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Paleocon Paul Craig Roberts: A Criminal Administration

Posted By: PK on 2006-01-06
In Reply to:

Conservative Columnist Paul Craig Roberts: A Criminal Administration



A Criminal Administration
by Paul Craig Roberts

Caught in gratuitous and illegal spying on American citizens, the Bush administration has defended its illegal activity and set the Justice (sic) Department on the trail of the person or persons who informed the New York Times of Bush's violation of law. Note the astounding paradox: The Bush administration is caught red-handed in blatant illegality and responds by trying to arrest the patriot who exposed the administration's illegal behavior.

Bush has actually declared it treasonous to reveal his illegal behavior! His propagandists, who masquerade as news organizations, have taken up the line: To reveal wrong-doing by the Bush administration is to give aid and comfort to the enemy.

Compared to Spygate, Watergate was a kindergarten picnic. The Bush administration's lies, felonies, and illegalities have revealed it to be a criminal administration with a police state mentality and police state methods. Now Bush and his attorney general have gone the final step and declared Bush to be above the law. Bush aggressively mimics Hitler's claim that defense of the realm entitles him to ignore the rule of law.

Bush's acts of illegal domestic spying are gratuitous because there are no valid reasons for Bush to illegally spy. The Foreign Intelligence Services Act gives Bush all the power he needs to spy on terrorist suspects. All the administration is required to do is to apply to a secret FISA court for warrants. The Act permits the administration to spy first and then apply for a warrant, should time be of the essence.

The problem is that Bush has totally ignored the law and the court. Why would President Bush ignore the law and the FISA court? It is certainly not because the court in its three decades of existence was uncooperative. According to attorney Martin Garbus (New York Observer, 12/28/05), the secret court has issued more warrants than all federal district judges combined, only once denying a warrant.

Why, then, has the administration created another scandal for itself on top of the WMD, torture, hurricane, and illegal detention scandals?

There are two possible reasons.

One reason is that the Bush administration is being used to concentrate power in the executive. The old conservative movement, which honors the separation of powers, has been swept away. Its place has been taken by a neoconservative movement that worships executive power.

The other reason is that the Bush administration could not go to the FISA secret court for warrants because it was not spying for legitimate reasons and, therefore, had to keep the court in the dark about its activities.

What might these illegitimate reasons be? Could it be that the Bush administration used the spy apparatus of the US government in order to influence the outcome of the presidential election?

Could we attribute the feebleness of the Democrats as an opposition party to information obtained through illegal spying that would subject them to blackmail?

These possible reasons for bypassing the law and the court need to be fully investigated and debated. No administration in my lifetime has given so many strong reasons to oppose and condemn it as has the Bush administration. Nixon was driven from office because of a minor burglary of no consequence in itself. Clinton was impeached because he did not want the embarrassment of publicly acknowledging that he engaged in adulterous sex acts in the Oval Office. In contrast, Bush has deceived the public and Congress in order to invade Iraq, illegally detained Americans, illegally tortured detainees, and illegally spied on Americans. Bush has upheld neither the Constitution nor the law of the land. A majority of Americans disapprove of what Bush has done; yet, the Democratic Party remains a muted spectator.

Why is the Justice (sic) Department investigating the leak of Bush's illegal activity instead of the illegal activity committed by Bush? Is the purpose to stonewall Congress' investigation of Bush's illegal spying? By announcing a Justice (sic) Department investigation, the Bush administration positions itself to decline to respond to Congress on the grounds that it would compromise its own investigation into national security matters.

What will the federal courts do? When Hitler challenged the German judicial system, it collapsed and accepted that Hitler was the law. Hitler's claims were based on nothing but his claims, just as the claim for extra-legal power for Bush is based on nothing but memos written by his political appointees.

The Bush administration, backed by the neoconservative Federalist Society, has brought the separation of powers, the foundation of our political system, to crisis. The Federalist Society, an organization of Republican lawyers, favors more energy in the executive. Distrustful of Congress and the American people, the Federalist Society never fails to support rulings that concentrate power in the executive branch of government. It is a paradox that conservative foundations and individuals have poured money for 23 years into an organization that is inimical to the separation of powers, the foundation of our constitutional system.

September 11, 2001, played into neoconservative hands exactly as the 1933 Reichstag fire played into Hitler's hands. Fear, hysteria, and national emergency are proven tools of political power grabs. Now that the federal courts are beginning to show some resistance to Bush's claims of power, will another terrorist attack allow the Bush administration to complete its coup?

_____

Dr. Roberts is John M. Olin Fellow at the Institute for Political Economy and Research Fellow at the Independent Institute. He is a former associate editor of the Wall Street Journal, former contributing editor for National Review, and a former assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury. He is the co-author of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.

Copyright © 2006 Creators Syndicate



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Paul Craig Roberts: "Gullible Americans." sm
Dr. Roberts is Chairman of the Institute for Political Economy and Research Fellow at the Independent Institute. He is a former associate editor of the Wall Street Journal, former contributing editor for National Review, and was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He is the co-author of The Tyranny of Good Intentions. In this, his latest article, he takes on the propaganda and lies that surround the Liquid Terror plot.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14531.htm



"America's Shame", by Paul Craig Roberts, former

http://www.vdare.com/roberts/090111_shame.htm


 


criminal
Incompetent?  I would call it criminal from a criminal administration.
Criminal behavior..

Down below somebody cites lack of opportunity as a reason for blacks in American having a high incarceration rate...  Well, yes, that's one piece of the pie.  I say that ALL of the reason can be traced to the rampant fatherlessness in the black community, where 69% of all black children in this country are born to a single mother.  Everything else from A to Z can be derived from the broken family syndrome.  But of course this has nothing to do with race other than than the statistic above.  Whites and Hispanice from the same social situation suffer the same fate described below.


WHAT HAPPENS TO CHILDREN DEPRIVED OF THEIR NATURAL FATHERS

Compared to children in male-headed traditional families where their
natural parents are married to each other, children living in
female-headed single-parent, lesbian or other environments where they are
deprived of their natural fathers are:


    1. Eight times more likely to go to prison.
    2. Five times more likely to commit suicide.
    3. Twenty times more likely to have behavioral problems.
    4. Twenty times more likely to become rapists.
    5. 32 times more likely to run away.
    6. Ten times more likely to abuse chemical substances.
    7. Nine times more likely to drop out of high school.
    8. 33 times more likely to be seriously abused.
    9. 73 times more likely to be fatally abused.
    10. One-tenth as likely to get A's in school.
    11. On average have a 44% higher mortality rate.
    12. On average have a 72% lower standard of living.

Source: The Garbage Generation by Daniel Amneus Ph.D. It is posted in
HTML format at http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/damneus/garbgen.htm

==============

Fathers' Absence


  • 85% of all children that exhibit behavioral disorders come from fatherless homes.


  • 90% of all homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes.


  • 71% of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes.


  • 75% of all adolescent patients in chemical abuse centers come from fatherless homes.


  • 63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes.


  • 80% of rapists motivated with displaced anger come from fatherless homes.


  • 70% of juveniles in state-operated institutions come from fatherless homes.


  • 85% of all youths sitting in prisons grew up in a fatherless home.


  • California has the nation's highest juvenile incarceration rate and the nation's highest juvenile unemployment rate.


  • Juveniles have become the driving force behind the national increase in violent crime; the epidemic of youth violence and gangs is related to the breakdown of the two-parent family.


  • 71% of teenage pregnancies are to children of single parents. Daughters of single parents are 2.1 times more likely to have children during their teenage years than are daughters from intact families. Daughters of single parents are 53% more likely to marry as teenagers, 164% more likely to have a premarital birth, and 92% more likely to dissolve their own marriages. All these intergenerational consequences of single motherhood increase the likelihood of chronic welfare dependency.


  • In 1983, a study found that 60% of perpetrators of child abuse were women with sole custody. Shared parenting can significantly reduce the stress associated with sole custody, and reduce the isolation of children in abusive situations by allowing both parents' to monitor the children's health and welfare and to protect them.


  • 18 million children live in single-parent homes. Nearly 75% of American children living in single-parent families will experience poverty before they turn 11. Only 20% in two-parent families will experience poverty.


  • The feminization of poverty is linked to the feminization of custody, as well as linked to lower earnings for women. Greater opportunity for education and jobs through shared parenting can help break the cycle.


  • Kidnapping: family abductions were 163,200 compared to non-family abductions of 200 to 300, attributed to the parents' disenchantment with the legal system.
Reestablishing fatherhood is not just a minor issue to the Signatories to the Fathers' Manifesto. It is the only way to rid this world of its current social pathology, and they know it. Any and every plan for doing this must be presented and carefully scrutinized, regardless of its political correctness. There is too much at stake to ignore any possible solution.

The Constitutional right to freedom of religion clearly requires the preservation of families -- and this requires strong fatherhood.

Sources:

The False Child Abuse Industry by John Knight
Fathering Magazine


Even if she did not "pal around" with this criminal
she certainly professed eager willingness to have her daughter become a member of this woman's family and allow this woman to be involved in her grandchild's life. To my mind, that is far worse that any association or claim she made about Obama. It shows very poor judgment on her part.
It is criminal neglect, IMHO
The more I read articles and watch videos in the net, the more horror it all becomes, I truly believe it is criminal neglect.  I would think whomever will be found responsible after investigations (I assume Bush will be, the evidence is there), should be put on trial.  This was just simply neglect by the federal govt to respond to a national emergency and hundreds or thousands have died because of it, animals are dying, billions will have to be spent to rebuild, people no doubt will be traumatically scarred for years to come, especially the children.  Some will never know what happened to their family as the longer the bodies lay in the water and heat, their DNA breaks down.  Beautiful New Orleans destroyed.  Its like Bush is truly disconnected..he does not comprehend impending emergencies, he just does not get it and he would rather joke about disasters, like he did last week.  I wonder if all that alcohol and cocaine he did in his youth burned part of his thought processes?  Im just wondering what the next catastrophe will be under Bush's watch.  9/11, Iraq war and now this..American's dirty little secret is out to the world..we dont take care of the less fortunate, we would rather spend billions killing people in other countries than helping poor American citizens and strengthening our infrastructure.  I hope the momentum continues and we demand from our servants, the politicians, to put America back on the right track. 
Fraudulent voting is not criminal??
Um, fraudulant voting is NOT a crime??  Since when?  I was watching CNN (if they would report on something that makes the democrats look bad, it must be bad), and they showed ballots from people named after businesses, and people who were dead or didn't even exist!  One name was Jimmie Johns.  When they went to find Mr. Johns, they found the address was actually a restaurant named Jimmie Johns.  No such person there.  There are approximately 200,000 of these kind of ballots in Ohio alone.  And you dems think this is not a problem, or an attempt to win the election?  What are you people smoking?  Get your head out of the sand and WAKE UP!  If these were Republicans doing this fraudulent voting you people would have your lawyers on it pronto style.  But because the fraudulent votes are for the Democrats, that's okay, and not a crime... 
MC (master criminal) Rove........yep.......nm

x


10 federal employees and 1 w/ criminal charges
over improper relationships between interior dept officials who oversee offshore drilling and oil executives...............Big oil? Offshore drilling? Run afoul of the law?Nahhhhh
Trying to make political hay out of this tragic criminal act
Anyone who would carve ANYTHING in human flesh is obviously mentally deranged.
craig crawford
Im amazed, actually delighted that more and more republicans who actually always towed the republican line, defending the republican president are speaking out.  Craig Crawford, I used to watch him on the McLaughlin Report and he was a republican and defender of republicans.  Well, I have been reading some posts by him and his tune is a little changed, not so much the blinded republican, defending no matter what..I think its great.
P.S. about Greg Craig appointment
Greg Craig was appointed by Obama as White House counsel.  Craig certainly has Clinton ties, as he represented Bill Clinton in Clinton's impeachment proceedings.
the Scottish guy is Craig Ferguson...nm
nm
Larry Craig/W phone transcript
http://www.whitehouse.org/news/2007/09/larry-craig.asp
If you missed Craig T Nelson (Coach)

on Glenn Beck a couple of days ago, use the links below to see part of the video or read the transcript.  It concerned a tax revolt and whether or not anyone would be willing to stop paying taxes and go to jail.   Besides being a very funny man, Nelson was inspiring when he said he never voted to be part owner of GM or for any of the other nonsense going on today.  He does not want to stick his children, grandchildren and the great grandchild on the way with the tab for all of this irresponsible spending. 


video:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/29/video-craig-t-nelson-s-gl_n_209024.html


transcript:  http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,522939,00.html


Have you read Attack the Messenger by Craig Crawford...sm
He was on Fox and Friends today talking about the press and politics and I'm wondering if this is a good book?
Don't forget Larry "Don't Squeeze the Charmin" Craig...

...whose appeal was denied just today.


Sen. Craig loses appeal in airport sex sting case



MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Idaho Sen. Larry Craig has lost his latest attempt to withdraw his guilty plea in a Minneapolis airport men's room sex sting.


A three-judge panel of the Minnesota Court of Appeals on Tuesday rejected the Republican's bid to toss out his disorderly conduct conviction.


Craig was arrested in June 2007 in a Minneapolis airport bathroom stall by an undercover officer who said the senator solicited sex.


He pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor and paid a fine, but changed his mind after word of his arrest became public. Craig insisted he was innocent, but the case effectively ended his political career.


Craig's attorney argued before the appeals court this September that there was insufficient evidence for any judge to find him guilty. Prosecutors said his guilty plea should stand.


http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iM7VsmCI91xXDASkhgtGf3_zk__gD94V9JQ00


I think Larry Craig has the weird butt..he even has a wide stance! nm
x
When I first saw Roberts,

my initial uninformed "gut" reaction was that he was a "good guy."  In fact, I had to check my pulse to make sure I still had one because I found myself approving of something Bush did.


The fact that he would take on this kind of case pro bono just confirms that my "gut" reaction was right (hopefully).


Sometimes karma has a way of kicking someone right smack in the butt when they come from a place of hatred, inequality and superiority.  I truly hope this is the case here and that Bush, even if inadvertently, happened to finally make a good decision.


Roberts' role

I believe his role was a bit larger than you suggested.  "Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. provided significant help to gay activists in a 1996 landmark Supreme Court case protecting gays from discrimination based upon their sexual orientation, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.


At the time, Roberts was a lawyer specializing in appellate work for Hogan & Hartson, a large D.C.-based law firm. Walter A. Smith, Jr., then head of the pro bono department of the firm, told the paper that Roberts didn't hesitate. "He said, 'Let's do it.' And it's illustrative of his open-mindedness, his fair-mindedness. He did a brilliant job."


At any rate, he's been portrayed him as a fair-minded, tolerant, fair person, and I'm glad President Bush nominated him because I believe we need a person like that in the Supreme Court.  I also hope if the president has another appointment to make that he chooses Alberto Gonzalez, who I also think has those qualities.


What do you think about the investigation into Roberts' SM
adoptions?
Judge Roberts

Have you even bothered to take the time to notice that EVERY SINGLE POST ON THIS BOARD about Judge Roberts is a POSITIVE POST???


What planet are you from, anyway?  Is your life so pathetic that the only pleasure you get is from stalking people on this board in the bizarre way you do and constantly put them down personally?  Dang.  You need a Happy Meal, dude. 


Really..John Roberts?
Roberts Disparaged States' Sex-Bias Fight



By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent 27 minutes ago



WASHINGTON - Supreme Court nominee John Roberts disparaged state efforts to combat discrimination against women in Reagan-era documents made public Thursday, and wondered whether "encouraging homemakers to become lawyers contributes to the common good."


http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050818/ap_on_go_su_co/roberts


Roberts article
Roberts Disparaged States' Sex-Bias Fight



By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent 29 minutes ago



WASHINGTON - Supreme Court nominee John Roberts disparaged state efforts to combat discrimination against women in Reagan-era documents made public Thursday — and wondered whether "encouraging homemakers to become lawyers contributes to the common good."






ADVERTISEMENT





As a young White House lawyer, Roberts also expressed support for a national ID card in 1983, saying it would help counter the "real threat to our social fabric posed by uncontrolled immigration."


In words that may resurface — however humorously — at his confirmation hearing, he criticized a crime-fighting proposal by Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record) as "the epitome of the `throw money at the problem" approach.


Specter, R-Pa., then a first-term senator, is now chairman of the Judiciary Committee and will preside at Roberts' hearings, scheduled to begin Sept. 6.


The documents, released simultaneously in Washington and at the Reagan Library in California, show Roberts held a robust view of presidential powers under the Constitution. "I am institutionally disposed against adopting a limited reading of a statute conferring power on the president," he wrote in 1985.


The materials made public completed the disclosure of more than 50,000 pages that cover Roberts' tenure as a lawyer in the White House counsel's office from 1982-86.


Nearly 2,000 more pages from the same period have been withheld on national security or privacy grounds.


Additionally, over the persistent protests of Senate Democrats, the White House has refused to make available any of the records covering Roberts' later tenure as principal deputy solicitor general during the administration of President George H.W. Bush.


Taken as a whole, the material released Thursday reinforced the well-established image of Roberts as a young lawyer whose views on abortion, affirmative action, school prayer and more were in harmony with the conservative president he served. In one memo, he referred favorably to effort to "defund the left."


Democrats say they will question Roberts closely on those subjects and others at his hearings, and they scoured the newly disclosed documents. And despite the apparently long odds against them, civil rights and women's groups are beginning to mount an attempt to defeat his nomination.


Emily's List, which works to elect female candidates, drew attention to a recent speech by Sen. Barbara Boxer (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., in which Boxer raised the possibility of a filibuster if Roberts doesn't elaborate on his views on abortion and privacy rights at his hearings.


"I have the ultimate step," Boxer said. "I can use all the parliamentary rules I have as a senator to stand up and fight for you."


The documents released Thursday recalled the battles of the Reagan era and underscored the breadth of the issues that crossed the desk of Roberts, then a young lawyer in the White House.


He advised senior officials not to try and circumvent the will of Congress when it established a nationwide 55 mph speed limit, for example.


At one point, Roberts drafted a graceful letter to the actor James Stewart for Reagan's signature. "I would normally be delighted to serve on any group chaired by you," it began, then went on to explain why White House lawyers didn't want the president to join a school advisory council.


On a more weighty issue, he struggled to define the line that Reagan and other officials should not cross in encouraging private help to the forces opposing the leftist Sandinista government of Nicaragua.


A memo dated Jan. 21, 1986, said there was no legal problem with Reagan's holding a White House briefing for two groups trying to raise funds. Then, a month later, Roberts warned against getting too close to such groups, toning down letters of commendation drafted for Reagan's signature.


On immigration, he wrote Fred Fielding, White House counsel at the time, in October 1983 that he did not share his opposition to a national ID card. Separately, anticipating a presidential interview with Spanish Today, he wrote. "I think this audience would be pleased that we are trying to grant legal status to their illegal amigos."

Roberts reviewed a report that summarized state efforts to combat discrimination against women. "Many of the reported proposals and efforts are themselves highly objectionable," he wrote to Fielding.

As an example, he said a California program "points to passage of a law requiring the order of layoffs to reflect affirmative action programs and not merely seniority" — a position at odds with administration policy.

He referred to a "staggeringly pernicious law codifying the anti-capitalist notion of `comparable worth,' (as opposed to market value) pay scales." Advocates of comparable worth argued that women were victims of discrimination because they were paid less than men working in other jobs that the state had decided were worth the same.

In a third case, Roberts said a Florida measure "cites a (presumably unconstitutional) proposal to charge women less tuition at state schools, because they have less earning potential."

In a memo dated Sept. 26, 1983, Roberts cited the administration's objections to a proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution.

"Any amendment would ... override the prerogatives of the states and vest the federal judiciary with broader powers in this area, two of the central objections to the ERA," Roberts wrote.

His remark about homemakers and lawyers seemed almost a throwaway line in a one-page memo about the Clairol Rising Star Awards and Scholarship Program. The program was designed to honor women who made changes in their lives after age 30 and had made contributions in their new fields.

An administration official nominated an aide who had been a teacher but then became a lawyer. Roberts signed off on the nomination, then wrote: "Some might question whether encouraging homemakers to become lawyers contributes to the common good, but I suppose that is for the judges to decide."

More than a decade later, Roberts married an attorney.


Ha ha! I wonder if Hillary sent Roberts a thank you
All she has to do is point out that Republicans want to go backwards in time, want women barefoot, pregnant and inferior to men.  This is probably the best thing to happen to a Democratic campaign n a long time!  Gotta love it!
judge roberts
To the conservatives who just have to frequent our liberal board..I have been told, conservatives, that you attribute posts questioning your beliefs or attacking you as coming from gt..THEY DO NOT COME FROM ME.  I do not go onto your board as it is too disheartening to read the way you would like America to be and your continual attack on liberal sites and liberal news articles..So, get over me, I AM NOT THE ONE POSTING ON YOUR CONSERVATIVE BOARD..

Secondly, to my democratic friends, have any of you watched the John Roberts' confirmation hearings?  I have been watching for two days now..In fact, right now they are in recess, so I thought..let me check out the MTStars political board..MSN news video site on the computer has live hearings and they are fascinating..I have to tell you, so far I kind of like Judge Roberts..My only hesitation is Bush recommended him..


Judge Roberts and Roe vs Wade
I, too, am pro choice and I can remember when I was still in high school, there was no right of termination of pregnancy..It was left up to each state to decide and NY state did not allow a woman to choose.  I remember Congresswoman, Bella Abzug, was one of the strongest voices for women back then..That, I guess, is what got me into politics to the max, cause none of my sisters are political, nor my mother..They vote democrat and sure agree with me on issues but I am the one who marches and protests, etc, LOL.  I think back in about 1973, I was astonished that a woman had no right over her body, no decisions about her body..That seared my brain, I guess.  Then, thankfully the Supreme Court understood a woman has a right to decide about her body..I think if Roe vs Wade was ever overturned, we would have women in the streets, and also some men who have a higher consciousness and understand the implications of overturning Roe vs Wade.  The majority of Americans want to leave the decision alone, so hopefully the Supreme Court will leave it alone..I do not believe in abortion at late stages, only in case of a woman's health, however, in the first four months, I believe a woman should decide and, if it is wrong, the woman will explain it to her maker..far be it for me to judge, ya know?
It was Roberts' mistake...here are the facts.
WASHINGTON - It was merely a formality and it’s probably a few phrases that both Barack Obama and Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts have practiced several times, but the leader of the Supreme Court may have been just a tad nervous when he got one word of the presidential oath of office a little out of order.

Obama smiled slightly when he realized that Roberts, a fellow Harvard Law School graduate, misplaced the word “faithfully” during the oath. but the new president joined in the fun and repeated it the way Roberts initially administered it. (Lest we forget, in the Senate Obama voted against confirming Roberts to the high court. Last week Obama met with him and the other Supreme Court justices during a courtesy call.)

Here is how the oath is supposed to be administered: “I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

And here’s how it went:

ROBERTS: I, Barack Hussein Obama…

OBAMA: I, Barack…

ROBERTS: … do solemnly swear…

OBAMA: I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear…

ROBERTS: … that I will execute the office of president to the United States faithfully…

OBAMA: … that I will execute…

ROBERTS: … faithfully the office of president of the United States…

OBAMA: … the office of president of the United States faithfully…

ROBERTS: … and will to the best of my ability…

OBAMA: … and will to the best of my ability…

ROBERTS: … preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

OBAMA: … preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

ROBERTS: So help you God?

OBAMA: So help me God.

For any conspiracy theorists worried Obama isn’t president because the oath was a little off, the 20th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states that the new president assumes office at noon on Jan. 20.
Absolutely right, it was Roberts' error, not Obama's
nm
So are you saying the company took the case pro bono, but paid Roberts.
If he wasn't paid, he did the work pro bono.
It appears that Roberts involvement in the case was not an endorsement per se. SM




 

 
SF        www.sfgate.com        Return to regular view


Roberts Helped Group on Gay Rights
- By JON SARCHE, Associated Press Writer
Friday, August 5, 2005


(08-05) 19:27 PDT DENVER (AP) --


A decade ago, John Roberts played a valuable role helping attorneys overturn a Colorado referendum that would have allowed discrimination against gays — free assistance the Supreme Court nominee didn't mention in a questionnaire he filled out for the Senate Judiciary Committee.



The revelation didn't appear to dent his popularity among conservative groups nor quell some of the opposition of liberal groups fearful he could help overturn landmark decisions such as Roe v. Wade, which guarantees a right to an abortion.



An attorney who worked with Roberts cautioned against making guesses about his personal views based on his involvement in the Colorado case, which gay rights advocates consider one of their most important legal victories.



"It may be that John and others didn't see this case as a gay-rights case," said Walter Smith, who was in charge of pro bono work at Roberts' former Washington law firm, Hogan & Hartson.



Smith said Roberts may instead have viewed the case as a broader question of whether the constitutional guarantee of equal protection prohibited singling out a particular group of people that wouldn't be protected by an anti-discrimination law.



"I don't think this gives you any clear answers, but I think it's a factor people can and should look at to figure out what this guy is made of and what kind of Supreme Court justice he would make," Smith said.



On Friday, Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans released two memos by Roberts when he was as an assistant counsel in the Reagan White House. In one, Roberts argued that President Reagan should not interfere in a Kentucky case involving the display of tributes to God in schools.



In the other, Roberts writes that Reagan shouldn't grant presidential pardons to bombers of abortion clinics. "The president unequivocally condemns such acts of violence," he wrote in a draft reply to a lawmaker seeking Reagan's position. "No matter how lofty or sincerely held the goal, those who resort to violence to achieve it are criminals."



Meanwhile, the Justice Department denied a request by Judiciary Committee Democrats for Roberts' writings on 16 cases he handled when he was principal deputy solicitor general during President George H.W. Bush's administration. The department also declined to provide the materials, other than those already publicly available, to The Associated Press and other organizations that sought them under the Freedom of Information Act.



"We cannot provide to the committee documents disclosing the confidential legal advice and internal deliberations of the attorneys advising the solicitor general," assistant Attorney General William E. Moschella wrote Friday to the eight committee Democrats.



Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the panel's senior Democrat, said Roberts made decisions whether to pursue legal appeals in more than 700 cases. "The decision to keep these documents under cover is disappointing," Leahy said.



The gay rights case involved Amendment 2, a constitutional amendment approved by Colorado voters in 1992 that would have barred laws, ordinances or regulations protecting gays from discrimination by landlords, employers or public agencies such as school districts.



Gay rights groups sued, and the measure was declared unconstitutional in a 6-3 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1996.



Roberts' role in the case, disclosed this week by the Los Angeles Times, included helping develop a strategy and firing tough questions during a mock court session at Jean Dubofsky, a former Colorado Supreme Court justice who argued the case on behalf of the gay rights plaintiffs.



Dubofsky, who did not return calls Friday, said Roberts helped develop the strategy that the law violated the equal protection clause in the Constitution — and prepared her for tough questions from conservative members of the court. She recalled how Justice Antonin Scalia asked for specific legal citations.



"I had it right there at my fingertips," she told the Times. "Roberts was just terrifically helpful in meeting with me and spending some time on the issue. He seemed to be very fair-minded and very astute."



Dubofsky had never argued before the Supreme Court. Smith said she called his firm and asked specifically for help from Roberts, who argued 39 cases before the court before he was confirmed as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., in 2003.



Smith said any lawyer at Hogan & Hartson would have had the right to decline to work on any case for moral, religious or other reasons.



"If John had felt that way about this case, given that he is a brilliant lawyer, he would have just said, `This isn't my cup of tea' and I would have said, `Fine, we'll look for something else that would suit you,'" Smith said.



The Lambda Legal Defense Fund, which helped move the case through the state and federal courts, said Roberts' involvement raised more questions about him than it answered because of his "much more extensive advocacy of positions that we oppose," executive director Kevin Cathcart said.



"This is one more piece that will be added to the puzzle in the vetting of John Roberts' nomination," Cathcart said.



The Rev. Lou Sheldon, founder of the Traditional Values Coalition, said his support for Roberts' nomination has not diminished. "He wasn't the lead lawyer. They only asked him to play a part where he would be Scalia in a mock trial," Sheldon said.



Focus on the Family Action, the political arm of the Colorado Springs-based conservative Christian ministry Focus on the Family, said Roberts' involvement was "certainly not welcome news to those of us who advocate for traditional values," but did not prompt new concerns about his nomination, which the group supports.



"That's what lawyers do — represent their firm's clients, whether they agree with what those clients stand for or not," the group said in a statement.



URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2005/08/05/national/w135401D98.DTL


Roberts opposed legislation for womens rights

Roberts resisted women’s rights


1982-86 memos detail court nominee’s skepticism





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By Amy Goldstein, R. Jeffrey Smith and Jo Becker


The
Updated: 11:48 p.m. ET Aug. 18, 2005

Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. consistently opposed legal and legislative attempts to strengthen women's rights during his years as a legal adviser in the Reagan White House, disparaging what he called "the purported gender gap" and, at one point, questioning "whether encouraging homemakers to become lawyers contributes to the common good."


In internal memos, Roberts urged President Reagan to refrain from embracing any form of the proposed Equal Rights Amendment pending in Congress; he concluded that some state initiatives to curb workplace discrimination against women relied on legal tools that were "highly objectionable"; and he said that a controversial legal theory then in vogue -- of directing employers to pay women equally to men for jobs of "comparable worth" -- was "staggeringly pernicious" and "anti-capitalist."






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Roberts's thoughts on what he called "perceived problems" of gender bias are contained in a vast batch of documents, released yesterday, that provide the clearest, most detailed mosaic so far of his political views on dozens of social and legal issues. Senators have said they plan to mine his past views on such topics, which could come before the high court, when his confirmation hearings begin the day after Labor Day.











Covering a period from 1982 to 1986 -- during his tenure as associate counsel to President Reagan -- the memos, letters and other writings show that Roberts endorsed a speech attacking "four decades of misguided" Supreme Court decisions on the role of religion in public life, urged the president to hold off saying AIDS could not be transmitted through casual contact until more research was done, and argued that promotions and firings in the workplace should be based entirely on merit, not affirmative action programs.


In October 1983, Roberts said that he favored creation of a national identity card to prove American citizenship, even though the White House counsel's office was officially opposed to the idea. He wrote that such measures were needed in response to the "real threat to our social fabric posed by uncontrolled immigration."


He also, the documents illustrate, played a bit role in the Reagan administration's efforts in Nicaragua to funnel assistance to CIA-supported "contras" who were trying overthrow the Marxist Sandinista government.


In one instance, Roberts had a direct disagreement with the senator who now wields great influence over his confirmation prospects, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.). In a 1983 memo, Roberts was dismissive of a "white paper" on violent crime that had been drafted by one of Specter's aides. Noting that the paper proposed new expenditures of $8 billion to $10 billion a year, Roberts wrote: "The proposals are the epitome of the 'throw the money at the problem' approach repeatedly rejected by Administration spokesmen."


President Bush nominated Roberts, now a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, four weeks ago.


Yesterday's deluge of more than 38,000 pages of documents has particular political significance -- because of their content and their timing. The papers, held in the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, are likely to be the last major set of written material from Roberts's past to become public before his confirmation hearings.


Extensive insight
Senate Democrats have been pressing the Bush administration to release Roberts's files from the highest-ranking position he has held in the executive branch, as the Justice Department's deputy solicitor general from 1989 to 1993 under President George H.W. Bush. But administration officials have asserted that those records should remain private on the grounds of attorney-client privilege.


Previously released documents, from slightly earlier in the Reagan era, when Roberts was a special assistant to Attorney General William French Smith, have established that the young attorney was immersed in civil rights issues of the time, including school desegregation, voting rights and bias in hiring and housing. The new batch provides the most extensive insight into Roberts's views of efforts to expand opportunity for women in the workplace and higher education.


Roberts: Iraq Will Affect Future War Votes

Fool me once, shame on you....etc.


I feel better knowing Congress is smart enough to not believe BU_ _ SH _ _ twice from this farce of a president.


Roberts: Iraq Will Affect Future War Votes
Experience With Faulty Data Has Made Senators More Wary, Panel Chairman Says


By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 14, 2005; A04


The Republican chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence said yesterday that one lesson of the faulty prewar intelligence on Iraq is that senators would take a hard look at intelligence before voting to go to war.


I think a lot of us would really stop and think a moment before we would ever vote for war or to go and take military action, Sen. Pat Roberts (Kan.) said on Fox News Sunday.


We don't accept this intelligence at face value anymore, he added. We get into preemptive oversight and do digging in regards to our hard targets.


He said that agreement has been reached on the Phase 2 review that the intelligence panel is doing to look into whether the Bush administration exaggerated or misused prewar intelligence. The review may not be finished this year, he said.


The intelligence panel vice chairman, Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), also appearing on Fox, called the review absolutely useful because if it is the fact that they [the Bush administration] created intelligence or shaped intelligence in order to bring American opinion along to support them in going to war, that's a really bad thing -- it should not ever be repeated.


Appearing on CNN's Late Edition, national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley said the White House is supporting the study, adding: I think that what you're going to find is that the statements by the administration had backing at the time from accepted intelligence sources.


He said that when administration statements turned out to be wrong, that was because the underlying intelligence was not true, but that's not the same as manipulating intelligence, and that is not misleading the American people.


Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.), appearing with Roberts on Late Edition, said that Iraq became the center of terrorism after the March 2003 invasion.


I'm afraid we're going to see Iraq is not only the center of the war on terror, which it was not before we attacked Iraq, but now it is going to, I'm afraid, export it.


He added that Iraq has become the heartland of terrorism. It was not before we attacked.


Levin, a member of both the Senate intelligence committee and Armed Services Committee, has been a leading critic of the Bush administration's handling of the war.


Levin also said that the United States must get allies, as many as we can, including in the Muslim world because this is a form of fanatic Islam which has to be defeated by the moderate Islamic people.


In a column in yesterday's Washington Post, former senator John Edwards (N.C.), the Democratic vice presidential candidate in 2004, said the failures of the Bush administration turned Iraq into a far greater threat than it ever was. It is now a haven for terrorists [and] has made fighting the global war on terrorist organizations more difficult rather than less.


The president and his senior aides have said since before the invasion that Washington went to war primarily because Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and was a threat to the United States and its neighbors because of his connection to terrorists. Once fighting began, they argued that Iraq was the central front in the battle against terrorism.


In his Veterans Day speech on Friday, the president turned his original argument around, saying, The terrorists regard Iraq as the central front in their war against humanity, and therefore, We must recognize Iraq as the central front in our war against the terrorists.


Justice Roberts messed it up, Obama knew that. sm
He could not repeat it as Roberts stated it because it was wrong. He correctly paused in order to give Justice Roberts the opportunity to state it correctly so that he (Obama) could repeat the oath correctly.
Roberts did some pro bono work for gay rights back in 1992. Good for him.

I think its the one glimmer of hope the fact that he at least had the decency to stand up for gays rights to lease an apartment and other civil liberties. 


What I continue to find ironic is how the conservatives could see this as a possible negative "ideology" for their party. 


He got a look when Biden was making wise cracks about Justice Roberts at the swearing in. sm
I think when he is under stress he has a hard time hiding how he feels, but I think it is more a sign that he is honest about his feelings, not that he is going to act out in some crazy way.
Nah, this administration isn't in bed with
Document Says Oil Chiefs Met With Cheney Task Force

By Dana Milbank and Justin Blum
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, November 16, 2005; A01

A White House document shows that executives from big oil companies met with Vice President Cheney's energy task force in 2001 -- something long suspected by environmentalists but denied as recently as last week by industry officials testifying before Congress.

The document, obtained this week by The Washington Post, shows that officials from Exxon Mobil Corp., Conoco (before its merger with Phillips), Shell Oil Co. and BP America Inc. met in the White House complex with the Cheney aides who were developing a national energy policy, parts of which became law and parts of which are still being debated.

In a joint hearing last week of the Senate Energy and Commerce committees, the chief executives of Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips said their firms did not participate in the 2001 task force. The president of Shell Oil said his company did not participate to my knowledge, and the chief of BP America Inc. said he did not know.

Chevron was not named in the White House document, but the Government Accountability Office has found that Chevron was one of several companies that gave detailed energy policy recommendations to the task force. In addition, Cheney had a separate meeting with John Browne, BP's chief executive, according to a person familiar with the task force's work; that meeting is not noted in the document.

The task force's activities attracted complaints from environmentalists, who said they were shut out of the task force discussions while corporate interests were present. The meetings were held in secret and the White House refused to release a list of participants. The task force was made up primarily of Cabinet-level officials. Judicial Watch and the Sierra Club unsuccessfully sued to obtain the records.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), who posed the question about the task force, said he will ask the Justice Department today to investigate. The White House went to great lengths to keep these meetings secret, and now oil executives may be lying to Congress about their role in the Cheney task force, Lautenberg said.

Lea Anne McBride, a spokeswoman for Cheney, declined to comment on the document. She said that the courts have upheld the constitutional right of the president and vice president to obtain information in confidentiality.

The executives were not under oath when they testified, so they are not vulnerable to charges of perjury; committee Democrats had protested the decision by Commerce Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) not to swear in the executives. But a person can be fined or imprisoned for up to five years for making any materially false, fictitious or fraudulent statement or representation to Congress.

Alan Huffman, who was a Conoco manager until the 2002 merger with Phillips, confirmed meeting with the task force staff. We met in the Executive Office Building, if I remember correctly, he said.

A spokesman for ConocoPhillips said the chief executive, James J. Mulva, had been unaware that Conoco officials met with task force staff when he testified at the hearing. The spokesman said that Mulva was chief executive of Phillips in 2001 before the merger and that nobody from Phillips met with the task force.

Exxon spokesman Russ Roberts said the company stood by chief executive Lee R. Raymond's statement in the hearing. In a brief phone interview, former Exxon vice president James Rouse, the official named in the White House document, denied the meeting took place. That must be inaccurate and I don't have any comment beyond that, said Rouse, now retired.

Ronnie Chappell, a spokesman for BP, declined to comment on the task force meetings. Darci Sinclair, a spokeswoman for Shell, said she did not know whether Shell officials met with the task force, but they often meet members of the administration. Chevron said its executives did not meet with the task force but confirmed that it sent President Bush recommendations in a letter.

The person familiar with the task force's work, who requested anonymity out of concern about retribution, said the document was based on records kept by the Secret Service of people admitted to the White House complex. This person said most meetings were with Andrew Lundquist, the task force's executive director, and Cheney aide Karen Y. Knutson.

According to the White House document, Rouse met with task force staff members on Feb. 14, 2001. On March 21, they met with Archie Dunham, who was chairman of Conoco. On April 12, according to the document, task force staff members met with Conoco official Huffman and two officials from the U.S. Oil and Gas Association, Wayne Gibbens and Alby Modiano.

On April 17, task force staff members met with Royal Dutch/Shell Group's chairman, Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, Shell Oil chairman Steven Miller and two others. On March 22, staff members met with BP regional president Bob Malone, chief economist Peter Davies and company employees Graham Barr and Deb Beaubien.

Toward the end of the hearing, Lautenberg asked the five executives: Did your company or any representatives of your companies participate in Vice President Cheney's energy task force in 2001? When there was no response, Lautenberg added: The meeting . . .

No, said Raymond.

No, said Chevron Chairman David J. O'Reilly.

We did not, no, Mulva said.

To be honest, I don't know, said BP America chief executive Ross Pillari, who came to the job in August 2001. I wasn't here then.

But your company was here, Lautenberg replied.

Yes, Pillari said.

Shell Oil president John Hofmeister, who has held his job since earlier this year, answered last. Not to my knowledge, he said.

Research editor Lucy Shackelford contributed to this report.
© 2005 The Washington Post Company
Despite everything I know about this administration...
 I am still stunned when I hear the next hairbrained scheme, the next faux pas, the next wrong-headed decision (a decision that is so blatantly flawed that my 10-year old neighbor can see and explain what is wrong about it), deliver the next  we-will-do-whatever-we-want-and-don't- give-a -flip-about-what-you-people-think-Americans-or-anyone-else speech, then proceed to do it. The litany of wrongdoing surrounding this administration is growing exponetially; I don't know what to be more appalled at first. Last week Bush is offering help to the earthquake victims in Iran and this week he is going to nuke them...and pray tell, what is the rationale for this preemptive attack. WMD?, democracy for Iranians? or something else. I believe it is actually going to take a group of people, a coup, to just go in and remove these idiots from the White House...really. I agree with Harry Taylor, the guy in Ohio, I have never been so ashamed nor frightened of the administrators of my own country. God Help Us All and I cannot tell you how much I really really mean that.
Hug the former administration? I'm no

Bush supporter, but you can't blame Bush for this economic mess.  Perhaps you should do a little more research before you go off like a screaming meemie.  It was Bill Clinton who proposed everyone should have a mortgage in every pot, whether they could afford it or not, especially minorities, and the chickens came home to roost.  Do a little research, kiddo. 


LOL, you can't blame Bush for everything.  I think the time is coming when all Americans will realize what a decent man he is, the last decent one we will have as a president.  If Americans can vote in an illegal ursurper and think he is the Messiah, they sure won't vote for an honorable, Constitution-abiding successor, assuming we even have another election in this country with Comrade Obama in charge along with his Marxist cabinet. 


 


and yet this administration is
going to make it harder for charities to get donations by not making donations tax exempt.  They are going to tax people more and they will have less money to donate and contribute.  It is sad really.  The charities are already receiving less donations, etc.  It will only hurt them more. 
..and the Administration that has run the US into near insolvency
is any more credible?  pleeze....
Yes, and in an Obama administration...
censorship, intimidation, and all the rest. He is already doing it and he doesn't have the job yet. Cannot BELIEVE all the people concerned about civil liberties can't see this....sigh.
With everything they have to say grace over, this administration
will need streamlined, efficient performance. He's sounds like a great pick.
Clinton Administration.

Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.


Here is the link to this article


http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE7DB153EF933A0575AC0A96F958260&sec=&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink


Here is another one


http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,432501,00.html


I was taught in school if the economy is doing bad now, it was due to the president 6-8 years ago.  If the economy is doing well, it is also due to the president who was in office 6-8 years ago. 


Since it's almost Income Tax time, here's some interesting facts about the Democrat and Republican tax policies.  Just compare - and, while you're at it, use these facts the next time you hear that President Bush only "cut taxes for the rich".  Looks to me like someone single and making $30K, or a couple making $60K, got a 46% tax break under the Republicans.  That's what I would call taking care of the "middle class".


And remember, the truth only comes out when we refuse to be silent....
 Source:  www.taxfoundation.org/publications/show/151.html


      Taxes under Clinton 1999                         Taxes under Bush 2008


      Single making 30K - tax $8,400                Single making 30K - tax $4,500


      Single making 50K - tax $14,000              Single making 50K - tax $12,500


      Single making 75K - tax $23,250              Single making 75K - tax $18,750


      Married making 60K - tax $16,800             Married making 60K- tax $9,000


      Married making 75K - tax $21,000             Married making 75K - tax $18,750


      Married making 125K - tax $38,750           Married making 125K - tax $31,250


 


Take a gander at FDR administration. Hello.
before the winds of CHANGE blew us in a different direction. There is one thing for sure. Whatever we have been doing over the past 8 years AIN'T workin', and by the looks of things, it is going to take some bold, if not drastic measures to fix it. It is not going to be a walk in the park and most definitely will require us to put the bickering aside, come together and do our parts. When the storm has passed, we can sort it all out again, but from a personal standpoint, I will NEVER forget how we got here.
This is still the Bush administration.

There will be ZERO help for the average Americans who need it.  It's like a reverse "Robin Hood."  Take from the less fortunate and give to the wealthy.


This is Bush's policy (more like fascism than socialism), and we don't hear a whimper of protest, yet when Obama even hints at helping struggling Americans, everyone yells and screams SOCIALISM.


Bush can still do a lot of damage in the weeks he has remaining.  That's what worries me more than anything. 


Ok, how do you think the administration will handle this

I knew it was a mistake to pick Clinton for SOS.  The person who said she had no problems obliterating Iran if they didn't do what she wants (or something like that).  How do you think the current administration to include Hillary will handle this one.


http://www.reuters.com/article/vcCandidateFeed2/idUSTRE50E3QB20090115


 


Ok, how do you think the administration will handle this

I knew it was a mistake to pick Clinton for SOS.  The person who said she had no problems obliterating Iran if they didn't do what she wants (or something like that).  How do you think the current administration to include Hillary will handle this one.


http://www.reuters.com/article/vcCandidateFeed2/idUSTRE50E3QB20090115


 


Unlike our last administration....
at least Obama will not accept crooked politicians and they are on both sides of the aisle.
Sorry.........we got this garbage during the last administration
I support my President, now. I did not support Bush, torture, Vietnam II, failure to catch Bin Laden, the failure to protect our own country from natural disasters, Bush's attempt to appoint Harriet Myers to the Supreme Court and a host of other idiotic endeavors he tried to employ or, unfortunately, he did employ. I don't do stupid. IF YOU AIN'T WITH US, YUR AGAINST US! Remember that? Blow me is all I have to say to that.
We had a dictator with the last administration......nm
x