Mike Brown. Apparently Mike Brown (director of FEMA, taking lots of heat over the lousy response to Hurricane Katrina, recalled to Washington a few days ago in response to that heat, rumored to have "padded" his resume) has resigned. So here's my question: what on earth does he do now? A second presidential appointment would not be wise. But with this last few weeks on his resume, who's going to hire him? This is certainly not the first time that someone has resigned during the heat of the day, if you will. I'm just wondering what they do next.
John Roberts. What does John Roberts believe? Hard to say. He doesn't answer anything. Sometimes I understand, as many of these issues will be before the Supreme Court (and in some cases even before the lower court where Roberts is currently residing); sometimes I don’t understand, as he seems to be too careful as a way to get out of answering high-tension questions.
On the one hand, I get that the memos he wrote, the positions he took, while working for Reagan were the Administration's positions and not necessarily his personally. He was doing his job. That's what lawyers do. I get that. On the other hand, why did the Reagan Administration hire him? Good lawyering skills aside, why him over everyone else? Presumably, they would have been looking to hire someone whose ideology matched their own.
Mostly, I think I have problems with the nomination of someone who is so very new to the bench. He's been there for two years. We have no real way of knowing how he'll rule.
I've been reading some stuff today that compares some of Roberts's responses in the hearings to Clarence Thomas's answers back in his hearings. I must say that they were eerily similar.
Of course, as we all know, throughout the history of the court, it is certainly not unheard of that a justice ends up not being quite what people thought he/she would be. Who knows why this happens. A change of heart later in life (in theory, as the Supremes are generally a bit older)? A "letting down of the guard" once they reach the ultimate seat, from which they cannot be fired? Who knows. But it has happened. So there is a possibility that Mr. Conservative could turn out to be a liberal in wolf's clothing. Or he could turn out to be an O'Connor. In theory, fairly conservative. And yet… she is often the swing vote that the liberals need.
There is no way to know until the person is on the court. I can't imagine being on this committee. Appointing a Supreme Court justice is not an easy job.
Total Failure. Back to Katrina. The response, from all levels of government, has been just atrocious. Bush will be there tomorrow for the fourth time. He's also apparently said that the horrible response is the fault of the federal government. I'm sorry, but in my opinion, it's too late too late from him. It took him days to get down there. It took him even longer to get Brown out of there and someone else in.
I was actually very glad to see that Bush's approval ratings are at an all-time low. The last time I saw them, he was tied with Johnson's ratings during Vietnam. You know, when Johnson's approval rating was so low that he announced that he would not be running? Johnson's rating that was an overall all-time low? And finally (finally!), polls are showing that the people of this country think that Bush should be paying more attention to the home front! Finally! It's just so horrible that it took something so tragic to refocus people on our own nation's problems.
Not that I'm against helping others. But you cannot successfully help the world if your own home is falling apart. Also, you cannot (should not) be attempting to make over other countries in our own image. Citizens of other nations should have the opportunity to mold their own nations.
Ophelia. Yikes. The more odd weather we have, the more fascinated I become by the weather. Today I learned that as the eye gets smaller, the storm (usually) gets stronger. Think of a skater pulling her/his arms in during a spin. And as of early today, Ophelia's eye seemed to be getting a bit smaller. So yes, the potential is there for that storm to get worse. Granted, it's "only" a category 1. The problem, of course, is that it's moving slooooooowly. They're talking about 12+ hours of storm for that part of the coast. We're not talking 12 hours of a gentle spring rain here. We're talking about areas that have already received 10+ inches of rain. And the storm's not over yet!
You know, some people scoff at us Mid-Westerners… but there are definitely times when it's good to be in the middle!
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