Judiciary has 'run amok,' DeLay says

[Newsjock]

http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/politics/11338375.htm

By James Kuhnhenn
Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON — House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, stepped up his attack on federal judges Thursday, telling a gathering of religious conservatives that the judiciary has “run amok” and demanding that Congress assert authority over the courts.

His remarks, delivered by videotape, broadened the criticism he voiced last week after the death of Terri Schiavo, a severely brain-damaged woman in Florida, after judges refused to order her feeding tube reinserted.

... “The judiciary branch of our government has overstepped its authority on countless occasions, overturning and in some cases just ignoring the legitimate will of the people,” DeLay said. “But I also believe the executive and legislative branches have neglected the proper checks and balances on this behavior ... Our next step, whatever it is, must be more than rhetoric.”

... DeLay had been scheduled as the keynote speaker before the Judeo-Christian Council for Constitutional Restoration, but sent in taped remarks because the conference conflicted with his trip to Rome for Pope John Paul II’s funeral.

[WI_DEM]

1. I hope when his trial comes up he gets a hard nosed liberal judge

[BattyDem]

19. I don't think it matters one way or the other because ...

I think ANY judge is going to be seriously pissed off at him for condoning "retribution" against judges. :evilgrin:

[saigon68]

82. delay = Hateful Right Wing Criminal NUT-JOB

He's going to run for president. We'll see some real changes to our country.

Women willl have to be examined by state doctors, to verify when they are pregnant.

[hippiepunk]

2. 20%

is the legitimate will of the people?

[politicaholic]

23. Right on...

It's like the FCC fining a popular broadcaster because they got 20 complaint letters from the same right wing church.

[trapper914]

69. Earth To Tom

Judges don't make decisions based on constituencies...politicians do that.

Judges don't bend to the will of Congress or the President, either.

Y'see, there's this little checks and balances system built into our constitution. Maybe you've heard of that document. It's what judges base their decisions on. It's good reading. You oughta give it a look see some time.

[PA Democrat]

74. So true

One of the functions of the judiciary is to protect the rights of the few from the will of the majority. Think Brown v. the Board of Education. The majority of people at that time were in favor of segregated schools, but the Supreme Court's decision was not based upon ensuring the wishes of the majority, but rather protecting the rights of the minority.

If Tom Delay gets his way, you can kiss your rights good-bye.

[skip fox]

3. Should help to split ardent right wing followers and Supreme Court!

That's the good news. The bad news is . . . (Geez, I hate to think of it.)

[Az_lefty]

4. sure, lets just get rid of the courts and let the fascists run everything.

[sellitman]

45. Better yet

Lets just make Delay the Supreme leader and disolve the courts completely.

Wow...what a great idea!!!!!


:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[bloom]

47. That is basically what at least one speaker

at the activist judge conference said. That the Governor of any particular state or the President could and often should overturn any given court case.

They wouldn't have time even if they wanted to. It's ludicrous.


It's also what they've been up to with the whole inspector general nonsense. Someone who can go around and overturn decisions by prosecutors - whether to file or not, etc.

[musette_sf]

5. advice for Tommy Boy:

Go pound sand up your rear aperature.

He really doesn't know when to stop, does he?

[rodeodance]

7. he is at times-one scary dude!!

Our next step, whatever it is, must be more than rhetoric.”

[cal04]

6. Judiciary has `run amok,' DeLay says/Link

http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/news/politics/11338375.htm

[rodeodance]

10. yup--DeLay had ran amuk!!

[SlavesandBulldozers]

8. he really is insane isn't he.

i tend to give people the benefit of the doubt but DeLay always sounds like he's out of his goddamn mind.

[rodeodance]

12. it is his arrogance that I can not stand

[etherealtruth]

15. Insanity really is the only explanation n/t

[tsuki]

68. Another explanation is that he is setting himself up to be the

Christian martyr of librul activists judges. He is being "set up" because he is a fine, upstanding Christian man who spoke out against the librul bias judiciary.

The Fundies will forgive him all the money he has stolen, influence he has peddled, and votes he has sold because he is a Christian martyr of the wicked left who hate America.

[smoogatz]

87. Good point. He knows he's likely to be indicted

for Texas campaign finance violations, among other things. He's laying the groundwork now for the "all these prosecutors and Judges are out to get me 'cause I stood up for the will of the people" defense--which just might get him acquitted down in Texass.

[tsuki]

90. Stranger things have happened. After all, Bush was appointed,

twice.

[Algomas]

63. Bugsy's problem is the pesticide he inhaled over the years.

[SammyWinstonJack]

81. He thinks he is the Federal Government

Sounds pretty insane to me. Either that or he has an ego the size of Texas.

[stellanoir]

9. It's more like. . .

executive and legislative branches of government have run eternally amock.

What a hypocritical mess.

[Pithy Cherub]

11. He's a dance, dance, dancing machine... Delay he's a dancing machine,

watch him get down!

Enjoying watching him pointing everywhere, anywhere except himself... The self-destruction of a GOP King bug zapper...
:popcorn:

[Ilsa]

20. Uh-Oh. Now that song is stuff in my phonological loop.

Pithy, you are a scream! :rofl:

[kliljedahl]

13. in some cases just ignoring the legitimate will of the people

You mean like when they appointed Chimpy? I guess that was OK, Bugman.
How come the spell check highlighted Chimpy & Bugman?

http://www.kliljedahl.net

[nytemare]

14. A psychologist would call this "projection"

DeLay is frightened of what the judiciary would do to him, therefore, he project his own issues onto the judiciary to demonstrate just how bad they are.

[skip fox]

16. Delay's only crazy one time each day:

from 12:01 a.m until midnight.

[Ilsa]

17. Anyone want to join me?

:popcorn: :toast: Hmmm Good. :popcorn: :toast:

This should help make it easier for Frist and McCain and a few other party leaders to send this butthole packing once and for all.

Then again, he'll probably just become a lobbyist like his brother.

[Kimber Scott]

18. "Will of the people" - 80% of Americans thought Congress overstepped

its authority when it intervened in the Schiavo case. That's the will of the people, Mr. DeLay. You seem to confuse your will with ours.

[havocmom]

30. Maybe he meant HIS people, you know, lobbyist who pay his wife & daughter,

big contributors, hot tub maintenance guys...

[Kimber Scott]

41. No, I've discovered it's THESE people...

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/_/id/7235393?pageid=rs.Home&pageregion=single7&rnd=1112887778015&has-player=true&version=6.0.12.1040

It's February, and 900 of America's staunchest Christian fundamentalists have gathered in Fort Lauderdale to look back on what they accomplished in last year's election -- and to plan what's next. As they assemble in the vast sanctuary of Coral Ridge Presbyterian, with all fifty state flags dangling from the rafters, three stadium-size video screens flash the name of the conference: reclaiming america for christ. These are the evangelical activists behind the nation's most effective political machine -- one that brought more than 4 million new Christian voters to the polls last November, sending George W. Bush back to the White House and thirty-two new pro-lifers to Congress. But despite their unprecedented power, fundamentalists still see themselves as a persecuted minority, waging a holy war against the godless forces of secularism. To rouse themselves, they kick off the festivities with "Soldiers of the Cross, Arise," the bloodthirstiest tune in all of Christendom: "Seize your armor, gird it on/Now the battle will be won/Soon, your enemies all slain/Crowns of glory you shall gain."

Meet the Dominionists -- biblical literalists who believe God has called them to take over the U.S. government. As the far-right wing of the evangelical movement, Dominionists are pressing an agenda that makes Newt Gingrich's Contract With America look like the Communist Manifesto. They want to rewrite schoolbooks to reflect a Christian version of American history, pack the nation's courts with judges who follow Old Testament law, post the Ten Commandments in every courthouse and make it a felony for gay men to have sex and women to have abortions. In Florida, when the courts ordered Terri Schiavo's feeding tube removed, it was the Dominionists who organized round-the-clock protests and issued a fiery call for Gov. Jeb Bush to defy the law and take Schiavo into state custody. Their ultimate goal is to plant the seeds of a "faith-based" government that will endure far longer than Bush's presidency -- all the way until Jesus comes back.

"Most people hear them talk about a 'Christian nation' and think, 'Well, that sounds like a good, moral thing,' says the Rev. Mel White, who ghostwrote Jerry Falwell's autobiography before breaking with the evangelical movement. "What they don't know -- what even most conservative Christians who voted for Bush don't know -- is that 'Christian nation' means something else entirely to these Dominionist leaders. This movement is no more about following the example of Christ than Bush's Clean Water Act is about clean water."

snip

"Our job is to reclaim America for Christ, whatever the cost," Kennedy says. "As the vice regents of God, we are to exercise godly dominion and influence over our neighborhoods, our schools, our government, our literature and arts, our sports arenas, our entertainment media, our news media, our scientific endeavors -- in short, over every aspect and institution of human society."

more...

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/_/id/7235393?pageid=rs.Home&pageregion=single7&rnd=1112887778015&has-player=true&version=6.0.12.1040

[bloom]

48. They are going to reclaim "our literature and arts...scientific endeavors"

$@%^$@#&^%3 :grr:

They don't know the first thing about creativity and are squashing it at every opportunity - in schools and in society. Librarys are closing ferchrissakes.


:banghead:

[BreweryYardRat]

65. HOLEEE SHIT!!!

It's the Puritans...combined with the Spanish Inquisition. Somebody throw these nutjobs into the nearest high-security insane asylum.

(wishing I could post violent threats)

[underpants]

79. Kimber I started a thread about this in Editorials and Other Articles

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x118415

[Ms_Mary]

85. This is a priceless quote

""What they don't know -- what even most conservative Christians who voted for Bush don't know -- is that 'Christian nation' means something else entirely to these Dominionist leaders. This movement is no more about following the example of Christ than Bush's Clean Water Act is about clean water.""

[candy331]

21. Now just why is he going to the Pope's funeral? n/t

[wicket]

22. "ignoring the legitimate will of the people"

Oh, so the civil rights act should never have passed in the South then, Tom?

[roguevalley]

24. this is good for the 2006 elections. they are enforcing discipline

on their own to support him. When he gets nailed, they will have the liability of standing with a sheer criminal. 'splain that, fascists.

[Patiod]

75. Absolutely not

That's what started this movement - when the courts integrated the public schools and good, God-fearing "Christians" had to pull their children out and put them in "Christian" schools so they wouldn't have to be in class with "the coloreds".

Heck, they'll bring back slavery if they can. Why? because the Bible says it's Okay!!

[da_chimperor]

25. He wipes his ass with the Constitution any time he can.

What a bastard. Moral values my ass.

[DoYouEverWonder]

26. I just hope that when he finally goes to jail

that they don't let him wear his toupee.

[despairing optimist]

27. DeLay wallows in muck. It's much better to run. He'll never catch up.

He'll be in prison before he's finished opening all the baby gifts from Uncle Oil and Auntie Nuke.

[Pastiche423]

28. Whatever you do, Tom...

don't put down that shovel.

Keep digging that hole!

[CBHagman]

29. We're sending Mr. Sweatshop to the pope's funeral?

The guy who encouraged trade unionists and stood up to Ferdinand Marcos is being honored by someone who wants to drive down wages to whatever the market will take and hates regulation AND scrutiny, and projects his own sins onto others?

:puke:

Please forgive us, Poles, Italians, and all who have traveled to Rome to honor the pope, for not sending Jimmy Carter but permitting such a vicious, cold-hearted creature as DeLay to pollute Vatican City.

[NYC]

54. Why? How?

How is it Tom DeLay is going to the Pope's funeral? What's the excuse or justification?

If he will not be standing outside in the general crowd, who decided to let him in, and WHY?

[Sandpiper]

31. The Hubris of the Defeated

DeLay is too arrogant to face the fact that 80% of the public agreed with the judiciary in this case.

[Erika]

32. The vast majority of current judges were GOP appointed

It is DeLay who has run "a muck". He's pandering to the conservative theocrats while being totally corrupt at the same time. What a guy.

[teryang]

33. That's right fuck with the judges

That always works, right?

Judges are opinion leaders, mess with them and you'll get the opposite response from what you intend.

Remember Federal Sentencing Guidelines?

[jazzjunkysue]

34. And I was afraid *rub had ruined all the fun, taking Tommy to confession.

So glad delay lived up to our entertainment expectations. :popcorn:

[Rex]

35. The American Taliban has run amok

I can only imagine the number of orgasms Pat & Jerry get from shit like this! DeLay will go down like that crazy Dem who went to jail and ran from behind bars.

[dave123williams]

36. What a jerkoff.

[billyoc]

37. It truly must be a legitimate, clinical mental illness,

possibly exacerbated by all the dangerous pesticides Delay used to work with. I sincerely hope he can get some help with his mental illness while he's incarcerated.

[Rose Siding]

38. "...demanding that Congress assert authority over the courts"

CONGRESS doesn't HAVE authority OVER the courts. This clown is going to be smacked down SO hard.

[Lerkfish]

39. correct me if I'm wrong, but...isnt threatening a judge a felony?

how does he get away with it?

[paineinthearse]

40. Go directly to jail, do not collect $200

From further on in the same story:

His stand-in at the conference was Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, a DeLay ally who chairs a courts subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee.

"Judges continue to substitute their own political views for the law, and we must push back," Smith said. Asked whether he would take steps to retaliate against judges in the Schiavo case, Smith said: "I would certainly be a part of any effort that Tom DeLay was. If that's the direction that the leaders want to go, I would be happy to go that direction as well."

[Erika]

42. Do GOP Texans think they can threaten judges?

Man what a bunch of ego centric fools. I hope they are all tossed in "federal" jails. American grown terrorists.

[yamblaster200]

84. the gop don't really care

I don't understand how everyone is making a big deal about Terry
Schiavo, especially reps from Texas and the moron in the white house. Back when he was govenor of Texas he signed into law that if your on life support and don't have insurance or the money to pay for it, they pull the plug on you regardless of your wishes, or your family's wishes. While the whole Shiavo case was going on there was a 5 month old baby in Texas on a repirator. The doctors pulled the respirator and the baby died against the mother's wishes, and they did this because of the law a**hole put into effect. Now he wants to make a federal case out of Terry Schiavo, and somebody is suppose to believe that it's cause he cares????? What is wrong with these people. Now they want to dismantle the judiciary system...undermining precedents, and basically telling judges "if you don't agree with us, we'll get rid of you" And there are people out there that support it?!?!?!?!?!

[Laurab]

46. Looks like threatening judges to me

Not only is he going down, he's making it WORSE every single day he keeps talking. Much as I'd like to see him do it even more, I hope he stops before someone gets hurt due to his "retaliation" talk. Someone needs to take his matches away, the fire is already burning quite well.

[Historic NY]

43. Hope he gets stricken with Montezuma's revenge......while in Rome.

[FlyByNight]

44. Utterly delusional

The judiciary has "run amok"? Does this include Bush v. Gore, Tommy?

Fucking hypocrite.

[Patsy Stone]

49. Just a horrid man...

[Deja Q]

50. LET HE WHO HATH NO SIN CAST THE FIRST STONE. DeLay is a HYPOCRITE.

[leesa]

51. I'll say. They installed that bastard Bush, didn't they.

There will soon be a huge backlash against the Fundies.

[Festivito]

52. Crazy like a fox: When convicted, he's already dismissed the judges.

He's poisoning the well. So, his followers can afterword still believe in him because he'll be convicted by those "bad" judges.

Schmart.

[OneBlueSky]

53. the judiciary is what protects us from cretins like Tom DeLay . . .

that's why he's against it . . . and isn't this a form of treason? . . . speaking out against the US form of government as laid out in the Constitution? . . .

the man is not only a moron, he's a dangerous moron . . . and a criminal to boot . . .

[Kenergy]

55. He's mentally ill n/t

[Kool Kitty]

56. Because they don't agree with Tommy, they have

"run amok"? And how much more than "rhetoric" should be done, Tommy? Just imagine, if you will for five seconds, that these words had come out of the mouth of a Democrat? The authorities certainly would have been notified.

[Daphne08]

57. Time to break out "The Malleus Maleficarum"

Delay would make a great Torquemada, don't you think?

[StaggerLee]

58. !

Self destruct you POS.



Atta boy!

[virgdem]

59. This man is a loony bin...

the one's who have "run amok" are Delay and the rest of the Pukes in Congress. Delay is truly a legend in his own mind. How sad for the rest of us that we have to endure this CPOS (Certified Piece of Shit).

[anarchy1999]

60. Of course they have, Tom. The judges are running "amok" and they

are certainly out to get you. Ummm...

Sounds to me like a little, just a little bit of paranoia, yes/no?

Hey, maybe you spent a little too much time in the hot tub, you think?
(no drugs, right, only alcohol?) Or maybe, too much time fumigating before you got elected to Congress.

You're the man, Tom. Mr. Exterminator!

Get rid of the running "amok" judges before they get rid of you.

I'd just bet you learned that in the killing bugs business/school.

[hezekkia]

61. Delay's the only person who's run amok. n/t

[NVMojo]

62. This jerk is really afraid of what's coming at him in the future!

[truthisfreedom]

64. this just in: i personally examined that videotape of bug-man delay and

i have concluded, based on my limited knowledge, that he is suffering from a criminal mind. my recommendation is that he be incarcerated until there's some sign of change in his behavior.

[Nostradamus]

66. "overturning ..in some cases ignoring the legitimate will of the people"

a certain election in 2000 springs to mind...

[Catfight]

67. yes, in 2000 the courts ignored the popular vote for Bush. But now

it's okay to ignore the popular opinion that DeLame is activating activist judges for only his cause? Would someone start the process to get him out of governing, he is a traitor to democracy.

[Swamp Rat]

70. Tom DeLay eats cockroaches

[checks-n-balances]

71. Eeeeeeeewwwwwwwww!!

Captures the true nature of this master of deception and projection.

Thanks, Swamp Rat (I think)!

[forintegrity]

72. Exactly WHO's "run amok" ?????

Tom DeLay ought to look in the mirror!

[Mark E. Smith]

73. For Tommy Dirtbag, The Judiciary Is A Threat

It is the next step in his trip to jail.

[Ms_Mary]

76. And this man got elected....scary.

[rocktivity]

77. I guess RoachBoy doesn't intimidate easily

But I also guess that he doesn't realize how much he's intimidating the moderates who tipped the scale in Bush's direction. Oh, well, pass the popcorn!

:popcorn:
rocknation

[Danmel]

78. Let him keep talking

The more he talks the better. As Napoleon said "Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake". This man is a walking talking mistake. Let him keep running off his mouth- he's worth more to us where he is than in a prison cell (at least until the 2006 elections, when we take bake the House and prosecute is sorry ass!)

[indepat]

80. The chief run-amoker is surely DeLay himself

[gauguin57]

83. Today is Tom DeLay's birthday.

Let's all call him and wish him felicitations of the day. Or yell "nah nah nah, you're going to JAIL!" and hang up!

[Hand]

92. Let's hope it's his last. nt

[fishnfla]

86. Let's see Delay enforce his rhetoric

Try it Tommy, then you will understand the will of the people.

Nobody got your back, dumbass, fleas jumping off like the mangey mutt that you are......

[TexasLawyer]

88. more than rhetoric....

"Our next step, whatever it is, must be more than rhetoric."

John Cornyn seems to suggest that the next step is murder.

[74dodgedart]

89. The Republican judiciary

More federal judges appointed by Republican presidents than by Democratic presidents:

203 by GW Bush
130 by GHW Bush
110 by Reagan (Republican majority in Senate)
4 by Ford
5 by Nixon

Total = 452


346 by Clinton (Republican majority in Senate)
30 by Carter
1 by Johnson

Total = 377

Supreme Court

2 by GHW Bush
3 by Reagan (Republican majority in Senate)
1 by Ford
1 by Nixon

Total:7

2 by Clinton (Republican majority Senate)
Total:2

http://www.afj.org

[sidpleasant]

91. Here's Delay's model for his ideal court system

Excerpts from the decision in the Nuremberg trial of a number of Third Reich judges :

In German legal theory, Hitler was not only the Supreme Legislator, he was also the Supreme Judge. On 26 April 1942 Hitler addressed the Reichstag in part as follows:
“I do expect one thing: that the nation gives me the right to intervene immediately and to take action myself whenever a person has failed to render unqualified obedience....”
“I therefore ask the German Reichstag to confirm expressly that I have the legal right to keep everybody to his duty and to cashier or remove from office or position without regard for his person or his established rights, whoever, in my view and according to my considered opinion, has failed to do his duty....”
“From now on, I shall intervene in these cases and remove from office those judges who evidently do not understand the demand of the hour.”
...
Although Hilter’s personal intervention in criminal cases was a matter of common occurrence, his chief control over the judiciary was exercised by the delegation of his power to the Reich Minister of Justice, who, on 20 August 1942, was expressly authorized “to deviate from any existing law”.
...Neither the threat of removal nor the sporadic control of criminal justice in individual cases was sufficient to satisfy the requirements of the Ministry of Justice. As stated by the defendant Rothaug, “only during 1942, after Thierack took over the Ministry, the ‘guidance’ of justice was begun. There was an attempt to guide the administration of justice uniformly from above.”
In September 1942 Thierack commenced the systematic distribution to the German judges of Richterbriefs. The first letter to the judges under date of 1 October 1942 called their attention to the fact that Hitler was the Supreme Judge and that “leadership and judgeship have related characters”. We quote:
“A corps of judges like this will not slavishly use the crutches of law. It will not anxiously search for support by the law, but, with a satisfaction in its responsibility, it will find within the limits of the law the decision which is the most satisfactory for the life of the community.”
In the judges’ letters Thierack discussed particular decisions which had been made in the various courts and which failed to conform to National Socialist ideology.
...Notwithstanding solemn protestations on the part of the Minister that the interdependence of the judge was not to be affected, the evidence satisfies us beyond a reasonable doubt that the purpose of the judicial guidance was sinister and was known to be such by the Ministry of Justice and by the judges who received the directions.