THE BEST article on judicial appointments I have found

[antigop]

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2003/11/ma_564_01.html

THE MAKING OF THE CORPORATE JUDICIARY
And look where the trail leads...

>>
Pryor was not the pioneer of this kind of fundraising. The strategy of using vast amounts of campaign cash to shift the legal landscape was developed a decade earlier by a talented young Republican direct-mail consultant from Texas -- Karl Rove. Long before he took on the moniker of "Bush's brain," Rove realized he could energize the legal and medical establishments by targeting the once-sleepy Texas Supreme Court elections. "Karl has always had the requisite skills, but the proving ground came in the late 1980s and early 1990s," said Kim Ross, a former chief lobbyist for the Texas Medical Association, who worked closely with Rove. "Karl was talking about how business and medicine had to pull this together on the tort thing."

>>

[many a good man]

1. So religious extremism is a convenient ploy to deflect attention from ...

...the corporate takeover of the judiciary (and law enforcement). Not that there's much attention paid to the specifics any way, but if it ever gets MSM play they will focus solely on the social issues completely ignoring the economic. The fat cats are milkin' it, milkin' it...

<<
"Because of the smoke and fire of the abortion issue, it is probably all anybody will talk about, but there is much more at stake," says Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform..."The New York Times understands sex," he added. "It doesn't understand money."
>>

The corruption and incompetence of this administration will be enough to eventually kick the bastards out, but the corporate masters will still be served. They know the free ride is almost over so they're milking it for what they can while it lasts. In fact they will even welcome a breath of semi-competent and responsible govt leadership by '06 or '08.

People need to be reminded what things were like back in the Gilded Age when corporations ran free. Its possible they have even more power today. They will consume themselves with their greed and take all the rest of us with them if don't get change soon. Let's WAKE UP!

[flpoljunkie]

2. Excellent article. Disturbing to think that Pryor may be on Dems list to

let go through. His name was left off an email I received from Ted Kennedy--only Myers, Owens, and Roges were listed as those who must be kept off the bench.

Just Coincidence? Perhaps, not. I read somewhere that there was a deal in the works that would let one of the four worse go through. Hope this is not the case!

Here is where I read it--an April 26 article in the New York Times by Carl Hulse.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/26/politics/26dems.html?pagewanted=print&position=

Senators May Compromise to End Impasse on Judges
By CARL HULSE

WASHINGTON, April 25 - Maneuvering in advance of a Senate floor showdown on judicial nominees intensified Monday as Senate Democrats prepared a compromise offer to Republicans that would allow votes on some judges and showcased new tactics for confronting Republicans should filibusters be barred.

Congressional officials said Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, could make a proposal as early as Tuesday to allow votes on two of three Michigan nominees for a single appeals court. It could be coupled with other guarantees to Republicans, potentially including a vote on one of four candidates drawing the deepest opposition. In return, the majority would have to forswear any rules changes that prevented filibusters.

"There is a way to avoid the nuclear shutdown, and I'm working with my colleagues to put that plan in place," Mr. Reid said in a statement issued Monday evening, though he and his aides refused to provide details.