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Bush Installs Pickering on Appeals Court
By JESSE J. HOLLAND (Direct descendent of Karl Marx! - tha malcontent)
Associated Press Writer Jan 16, 11:12 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) - In an election-year slap at filibustering Democrats, President Bush sidestepped Congress on Friday and installed Mississippi judge Charles Pickering to the federal appeals court after a two-year battle filled with racial, religious and regional argument.

 

(ap) - In a shocking Revelation, Bush (43) Nominee, Charles Pickering, asserted that their are "White Niggers", not only degrading the Black Community, but also insulting his own White Community in the process... Now, while you read this story about how "wrong" it is for Bush (43) to do this "Vile" thing that he has done, remember that Pickering is not a Former Grand Kleagle in the KKK who uses the word
Nigger so comfortably as to include it in his interview with a national News program... Oh, I'm sorry, I have mistaken Pickering for the current day "Conscience of the Senate", Robert Byrd (D)... I wonder why the media has not made such a fuss over this?... Maybe because they are favoring one side over the other... - tha malcontent)

Bush elevated Pickering by recess appointment, simply putting him in office while Congress was out of session. Such appointments, bypassing confirmation, are valid until the next Congress takes office, in this case in January 2005.

Bush's action will re-ignite the battle between Republicans and Democrats over the direction of the federal courts, a fight already sure to be intense this year because of the presidential election.

If not confirmed by the Senate before the end of the year, Pickering would probably retire, supporters suggested.

Pickering, a 66-year-old federal trial judge whom Bush nominated for a seat on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, has been waiting for two years for confirmation. But Democrats have repeatedly blocked Republican efforts to bring the nomination to a vote in the Senate.

"I'm grateful to the president for his continued confidence and support," Pickering told The Associated Press from his home in Mississippi. "I look forward to serving on the 5th Circuit."

He took the oath of office Friday night at the U.S. District Courthouse in Jackson, Miss.

Democrats have accused Pickering of supporting segregation as a young man, and promoting anti-abortion and anti-voting rights views as a state lawmaker.

Bush said Pickering would have been confirmed if his nomination had been brought to a vote. But a minority of Democratic senators has been using unprecedented obstructionist tactics to prevent him and other qualified individuals from receiving up-or-down votes.

He said the Senate should "stop playing politics with the American judicial system."

The Democrats can be expected to use the appointment to try and paint Bush as insensitive to minorities during the election campaign.

"The president's recess appointment of this anti-civil rights judge the day after laying a wreath on the grave of Martin Luther King is an insult to Dr. King, an insult to every African-American, and an insult to all Americans who share Dr. King's great goals," said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. "It serves only to emphasize again this administration's shameful opposition to civil rights."

Republicans in turn have accused Democrats of being religiously biased against Bush's anti-abortion nominees. They also have accused the Democrats of being biased against Southerners.

Pickering has strongly denied allegations of racial insensitivity.

"For 25 years I have strongly advocated that African-Americans and whites should sit down and talk in a positive and constructive manner to try to promote better understanding. This I've done," Pickering said after a meeting with the Mississippi Black Caucus last year.

The Republicans acknowledged Friday that Bush's action would make it harder to get Pickering and perhaps other judicial nominees through the Senate, which has 51 Republicans, 48 Democrats and one independent. But "it's hard to know how it could be worse than it is now," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Pickering was a better choice than the other blocked nominees for a recess appointment because of his age, said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz. "Judge Pickering has a long and distinguished career," Kyl said. Serving on the "5th Circuit would be a wonderful capstone for his career if he is not made permanent."

Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., said he would continue to try to win a permanent position for the judge. "The unwavering determination that Judge Pickering has displayed in the face of these unfair and now discredited attacks shows all the more what an outstanding individual he is," Lott said.

The 5th Circuit handles appeals from Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana, and the federal judges on that circuit have been trailblazers on desegregation and voting rights.

Democrats have used the threat of a filibuster to block six U.S. Appeals Court nominees this congressional term: Pickering, Alabama Attorney General William Pryor, Texas judge Priscilla Owen, Hispanic lawyer Miguel Estrada and California judges Carolyn Kuhl and Janice Rogers Brown. Estrada withdrew his nomination in September.

Pickering was the first of Bush's nominees to be blocked by the Democrats, while they controlled the Senate in 2001, and his chances of winning approval waned when then-Majority Leader Lott stepped down from his leadership position over racially insensitive statements about Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina.

Pickering's supporters, including his son, Rep. Charles "Chip" Pickering, R-Miss., and Mississippi GOP Sens. Lott and Thad Cochran, pressed hard for his promotion.

"I would be remiss if I did not express my gratitude to Senators Lott and Cochran for their friendship and for their strong and continuous support, and to my son Chip, who did so much to defend my record," Pickering said Friday. "Most of all I am grateful for the outpouring of support and prayers from so many in Mississippi and around the country. I will serve in a manner to justify this confidence and support."

More than 300 judges have reached federal courts through presidential recess appointments since 1789. Some of the more famous cases include Earl Warren's appointment to be chief justice of the Supreme Court and Thurgood Marshall's appointment to the 2nd District Court of Appeals in New York.

--

White House Correspondent Terence Hunt contributed to this report.






 

 

U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq Approach 500

 

By ROBERT H. REID (Direct descendent of Joseph Stalin! - tha malcontent)
Associated Press Writer Jan 9, 7:25 AM EST

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The number of American troops who have died in Iraq since the war began last March is nearing 500, more than U.S. losses in many regional conflicts of the past several decades: the Gulf War, Lebanon, Somalia, Panama, Grenada, Kosovo and Afghanistan.

 

(ap) - I just wanted to give you a heads-up on what the "Free Press" is planning in the next couple of days or weeks, depending on how lucky/Skilled our Troops in the field are, or, how lucky the Hopes of the "Free Press"/Left are!... The Truth is, even if we had lost 60,000 men taking Iraq, 2,000 more than we did wasting our time in Vietnam, it would still have been the most effective taking of a country of 26,000,000, by a Force of 150,000, that our World has ever seen.  Did you know that we lost over 10,000 Soldiers in Vietnam due to non-Combat Deaths?....  Did I mention, that the 500 Soldiers who have Died that we are discussing, in regard to Iraq II, include those who have spent the last 9 months rebuilding this Country, and nearly half of which have died in non-Combat accidents?...  The Left's complaining about this is so painfully Transparent, that it insults every single person who has ever taken the Oath and Served this Country.  There is not a Soldier Alive, or who has Past, who would not be proud of what our Great Men and Women have accomplished in Iraq II, not only for the World, or the United States, but for the Millions of Iraqis who have been Oppressed, and the Hundreds of Thousands who have been Murdered.... Anyway. - tha malcontent)

So far the Iraq conflict has cost the lives of 494 American service members, including nine who were killed Thursday in the crash of a Black Hawk medevac helicopter believed shot down near Fallujah. Most of the deaths - both combat and non-combat - have occurred since President Bush declared an end to major fighting on May 1.

Already, the loss of American life in Iraq has surpassed the U.S. death toll of the first Gulf War of 1991, when about 315 Americans died in the operation to drive Saddam Hussein's forces from Kuwait. That figure includes combat and non-combat deaths suffered during the military buildup and the war itself.

 

(Keep in mind, we only repelled one Country out of another in Iraq I... And we lost 385 compared to the nearly 500 we have lost taking and controlling said Country... You do the math. - tha malcontent)

Ninety-nine American forces have been killed in the ongoing operation in Afghanistan, less than a third of them by hostile fire.

 

("Less than a third of them"... Gee, do I smell an Agenda here? - tha malcontent)

The number of American battle deaths since the Iraq war began on March 20 - at least 333 - is approaching the figure of 385 Americans killed in action during the Spanish-American War of 1898-1899.

 

(Is the AP badmouthing the Spanish? - tha malcontent)

U.S. officials dismiss most of the attacks by Iraqi insurgents as militarily insignificant, and the Bush administration strongly defends the U.S. role in Iraq. Bush said during a visit to London in November that the failure to build democracy in Iraq "would throw its people back into misery and turn that country over to terrorists who wish to destroy us."

Iraq casualty figures are small compared with the horrific bloodletting of some of America's past conflicts. About 19,000 American soldiers died in one month alone in the Battle of the Bulge in World War II, a conflict in which more than 290,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines were killed in action.

 

(My understanding is, that we lost over 400,000 in WWII... Someone correct me, or the AP, if I have my Facts incorrect! - tha malcontent)

An estimated 620,000 Americans - both northerners and southerners - died in the Civil War, America's bloodiest conflict. More than 58,000 U.S. troops lost their lives in Vietnam, both in combat and from non-battle causes.

 

(And in the tone of the American Left today... "How did Vietnam pose a direct Threat to us"?  Then one has to ask, what was JFK (D) and LBJ (D) thinking when they started, and then escalated that War? - tha malcontent)

Nevertheless, the rising death toll after 10 months of military operations in Iraq is significant, especially in a country whose public traditionally has little appetite for their sons and daughters dying in battle in distant, unfamiliar lands.

 

(Well, that is, at least until the most SELFISH Generation in the History of Mankind came into Power!... Yes, I am talking to you, Babyboomers! - tha malcontent)

The United States aborted its participation in an international peacekeeping operation in Somalia after 18 U.S. troops were killed in a battle in the capital, Mogadishu, with forces loyal to warlord Mohamed Farah Aidid.

 

(Correction, "CLINTON Aborted the United States participation", and then ignored Rwanda and the nearly 500,000 Humans who were Slaughtered there, only to go after Slobo, and produce no larger than 500 bodies in any given "mass grave"... Do I sound cynical? - tha malcontent)

Former President Ronald Reagan pulled U.S. peacekeepers out of Lebanon after a suicide truck bomber killed 241 Marines and other service members at Beirut's airport in 1983.

 

(Yes, and the Former Hood Ornament gave BLANKET AMNESTY to Illegal Aliens, something that the Blind and Ignorant in my Party seem to forget, as of late! - tha malcontent)

After U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War ended in 1973, U.S. presidents were loathe to commit American forces to protracted struggles in foreign lands without clear objectives and overwhelming chances for success.

 

("Chances of Success"?... PAH-LEEEEEEEEEEEASE.  A handful of jerk-off Islamists in a Country of 26,000,000 people, are not about to reverse this course, regardless of what the "Free Press" wants this November! - tha malcontent)

However, U.S. antipathy to foreign military operations receded after a series of quick and relatively painless operations in places like Grenada in 1983 - with only 16 battle and non-combat deaths - and Panama in 1989, when 21 troops were killed.

 

(It also introduced us to THREE-HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-FIVE deaths in action, that we hadn't seen since the 58,000 that we Lost in Vietnam nearly 2 decades earlier!  Does the Left actually listen to themselves, or are they actually that caught up in their own Shite? - tha malcontent)

The Gulf War introduced the public to precision, high-tech weaponry that could strike distant targets seemingly without significant risks to the pilots who fired them from thousands of yards away.

 

(Or the THREE-HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-FIVE deaths in action, that we hadn't seen since the 58.000 that we Lost in Vietnam nearly 2 decades earlier!... Are you starting to get the Bias yet? - tha malcontent)

 

To a generation reared without memories of the close-quarter savagery of Vietnam, Korea and other distant battlefields of half-forgotten conflicts, war appeared to have been sanitized to a life-and-death computer game where the winner had the best gadgets.

 

(Am I the only one who wants to slap the Author of this TRIPE?... - tha malcontent)

In the Kosovo campaign of 1999, the United States and its NATO allies pounded Yugoslavia into submission with an aerial bombardment in which America lost not a single service member.

 

(The Left used to call this type of "Combat", Cowardly... I wonder why they feel so good about it in this instance?... Oh yeah, it was their boy. - tha malcontent)

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers and their al-Qaida allies collapsed after about a month of fighting, with the Americans delivering precision bombs from the sky while their northern alliance Afghan allies did most of the ground fighting.

But the Iraq conflict has proven to be a different kind of war. Since the end of major combat, most American casualties have come from low-tech weaponry - roadside bombs, mortars and small arms fire.

 

(Don't worry, we will turn the Death over to the Iraqis soon enough, and the "Free Press" can either chose to moveon.com, or they can harp on the "hell" we have Left them with.  If they were not so busy harping on Iraq II, that is exactly what they would be doing in regard to Afghanistan... This is turning out to be one hell of an Election cycle, eh? - tha malcontent)
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