Ed Whelan is a former law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and he has served in positions of responsibility in all three branches of the federal government. He is a regular contributor to National Review’s The Corner and Bench Memos blogs and he serves as President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center.
We discussed everything from the absurd (Democrats warning Republicans to be “exceedingly careful”) to the now-infamous “Wise Latina” comment to her ruling in the New Haven firefighter case.
Bottom line: Her judicial philosophy is troubling and she should be vigorously quesioned about it. That said, elctions have consequences, and someone like her on the court is one of them. In Democratic circles, she is a mainstream jurist and she should be confirmed, but not before what Krauthammer described as a “teachable moment” about the differneces between conservative and liberal judicial philosophy.
The Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here.
What is Pundit Review Radio?
Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening from 8-10 pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.
Bruce McQuain from Blackfive joined us once again for Someone You Should Know, our weekly tribute to the troops. Bruce spent 28 years in the U.S. Army and he is a veteran of the Vietnam war. He brings a perspective and understanding to these stories that we could never match.
Tonight, Bruce told us about Staff Sgt. Jason Hendrix. He read portions of a letter that one of SSgt. Hendrix’s men, Sgt. Jose M. Soliz, sent to the Hendrix family,
When the whole thing started SSG Hendrix was not in the best position to come to the rescue, but he made his way through hell to get to us. He came to get us even though he knew what it could mean for him and his men but he did it anyway. I can’t tell you that I don’t think of your son SSG Hendrix everyday. I can’t tell you that I don’t get tears in my eyes when I think about what he has done for me. Even now as I write this message I think of him as if I had seen him just an hour ago. Jason, you gave your life so that I could live mine. I have no words that could ever thank you.
I remember speaking at your memorial, I wanted to cry my heart out and fall to the floor. But I couldn’t do that because I wanted to tell your story proudly and let everyone know how brave you are. I sometimes catch myself drifting off in thought about that day and the events that took place. I don’t take one day for granted. Not One! I am only here because God made men like you. I hope that I can live my life in a manner that honors you, Jason. I look at my wife and thank God that you were there for me. My scars from the blast have faded away since that day, but you are forever in my heart. You will forever be a true life hero in my life.
Like I said before I don’t want to re-open any wounds I just to honor SSG Hendrix and tell you of how much of a True Combat Hero he is, not was, is.
The Someone You Should Know radio collaboration began as an extension of Matt Burden’s series at Blackfive. Bruce does an incredible job with the series every week. The Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here.
What is Pundit Review Radio?
Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening from 8-10 pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.
Chris Cassidy of the Salem News has been doing a great job lately tracking pension abuses at the local level. Today he has one that is so over the top, it boggles the mind. Just how out of touch are these lifer politicians on Beacon Hill? Read it and weep,
Panel: DPW workers can retire at 55
Legislation would give employees same status as officers, firefighters
Department of Public Works employees could retire at age 55 — 10 years early — under a bill at the Statehouse proposed by the Essex Regional Retirement Board and a Lynn lawmaker.
The legislation would give DPW workers the same status as police officers and firefighters, who can retire at 55 because of the inherent dangers of their jobs.
It would also cost taxpayers, who’d be on the hook not only for the extra 10 years of each employee’s pension but for the added salaries and health insurance costs of their replacements.
In this environment, what rationale could there possibly be to give away ten years worth of expensive benefits..hold on to your hats…and wallets,
State Sen. Thomas McGee of Lynn, the bill’s sponsor, said DPW workers deserve early retirement because of the physical demands of the job.
“If you’re talking about working out in the streets doing the kinds of jobs that DPW workers do, it’s a taxing job, and over time it impairs your ability to do the job,” McGee said.
I worked a few summers for the DPW in high school. Twenty years later I still marvel at how little work was done, the multiple breaks per day, etc. This is not to say that all DPW work is easy or all workers are lazy. But, to compare that job to legit public safety work like cops and firefighters is a stretch of epic proportions. Considering the pathetic financial state we are in, this is an unforgivable giveaway to the union at the expense of the taxpayers.
The government is supposed to serve the people. To Beacon Hill lifers like Tom McGee, the taxpayers are there to serve the government. This is just obnoxious and outrageous. If the voters let this stand, we deserve everything we get from the likes of Tommy McGee. When will we take our state back from these lifers who show such disdain for us, their bosses?
Reform before revenue? More like status quo uber alles.
UPDATE: In my haste to get to work this morning, I left out part of the article that deserves highlighting. It just goes to show how the legislature has set up layers on BS that makes these outrages possible.
The Essex Regional Retirement Board — which represents towns like Boxford, Hamilton, Ipswich, Topsfield and Wenham — filed the bill at the request of local DPW unions.
…Essex is the same board that recently approved a subtle language change that allowed police and fire dispatchers to retire five years early — at age 60. It also spent $60,000 last year on a lobbying firm to guide a variety of bills through the Statehouse.
Gilligan said the board files its bills through McGee, a Lynn Democrat, rather than its own local legislators, because McGee is chairman of the relevant legislative committee, and because of his relationship with the retirement board’s executive director, Timothy Bassett, a former Lynn state representative.
The Essex Regional Retirement Board…where croynism, favoritism and no oversight or accountability create the conditions for a more perfect Hackarama. It also provides a case study in what is so rotten about this state.
Meet the New Boss
Poor liberals, they have to wake up heartbroken every Saturday morning. That is no way to start your weekend!
On May 10 I wrote about a pattern I was seeing with the Obama administration,
“The only time of the week worth paying attention is on Friday nights. Why? It’s PR Rule #1, when you have news your trying to bury….release it on a Friday night.” What news was he dribbling out? Just his reversal on military detainees, that’s all. After all he said lambasting the Bush administrations policy, who could blame Obama for trying to hide the fact that he was now adopted those very positions? He may be Mr. Transparency and Open Governement, but he is also pretty adept at hiding the difference between his words and deeds.
What heartache are his liberal supporters waking up to this week?
Andrew McCarthy at National Review has the background,
The Uighurs, Chinese Muslim detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, received terrorist training at al Qaeda affiliated camps (from an organization formally designated as a foreign terrorist organization under U.S. law) and were captured after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. They are the Left’s combatant cause célèbre. The military took the incoherent position that they were trained al Qaeda terrorists but that their real beef was with China, not us. Thus, the federal courts have held that they are not enemy combatants. The government has been trying to relocate them for years but no country will take the remaining 17 — other than China, where our treaty obligations arguably forbid us from sending them because there is reason to believe they’d be persecuted.
So, how did the Obama administration go about restoring our reputation in the world? By once again adopting the Bush administration’s policies, from SCOTUS Blog,
The brief holds to the position of the Bush Administration that a court’s power to issue a remedy in a habeas case — even in the wake of the Supreme Court’s mandate last year that the detainees have a constitutional right to seek their freedom — is limited to a finding of eligibility for release, without an actual release from captivity while diplomatic negotiations to resettle a prisoner continue. The brief seeks to draw a clear distinction between “simple release†and “release into the U.S.â€
The filing also clearly embraces the Bush Administration view that detainees cleared for release may be held for a “wind-up†period of indefinite duration, while resettlement efforts proceed. The brief does not specify how long such a period could last, saying only that it would be “a reasonable period of time.†But it cites examples from past history suggesting that it could run for “several years.â€
As I said on May 10,
Maybe, just maybe, the previous administration put into place an agggressive series of measures that were carefully considered in order to protect the United States? What other conclusion can you reach if so many of them are suddenly acceptable to our new president?
If you are a liberal Obama supporter you must be one of two things this morning, either heartbroken or a hypocrite. After all, how could they support the second coming of George W. Bush?
Clive Crook writes in the Financial Times that it is time for Obama to apologize, to his supporters, and President Bush,
..he owes his supporters an apology for misleading them. He also owes George W. Bush an apology for saying that the last administration’s thinking was an affront to US values, whereas his own policies would be entirely consonant with them. In office he has found that the issue is more complicated. If he was surprised, he should not have been.
Sounds like a good idea to me, what do you think?
Politico: White House to Sonia Sotomayor critics: Be ‘careful’
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs issued a pointed warning to opponents of Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s Supreme Court nomination Wednesday, urging critics to measure their words carefully during a politically charged confirmation debate.
“I think it is probably important for anybody involved in this debate to be exceedingly careful with the way in which they’ve decided to describe different aspects of this impending confirmation,†Gibbs said.
AllahPundit asks,
Imagine the nutroots pathos had a Republican press secretary dropped this on them.
Imagine indeed. That doesn’t mean it’s bad advice. I happen to agree with Gibbs. Be careful GOP senators! You wouldn’t want to come across as mean, bitter, nasty partisan hacks. Let’s take a trip down memory lane all the way back to the most recent vacancy for the Supreme Court. How did these thoughtful, restrained, decent and respectful Democrats treat Samuel Alito?
In case after case, Judge Alito’s decisions demonstrate a systematic tilt toward powerful institutions and against individuals attempting to vindicate their rights. How can a clear record like that possibly justify a lifetime position on the Supreme Court?
In Judge Alito we see patterns, patterns which demonstrate a hostility to the disadvantaged and the poor.
Like Rosa Parks, Judge Alito will be able to change history by virtue of where he sits. The real question today is whether Judge Alito would use his seat on the bench, just as Rosa Parks used her seat on the bus, to change history for the better or whether he would use that seat to reverse much of what Rosa Parks and so many others fought so hard and for so long to put in place.
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
More broadly, Judge Alito’s record and his missed opportunities during the hearing to answer concerns about his record leave me wondering whether he appreciates the role of the Supreme Court as a protector of Americans’ fundamental rights and liberties. He has failed the test…Judge Alito’s record and testimony demonstrate that he does not understand the vital role of the courts in implementing the constitutional guarantees of equal protection and equal dignity for all Americans.
Republicans will question Judge Sotomayor’s record and criticize her philosophy but they will not savage her personally. She is no further left than Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Ginsberg was confirmed 96-3. That’s how it is supposed to work.
Democrats, they want it every way. They attack and then call for restraint. They implore “fair-minded” and “reasonable” questions and then accuse the nominee of being racist. They behave exactly like they warn the Republican not to act like. They are hypocrites. And let’s not kid ourselves that this is a recent phenomenon.
Ted Kennedy (D-MA) on Robert Bork’s America
Robert Bork’s America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens’ doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists could be censored at the whim of the Government, and the doors of the Federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens for whom the judiciary is — and is often the only — protector of the individual rights that are the heart of our democracy….
…President Reagan is still our president. But he should not be able to reach out from the muck of Irangate, reach into the muck of Watergate and impose his reactionary vision of the Constitution on the Supreme Court and the next generation of American. No justice would be better than this injustice.
So there you have it GOP. Don’t be them. Take their advice.
And no, Newt, Rush and Coulter’s criticism of Sotomayor is not proof of the GOP doing what Democrats do. They are all pundits, not elected politicians. Every Democrat quoted above served on the Judiciary Committee, so please, spare me.
UPDATE: I was wrong about Kerry being on the Judiciary committee. I think. I can’t find any reference to him being on it. Kennedy, Leahy and Schumer were all on the Alito Judiciary committee.
UPDATE II: Krauthammer is exactly right. Republicans should use the confirmation as a teaching moment, then confirm her.
Since the 2008 election, people have been asking what conservatism stands for. Well, if nothing else, it stands unequivocally against justice as empathy — and unequivocally for the principle of blind justice.
Empathy is a vital virtue to be exercised in private life — through charity, respect and loving kindness — and in the legislative life of a society where the consequences of any law matter greatly, which is why income taxes are progressive and safety nets are built for the poor and disadvantaged.
But all that stops at the courthouse door. Figuratively and literally, justice wears a blindfold. It cannot be a respecter of persons. Everyone must stand equally before the law, black or white, rich or poor, advantaged or not.
…Make the case for individual vs. group rights, for justice vs. empathy. Then vote to confirm Sotomayor solely on the grounds — consistently violated by the Democrats, including Sen. Obama — that a president is entitled to deference on his Supreme Court nominees, particularly one who so thoroughly reflects the mainstream views of the winning party. Elections have consequences.
Vote Democratic and you get mainstream liberalism: a judicially mandated racial spoils system and a jurisprudence of empathy that hinges on which litigant is less “advantaged.”
A teaching moment, as liberals like to say. Clarifying and politically potent. Seize it.
Author Warrren Kozak joined me tonight to discuss his exceptional biography LeMay: The Life And Wars Of General Curtis LeMay.
Like most Americans, I had no idea what a significant man Lemay was in 20th century aviation and warfare. This book also serves as a mini case study in management techniques because Lemay was masterful in building large organizations, fostering open dialog and earning the trust of those he commanded. I highly recommend this book.
The firebombing of Tokyo, the Strategic Air Command, John F. Kennedy, Robert S. McNamara, Dr. Strangelove and George Wallace. All of these have one common link — General Curtis LeMay, who remains as enigmatic and controversial today as he was during his life.
Until now.
Warren Kozak traces the trajectory of America’s most infamous military commander who killed more civilians than any other man in U.S. history but had a profound impact on winning World War II and the Cold War.
LeMay: The Life And Wars Of General Curtis LeMay gives an unprecedented glimpse into the might and mind of one of the founding fathers of American power, whose far-reaching influence, and controversial ideas, stay with us to this day.
The Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here.
What is Pundit Review Radio?
Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening from 8-10 pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.
A veteran of the Iraq war, David Bellavia is the receipient of a Silver Star, Bronze Star and has been nominated by his leadership for the Medal of Honor.
David joined us tonight to tell us about a new organization he has co-founded called The Warrior Legacy Foundation. Their mission is to protect and promote the reputation and dignity of every American veteran. Their Tenets are:
I. Defend the Defenders
(through advocacy and policy influence, we will enhance our warriors ability to fight and win)
II. Care for the Wounded
(we will never stop fighting for dignified and complete care of our wounded troops)
III. Honor the Sacrifices
(we will never forget the Fallen and we will honor the sacrifices made by military families)
The Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here.
What is Pundit Review Radio?
Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening from 8-10 pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.