It is not the death of democracy!

[carolinalady]

People here need to calm down a bit. If Alito is confirmed, the world is not coming to an end. It may come to an end if we do not settle down and focus on the REAL Problem-which is a President who thinks he has the God given right to ignore the law of the land. The real problem is that our sons and daughters are dying. The real problem is that our military is stretched too thin and our children may be forced to fight in wars that we do not want. The real problem is that our civil liberties are being chipped away and a good deal of American people think it is A-OK because they have been fed such a steady diet of fear by this administration, that we could easily become the next Germany. The real problem is that lobbyists can pay off our Representatives and we have no say. The real problem is that districts are drawn up to control the legislature. And most of all, the real problem is that a corrupt corporation is in bed with powerful decision makers that can PREVENT OUR VOTE FROM BEING COUNTED!

Thank you for listening to the Kimberly rant. I am played out now.
:rant:
ed: nominated to confirmed

[Talismom]

1. Sorry if this pisses you off...but that sure sounds like the death of

democracy to me.

[ClassWarrior]

5. Not quite. But you stand around and watch it choke. Those of us...

...who care will administer the Heimlich maneuver.

NGU.

[TahitiNut]

2. Zeno's political paradox

Before democracy can be completely dead, it has to be half-dead. Before democracy can be half-dead, it has to be one-fourth-dead. Since there's always half remaining, it'll never be "completely" dead. Therefore, who gives a fuck?

Go ahead. Give up another slice. :shrug:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeno's_paradoxes

[carolinalady]

3. Poetic.

:)

[JVS]

6. good one

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

4. I'd just point out that the Alito's of the world are

facilitators. Without them backing the power play, we're not in the situation that we're in.

[ClassWarrior]

8. So that justifies turning EVERY defeat into TOTAL defeat??

NGU.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

16. Not at all.

Alito is just 11% of this particular problem.

Add Robert's 12% (Chief Justice gets an extra point delegating the opinions)
Add Scalia's 11%.
Add Thomas' 11%.
Add Kennedy's 11%.

And it's 56% defeat.

More than enough but certainly not total defeat.

[Warren Stupidity]

7. You are right it is just another nail in the coffin.

The republic died January 2001.

[ClassWarrior]

10. Then why even bother coming here? It's dead. Give up. Buy a brown shirt.

NGU.

[Warren Stupidity]

13. Interesting conclusion.

The republic died when the election of 2000 was stolen. I however did not just give up and, as you think I ought to have, buy a brown shirt and join the fascist theocrats. Nor do I walk around with my rose colored spectacles on pretending that what happened didn't happen.

I continue struggling against the coup of '01 because that is what has to be done.

[ClassWarrior]

18. No, you just chime in on threads to imply that others...

...walk around with rose colored spectacles on pretending that what happened didn't happen - when that's clearly NOT what the OP was saying.

Sheesh.

NGU.

[Warren Stupidity]

27. My original post did not do that at all.

However, the only things that people do here are a) originate threads or b) chime in on other threads with their opinions.

The OP said that (Sc)alito is not the 'death of democracy'. I merely pointed out that one could agree with that statement in two different ways. It was your 'chiming in' to announce that since I think the republic was effectively abolished when The Cabal stole the election of 2000, that I therefore ought to become a fascist, that drew my 'rose colored spectacle' statement, and it applied to you my friend, not to the OP.

But would you like to discuss the merits of either the OP's point or mine, or would you like to keep this on a more personal level? The ball is in your court.

[niyad]

22. it actually died on 12 december 2000.

[Warren Stupidity]

28. Good point. nt.

[firefox]

9. Alito is a symptom, not the disease.

We are all aware of the sickness before the country. The body citizen is in a comma and the media doctors are out playing golf. The staff in the hospital is wondering how to spend this weeks paycheck.

[punpirate]

11. Umm, beg to differ...

... it's one more indication of the decline. The real problem is one-party rule--Bush is a major symptom of that, but a symptom, nonetheless--and the acquiescence of the opposition in the program of the dominant party.

That party is not just Republican--it's authoritarian conservatism in all its forms. As the far right has consolidated more and more power, it's come to look a lot more like totalitarian fascism. It's not about Bush (or, at least, it shouldn't be). The real issue is consolidation of power in one corporately-funded bloc in all three branches of government.

Cheers.

[Charlie Brown]

12. People do make too much of these appointments

We are not going to be living in a police state if Alito is confirmed, and I don't even know if they would seriously consider overturning some of these statutes (putting half the abortion clinics in the US out of business would demand the US gov't pay some kind of reparations to the operators). Alito's just another crooked autocrat, like most other conservative "heroes." If we survived the Civil War and the Great Depression, we should be able to survive him.

Some of the worst SC justices have been appointed by Democrats (like Byron White). Let's move on to battles we can win.

[tyedyeto]

14. If Alito is confirmed (he's already been nominated)...

We will have a Supreme Court who will back * and say he has the God given right to ignore the law of the land. Everythin he wants to do to take away our civil liberties will be granted if Alito is CONFIRMED as a Supreme Court Justice.

[carolinalady]

15. thanks: edited to fix stupidity.

[carolinalady]

17. That is why we need to impeach the bastard. n/t

[AndyTiedye]

19. It Very Well Could Be

the REAL Problem-which is a President who thinks he has the God given right to ignore the law of the land.

and with Alito on the Supreme Court, he would probably get away with it.

[jbnow]

23. Amen. I kept reading to see

if someone would say what you did.

Alito's decisions as a judge and what he said during the hearings give us every reason to believe he'd support whatever "war powers" bush decided to take. No war declared but we are now in eternal war on terror. Pity those being held till the end of the war with no rights since this war will never end.

This is what bush cares about too. bush doesn't really care about abortion, he does care about the right to be a little dictator.

[reprobate]

20. Something that should be considered if we ever get democrats who

can stand up for what's right.

Alito has already been caught in a lie to congress. In his first confirmation hearings he was asked if he would recuse himself if there was a case in which he had a financial interest.

He stated that he would.

A case came before him involving a financial institution of which he was on the board of directors, and had a large financial stake. He, in fact did not recuse himself, but voted in a dissenting opinion for the financial institution. IOW he lied to congress. This is grounds to bring impeachment. But we will need control of congress. And democrats that have cajones.

[KT2000]

21. Alito affirms that god given right

that is the problem with him (among many things) - he approves of expanded executive powers and breaking laws by the president during times of war.
Sorry - but Alito is the nail in the coffin.

[garybeck]

24. Democracy ALREADY died when Diebold starting counting half our votes.

[anitar1]

25. Garybeck, thanks. I don't understand why people still

think we have a democracy. We haven't had anything resembling one for a long time.

[driver8]

26. You are exactly right! When our elections are fixed, democracy

is already dead. Scalito is just the icing on the cake for the rethugs.

[mmonk]

29. Elections can't fix in a timely manner

a supreme court that strikes down existing law nor has an attitude previous interpretation of the constitution has been wrong and they effectively change the laws of the land (at least for their lifetime run). Legislation put forth by a democratic congress can be struck down. This is a checkmate for most of my remaining years of life. If we really kick their asses in the next election, it doesn't mean we'll have lasting meaningful legislative victories in the next congress. This is a checkmate of sorts.

[lonestarnot]

30. Pretty damn close to dead.