Edwards On CNN: Its Time To Go After Big Oil

If you can't tell already, I have been supporting Edwards in this Democratic race for the nomination. He has what Obama and Hillary lack, which are principles and a dedication to actually change the status quo in Washington and the country as a whole. This interview with CNN's John Roberts about the oil industry and Iraq provide a small glimpse into this wonderful man:

Shame On CNN's John Roberts

You know, I expect all of the abhorrent things that people like Rush Limbaugh, Michelle Malkin and the cacophony of the right-wing blogosphere do to people that get in their way. Their assault on twelve year old Graeme Frost is disgusting, but not overly surprising. The worst thing is when the traditional media outlets start reporting with a wingnut point of view.

From ThinkProgress:

CNN’s John Roberts reported: “Some of the accusations [against the Frosts] may be exaggerated or false. But did the Democrats make a tactical error in holding up Graeme as their poster child?” A CNN political analyst then placed the blame squarely on the Democrats’ shoulders:

I think in this instance what happened was the Democrats didn’t do as much of a vetting as they could have done on this young man, his situation, his family. […]

More and more, Congress is acting less like a deliberative legislative body, and more like a political campaign. We’ve been seeing the politicization of every aspect of government.

There was no "tactical error" on the part of the Democrats. Graeme is the perfect example of why we need to have S-CHIP in the way that the bi-partisan Congress passed it. Their vetting of the Frost family was perfectly sufficient, the problem was when bloggers and pundits on the right cherry picked information to damage the reputation of this boy and his family.

As for "politicization," George Bush made the decision to go nuclear when he vetoed this overwhelmingly popular bill. Americans are by and large in favor of what Congress set out to do. The health care problem is out of control in our country and we are grateful that they are starting to help those who can hardly help themselves. These children are too young to have to be burdened with our failed system of privatized health care. It is our duty to make sure those that have the least among us and especially the most vulnerable be able to obtain medical care.

To All Those That Supported The Supreme Court's Decision Yesterday

Chief Justice John Roberts and his four cohorts on the bench overturned Brown v. Board of Education yesterday, setting the country back over fifty years in that regard. In some areas we have already gone back much farther, especially when it comes to the economy and who gets the biggest say. Anyways, in his opinion, he cited Brown v. Board because he does not want the system to be based on race anymore. I concluded that he either lives in a bubble where racism does not exist anymore or that he is basically does not care about minorities. For anyone that thinks racism and segregation is a thing of the past, you need to read this story.

From While Seated:

In September 2006, a group of African American high school students in Jena, Louisiana, asked the school for permission to sit beneath a "whites only" shade tree. There was an unwritten rule that blacks couldn't sit beneath the tree. The school said they didn't care where students sat. The next day, students arrived at school to see three nooses (in school colors) hanging from the tree....

The boys who hung the nooses were suspended from school for a few days. The school administration chalked it up as a harmless prank, but Jena's black population didn't take it so lightly. Fights and unrest started breaking out at school. The District Attorney, Reed Walters, was called in to directly address black students at the school and told them all he could "end their life with a stroke of the pen."

Black students were assaulted at white parties. A white man drew a loaded rifle on three black teens at a local convenience store. (They wrestled it from him and ran away.) Someone tried to burn down the school, and on December 4th, a fight broke out that led to six black students being charged with attempted murder. To his word, the D.A. pushed for maximum charges, which carry sentences of eighty years. Four of the six are being tried as adults (ages 17 & 18) and two are juveniles....

Now it is being reported that an all-white jury was empaneled to decide the fate of these young men and that the first of six boys was found guilty of aggravated second-degree battery. Welcome back to the time before civil rights ladies and gentlemen. If only this case could be appealed to the Supreme Court, but I doubt John Roberts would have the time to hear it, he's too busy destroying our country and its freedoms.

A Sad Day For America

The Supreme Court set out today to roll us back 53 years and to bygone era where it is ok to segregate schools based on race. The dark days of blatant and in your face racism are coming back, thanks to Justices Alito, Thomas, Roberts, Scalia and Kennedy. The implications of this decision are unfathomable. Equality for all Americans is an essential prerequisite for our democracy and the Supreme Court is against that. Parents Involved in Community Schools Inc. v. Seattle School District and Meredith v. Jefferson County (Ky.) Board of Education is a lengthy term but just as memorable as Brown v. Board of Education.

From The Washington Post:

The court's four liberals delivered a scathing dissent -- twice as long as Roberts's opinion. It said the plurality's decision was, in the words of Justice Stephen G. Breyer, who read his opposition from the bench, a "cruel distortion" of the court's landmark decision more than 50 years ago in Brown v. Board of Education, which demanded an end to segregated schools.

"This is a decision that the court and the nation will come to regret," Breyer said.

Roberts, too, had used the decision in Brown as a basis for today's opinion.

"Before Brown, schoolchildren were told where they could and could not go to school based on the color of their skin," Roberts wrote. "The school districts in these cases have not carried the heavy burden of demonstrating that we should allow this once again -- even for very different reasons."

This is already regrettable Justice Breyer. Chief Justice Roberts is either a fool or a villain for using it in his opinion as well. If he thinks that race is not an important hurdle that our society has to overcome even in 2007, his world is limited to the small bubble that shields him from the real world.

I think Roberts is a smart guy, it is hard for a fool to get to lead the highest court in the land. I suspect his motivations for the decision are far more nefarious than we can imagine. He is a neo-con that believes the same way as his masters who helped put him up there. PNAC and those that follow the grand neo-conservative plan want to see government fall back from protecting essential freedoms and protections for minorities (unless that minority is the white wealthy elite).

Democrats have issued warnings that a Bush Presidency would unimaginably alter the Supreme Court for the worse. We had no idea how right they were.

Laura Ingraham Makes A Fool Of Herself On CNN

Right-wing gas bags like Laura Ingraham can be quite amusing when they aren't trying to rip a person they disagree with to shreds. Yesterday morning she was on CNN talking about immigration. Laura attacked John Roberts by saying that CNN was part of the 'liberal media.' At first I thought he was going to laugh this off, but John defended his network and made her look like a nutcase.

From Crooks and Liars:

INGRAHAM: …But to insult his base, I mean, I hope he thinks he's going to be saved by the liberal elites at CNN, John, because if he is, then I'll be wrong about this. But I think it's kind of silly.

ROBERTS: Excuse me, what was that last comment?

INGRAHAM: By the way, John, how did you introduce me for this segment before the break. The outspoken Laura Ingraham. Do you guys introduce liberal commentators that way? I'm going to check.

ROBERTS: Yeah, we do actually.

She tried to pull a condescending laugh to save face, but it didn't work. That whole liberal media thing is a myth. If anything the press skews to the right but in this instance CNN calls activists outspoken regardless of party. It's strange she used this tiny little detail, probably because she would have to tell an even bigger lie to use a larger theme to prove her point.