Month: October 2005

“A pitbull in size 6 shoes,” Bush calls her, according to an MSNBC reporter.¹ Harriet Miers is Bush’s nominee for the Supreme Court. Miers is currently White House counsel and, in keeping with the Cheney modus operandi, was charged with presenting prospective SCOTUS nominees to Bush. She is 60 years old and active in Exodus Ministries, a Christian help group for felons.

Update [2005-10-3 12:31:5 by susanhu]: Because the thread here is filling up, I’ve begun a second story above, with Harry Reid’s official statement on Harriet Miers.

What possible strategy can we adopt for this Bushite stratagem? (Miers’ stratagem was not unlike that of clever dictators and ruling class of ancient Rome. Atia lives (!), albeit without progeny, but with the savvy to position herself perfectly before Bush — who really, as she surely knows, can’t see much beyond what’s in front of him anyway — as she discussed possible nominees with him during several White House dinners.)

I suggest we all research her heavily. Given the White House’s embarrassing and shoddy track record of investigating its nominees, we may unearth something that could make a difference. She has no judicial paper trail, so we must look elsewhere.

And, since Miers has never been a judge, tough Senate questioning of her will be difficult because her only record is in the White House, in her performance as a private attorney for clients such as Microsoft and Walt Disney, and in her brief stints in local (city council) and state office. As its chairperson, she was considered a driving force in cleaning up the Texas state lottery commission, and she earned the “pit bull” moniker from then-Governor Bush. The National Law Journal “named her one of the Nation’s 100 most powerful attorneys, and as one of the Nation’s top 50 women lawyers.” Her bio, published in the Washington Post, via the White House, is below the fold.

Legal scholar Jonathan Turley on MSNBC shortly after 6am PT): “No one I know would have EVER put her on the list.”

(Well, Jonathan, except perhaps Harry Reid who reportedly urged Bush to consider her. But was this a White House leak? Was it another Rovian strategem to get us Democrats off to a flat-footed start? Will Harry let us know soon? Or perhaps Reid has had dealings with Miers that impressed him? Update [2005-10-3 12:43:8 by susanhu]: See Reid’s statement above.] And Turley has never met her?)

Turley continued, “The people who should be most aggrieved on this should be conservatives.” The George Washington University law professor and MSNBC analyst named several distinguished conservative judges, and commented, “These are people who were bright stars of the right .. and Bush walked past them and picked a personal attorney. It’s also a problem for Democrats like Patrick Leahy who voted for a person [Roberts] who danced around questions about his decisions [which, by inference, Miers needn’t because she’s never been a judge].” (See Ezra Klein via Daou Report: “The Right is ready to jump off a cliff.”)

As for Sen. Leahy’s “[unreasonable] leap of faith,” well, I suggest that we first consider history. Any frank disclosure of the views of judicial candidates ended with Bork. No SCOTUS candidate in his/her right mind would openly reveal his or her views before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Sen. Leahy knows that.

Turley, on the court’s current cases: “It is a mess. Miers will vote on cases before the court this term (?) … her votes could be negated, challenged … a logistical mess.” There was no follow-up question, so I’m unclear what Turley meant.

In a tape of Bush a half hour ago, he announced that she “will not legislate from the bench.” Prior to Bush’s announcement, her name was brought before a group of Senators. Miers herself said that she has great respect for the legislative branch.

Adds Wonkette via The Daou Report:

“For an instant, we thought there might be more to Miers’s rehabilitation — Bush mentioned her work with ‘Exodus Ministries’ in his nomination speech. But it’s NOT that Exodus (‘Freedom from homosexuality through the healing power of Jesus Christ.’), it’s Exodus Ministries who ‘encourage ex-offenders [and] empower them to become self-sustaining, productive, Christ-centered members of society’. Whew. [Law Dork]”

BELOW, the bio. See also: Monday Morning Horrorshow, by Brinnaine, who discusses Minority Leader Harry Ried’s views on Miers.


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¹ The MSNBC reporter apparently grabbed that sound bite from the title of this Sept. 27 article, “‘A pit bull in size 6 shoes’,” forwarded to me by Sybil.

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Research indicates that Democrats need to regain significant voting shares of both males and the middle class in order to regain national political competitiveness.

The American male in particular, has had a difficult time adjusting to the changes in the American economy during the past two decades, which is roughly though perhaps not coincidentally, the period of time during which the Republicans have pretty much chased the Democrats out of DC, politically speaking.

First, the formerly well paying blue collar, unionized industries have either disappeared from our shores or their work forces taken over by hard working immigrants who require less money and are not in position to join the union.

Second, the new industries, based around service and technology, require college educated workers. The public education system in the US has not educated boys (or girls) to be scientists or engineers, so that leaves service based jobs like Sales, Marketing, Customer Service. etc. as the main source of employment.

Women are now entering and graduating college at higher rates than men and it could be argued that women are better suited for the “high touch” jobs being created in the US globalized economy these days.

The nature of today’s global business is that production is handled offshore, while management, sales and marketing positions are filled domestically.

In fact, sales and marketing jobs, once the nearly exclusive domain of males, are being filled ever more successfully by females across a wide swath of the service sector.

What can Democrats do to address the dislocation of the American male in the marketplace, and thus recapture his vote?

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As the war in Iraq runs out of Bush’s control, we must not forget what it its has wrought on the world in general and us, in particular:

 1. Our legislature,judiciary, Press and other institutions are corrupted beyond redemption.
 2.The UN has been turned against us with all the member countries openly hostile to us.All the goodwill toward us has been eviscerated.
 3. Our economy is becoming a shambles.The once mighty auto industry, fully accounting for nearly one quarter of our jobs has been put on life support.The Technology Sector that was supposed to replace the loss of the auto jobs is itself being dismantled and sent over to India.

4. The war in Iraq has directly affected our own domestic Emergency Response System leading to the deaths of thousands of Americans in Katrina’s wake.

5.Gas, heating and elctricity prices are reaching for the stratosphere making it all but unaffordable to many ordinary Americans.This, in turn, has made the auto manufacturing business precarious.

6.The corruption, revealed by the indictments handed to DeLay and the White House toady David Safavian, shows the pervasiveness of the corruption in this administration.If, as expected, indictments are returned for Rove and Libby,the circle will close on one of the most corrupt periods in American history.

Bush is not just the worst President Ever.He has stolen the future from our children.For that crime, no punishment would suffice.

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In many ways my political consciousness was shaped in the sixth grade.  That year I was expelled from morning exercises (just for the year) and rejected Christ as my personal savior (forever).

They don’t really have that much to do with one another in my mind, but I’ll let you be the judge since today I’d like to talk about “Under God”.  (more below)

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Okay, so I know that during the September 24-25 anti-war demonstration in Washington, DC, there was a lot of concern over what “they” might do to disrupt our protests.  You remember how the trains stopped running, and everybody went, “Woooo, what’s up with that?”

Well, here’s a little additional something to stir the pot.  According to this story from Yahoo news, it’s what you didn’t see or hear about that should worry you.

Small amounts of a bacteria that causes “rabbit fever” were found on Washington’s National Mall last weekend as thousands of protesters marched against the Iraq War, U.S. health authorities said on Saturday.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said several government environmental air monitors in the Mall area detected low levels of Francisella tularensis bacteria that cause Tularemia, commonly known as rabbit fever, on September 24-25.

So you might ask, exactly what is Tularemia, and where might one reasonably expect to be exposed to it?  Well, here’s what the CDC has to say:

Tularemia, also known as “rabbit fever,” is a disease caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis. Tularemia is typically found in animals, especially rodents, rabbits, and hares. Tularemia is usually a rural disease and has been reported in all U.S. states except Hawaii.  [snip]

Most cases occur in the south-central and western states. Nearly all cases occur in rural areas, and are caused by the bites of ticks and biting flies or from handling infected rodents, rabbits, or hares.

Okay, now, this is important, so I’m going to repeat it.  How is tularemia spread?  Again, I’ll quote the CDC:

In the United States, most persons with tularemia acquire the infection from arthropod bites, particularly tick bites, or from contact with infected mammals, particularly rabbits. Historically, most cases of tularemia occurred in summer, related to arthropod bites, and in winter, related to hunters coming into contact with infected rabbit carcasses. In recent years, a seasonal increase in incidence has occurred only in the late spring and summer months, when arthropod bites are most common. Outbreaks of tularemia in the United States have been associated with muskrat handling (3), tick bites (4,5), deerfly bites (6), and lawn mowing or cutting brush (7). Sporadic cases in the United States have been associated with contaminated drinking water (8) and various laboratory exposures (9). Outbreaks of pneumonic tularemia, particularly in low-incidence areas, should prompt consideration of bioterrorism (10).

Hold on.  Back up.  “BIOTERRORISM”?  Oh, yeah.  The CDC has something to say about that, as well, and it might go a long way towards explaining why there were environmental air monitors in the Mall to pick up the tularemia readings in the first place.

CDC defines three categories of biologic agents with potential to be used as weapons, based on ease of dissemination or transmission, potential for major public health impact (e.g., high mortality), potential for public panic and social disruption, and requirements for public health preparedness (2). Agents of highest concern are Bacillus anthracis (anthrax), Yersinia pestis (plague), variola major (smallpox), Clostridium botulinum toxin (botulism), Francisella tularensis (tularemia), filoviruses (Ebola hemorrhagic fever, Marburg hemorrhagic fever); and arenaviruses (Lassa [Lassa fever], Junin [Argentine hemorrhagic fever], and related viruses).

So if someone were to disseminate tularemia as a biological weapon, what might we expect to see?  Sorry to keep quoting the CDC, but this is the most likely scenario:

Francisella tularensis is highly infectious. A small number of bacteria (10-50 organisms) can cause disease. If Francisella tularensis were used as a bioweapon, the bacteria would likely be made airborne so they could be inhaled. People who inhale the bacteria can experience severe respiratory illness, including life-threatening pneumonia and systemic infection, if they are not treated.

If the bacteria are inhaled, symptoms can include abrupt onset of fever, chills, headache, muscle aches, joint pain, dry cough, and progressive weakness. People with pneumonia can develop chest pain, difficulty breathing, bloody sputum, and respiratory failure. Tularemia can be fatal if the person is not treated with appropriate antibiotics.

One more time.  Fever, chills, headache, muscle aches, joint pain, dry cough, and progressive weakness.  People with pneumonia can develop chest pain, difficulty breathing, bloody sputum, and respiratory failure. Tularemia can be fatal if the person is not treated with appropriate antibiotics.  Onset of symptoms is typically 3-5 days, but can range anywhere from 1-14 days.

But, of course, it’s all okay, just a false alarm, nothing to worry about.

WASHINGTON – A week after bioterrorism sensors detected the presence of a dangerous bacterium on the national Mall, health officials said there are no reports that any of the thousands of people in the nation’s capital Sept. 24 have tularemia, the illness that results from exposure to the bacteria. Federal health officials are still testing the samples that collected a small amount of the tularemia agent, which can cause flulike symptoms and is usually treated with antibiotics. The bacteria probably was not the result of nefarious activity, according to federal investigators.

There now, don’t you feel better already?

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