"More Bad Judges"
Thursday, January 8, 2004 at 12:41PM Jack Newfield of The Nation has a piece about the Bush administration's latest crop of federal judicial nominees. Needless to say, he does not approve, concluding:
Bush is trying to transform America through lifetime judicial appointments for this biased batch and their clones. The bottom line is that the reckless Bushies are willing to violate computer privacy and vandalize the Bill of Rights to expedite this transformation. George W. Bush was appointed President by the Supreme Court after losing the popular vote by more than 500,000. Now he is trying to use the courts to legislate a mandate the voters never gave him by abusing the power of appointment and ignoring the Constitution's "advise and consent" clause.
You can read the whole thing here. (via How Appealing)
Reader Comments (796)
And cancer is a disease, that is one thing - but IMHO having several children with a man and then suddenly decide he's no good, and leading to the ultimate disintegration of a family is another. Yeah, shit happens, but why should INNOCENT children be made to suffer?
Three years ago, when I was diagnosed with inoperable, late-stage cancer, Weller heard of my plight and, realizing that I was about to be impacted with ever-growing medical costs while suffering chemo therapy as I tried to hold onto my job, he offered his services to prepare a last will and testament for me (and my family) at no charge. He had nothing to gain from this, except perhaps the good feeling that he had helped someone in need.
I have no idea how Judge Weller runs his courtroom, but I do know that he is a man with a heart. How we impact others is our only real legacy in life. Chuck Weller impacted me and my family in a most positive way, and we will not soon forget his kindness. There was no "old boy network." No strings attached. Just good old fashioned caring for a fellow human being in need.
I have been sickened reading this web site's recent postings about Mr. Weller. This man was shot by a coward, his family is suffering untold worry and grief, and yet a handful of semi-literate people, most of whom have no first-person knowledge of him, are making him out to be the criminal.
Thank God we are a nation of laws and not of the lawless, though many of the posts on this site seem to prefer that latter.
I wanted to let Richard Warren know that, according to former Iraq Generals Georges Sada and Ali Ibrahim al-Tikriti the Weapons of Mass Destruction were in Iraq until just before the invasion when they were moved to Syria in converted aircraft and trucks disquised as relief supplies for a busted dam disaster. So using "No WMD" as an example of superior knowledge is not very convincing.
Believe me the issue of business is not going to disappear. Darren Mack owned a third generation business in Reno and this judge was giving it to the mother...in effect.
Are we not capable of better? Could not the assets in the business be monitored by an imparial arbitor and distributed based not on the whim of a some judge that gets elected?
I think everyone needs to take a reality check. If we allow judges to give and take at will , we will also have to deal with the consequences. No single person should be allowed such power. Thats corrupt.
Tonight, my family is safe and sound and happy - where is yours? Do you care? Or do you just HATE, HATE, HATE? Are you so angry that it is just eating you up inside? No, "Get back on your Meds" I do not need help, you do! My family is fine, how is yours? How about you "Killemall" how is YOUR family unit these days? I bet your kids just adore you both! You both sound like winners! NOT! I will bet that you have family problems and blame everyone but yourselves! Take responsibilities for your actions, like what you write to blogs, such as this! Heaven help your children if this is how you all think!
Now I will go on to say my thoughts and prayers go out to the children of this tragedy and the beautiful woman (Mama) who lost her life for tring to get out of what was obviously a BAD relationship. My heart aches for them.
As far as the judge goes I was so upset yesterday but after all the reading I have done it only leaves me with one thought "You reap what you sew". I am not judging him, but the man upstairs who is "God Like" just might be!
OK Blondie, you seem to have alot to say...can't wait to read what is next. Are you sitting ontop of this just waiting for someone to post? Darn girl go get some food, water, drink sleep....something HA!!
What everyone deserves now is a good look at what is happening inside the courthouse that is creating a need for bulletproof glass...
Something had to give. Something needs to change.
Because my services often required me to be in an around their offices while they conducted business, I gained a certain insight into the mechanics of divorce, custody, child support, and so on.
The "mechanics" I describe do not necessarily track with the law, as written.
When my own marriage became nearly intolerable, and my spouse threatened to "leave and take the kids," I was reminded of remarks made by one such attorney who was now a family court judge.
He had said, in effect, that the law notwithstanding, the judge has the final say, and the outcome of a domestic case is less about the law and more about what the judge wants, and certainly not about what is "right" or moral.
A review of case outcomes (some involving people I knew) convinced me that my best shot was to keep the marriage together until the kids were out of the house. Statistically, my chances of winning were in single digits.
The ensuing 12 years was . . . interesting . . . in a water torture kind of way.
That a frustrated man would shoot a judge is, given some perspective, hardly surprising. Stupid, yes. Surprising, no. Desperation and hopelessness will lead men to do things that most of us can never get our heads around.
Some of us just tough it out, knowing that the system is rigged against us.
Shooting the judge misses the target. Stabbing the wife misses the target.
The system that fosters the inequities that destroy men's lives has too much inertia for one man (especially one whose means have just been gutted) to remedy, and the system is, sadly, not self-correcting.
A man's credibility, after a bad adverse ruling, is pretty much toast. Anyone hearing the complaint assigns it a "sour grapes" label and dismisses it.
Mack, from what I can discover, was a decent guy when times were good. Can't speak to his state of mind when times were bad.
Wouldn't want to be on the wrong end of that rather confiscatory claim ($10,000/month) from the wife. Evidently, neither did he.
But, like I said, shooting judge = stupid. There are less heinous things to be a fugitive about. He certainly had means, so he had better than even chance if he had just grabbed as much loot as he could and fled to a country with no extradition treaty. He'd still be a fugitive, but nobody would be dead and the cops wouldn't be in bloodhound mode.
The system as it stands may suck, but a smart man will figure out a better way to deal.
Sorry, Darren, you're on the wrong end of a Darwin equation.
~~ V