Responding to the California Supreme Court’s decision yesterday overturning the state’s ban on gay marriage, congressional GOPhers attacked the decision by calling it the result of “unelected judges” turning over the will of the people.

Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO), the House Minority Whip, charged in a statement that “unelected judges” are trying to “substitute their own worldview for the wisdom of the American people”:

“Today, the decision of unelected judges to overturn the will of the people of California on the question of same-sex marriage demonstrates the lengths that unelected judges will go to substitute their own worldview for the wisdom of the American people.”

Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL), piled on, saying that “unelected judges” had “irresponsibly decided to legislate from the bench.”

But, in making their rush to judgment about the CA decision, both Blunt and Feeney have the basic facts wrong about how California’s judicial system works. SmartVoter.org, a resource of the League of Women’s Voters, makes clear that California’s Supreme Court justices are “confirmed by the public at the next general election” after being appointed and “justices also come before voters at the end of their 12-year terms.”

In fact, each of the seven justices involved in yesterday’s decision were approved by California voters by overwhelming margins:

- Justice Joyce L. Kennard confirmed in 2006 with 74.5% of the vote.
- Justice Carol A. Corrigan confirmed in 2006 with 74.4% of the vote.
- Justice Kathryn M. Werdegar confirmed in 2002 with 74.1% of the vote.
- Justice Carlos R. Moreno confirmed in 2002 with 72.6% of the vote.
- Justice Marvin R. Baxter confirmed in 2002 with 71.5% of the vote.
- Justice Ronald M. George confirmed in 1998 with 75.5% of the vote.
- Justice Ming William Chin confirmed in 1998 with 69.3% of the vote.

The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder notes that Feeney’s statement on the decision also engages in “coded gay baiting” when he informs “Florida’s hardworking families” that he “will continue to fight to prevent San Francisco taxes and values from infiltrating our community.”


Below: “Torture Talk” The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
U.S. Senator Arlen Specter Finally Goes After CIA
Over Torture, Guantanamo, and Destroyed Video Evidence
Or Does He?



Big Illegals Hunter Buzzed By F-16
Doesn't Appreciate Border Security When It's Directed At Him
Feb 11 2008
El Paso pilot Glenn Spencer, part of a civilian volunteer group of high tech illegal border crosser hunters called American Border Patrol, was buzzed while he flew his Cessna 206 over Douglas, Arizona near the Mexican border, by an F-16 fighter jet.

"I thought it was some kind of military maneuver," said Spencer. Get a clue, Spencer. It was a military maneuver, performed perfectly. "[The jet] was less than a hundred feet away, made a sharp bank and then hit its afterburners. I thought I was in a mid-air collision."

Air Force officials confirmed the incident, saying two fighter jets responded to "unknown or threatening airborne objects." Captain Gabe Johnson said several Air National Guard units have been tasked with monitoring the border since Sep 11 2001.

America's air defenses have always performed this kind of close-up check and control of aircraft many times each day in the skies over the U.S., but for some reason couldn't manage to do it even one time on Sep 11 2001. [full story]

In an online photos slideshow, The New York Times featured Mad Magazine's use of Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonists to mock The Wuss over the knee-jerk GOPher rejection of all national responsibility for all of the possible scientifically projected effects of this nation's interactions with the planet's resources Feb 03 2008 New York Times Slide Show of Cartoons

At least two military-age males -- pro-death GOPher MORONS and their doomed offspring (one little boy is already wearing a Marines T-shirt) -- celebrate the Authorization to Use Force ("war") in Iraq on a nice, safe day in the U.S.A.
(unaltered photo, June, 2005)

Don’t Enlist, Don’t Re-Enlist
Get Out ASAP!