Waiting for Fitzgerald

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally posted by sebastian_dangerfield
I watched this documentary called The Corporation last night. Its packed full of really cool information, and could have been a great evenhanded historical piece, outlining the history of corporations in the world.

Unfortunately, the producer decided to make it into a left wing, absolutely absurd criticism of corporations. The facts and stories are interesting enough to hold you for two hours, but every section is punctuated with some "point" about how corps are ruining our world. The movie never once gives a stitch of credit to the good corps do. It seems to suggest socialism is preferable and never deals with the fact that, but for corporations, many of the advancements in health, science, technology, communications, etc... would never exist. Instead, it just one-sidedly focuses on environmental problems caused by corps and selective examples of corps being prosecuted for crimes.

I don't mind a movie with an agenda, but these fucking extreme liberals go too far with this shit. They don't understand that they lose people when they put out one sided propaganda like this flick. And the preachiness was insulting. The narrative - delivered in NPRish tone (often by whiny freakish looking creatures, including Chomsky himself [possibly the most clueless fuck ever to publish an academic paper]) - reminds you of that idiot who taught you Econ 101 in freshman year. It was that condescending tone - the voice of one who'd studied but never actually plied her purported area of expertise.

I recommend this movie for two reasons:

1. There is a really interesting discussion of how the fact that corps are not allowed by law to have consciences affects society; and

2. You get a better understanding of why people hate the extreme left, and just how smug and self-righteous it can be.

I saw it last year in a sneak preview and I really liked it a lot.

The guy who ran the carpet company from North Carolina and the Shell guy who invited the protestors to tea were my favorite subjects in the movie.

The section on how corporations market to kids scared the crap out of me.

I rather liked the film, even if it was absurdly long.

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally posted by Penske_Account
To all of my liberal pals here,

You may have been right about W after all. This morning for me could be a breaking moment. Harriet Miers is certainly, on her face (npi), the worst Supreme Court nominee since Souter, whose, coincidentally, highest qualification was being a personal friend of a friend of the Bush family (i.e. Sununu), although this one apparently is a personal friend of W. While I always cringed at Bush I's comment that "Thomas was the most qualified person for the seat", this lady makes Thomas look qualified.

Either she is a strategic appointment, offered as a sacrificial lamb (for her lack of record), with the ultimate thought being the liberals can't block two in a row, and the next one will be the real deal (JRB, PO, ML or EJ) or Bush may have just fvcked us for the next 20 years.

FYI, sources say this lady donated to Gore's campaign. And Bensten's.

Like fucking father, like son.

Spanky, what the fuck?

Seems totally consistent with all his other nominations save Roberts. Someone close to him that he knows and trusts and he probably owes a favor to who may or may not be qualified at all and we won't know until the shit hits the fan.

You didn't like Bensten?

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by taxwonk


I am far more comfortable with a trial lawyer who has never put on a robe being a SC justice than I am with an academic who has never seen the inside of a courtroom (hello Scalia, Posner, et. al.).

Posner was assistant SG for a period, and also worked at the FTC. He may not have seen the inside of a trial court room, but he certainly was in court.

Scalia practiced at Jones Day for 6 years, and was an AAG. In those days, I suspect that he actually did see the inside of a courtroom by his 4th or 5th year as an associate.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by Penske_Account
Can I rescind my vote in Florida from 2000?

All of them?

[Secret_Agent_Man]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
I know you know better than that. You've heard Daniel Carver- the jews are the devil. no way Byrd helps drive the dozer.

Are the new avatar and sig line related to the SCt nomination? Or (my guess) the Lions-Bucs game? Or some unexplained deviance?

S_A_M

[baltassoc]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
Seems totally consistent with all his other nominations save Roberts. Someone close to him that he knows and trusts and he probably owes a favor to who may or may not be qualified at all and we won't know until the shit hits the fan.

You didn't like Bensten?

Who the fuck is Bensten?

Do yall mean Bentsen? (Just asking because you repeated Penske's spelling and so I'm not sure if I'm missing something)

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally posted by baltassoc
Who the fuck is Bensten?

Do yall mean Bentsen? (Just asking because you repeated Penske's spelling and so I'm not sure if I'm missing something)

No, you didn't miss anything. I wasn't paying attention.

Though now that you mention it, I don't know if Penske was referring to Lloyd or nephew Ken.

[baltassoc]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
No, you didn't miss anything. I wasn't paying attention.

Though now that you mention it, I don't know if Penske was referring to Lloyd or nephew Ken.

Ah. One would assume Lloyd. Which is hardly condemnable - a Texan involved in politics giving money to a conservative democrat with a rock solid hold on his seat.

Of course, I'm sure the questions will be flying at the confirmation about her support of a racist/democrat.

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by sebastian_dangerfield
Bush did not lose the hard right. They have no choice but to vote GOP. Like Judge Smails said to Spalding, "[They'll] get nothing... and like it!" What's their option? Vote for Hillary? Pissing on those people is the best thing for the country. The Jesus Nazis and the Shrill Left have to get slapped down and told to shut the fuck up. The Left and its Michael Moore wing got their asses handed to them in 2004. Now its the Right's turn. Both poles have to be taught that the Country will not tolerate tyranny by a vehement minority. Bush wisely chose to shut down the Right here and now, rather than allow their idiocy to lead to a huge pendulum shift next election.

Don't you understand the wisdom of being centrist? Its the radical shifts which hurt people. Bush is blunting a massive shift in 2008. He's saving everyone from the Dems electing a big govt liberal who will ruin our future.

Now, if he could only figure out how to undo his own huge govt, he'd really redeem himself. Otherwise, the next president - hopefully a centrist from either party - will spend his first term dismantling George Bush's Great Society.

The poles need to be shut down because they distract us from the true battle. The battle is everyone versus the political class. We need to carve govt down to nothing but essential services and wipe out the bloated inefficient complexes that feed off it and within it. The people who want smaller govt on both sides of the aisle need to get together and stop being split by idiots who think an inconsequential and minor issue like abortion should drive the national political debate.

Miers is a centrist pick - confirm her.

dissent. The far right will sit out or vote for Gary Bauer. The problem with you pragmatic moral relativists is you have no guiding principles and thus you can't understand how people with principle act. I voted for Perot in 92 on principle. Bush lied about tax increases. I voted against him knowing full well that this was part of trend that would put Clinton in office. the far right have far more principle than I do. If it was as easy as they have no one else to vote for, the party would not have had to pander to them for the last 25 years. Bush increased the dependency on these voting bloc and now has fucked the party. You win. You should be happy.

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by sebastian_dangerfield
The estate tax issue is silly. I agree it should be abolished. But if you've got enough cash that its an issue to you, you've already had a financial planner and lawyer structure an avoidance plan. Nobody just sits around with a stack of money in the bank and gets caught by the estate tax. I've never heard of it. Don't give me the family farmer/small business owner myth.

I don't want to pay tax attorneys and financial planners. Its a zero sum game. Either I pay the government or the private sector. Either way it is a drag on the efficient and prodcutive use of the money. I would rather see the tax gone, the estate tax avoidance people put out of business and then have the money go into investment in the economy or at least into the economy in the form of useful consumption, i.e. not consumption of tax avoidance schemes.

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by Secret_Agent_Man
This may show that the social conservatives and religious right are -- in the eyes of the mainstream GOP leadership and GWB -- the ugly little sisters at the fraternity house.

You'll sit around and drink beer with them, screw them a time or two when you're loaded, and you sure need them to build your float and help around the House -- but you're not going to put them up for homecoming queen.

OTOH -- who really knows with this woman?

I see the question here as being:

(a) did Bush just want to avoid a big fight and name a justice he was comfortable with; or

(b) Did Bush want to avoid a big fight with a stealth nominee who would transform the Court's jurisprudence.

S_A_M

The only point I will address is I think the concept of a stealth nominee is a disservice to the process. It was bullshit when the Reps did it with Souter and Thomas and bullshit now. Put someone up there with a record and then debate it. Roberts did not have the most expansive record but he had decades of public service so there was at least more than bare hints of what was going on. I blame the Borkers, but I would rather see Luttig get borked then have a lightweight nominated for the stealth factor.

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by Shape Shifter
Quit being an asshole.

What's the issue? She made herself news by consorting with the terrorists whose goal it is to drive the Jews into the sea. In the process she got bulldozed. The left and her idiot parents hold her out as a martyr when in fact she was a moron who sided with babykillers in a war zone and in the process she got killed. Her picture should be out there as a cautionary warning to the children of the other empty headed leftists out there as to what happens when you make a deal with the devils.

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by Sidd Finch
2, but experience on one side of the bench and experience on the other are not mutually exclusive. And when a president goes to either extreme, I start to worry about his motivations. If it's "she is a brilliant, universally respected lawyer" or "he is a scholar whose views influence judges throughout the nation", that's one thing. If it's "she's a loyal devotee of the President," well, that's another.....

Before this process, who, outside of Texas, had heard of her. She is not universally respected. Has she ever appeared before the SupCt.?

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
Seems totally consistent with all his other nominations save Roberts. Someone close to him that he knows and trusts and he probably owes a favor to who may or may not be qualified at all and we won't know until the shit hits the fan.

You didn't like Bensten?

1. I can't say I have tracked all of his nominees, but JRB doesn't come out Texas, does she? Gonzalez at least had a more public career. And there were plenty of people not associated with him directly, Jones, McConnell, Luttig, with far more accomplishment. Its a lousy nomination.

2. Not particularly. He's no Kennedy or Biden, but I wouldn't give his campaign money and I am concerned about a nominee from a conservative president who did. I doubt Scalia or Thomas did, what do you think?

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
No, you didn't miss anything. I wasn't paying attention.

Though now that you mention it, I don't know if Penske was referring to Lloyd or nephew Ken.

Gimme a flocking break. It's monday and I am experiencing a loss this morning.