President Bush to voters: 'Judges matter'

Mentioning neither William Ayers and the Weather Underground nor the Keating Five, the two hot topics du jour of the presidential campaign, President Bush managed nevertheless to quietly slip himself into the campaign today by delving into a secondary issue: What standards a president should apply when picking judges. (*Update: We misspelled Ayers' name earlier but have now corrected it.)

Bush did not have to say about whom he was speaking. He never said "Obama" or "McCain," "Democrat" or "Republican."

But speaking to a conservative legal gathering in Cincinnati, he injected the subject of judicial appointments -- from the district court level up to the Supreme Court -- into the debate, and made it clear that in considering election choices, the president's role in nominating jurists must not be overlooked.

But the president was using a double-edged sword. It is a topic that can energize activists in both parties.

"The lesson should be clear to every American, and that is: Judges matter," he said. (If anyone doubted that, he offered this statistic: He has nominated more than one-third of the judges now holding lifetime appointments on the federal bench.)

No surprise in his instructions: Find judges who will "interpret the Constitution and not use courts to invent laws or dictate social policy."

And no surprise that they fit nicely with John McCain's approach.

As for ...

... the process of nominating judges and confirming them in the Senate, it's "broken," Bush said. Lawyers are declining nominations out of concerns about the delays they might face in gaining a vote in the Senate -- and the "ruthlessness" of the confirmation process.

Bush said:

A judicial nomination should be a moment of pride for nominees and their families -- not the beginning of an ugly battle. And the confirmation process should befit the greatest democracy in the world -- and not look like a bad episode of 'Survivor.'

Not so quick.

The Alliance for Justice, a liberal legal watchdog group, used Bush's speech to draw attention to its study of the Bush judiciary, and said that 10 of the 13 circuit courts are dominated by conservatives.

Bush's appointment of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court created a "conservative juggernaut that "has already weakened pay discrimination laws, civil rights precedent, and environmental protections," the Alliance for Justice said.

Nan Aron, the group's president, said:

Just as past Republican presidents have done, he is hoping to energize his party’s base by flaunting his conservative bono fides.

Bush spoke to an audience assembled by the Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs, a conservative public policy institute at Ashland University, and by the Federalist Society, a conservative legal affairs organization.

-- James Gerstenzang

Photo credit: Saul Loeb / AFP / Getty Images

Comments

[Michael Steib]

Yes, Judges matter along with intelligent decisions in all of the areas of government. Judgement matters. Poor judgement matters. The special interests and lobby group want to buy government decisions on the cheap and take advantage of Americans without having to deal with the complex results that might cripple our nation. Results that matter. They get people from the top of their class to represent them and manipulate to take advantage. We are too lax about the possibility that we might be represented by those from the bottom of their class and that we might be making it easy for the special interest lobby group to take advantage of us. Over and over.

Having effective and timely studies by our government led by those from the top of their class matters. Study of the intelligence reports to keep from making grave mistakes in placement of power, study of the effects of deregulation and regulation to save our economy from Keating Five type action and the need for giant bailouts, study of flight manuals to keep from loosing planes, study of bridge to nowhere type expenditures, all are more apt to be done and are better done by those from the top of their class. It matters. Often the special interest lobby group takes advantage in ways that manipulate with simplistic ideas and neglects the complexities that often damage and weaken our country. This group is careful about getting more capability than found in those from the bottom of their class.

[Buddesatva]

Nothing Bush says matters anymore except 'Goodbye'. I don't care for either of the candidate alternatives. One of them will appoint Supreme Court and federal judges. Since Bush cares nothing for obeying or enforcing the law he must have no more say in the appointment of judges, the suggestion of laws or the decision to go to war. He is unquestionably an idiot.

[cooldude]

Someone needs to report on Obama's giving of thousands of dollars to an Arab anti-Israel group run by Obama'a friend (Columbia University professor Rashid Khalidi) and director of this anti-Israel Arab organization also with ties with convicted terrorist Ayers.

ELECTION 2008
Obama worked with terrorist and funneled money to terrorist organization

Senator Obama helped fund Arab organization that rejects Israel's existence

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By Aaron Klein
© 2008 WorldNetDaily

Sen. Barack Obama funds money to professor friend from Columbia Univ.

JERUSALEM – The board of a nonprofit organization on which Sen. Barack Obama served as a paid director alongside a confessed domestic terrorist granted funding to a controversial Arab group that supports hamas, and mourns the establishment of Israel as a "catastrophe" and supports i providing drivers licenses and education to illegal aliens.

The co-founder of the Arab group in question, Columbia University professor Rashid Khalidi, also has held a fundraiser for Obama. Khalidi is a harsh critic of Israel, has made statements supportive of Palestinian terror and reportedly has worked on behalf of the Palestine Liberation Organization while it was involved in anti-Western terrorism and was labeled by the State Department as a terror group.

In 2001, the Woods Fund, a Chicago-based nonprofit that describes itself as a group helping the disadvantaged, provided a $40,000 grant to the Arab American Action Network, or AAAN, for which Khalidi's wife, Mona, serves as president. The Fund provided a second grant to the AAAN for $35,000 in 2002.

Obama was director of the Woods Fund board from 1999 to Dec. 11, 2002, according to the Fund's website. According to tax filings, Obama received compensation of $6,000 per year for his service in 1999 and 2000.

Obama served on the Wood's Fund board alongside William C. Ayers, a member of the Weathermen terrorist group which sought to overthrow of the U.S. government and took responsibility for bombing the U.S. Capitol in 1971.

Ayers, who still serves on the Woods Fund board, contributed $200 to Obama's senatorial campaign fund and has served on panels with Obama at numerous public speaking engagements. Ayers admitted to involvement in the bombings of U.S. governmental buildings in the 1970s. He is a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

The $40,000 grant from Obama's Woods Fund to the AAAN constituted about a fifth of the Arab group's reported grants for 2001, according to tax filings obtained by WND. The $35,000 Woods Fund grant in 2002 also constituted about one-fifth of AAAN's reported grants for that year.

The AAAN, headquartered in the heart of Chicago's Palestinian immigrant community, describes itself as working to "empower Chicago-area Arab immigrants and Arab Americans through the combined strategies of community organizing, advocacy, education and social services, leadership development, and forging productive relationships with other communities."

It reportedly has worked on projects with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, which supports open boarders and education for illegal aliens.

The AAAN in 2005 sent a letter to New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson in which it called a billboard opposing a North Carolina-New Mexico joint initiative to deny driver's licenses to illegal aliens a "bigoted attack on Arabs and Muslims."

Speakers at AAAN dinners and events routinely have taken an anti-Israel line.

The group co-sponsored a Palestinian art exhibit, titled, "The Subject of Palestine," that featured works related to what some Palestinians call the "Nakba" or "catastrophe" of Israel's founding in 1948.

According to the widely discredited Nakba narrative, Jews in 1948 forcibly expelled hundreds of thousands - some Palestinians claim over one million - Arabs from their homes and then took over the territory.

Historically, about 600,000 Arabs fled Israel after surrounding Arab countries warned they would destroy the Jewish state in 1948. Some Arabs also were driven out by Jewish forces while they were trying to push back invading Arab armies. At the same time, over 800,000 Jews were expelled or left Arab countries under threat after Israel was founded.

The theme of AAAN's Nakba art exhibit, held at DePaul University in 2005, was "the compelling and continuing tragedy of Palestinian life ... under [Israeli] occupation ... home demolition ... statelessness ... bereavement ... martyrdom, and ... the heroic struggle for life, for safety, and for freedom."

Another AAAN initiative, titled, "Al Nakba 1948 as experienced by Chicago Palestinians," seeks documents related to the "catastrophe" of Israel's founding.

A post on the AAAN site asked users: "Do you have photos, letters or other memories you could share about Al-Nakba-1948?"
That posting was recently removed. The AAAN website currently states the entire site is under construction.

Pro-PLO advocate held Obama fundraiser, and describes Obama as 'sympathetic'

AAAN co-founder Rashid Khalidi was reportedly a director of the official PLO press agency WAFA in Beirut from 1976 to 1982, while the PLO committed scores of anti-Western attacks and was labeled by the U.S. as a terror group. Khalidi's wife, AAAN President Mona Khalidi, was reportedly WAFA's English translator during that period.

Rashid Khalidi at times has denied working directly for the PLO but Palestinian diplomatic sources in Ramallah told WND he indeed worked on behalf of WAFA. Khalidi also advised the Palestinian delegation to the Madrid Conference in 1991.

During documented speeches and public events, Khalidi has called Israel an "apartheid system in creation" and a destructive "racist" state.

He has multiple times expressed support for Palestinian terror, calling suicide bombings response to "Israeli aggression." He dedicated his 1986 book, "Under Siege," to "those who gave their lives ... in defense of the cause of Palestine and independence of Lebanon." Critics assailed the book as excusing Palestinian terrorism.

While the Woods Fund's contribution to Khalidi's AAAN might be perceived as a one-time run in with Obama, the presidential hopeful and Khalidi evidence of a deeper relationship.

According to a professor at the University of Chicago who said he has known Obama for 12 years, the Democratic presidential hopeful first befriended Khalidi when the two worked together at the university. The professor spoke on condition of anonymity. Khalidi lectured at the University of Chicago until 2003 while Obama taught law there from 1993 until his election to the Senate in 2004.

Khalidi in 2000 held what was described as a successful fundraiser for Obama's failed bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, a fact not denied by Khalidi.

Speaking in a joint interview with WND and the John Batchelor Show of New York's WABC Radio and Los Angeles' KFI Radio, Khalidi was asked about his 2000 fundraiser for Obama.

"I was just doing my duties as a Chicago resident to help my local politician," Khalidi stated.

Khalidi said he supports Obama for president "because he is the only candidate who has expressed sympathy for the Palestinian cause."

Khalidi also lauded Obama for "saying he supports talks with Iran.
Asked about Obama's role funding the AAAN, Khalidi claimed he had "never heard of the Woods Fund until it popped up on a bunch of blogs a few months ago."

He terminated the call when petitioned further about his links with Obama.

Contacted by phone, Mona Khalidi refused to answer WND's questions about the AAAN's involvement with Obama.

Obama's campaign headquarters did not reply to a list of WND questions sent by e-mail to the senator's press office.

Obama, American terrorist in same circles

Obama served on the board with Ayers, who was a Weathermen leader and has written about his involvement with the group's bombings of the New York City Police headquarters in 1970, the Capitol in 1971 and the Pentagon in 1972.

"I don't regret setting bombs. I feel we didn't do enough," Ayers told the New York Times in an interview released on Sept. 11, 2001

"Everything was absolutely ideal on the day I bombed the Pentagon," Ayers wrote in his memoirs, titled "Fugitive Days." He continued with a disclaimer that he didn't personally set the bombs, but his group set the explosives and planned the attack.

A $200 campaign contribution is listed on April 2, 2001 by the "Friends of Barack Obama" campaign fund. The two taught and had appearances speaking together at several public events, including a 1997 University of Chicago panel entitled, "Should a child ever be called a 'super predator?'" and another panel for the University of Illinois in April 2002, entitled, "Intellectuals: Who Needs Them?"

Ayers is married to another notorious Weathermen terrorist, Bernadine Dohrn, who has also served on panels with Obama. Dohrn was once on the FBI's Top 10 Most Wanted List and was described by J. Edgar Hoover as the "most dangerous woman in America." Ayers and Dohrn raised the son of Weathermen terrorist Kathy Boudin, who was serving a sentence for participating in a 1981 murder and robbery that left 4 people dead.

Obama advisor wants talks with terrorists

The revelations about Obama's relationship with Khalidi follows a recent WND article quoting Israeli security officials who expressed "concern" about Robert Malley, an adviser to Obama who has advocated negotiations with Hamas and providing international assistance to the terrorist group.

Malley, a principal Obama foreign policy adviser, has penned numerous opinion articles, many of them co-written with a former adviser to the late Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, petitioning for dialogue with Hamas and blasting Israel for numerous policies he says harm the Palestinian cause.

Malley also previously penned a well-circulated New York Review of Books piece largely blaming Israel for the collapse of the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations at Camp David in 2000 when Arafat turned down a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and eastern sections of Jerusalem and instead returned to the Middle East to launch an intifada, or terrorist campaign, against the Jewish state.

Malley's contentions have been strongly refuted by key participants at Camp David, including President Bill Clinton, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and primary U.S. envoy to the Middle East Dennis Ross, all of whom squarely blamed Arafat's refusal to make peace for the talks' failure.

Below are a few lines from Obama's books; In his own words!

From Audacity of Hope: 'I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.'

From Dreams of My Father- 'I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites.'
From Dreams of My Father : 'I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother's race.'
From Dreams of My Father: 'There was something about him that made me wary, a little too sure of himself, maybe. And white.'
From Dreams of My Father: 'It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names.'
From Dreams of My Father: 'I never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn't speak to my own. It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa , that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself , the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela.'

And FINALLY the Most Damming one of ALL of them!!!

From Audacity of Hope: 'I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.'

views of Obama's advisers and finds a recurring theme of anti-Israel, pr Arab. Pro-Muslim, pro-Palestinian, and in some cases anti-American views.

Sen. Barack Obama surrounds himself with a number of individuals and advisors(1) who are hostile to Israel and American Jews. They include Zbigniew Brzezinski, General Tony McPeak, Robert Malley and former Congressman David Bonior.(2) All are known either for their anti-Israel views or their pro-Arab views - or both.

Brzezinski is well known for his aggressive dislike of Israel, and has been an ardent foe of Israel for more than three decades. As recently as 2006, he placed exclusive blame on Israel for the war in Lebanon, even making the outrageous claim that "I think what the Israelis are doing in Lebanon is, in effect, the killing of hostages."(3)

Obama's top military advisor McPeak told a newspaper that he believes Jews in Miami and New York are the obstacles to peace in the Middle East.(4)

Malley, a Palestinian apologist, invented and propagated the false claim that the 2000 Camp David summit failed because Israel wasn't serious about giving the Palestinians a state.(5)

And former U.S. Rep. Bonior refused to stand by Israel while in Congress, after repeated terrorist attacks, and was known as a stalwart opponent to Israel.(6)

For 20 years, Obama was part of the anti-American, anti-Semitic Reverend Jeremiah Wright's church. In fact, Obama called him his "sounding board."(7) Only after intense criticism of their relationship, Obama distanced himself from Wright.

Sen. Barack Obama has surrounded himself with individuals whose anti-Israel views are so dangerous, naïve and reckless that it raises serious questions about his judgement.

(1) Obama press release, 12/12/07, Obama website, Ben Smith, Politico, 1/17/08; (2) Washington Post, 8/25/07; my.barackobama.com, 1/11/08; Jewish Daily Forward, 2/20/08; MSNBC.com, 5/30/08; (3) Speech, The New America Foundation, Washington, D.C., 7/20/06; (4) The Oregonian, 3/27/03; (5) The American Thinker, 1/16/08; (6) IsraelInsider.com, 5/30/08; New York Sun, 12/6/06; (7) Chicago Tribune, 1/15/08.

RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks said, "It says something profound that Senator Obama surrounds himself with individuals who are consistently and strongly hostile to Israel, pro-Palestinian, and in the case of Jeremiah Wright, simply anti-American. These relationships leave one wondering about Senator Obama's wisdom and judgment."

"In a dangerous world, the strong alliance between the U.S. and Israel is a fundamental element in our own security, as well as a moral imperative. We expect our national leaders to understand that, and clearly Senator Obama has surrounded himself with people who hold the opposite view. A man is judged by the company he keeps, and one must ask why Senator Obama has chosen this company," said Brooks.

Barack Obama seemed puzzled. Angrily puzzled. The apostle of hope seemed flummoxed by the audacity of the question. At the April 16 Philadelphia debate, George Stephanopoulos, longtime aide to Democratic politicians, was asking about his longtime association with Weather Underground bomber William Ayers.

http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/weather.htm

The Weather Underground attacked the Pentagon, the Capitol and other public buildings; Ayers was quoted in The New York Times on Sept. 11, 2001, as saying, "I don't regret setting bombs; I feel we didn't do enough."

Ayers had the first fundraiser at his own house that Obama's state Senate candidacy was launched in 1995; Obama continued to serve on the failed nonprofit board with Ayers after the Times article appeared. The same board that Obama donated huge sums of money twice to an Arab terrorist group run by his friend Rashid Kahlidi.

[babau]

The hypocrisy of American democracy
07.10.2008 Source: Pravda.Ru URL: http://english.pravda.ru/world/americas/106529-american_democracy-0

First, let us establish, dear reader, the fact that the United States of America was never meant nor created as a Democracy. The word, as a matter of fact, never appears in any of the original documents of the Founding Fathers of America. Nor in their writings, which if anything, take democracy in a very poor light. So to see that America is now a democracy is to show that as a nation it's government is a hypocrisy and out right lie, an illegality that is no longer based on a constitution but on the whim of a small and all powerful elite.

But even as a democracy, America is a perverse one, more akin to a Marxist creation, not quite Stalinist Soviet and not quite Trotskyte Nazi, but something of a hybrid of both. It is a democracy where the rights of the minority, such as the homosexuals and Muslims, routinely trumps the rights of the Christian majority, who are viewed by the elites as a vast unwashed, ignorant economic unit to be taxed as needed, bled for the right causes (and there are tons of these right causes) in foreign wars and socially experimented on, at the elites' whim.

It is a democracy where children are forced to accept homosexuality as a "normal" lifestyle and are even taught the details of homosexual sex and encouraged to experiment and parents who protest to loudly can be arrested (state dependent but the number of states where this is true is quickly growing). It is also one where the Islamic faith is taught in school...do not mistake what I am saying with historical knowledge of the Muslim world, but actual tenants of Islam and why they should be followed by the very children who are being brainwashed. It is a democracy where illegal Hispanic aliens have greater rights in 3 of the biggest US cities (Los Angeles, Houston and San Fransisco) than the actual native and legal residents. Where laws like drinking and driving and seat belts, etc do not apply to them.

Of course the most interesting thing about this, is the passivity of the 95% of that vast serfdom. After all, it is the slave who thinks himself a free man who makes the best slave.

But what about the media and the elections? The elections are done in a style very reminisent of the old soviet system. Each of the two main parties (and everything in the system and media and big business is set up to support these two "parties", really more branches of one party) selects a candidate through a convoluted system of caucuses, where mass corruption is the name of the game. If the wrong candidate looks winnable, such as Dr. Ron Paul, the system is often rigged to exclude his supporters or to change the voting rules. Even if law suits win against these arbitrary changes, by the unelected local leadership, it's a Pyhrric victory at best, as by that point the ballets are already cast and the party candidates are "chosen". Of course this is set at the outset by party leadership and in truth there is precious little difference between the hard left Democrats and the not quite as hard left Republicans.

Actual conservatives and nationalists are deemed fringe candidates. Again, with the example of Dr. Ron Paul, who was branded a radical fringer . What was so radical about his views? He demanded the government follow the very Constitution it professes to use as its basis and whose example it used to beat nations all over the world on the head with. In truth, the government of America is an illegal entity whose basis is only a shadow of its own Constitution and who in truth has little right to do the things it does, such as regulate schools, medical care, pensions, etc. Even issues such as drinking ages, clearly the ownership of states, are regulated by the central government, through bribes of Federal (read tax payer) monies.

These very issues caused the American Civil War, one won not so much by the Federal North but by the clique of communists (German refuges of the failed 1848 socialist Europe wide revolution) who surrounded Abraham Lincoln and helped found the Republican party. Many of these men were on first name basis and pen pals of Karl Marx and were rewarded by Lincoln with 8 generalships , 10 colonelships in the Union Army and several Secretarial (Minister) level posts. Since than, to greater and greater extent, the Reds have held power in Washington and NYC and have used that influence to shape the form of the world: be it funding the over throw and murder of the Holy Tsar or the creation of the socialist United Nations and its predecessor the League of Nations or the equally socialist World Trade Organization and it's Marxist plank of Free Trade.

Of course, none of this could be possible without the full support of the Fourth Estate, the so called free press. In truth, America has Freedom of the Press but do not mistake this with a Free Press. The main press outlets are owned by the very interests who control the government and thus do little actual questioning and only pandering to the presidents in power. Glaring issues, such as McCaine temper or his pandering to Albanian Islamics or Obama's crooked cronies and political associates from Chicago, his former Islamic life (and why if he actually renounced Islam, he is not targeted for death as all Islamic apostates are) or for that matter, his extreme Marxist views, are never questioned. Nor is it questioned what price the public will pay for the amnesties that both candidates promise for the 20 million or more illegals. Thus any issue that directly impacts the public negatively and will be pushed down the throat of the serfs, is at best sugar coated or at worst ignored.

When rivals like Dr. Ron Paul rise up and dare to actually win or come in second (Dr. Paul came in second in 4 states) during primaries, they are constantly ridiculed by the main line press or ignored. In truth, ignoring all that is important is the way of the American Fourth Estate. The Public is constantly fed celebrity gossip and staged or exaggerated people stories, like the boy who falls down the well. That the war may be taking a bad turn or the economy may be collapsing is all but ignored but a who killed whom or some other such is constantly talked about, constantly beamed into the heads of the dumbed down serfs. The Romans had a name for this: bread and circuses, except in America, the profit margin is taken one step further with only circuses on TV and no bread.

Thus, for those who do not understand what they envy and emulate, a warning: unless you are one of the elites who wishes to own serfs and rule in a Orwellian new reality, be careful for what you ask for.

Stanislav Mishin

The article reprinted with the kind permission from Stanislav Mishin and can be found on his personal blog Mat Rodina

[Andrew Yu-Jen Wang]

George W. Bush’s sentence-by-sentence speaking skills are deteriorating. Apparently, this may be due to a mental illness called “presenile dementia.” Bush may or may not be secretly still drinking heavily. Bush lied, and thousands of people died. Bush suffers from narcissism and megalomania. Moreover, Bush has been arrested three times. Bush was arrested for disorderly conduct. Bush was arrested for stealing. Bush was also arrested for a serious crime—driving under the influence of alcohol. Bush is guilty of criminal negligence relative to the response to Hurricane Katrina. There are reasons to believe that Bush suffers from a learning disability. Bush’s learning disability would explain a lot of things. All in all, Bush is a severely mentally ill individual. Bush is not fit to be the president of the United States.

Bush should be locked up.

Submitted by Andrew Yu-Jen Wang
B.S., Summa Cum Laude, 1996
Messiah College, Grantham, PA

[Scott Brown]

Bush did not lie, Clinton and his cronies did thttp://WWW.bercasio.Com/movies/dems-wmd-before-Iraq.wmv