Doomsy's Do-Gooders And Dregs (2008 - Pt. 8)

Time to end this: prior related posts are here, here, here, here, here, here, and here (and I also posted over here)...

R.I.P.

Bobby Fischer, Richard Knerr, John McWethy of ABC News, Roy Scheider, Howard Metzenbaum, Paul Scofield, Richard Widmark, Abby Mann, Dith Pran, Jules Dassin, Mildred Loving, Ron O’Brien, Robert Rauschenberg, Will Elder, Sister Catherine E. Mulkerrin, Sydney Pollack, Anne d'Harnoncourt, Alton Kelley, Jim McKay, Tim Russert, George Carlin, Larry Harmon, Randy Pausch, Edie Huggins, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Jerry Wexler, Ike Pappas, Norman Whitfield, Paul Newman, Gil Stratton, Neal Hefti, Levi Stubbs, William Wharton, Studs Terkel, Miriam Makeba, Catherine Baker Knoll, William Gibson, Robert Prosky, Dennis Yost, Mark Felt, Robert Mulligan, Harold Pinter, Delaney Bramlett, Freddie Hubbard

Update 1/1/09: Add former Dem Rhode Island Senator Claiborne Pell here.

Dregs Of The Year

Though there were few-and-far-between moments when they distinguished themselves as a body, as far as I’m concerned, this year’s winners are the U.S. Supreme Court (I really went back and forth between giving it to the Bush “Administration” since they’re on their way out, but then I realized that such a citation would imply that they would qualify for this year only, when in fact, they qualify for each of the three-plus years that I’ve been doing this).

And when I speak of The Supremes, I speak primarily of these four characters…

I hasten to add that, though, that the conservative bloc on the court was hardly the only offending party; Justice John Paul Stevens cast the deciding vote in favor of upholding Indiana’s onerous voter ID law here, believing that the law did not cast an undue burden on the elderly and minorities (though it does) to remedy the supposed problem of voter fraud at the polls, which, for all but the rarest of cases, doesn’t exist (that and other rulings are noted here).

And I also think it’s noteworthy that Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Antonin Scalia, both professed Catholics, voted in favor of upholding Kentucky’s method of capital punishment by lethal injection here (the Church opposes capital punishment; I don’t oppose it either, but then again, I don’t sit on the High Court). Further, Scalia bellowed in response to Stevens when the latter spoke out against the death penalty, as noted by Nat Hentoff of the Jewish World Review.

However, what was for me the lowest of the low points of the Court’s term came here, when they struck down the handgun ban in the District of Columbia which had stood for 32 years, postulating rather speciously I think that every American has the right to own a gun as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, particularly hypocritical since the Supremes don’t allow guns in their building (the ruling also had more than a little bit to do with this rare moment of disagreement – and a strong one at that – with the Dem U.S. House Rep from PA’s 8th district).

Another low moment came here last month when the Supremes ruled in favor of the Navy in the case of sonar testing off the California coast and its harmful effects on whales and other marine life (with this update telling us that, as part of the settlement terms in the case won by the Navy, that branch of our services will be forced to conduct the environmental impact studies that they should have conducted anyway).

Also, I found the Court’s deliberation in the case of a Muslim man from Long Island rounded up indiscriminately after 9/11 to be a bit odd here, particularly when they wondered whether his actions would be similar to those of “the president of Coca-Cola” (Stephen Breyer), as well as trying to determine a parallel to the case of Bill Clinton and Paul Jones (Stevens).

Another injudicious moment came here in February, when Scalia spoke here in favor of torture (AND capital punishment? “Who Would Jesus Kill,” Your Honor?).

Want more? Here, Justice David Souter claimed that the fine for the Exxon Valdez spill ($2.5 bil) was “excessive under maritime law” (how would anything less be sending a message to perhaps the worst corporate offender against the environment on the planet?).

The high point for the Court’s term as far as I was concerned, though, was the ruling in Boumediene v. Bush in June, in which Justice Anthony Kennedy (writing for the majority) claimed that prisoners in our custody have the right to habeas corpus, with Scalia claiming in dissent here that “(the ruling) will almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed” (something Scalia should have thought of before he decided to vote to overturn the D.C. handgun ban as far as I’m concerned).

The influence of the Repugs in this country started to erode in 2006 with their loss of Congress, and the Dem takeover has now happily extended to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. However, the solid conservative majority of the High Court is likely to remain for decades to come (to say nothing of appointments to other federal courts throughout this country during Bushco’s foul reign). We can only hope, though, that, over time, the Court will come to recognize that such rulings as those I’ve noted here do not, for the most part, reflect the spirit and intent of what this country wants to see in its justice and its politics.

A thin hope to be sure, I know. But for now, consider the Court to be the 2008 Dregs Of The Year.

Update 1/1/09: Looks like Hangin' Judge J.R. is returning to form with his bi-yearly complaint here (aww, he only makes $217 grand a year - poor baby!)

Update 1/8/09: And here is another "gift that keeps on giving."

Update 1/13/09: I forgot about this decision also.

Runner up: Any Senator who voted against the automaker loan (here)

Do Gooders Of The Year

Aside from the overturning of the DC gun ban, the other most notorious story for yours truly over the last year was the utter capitulation of the Congressional Democrats on the revision sought by Bushco and the Repugs to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA – here is one prior backgrounder post).

However, journalists Chris Hedges and Naomi Klein (pictured), along with The Nation magazine and the American Civil Liberties Union, filed suit against FISA as soon as it was signed into law by Dubya, as noted here (I have no word of any recent activity in this matter).

For showing the courage that utterly escaped our representatives in Congress, the plaintiffs in the FISA lawsuit, including Hedges and Klein, are the 2008 Do Gooders Of The Year.

Runner up: Why, that would have to be…

…YOUR 2008 PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES!!

(And so the New York Mutts are the “team to beat” because you now pitch for them, "F-Rod"? We’ll see about that!)

Happy 2009 to one and all – may we navigate through the next 12 months OK and find ourselves in a much better place this time next year.