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NBC Nightly Dumbdown
The ultra super-liberal NBC Nightly News just spent all of 2-1/2 minutes explaining to millions of viewers that Republicans are on the warpath against "an out of control judiciary." There were the obligatory clips of House Minority Whip Tim DeLap blasting judges who don't do Congress' bidding, and the now famous clip of Texas Senator John Cornyn speculatin' that judicial activism is behind recent violence directed against judges.
But missing from the broadcast is the fact that the Supreme Court affirmed 202 years ago that the judiciary is not supposed to do Congress' bidding, and that judges are supposed to be independent, and act as, you know, a check against the arrogant abuse of power.
It's like doing a news story on traffic intersections without mentioning the words "stop sign." When is some enterprising reporter going to ask Tom DeLay to comment on the applicability of Marbury v. Madison to today's judiciary?
Was the Atlanta courthouse killer angry at activist judges?
So what about Brian Nichols, the man police tie to the March 11 Atlanta courthouse rampage that left four people dead? Was Nichols, as Sen. Cornyn suggests, angry about judicial abuse of power? Or was he just an violent, accused rapist who grabbed an opportunity to escape custody?
Heraldblog reports. You decide.
Where there's a will
From our Michigan correspondent, Roger O.
Living Will
I, _________________________ (fill in the blank), being of sound mind and body, do not wish to be kept alive indefinitely by artificial means. Under no circumstances should my fate be put in the hands of peckerwood politicians who couldn't pass ninth-grade biology if their lives depended on it. If a reasonable amount of time passes and I fail to sit up and ask for a cold beer, it should be presumed that I won't ever get better. When such a determination is reached, I hereby instruct my spouse, children and attending physicians to pull the plug, reel in the tubes and call it a day. Under no circumstances shall the members of the legislature enact a special law to keep me on life-support machinery. It is my wish that these boneheads mind their own damn business, and pay attention instead to the health, education and future of the millions of Americans who aren't in a permanent coma. Under no circumstances shall any politicians butt into this case. I don't care how many fundamentalist votes they're trying to scrounge for their run for the presidency in 2008, it is my wish that they play politics with someone else's life and leave me alone to die in peace. I couldn't care less if a hundred religious zealots send e-mails to legislators in which they pretend to care about me. I don't know these people, and I certainly haven't authorized them to preach and crusade on my behalf. They should mind their own business, too. If any of my family goes against my wishes and turns my case into a political cause, I hereby promise to come back from the grave and make his or her existence a living hell.
_______________________________________
Signature
_______________________________________
Witness
9.4.05 00:04
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(11.4.05 20:50) Apologies if you've seen this already, but it's quite good as well. Apologies also for being too lazy to work out how to put links into comments. http://www.sptimes.com/2005/03/27/Columns/Living_will_is_the_be.shtml |