM | Link to this
More Football.
By RW-(the original)
October 28, 2007 4:39 PM | Link to this
Time to head out for a few extra miles on the track on this beautiful fall Sunday.
Enjoy the rest of your day everyone!
By Dusty
October 28, 2007 4:39 PM | Link to this
Amvet@ 4:17
You are so STUFFY!! I like the poetry of Omar Khayyam (who was probably Edward Fitzgerald) and know nothing of his religion. I don’t know the religion of many poets whose words I read. It’s the joy of the work, you silly man.
I tell the truth on Sunday just like any other day. And the truth is, you usually post such long tedious posts that they can be called “sermons”. You are welcome to come to my church anytime and hear a good one.
By getalife
October 28, 2007 4:46 PM | Link to this
PoliticsTV’s Top 10 Moments in the Matt Lauer/Larry Craig Interview
Bwa.
By Dusty
October 28, 2007 4:53 PM | Link to this
Getalife @4:28
You take a very decent conversation on the part of President Bush about meeting with Arab women and you come up with your macabre statements. Have you lost the ability to think in reasonable terms? I think you have.
“Blowing up babies and occupying their land”?? You talk pure rubbish. The only thing “blown” is your mind.
By AmVet
October 28, 2007 4:54 PM | Link to this
Thanks for the invite Dusty. I’ve attended church MANY times in my life (and not just for funerals and weddings!), while I surmise you would NEVER, EVER attend an Atlanta Freethought Society meeting or a Humanist of Georgia meeting.
But being open minded or close minded as the case may be, at least we agree that The Rubiyat is great literature and one enjoyable read.
By StillbornDittos
October 28, 2007 5:00 PM | Link to this
nostra:
Did you mean “shehawk” or “schmoehawk”?
Football good.
By Dusty
October 28, 2007 5:13 PM | Link to this
AmVet 4:54
You got that right. I can think freely without the Freethought Society. I am not a “humanist” in that society’s genre. I prefer to think in the Christian way of “love thy neighbor as thyself”. That is very helpful to all humans.
Yep, I like Omar and The Rubiyat. William Blake is another favorite, especially “tiger, tiger, burning bright, in the forest of the night..”.Ohh, good one!
By getalife
October 28, 2007 5:15 PM | Link to this
crusty,
Stop with the church crap.
Real Christians are not pro death who love blowing up babies.
You freaks want to blow up more babies in Iran.
Deal with your evil hypocrite.
Repent.
By StillbornDittos
October 28, 2007 5:17 PM | Link to this
My brother in law fought a year in Afghanistan. Also, I was close to a young man who knew my daughter well who fought two years in Iraq as a spotter for airstrikes. He got his face right in it and made sure those laser guided babies were dropped right down the insurgents/terrorists/sunnibathist/shiamilitas/whoeverwasshootingback’s throats. He was a hero. he came home, killed his fiance and then himself. Then the relatives of both sides fought over the insurance money. I’ve seen war. I know war. We’re all soldiers. We’re all in it.
By getalife
October 28, 2007 5:29 PM | Link to this
“Tens of thousands of demonstrators joined marches in cities across the United States demanding an end to the war in Iraq, organizers said. Local television stations Saturday showed crowds filing peacefully through the streets in New York, Los Angeles and other cities.”
They have chosen the right path unlike dusty and her ilk.
By AmVet
October 28, 2007 5:43 PM | Link to this
William Blake?!
Do you remember that scene in Bull Durham where Annie (played by the much hated by the political right, Susan Sarandon) tells Crash (Kevin Costner) “The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.”?
As a baseball player, he for the life of him can’t imagine why she quotes William Blake!
Really funny stuff.
By Glenn
October 28, 2007 6:13 PM | Link to this
Hi Dusty,
Fitzgerald was a master of English, but that’s the first I heard of his being the real Omar K. He must’ve mastered Farsi too, ‘cause the Persians are understandably proud of the poetry.
As for the religious thesis, the neo-Pagan thing. The more seriously I take it, the funnier it gets in a darkly hobgoblinesque way. Think of the reverence with which the word “environment” as in “The Environment” (see Time or Newsweek) is used.* Which environment, please? All of them? Really? The whole thing? You mean you guys wanna control everything around and above and beneath and within us? Yes, they do. Moreover, successful stewardship is not the objective; the power of the stewarding is what counts. Guess where the mere citizenry of the U.S. fits in.
Think green, as they like to say. If you keep thinking green, then the organizing principle, “The Environment”, constrains every hitherto uncolonized department of your life (provided that the constraints are inculcated and enforced). What to take into your body, what happens to what comes out, what to wear, how to speak and — more significantly — how not to speak, your very conception of health, your habits and avocations, your shelter, your wages, your sex life, the air that you breathe, the water you drink, the very temperature of the Earth and the pace and content of whole human economies, and on and on.
A few years ago the people who still insist on calling themselves Democrats could not agree on any organizing principle at all, except for a woman’s “right to choose” — which does not even serve as an organizing principle, as, say, “more justice” or “more democracy” would have done. Nooooo. They stuck with their ugly little dance macabre, the abortion procedure, as their complete mythic picture, the New Jerusalem they were to offer voters. Today they’ve moved from Gyna to Gaia, and they’re really on a tear. Look out!
Also, if you look up the hoariest and most-accepted model of the phenomenon (!) of religion, the straightforward and simple Vogtian Model, you’ll see immediately how globalist greenism fits in so many tragicomical ways. (While you’re at it, cf. Robert Bellah, et al, on “civil religion”.) Like I say, just in time for the eve of All Saints Day.
[Rudy 08, Iyyam, Khayyam…}
P.S. An analog of this astonishing presumptuousness: The Race for *The Cure! Which “Cure”? The cure for cancer. Which cancer? Breast cancer? Whose breast cancer? Women’s, of course. What about my male friends and their breast cancer? Uhhhhhhh.
By WFC
October 29, 2007 8:14 AM | Link to this
I’m glad Mr. Wilson is out of jail. He has served enough time for what he did.
However #1: the girl involved was Black so this is not a racial deal.
However #2: shame on the Ebenezer church for trying to make Mr. Wilson into some kind of martyr/hero. He isn’t. I wish it were that minister’s daughter down on her knees in a crowd being videotaped! What a culture!
By StillbornDittos
October 29, 2007 8:43 AM | Link to this
The Georgia Supreme Court’s GenarlowGate came amid a media inquisition. Not so much Salem as Kool and the Gang. Oral Sodomy is not sex, it’s choreography and sing bling… ask any funky hip hop rapper blues specialist/fifth grader…
They’ll show you.
The Dateline Molester Ambush Television show revealed what kind of country we are: a country of child molesters. There was no common thread for perps. In Cambodia, american doctors and lawyers and schoolteachers can go on a two week vacation for child prostitution and have the time of their lives, and then go back home to their rich GOP life, where they are loved and respected by all.
I aint fooled by nobody. I was chased by a child molester once, but I ran too fast, and got away. (besides, I was 37 at the time). That’s when I knew what American men were: animals. Never trust anything an American man says to you.
By TW
October 29, 2007 9:00 AM | Link to this
Just wanted to take a moment to express a heart felt thanks to Rudi Giuliani for the leadership he showed in bringing the Boston Red Sox the World Series Title.
Great job Rudi!
By James
October 29, 2007 1:33 PM | Link to this
Legislative intent is pretty irrelevant if their intent causes someone to serve a grossly excessive sentence. If the legislature passed a law calling for imprisoning petty theives for life without parole, the courts should overturn that too.