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things you should be paying attention to

Pitt and Jolie: Beautiful Baby?

Extra, Extra, stop the presses! Brangelina are having a baby!
What we've all suspected and speculated endlessly about is true. The beautiful people are reproducing. It's time to celebrate.

Generating a less 'spectacular' amount of attention is Alito Turns Aside Democrats' Criticism .

If you counted the hits each story received, Brad and Angelina would almost double Alito's.
Of course those of us who are active in the political blogosphere are aware of what's going on. Individually and collectively we're jumping up and down, screaming at the apathetic masses, "Hello! Pay attention here! THIS is important!" A hell of a lot more important than the fact that two of the rich and famous are procreating.

Brad and Ange, don't WANT our attention. Not surprisingly neither does Alito. Nor do the Republicans. They're perfectly happy that the majority of Americans are more interested in lifestyles of the rich and famous than in the confirmation hearings of a man who presence on the Supreme Court will impact not only us, but our children and our children's children.
When Alito says "If I'm confirmed I'll be myself." , they KNOW damned well what he means. So do those of us paying attention.
"WE" know that means Alto will continue to be anti-choice, pro-discrimination (supported by his membership in a controversial Princeton alumni group that opposed admission practices that resulted in rising numbers of women and minority students at the Ivy League school) and pro-big business (ie: rulings in cases involving a black man accused of murder, a retarded man who had been sexually molested and an injury at a coal worksite, you know like the one in West Virginia. Where in each case, Alito had made rulings that favored the powerful at the expense of the powerless. I wonder if the families of those 12 dead men are paying attention to this man whose history shows, would most likely rule against them should they choose to pursue legal action against the careless and irresponsible owners of the coal mine in which their loved ones died?).
There is increasing evidence that Judge Alito has a skewed view of the allocation of power among the three branches - skewed in favor of presidential power. In the memo, which he wrote as a lawyer in the Reagan Justice Department, Judge Alito argued that the attorney general should be immune from lawsuits when he illegally wiretaps. Judge Alito makes another bald proposal for grabbing power for the president. He said that when the president signed bills into law, he should make a "signing statement" (such as he did just recently with the new law crafted banning torture) about what the law means. By doing so, Judge Alito hoped the president could shift courts' focus away from "legislative intent" - a well-established part of interpreting the meaning of a statute - toward what he called "the President's intent."
One issue that should loom largely in these hearings is the balance between presidential authority in wartime and the liberties the Constitution gives American citizens. This administration seems to believe that the president's authority, in wartime, is absolute. Apparently Alito agrees.
We are living with an executive branch on the verge of being out of control. The hubris of this administration must have our forefathers literally trying to claw their way out of their graves. Putting Alito on the bench will all but assure Bush and company they rule, imperially.
Unfortunately the majority of Americans won't bother to notice, (or care) until sometime late in October of 2008 when some [trumped up, pre-planned] terror attack occurs and the President declares a state of emergency, then declares martial law and postpones (indefinitely) national elections. He will of course be backed up by a Republician controlled Congress and the Supreme Court.
By then Brad and Ange may be on child number two, living happily in ANOTHER country (most likely France), and for the rest of us poor saps it will be too late.
I suppose we can always hope one of those countries we've so graciously spread democracy to, will step forward and come to our rescue. But, I doubt it. I suspect they'll all be sitting around their dinner tables laughing their asses off at the country that literally let freedom slip right past them.
Good night and good luck America. We're going to need it.
posted by wanda at 5:43 PM

New California?
forget Canada I'm moving to New California!

A few days ago I received the following email. Most of you have probably already seen it, but I just had to share it with you anyway. It's just chock full of facts and good ideas. Twould only that it could be so.

Dear Red States:

We're ticked off at the way you've treated California (all the blue states for that matter*), and we've decided we're leaving. We intend to form our own country, and we're taking the other Blue States with us.

In case you aren't aware, that includes Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and all the Northeast. We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation, and especially to the people of the new country of New California.

To sum up briefly:
You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave states.
We get stem cell research and the best beaches.

We get Elliot Spitzer. You get Ken Lay.

We get the Statue of Liberty. You get OpryLand.

We get Intel and Microsoft. You get WorldCom.

We get Harvard. You get Ole' Miss.

We get 85 percent of America's venture capital and entrepreneurs.

You get Alabama.

We get two-thirds of the tax revenue; you get to make the red states pay their fair share.

Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22 percent lower than the Christian Coalition's, we get a bunch of happy families. You get a bunch of single moms.

Please be aware that Nuevo California will be pro-choice and antiwar, and we're going to want all our citizens back from Iraq at once. If you need people to fight, ask your evangelicals.

They have kids they're apparently willing to send to their deaths for no purpose, and they don't care if you don't show pictures of their children's caskets coming home We do wish you success in Iraq, and hope that the WMDs turn up, but we're not willing to spend our resources in Bush's Quagmire.

With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of 80 percent of the country's fresh water, more than 90 percent of the pineapple and lettuce, 92 percent of the nation's fresh fruit, 95 percent of America's quality wines (you can serve French wines at state dinners) 90 percent of all cheese, 90 percent of the high tech industry, most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all

living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools, plus Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Caltech and MIT.

With the Red States, on the other hand, you will have to cope with 88 percent of all obese Americans (and their projected health care costs), 92 percent of all U.S. mosquitoes, nearly 100 percent of the tornadoes, 90 percent of the hurricanes, 99 percent of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100 percent of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson and the University of Georgia.

We get Seattle, Hawaii and Yosemite, thank you.

Additionally, 38 percent of those in the Red states believe Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale, 62 percent believe life is sacred unless we're discussing the death penalty or gun laws, 44 percent say that evolution is only a theory, 53 percent that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61 percent of you crazy bastards believe you are people with higher morals than we lefties.

By the way, we're taking the good pot, too. You can have that dirt weed they grow in Mexico.

Sincerely,

the happy citizens of New California.

Oh yeah, I am so moving to Washington state. I have some good friends on Whidbey Island (although one of them is a republican, I might be able to convert her) maybe they will put me up.
I just have one question. All that good pot we're taking. Is that going to be legal for personal use?
posted by wanda at 10:35 PM