(via Stop the ACLU)
WASHINGTON – Senate Democrats said yesterday that they will invoke the vast disparities in income and living conditions laid bare by the Hurricane Katrina disaster to sharpen their questioning of Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. at his confirmation hearings next week.The scenes of devastation featuring primarily poor African-American residents in New Orleans have highlighted the widening gap between rich and poor, said Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts.
***** Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said he, too, will pursue questions raised by Katrina in the Roberts hearings. In addition, civil rights leaders whom Democrats have called to appear at the hearings said they also intend to refer to the scenes from the hurricane-ravaged region.
Senator Leahy said he will ask Roberts questions along the lines of “Why did President Bush steer Hurricane Katrina to Louisiana?” and “Do you hate blacks more or less than President Bush?”. Schumer said he will ask more meaningful questions like “How can you fit 10 pounds of potato’s in a 5 pound bag?”.
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4:03 pm [ Quote ]
Oh come on, it’s ok to bring this up. We can’t ignore it right? And he will be in a ridiculously powerful position to affect people’s lives. We want to know how he feel his role will be in that. In social issues in a modern world, and let’s face it a “Post Katrina world”. Nothing is the same Ian.
4:19 pm [ Quote ]
“Post Katrina” world .. are you kidding me? This isn’t 9/11. Just like R.G.B., Roberts does not have to answer anything that will come up in this “post katrina” Supreme Court.
4:33 pm [ Quote ]
Yeah Ian, things are different now, face it. The paradigm is shifting, it’s just life “after the storm”. More gets exposed and churned up than just mud. This is exposing a lot of problems and things we need to do to move this country forward.
5:05 pm [ Quote ]
I agree, it exposes the looniness of the left, and how they need to get a clue if we are to move the country forward.
5:08 pm [ Quote ]
Oh, and thanks for the link Ian.
5:47 pm [ Quote ]
If Americans had any sense of history they would know what happens when you give almost all the wealth to a small group of individuals.
Bush’s impact has been to increase the flow on wealth to the rich by his tax cuts and now the ending of estate taxes. These are boondoggles for the rich.
On top of that we will have a conservative supreme court which is not kind to the lower classes.
The historical logical conclusion is that at some point, unless there is a rebalancing, if this trend continues it will lead to the same conditions that lead to the French Revolution. If the rich (top 5%)already control 90% of the wealth, how far off can it be? Far fetched? I don’t think so.
That is one of the things that the hurricane exposed.
There are large ghettos of poor all over the country all are ticking time bombs unless they are included in the American dream.
11:58 pm [ Quote ]
Steve Donohue – regarding some of your points: The liberal judges on the supreme court have concluded, and ruled that even local governments can take homes in “poor” areas and give them to the wealthy for urban improvement. The conservative judges voted against same – so your logic, and reason is flawed. Furthermore, there have been more millionaires in the recent years that in history – how do you explain that?
Wealth distribution – is that what you want – well that is socialism, not democracy.
The tax cuts have helped stimulate our economy – not just benefited the wealthy. But, you would have to read unbiased economists to glean that information.
Katrina exposed engineering faults with a sinking city. New Orleans is apx 67% black, so the black population even by mere percentage ratio was going to be the most impacted. You, also, failed to mention that they have a black mayor whom had a non implemented evacuation plan. There was ample time to move many, if not most people to safer locations, and acres of busses to do this. Also, there is the Democratic Governor, whom continually delayed to enact the national guard. Do you understand how our country was set up by the constitution? Separate states, with the power given them, and a federal branch to help regulate interaction, ect.. The responsibility of the people of New Orleans lies in the state, and local governments of Louisiana – by and large.
As to your belief of the ghetto people becoming part of the American dream – what remedy do you suggest? It is so easy to list problems, anyone can do that – finding solutions is the difficult task. Real, workable solutions rarely come from liberals, whom don’t want to make the tough choices often necessary in the real world. Many are too politically correct to even know right from wrong. Just one example is how it is OK to make art with hate, destruction, graphic and sexually explicit images, and hang them in a public place – visible by children. Yet, a Christian based theme is “offensive” and immediately pursued to be removed by many of these nut cases. If that isn’t loony, I can’t imagine what is.
11:05 pm [ Quote ]
So Roy, you think it’s OK that we have shipped hundreds of thousands of jobs overseas,(good for the economy). I guess the corporate tax breaks are really working they have created how many jobs in the states? It’s OK that gas has gone from .99 per gallon in 1999 to 3.00 per gallon today guess those oil companies really need to make massive profits off the backs of us working class. It’s OK that our government lied about weapons of mass destruction to get us into the Iraq War (and boy that’s really going great in our favor, right?) We should be pumping their oil any day now to pay off the cost of the war. It’s OK, that every day we borrow money from Japan, China and Korea to finance the massive debt we have.
As a liberal I also understand the words, conservative and compassionate.
Conservative: Moderate and prudent.
Compassionate: Sympathy and commiseration.
This administration is neither.
I sure hope you’re young because it’s going to take generations to pay for this mess and with your attitude I think it will take that long for you to see the light.
My only sorrow comes from knowing my children and grandchildren will be in that same boat.