Full ThinkProgress Rundown on Alito

Because the post has disappeared from ThinkProgress' site, here's the Google Cache in its entireity.

Samuel Alito’s America

UPDATE: Check out our new campaign, Alito’s America.

CNN reports that “President Bush will nominate 3rd Circuit Appeals Court Judge Samuel Alito for the U.S. Supreme Court.” Who is Samuel Alito? ThinkProgress has the facts:

ALITO WOULD OVERTURN ROE V. WADE: In his dissenting opinion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Alito concurred with the majority in supporting the restrictive abortion-related measures passed by the Pennsylvania legislature in the late 1980’s. Alito went further, however, saying the majority was wrong to strike down a requirement that women notify their spouses before having an abortion. The Supreme Court later rejected Alito’s view, voting to reaffirm Roe v. Wade. [Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 1991]

ALITO WOULD ALLOW RACE-BASED DISCRIMINATION: Alito dissented from a decision in favor of a Marriott Hotel manager who said she had been discriminated against on the basis of race. The majority explained that Alito would have protected racist employers by “immuniz[ing] an employer from the reach of Title VII if the employer’s belief that it had selected the ‘best’ candidate was the result of conscious racial bias.” [Bray v. Marriott Hotels, 1997]

ALITO WOULD ALLOW DISABILITY-BASED DISCRIMINATION: In Nathanson v. Medical College of Pennsylvania, the majority said the standard for proving disability-based discrimination articulated in Alito’s dissent was so restrictive that “few if any…cases would survive summary judgment.” [Nathanson v. Medical College of Pennsylvania, 1991]

ALITO WOULD STRIKE DOWN THE FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT: The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) “guarantees most workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a loved one.” The 2003 Supreme Court ruling upholding FMLA [Nevada v. Hibbs, 2003] essentially reversed a 2000 decision by Alito which found that Congress exceeded its power in passing the law. [Chittister v. Department of Community and Economic Development, 2000]

ALITO SUPPORTS UNAUTHORIZED STRIP SEARCHES: In Doe v. Groody, Alito agued that police officers had not violated constitutional rights when they strip searched a mother and her ten-year-old daughter while carrying out a search warrant that authorized only the search of a man and his home. [Doe v. Groody, 2004]

ALITO HOSTILE TOWARD IMMIGRANTS: In two cases involving the deportation of immigrants, the majority twice noted Alito’s disregard of settled law. In Dia v. Ashcroft, the majority opinion states that Alito’s dissent “guts the statutory standard” and “ignores our precedent.” In Ki Se Lee v. Ashcroft, the majority stated Alito’s opinion contradicted “well-recognized rules of statutory construction.” [Dia v. Ashcroft, 2003; Ki Se Lee v. Ashcroft, 2004]

The skinny? BLOCK ALITO!
Tags: Alito, Supreme Court, block, confirmation, abortion, discrimination, Roe v. Wade, strip search, Family and Medical Leave Act, immigrant, disability discrimination

Town Hall Meeting with Reps. Murtha and Moran

I wonder if the terrorists watch stuff like Town Hall Meetings on CSpan where they would see how thoroughly pissed off and tired of the war in Iraq Americans are. One could think that perhaps they see it as weakness, I'm sure the culture of fear would have you think it. The freshly implicated Dick Cheney has been quite vocal lately about not showing weakness to the terrorists or it would invite a direct attack.

And sure, there's some truth to that. But there's also alot of truth to an ever growing body of evidence that these people that are running our country without regard for anything but taking as much as they can. Just stuffing their pockets and calling their pals to stuff their frigging pockets for as long as possible.

Three hundred and twenty nine billion dollars.

That's the current tally of money spent in Iraq and Afghanistan. And I'm sitting here watching a C-Span Town Hall Meeting with Congressmen Jim Moran (Va.) and John Murtha (Pa.) take questions from people in the town of Reston, Virginia. They are candid, they are (seemingly) genuine and they are saying things with substance behind them.

Accountability.

Misappropriation.

Mr. Moran laid to rest any hope of impeachment. At least in the short term. With the House and Senate under Republican control, there are no checks and balances to the White House. There is no chance of any impeachment until there is a restoration of the built-in checks and balances of our government.

This I know, men like John Murtha are what America should be about. Honest, honorable and a man of deep integrity who you could also sit on a porch somewhere and talk about flyfishing. They are not dodging questions, they are not using doublespeak, they are not using vague terms.

The questions have been mostly excellent with the occasional statement rather than question and an angry know-it-all young woman. And one very angry man who was able to speak that he thought Rep. Murtha's speaking out is giving heart to the insurgents attacking and killing our soldiers.

That and the second time I've heard it mentioned but it should be shouted from the rooftops that there are 37 veterans running for seats in the House and Senate. Democrat veterans. Against Republican incumbents. This is unheard of and important to know and think about. I need to find a better story on it but it is important to know.

And Rep. Jim Moran is talking about the values that America was founded on. Leading by example, not by force. That torture isn't American because its against the ideals that our nation was founded upon. The US could be the Athens of the 21st century but instead of being cast as the Sparta. Force. Using military might to tell the world what to do. Its against the ideals of America. Its not showing respect for our troops, its not showing respect for our allies and neighbors and the world.

Both Reps. Murtha and Moran said again and again that force, the use of military force is a last resort. And then sending in that force underequipped is beyond contempt.

The war has led the US astray. Instead of concentrating on Al Qaeda and pursuing the terrorists who attacked our nation, we have become mired in a war that is recruiting more terrorists everyday. One number that sticks with me is that Al Qaeda has now franchised themselves to 60 other countries.

That each day, more people choose to codify their hatred for the slaughterous empire-building (that, as was mentioned, was architected as far back as 1992) and join the fight to extinquish this country.

And I need to read a copy of the Murtha Plan. But hey, here's a tidbit from his November release

We spend more money on Intelligence than all the countries in the world together, and more on Intelligence than most countries GDP. But the intelligence concerning Iraq was wrong. It is not a world intelligence failure. It is a U.S. intelligence failure and the way that intelligence was misused.

Misused. Not bad intelligence, misused intelligence. Cooked intelligence. Made up. Falsehoods. Lies.

Mr. Moran is wrapping it up by saying that the elections, that the kids who are going to inherit this mess and have the most to lose are the least active voting block. Political action is the most important way we can take back our nation from those who are leading it down the wrong path.

And with that, I'm off to bed. But wow, that was good and inspiring and compelling.
Tags: Murtha, Moran, CSpan, town hall meeting, elections, intelligence, lies

What Percent Are You?

I am: 3% Republican.

"You're a complete liberal, utterly without a trace of Republicanism. Your strength is as the strength of ten because your heart is pure. (You hope.)"

Are You A Republican?

Not really any surprise that I'm very much a non-Republican guy. The current Republican regime isn't especially Republican either so much as they are attempting to force a totalitarian martial society on the US while proclaiming to be fighting for our right to be free. What a mountainous and steaming pile of shit that is. If you think Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, et. al. give the first damn about your rights as an American then you are sadly, sadly, mistaken. Nothing this administration has done has been, in any way, geared to making you or me more free. Possibly more alive but even that's debatable as the War on Terror has been one hell of a great recruitment tool for people who hate the US and all it stands for.

So, thanks for that, Georgie. You can go now. Just take your cronies and bobbleheaded yes-fools with you.