Bad Deeds for 5/12/2010

 

Republicans Plan to Protest Democratic/Labor Rally for NASA Jobs – The Galveston County Democratic Party and local labor unions have organized a rally to support NASA employees and their jobs this Friday, May 14, 7 p.m., at the Chester L. Davis Sportsplex, 1251 League City Parkway (SH 96) in League City.

The local Galveston County Republican Party and local Republican leaders have are organizing a protest of those who are working to save NASA jobs in the area. The details on the protest, organized by the tea baggers and Republican Galveston County Commissioner, Ken Clark, have been circulating in an email. They claim this is just a “grass roots” event, but the link to their site is hosted on the Galveston County Republican Party site.

 

Republican Candidate Wants to Hunt Liberals, Thin the Herd – Congressional District 11 Republican candidate Brad Goehring is drawing fire for his confrontational Facebook statement: [note: page has been deleted]

“If I could issue hunting permits, I would officially declare today opening day for liberals. The season would extend through November 2 and have no limits on how many taken as we desperately need to “thin” the herd.”

 

Minerals Management Service Rubber Stamps Drilling Applications – It was known long before the Obama administration took over that the Minerals Management Service was rubber stamping every drilling application that came along. So why didn’t they clamp down on this from the beginning?

Regulators at the Minerals Management Service exempted 27 additional offshore drilling projects in the Gulf of Mexico from performing an in-depth environmental analysis—even after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, according to reporting by McClatchy. One of those exemptions went to BP.

The Deepwater Horizon rig had also been exempted from having to perform an in-depth environmental analysis using something known as a “categorical exclusion.” Categorical exclusions are used to fast-track drilling plans by eliminating paperwork that is deemed to be unnecessary or redundant because the drilling would probably have no significant effect on the environment.

 

Republicans Spread Lies About Illegal Immigrants and Crime Rates – High levels of illegal immigration and crimes committed by unauthorized immigrants are among the key rationales cited by some supporters of a tough new immigration law in Arizona.

According to FBI statistics, violent crimes reported in Arizona dropped by nearly 1,500 reported incidents between 2005 and 2008. Reported property crimes also fell, from about 287,000 reported incidents to 279,000 in the same period.

According to the nonpartisan Immigration Policy Institute, proponents of the bill “overlook two salient points: Crime rates have already been falling in Arizona for years despite the presence of unauthorized immigrants, and a century’s worth of research has demonstrated that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes or be behind bars than the native-born.”

 

Police Kicked Latino Innocent Suspect in the Face, Used Ethnic Slur – A Seattle freelance videographer recently captured a local cop kicking a man in the head while prone on the ground and using ethnic slurs. The Police Department disclosed Friday that it has launched an internal investigation into the incident, in which the gang detective, Shandy Cobane, can be heard on video telling a man lying on a concrete sidewalk, “I’m going to beat the [expletive] Mexican piss out of you, homey. You feel me?”

One of the most disturbing aspects of the incident is that it turned out that the man being kicked and verbally assaulted had nothing to do with the crime being investigated.

 

Hypocrites – In 2005, when then-President George W. Bush nominated Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, plenty of Republicans said they found it refreshing that Miers’ experience amounted primarily to her time as a corporate lawyer and Bush aide.

That included Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who noted then that “40 percent of the men and women who have served as Supreme Court justices” had no judicial experience.

“One reason I felt so strongly about Harriet Miers’ qualifications is I thought she would fill some very important gaps in the Supreme Court,” Cornyn said in 2005. “Because right now you have people who’ve been federal judges, circuit judges most of their lives or academicians.”

Now, with a Democrat in the White House, what Cornyn once considered refreshing in a high court nominee is in Kagan’s case “surprising.”

“Ms. Kagan is … a surprising choice because she lacks judicial experience,” Cornyn said Monday. “Most Americans believe that prior judicial experience is a necessary credential for a Supreme Court Justice.”

The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, likewise found Miers’ qualifications suitable five years ago: “It is not necessary that she have previous experience as a judge in order to serve on the Supreme Court,” Sessions said. “It’s perfectly acceptable to nominate outstanding lawyers to that position.”

But on Monday, Sessions was seeing things differently. Kagan, he said, “warrants great scrutiny” because of her lack of time as a judge. “Ms. Kagan’s lack of judicial experience and short time as solicitor general … is troubling,” he said.

And the list goes on. Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson of Texas thought Miers was a “wonderful choice” in 2005, but today she “has some concerns over Elena Kagan’s lack of judicial experience.”

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said Monday that Kagan’s lack of judicial record raises questions – though he said in 2005 that he was not troubled by Miers’ lack of judicial experience.

Another Republican, Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, likewise didn’t see Miers’ lack of time on the bench as a holdup. On Monday, he said the same factor is a cause for further scrutiny of Kagan.

 

You Decide – From time to time, I like to take a look at the Alvin Sun newspaper’s opinion section. They have a “View From the Right” column and a “View From the Left” column. One usually seems like fearful ranting, and the other is more logical thought. I will leave it to you to decide which description goes with which column.

 

Regards,

Jim