I begin tonight's diary with what might sound like a strange comment but what the heck! My Mom has a great looking bald head! When we were all gathered at my sister's house yesterday for Mother's Day hoopla, she asked me if I wanted to see it. I said yes; she then proceeded to take off her scarf. And, as I said, she looks great; my bald dearly beloved was even impressed! She seemed in very good spirits yesterday; that was wonderful to see. She gets marked for her radiation treatments tomorrow, and the actual treatments will probably begin next week.
Let's get to "this day in history." On this date in 1924, J. Edgar Hoover was appointed director of the federal Bureau of Investigation - the forerunner of the FBI - a job he held until his death in 1972. The Wiki article doesn't mention the size of his favorite pair of back patent leather shoes or his favorite evening gown. ;D
A former US Senator is celebrating a birthday today that nearly warrants THE cake, but I have a special celebration in mind for him. Rick Santorum is 52 today.
I'd love for a doggie to bite Ricky right in the "daddy parts" & give him rabies!
Finally, Bono is 50 today; OK, this birthday is borderline "Get Off My Lawn!" for me. U2 was pretty instrumental {pun sort of intended} in my formative years! My 2 favorite U2 songs are fairly recent.
Let's Countdown. Or, if anyone else besides me is suddenly hard of hearing, LET'S COUNTDOWN! ;D
#5 "And the Nominee Is..." AKA "Yes We Kagan" AKA "Bench Pressing" AKA "Left Behind" - The upcoming confirmation process for Elena Kagan could be a hoot for at least a few reasons. GOPers both on the Judiciary Committee & in the overall Senate are going to want to look as tea baggerish as they possibly can to avoid the fate of their long - standing GOP fellow Senate critter from Utah. So, I can see them being less than cooperative. Second, a few GOP Senators voted to confirm her as Solicitor General back in March 2009. It'll be interesting to see if they vote to confirm her as SCOTUS Justice, too; me thinks they probably won't! "The right" has already begun to make hay out of her decision as Dean of Harvard Law School to bar military recruiters on campus because of DADT. So, expect that rhetoric to be turned up to beyond 11! I'm also curious if her previous views on the SCOTUS Justice nomination process still hold true now that she's in the proverbial cat bird seat. ;D
I guess Keith’s not too thrilled with President Obama’s choice of Elena Kagan as the next possible SCOTUS Justice. And, I’m going to come right out & say that his comparison to Harriet Miers in the intro was a cheap shot; Elena Kagan is INFINITELY more qualified than Harriet Miers. And, the whole thing about her not being a judge can be answered in a couple ways. First, William Rehnquist wasn’t a judge before he made it to SCOTUS. And, Miss Kagan WAS nominated for an appellate, I think, judge position, but the Senate Judiciary Committee UNDER GWB didn’t bother to schedule a confirmation hearing for her. So, she was "pocket vetoed."
I did some reading of Miss Kagan’s work today – what little there is, and I have not come to a conclusion about how I feel about her selection yet. But, Keith’s initial reactions seem to be kind of a cheap shot; and, I don’t take joy in saying that.
It sounds like the concept of consensus – building was very important to President Obama in the selection process; that shouldn’t surprise anyone. Mitchie McConnell already began swinging on the Senate floor today. The GOP wasn’t going to like ANYONE President Obama picked, so their opinion is irrelevant to infinity & beyond. I managed to tolerate about 90 seconds of Senator Sessions on NPR this afternoon before I screamed & had to listen to Enya; he already called Miss Kagan an activist candidate. Yea, that Citizens United decision wasn’t activist at all, ya’ nimrod!
Senator Leahy said today she WILL be confirmed. We’ll see. Clerking for Thurgood Marshall is an absolute positive in my book! Her record – such as it is – on executive power is borderline uh – oh, but, again, I want to try to read more from neutral sources. Gee, what a shock; Professor Jonathan Turley’s in the house! ;D He doesn’t have a problem with Miss Kagan not being a judge, either! He also, however, thinks Miss Kagan really feels the way she’s argued about executive power in as far as capturing & detaining people as opposed to the position merely being part of her Solicitor General job of defending the government’s point of view on policy. I also tried to read the 1996 article today that Professor Turley referred to, and I gave up about halfway through because I couldn’t figure out WHAT SIDE she was taking. I couldn’t tell if she supported the SCOTUS decision on the case they decided about a city ordinance or didn’t support it! I'll try to read it again tomorrow. Professor Turley supports what he called "a principled loser." We get Ezra Klein’s point of view as well. He, along with Professor Turley, thinks the memo that she’ll be able to convince Justice Kennedy to come to the "progressive" side of a decision has been over – blown; I agree. A novice SCOTUS justice just isn’t going to have that much influence. All this "paper trail" talk is already getting a little old, too. People will support or rag on a SCOTUS candidate whether there’s a "paper trail" or not.
#4 "Rewriting Miranda" - AG Holder signaled there might be attempted changes afoot in the public safety exception in the Miranda Rights. Great...that’s just great. The fact that Faisal Shahzad was singing like a bird both before & after he was Mirandized is just a coincidence, huh? Ya’ know, AG Holder, Mr. Shahzad IS AN AMERICAN CITIZEN!
I do agree with Keith that if the point of this rhetoric is to try to somehow win GOP approval, AG Holder’s barking up the wrong tree. The GOP, the neocons, and their ilk just want terrorist suspects thrown in the clink & the clink’s key thrown away – case closed. Here’s John Dean! He wants Miranda & the public safety exception left just the way it is, thank you very much. This issue will absolutely come up in Elena Kagan’s confirmation hearing – along with HCR, Roe VS. Wade, Citizens United, etc. John Dean is slightly encouraged by Elena Kagan’s selection. Interesting!
** We get silly sports commentary video again! ;D A guy in Sweden set a record for a vertical run; it didn’t look like that guy was running! I’d so do what that guy did! **
#3 "Tea Party Takedown" - Tea baggers and/or the GOP in Utah decided that Senator Bob Bennett was a bleeding heart librul & just said no to him running again. Senator Bennett was targeted for his TARP vote & HCR. Senator Bennett might try a write – in candidacy; he can certainly afford it! David Weigel’s talking tea bagging of Senator Bennett tonight. ;D
The infamous Club for Growth has been working this Utah shtick for a long damn time. Senator Bennett even got endorsements from TurdBlossom, Newt Gingrich, and Mittens Romney – YIKES! I repeat what I said above; I think what happened to Senator Bennett over the weekend will make Elena Kagan’s confirmation hearings & vote very very interesting – and not necessarily in a good way.
"Tea Time" - Sue Lowden just can’t stop talking chicken – GOOD ;D
*&^%$#@! DVR sparked up, so I missed WPITW & a chunk of the #1 story, so fill-ins from y’all would be appreciated!
#1 "Up and Downing Street" - OK, so from what I gather, Gordon Brown is offering to resign if the liberal dudes will form a coalition with his party. And, a potential successor could be Prime Minister Balls {insert juvenile adolescent joke here}!