Bigot of the Week Award: June 28, The Supreme Corruption

Bigot of the Week

The Supreme Court wrapped up its judicial year this week with a number of major decisions. On the four that got the most press — and had the largest impact — they managed one disaster (Voting Rights), one victory (DOMA), and two adequate indecisions (affirmative action and Prop 8). As those rulings were rolled out, however, the aggressive activists on the right of the bench bared their ugly souls once again.

The most vile decision was Shelby County v Holder, in which the Four Injustices of the Apocalypse were joined by two-faced Kennedy in gutting the Voting Rights Act. Despite the fact that the VRA was renewed unanimously by the Senate and by an overwhelming majority in the House after extensive research, the Court ruled that Congress acted capriciously and violated States’ rights. That rationale fails to disguise the clear desire to allow states to practice voter suppression, disproportionately impacting marginalized populations which coincidentally vote overwhelmingly for Democrats.  Talk about intentional disenfranchisement!

Chief Racist Roberts penned the poison decision, helping secure his horrible legacy. He also wrote an ugly dissent in Windsor v United States, the case that overturned DOMA.

Speaking of ugly legacies, Justice Scalia managed to spew his usual bile with flair and volume. He continues to argue that calling a bigoted law bigoted is biased against bigots. That’s some weird reasoning. He also displayed his split personality in the Shelby and Windsor rulings. To support racism, he trumpets States’ rights and blames Congressional overreach. To support homophobia, he says that Congress should have the final say, and the will of the states that support LGBT rights be damned. In a curious bit of double-speak, his Windsor dissent includes:

It is an assertion of judicial supremacy over the people’s Representatives in Congress and the Executive. It envisions a Supreme Court standing (or rather enthroned) at the apex of government, empowered to decide all constitutional questions, always and everywhere “primary” in its role.

That is one huge spleen that Scalia has!  Justice Alito-Mussolini, joined in the discrimination chorus. He also demonstrated his ongoing behavior as a petulant brat. During Justice Ginsburg’s scathing Shelby dissent, he rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders. He displayed similar disrespect to opinions offered by Justices Kagan and Sotomayor on other matters. Racist, homophobe, misogynist — score three for Alito, but of course “he does make the trains run on time.”

Justice Thomas remained inert, participating only far enough to support a version of the Constitution that must have been written in 1276, content to continue suppressing the rights of others now that he’s got his lifetime gig.

What a horrible example of judicial activism and abuse of power!

There’s plenty of dishonorable mention to spread around, as well, so let’s just highlight two magnificent examples.

1. Texas Governor Rick Perry, whose efforts to crush Planned Parenthood and severely restrict reproductive choice in his state were thwarted by true democracy in action, chose to demonize state Sen. Wendy Davis. He argued that she’s lucky she wasn’t aborted by her unmarried mother and should take a lesson from that. My he is Klassy!
2. Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R – What’s the Matter with Kansas) followed the DOMA decision by introducing a new bill to ban same-sex marriage in the U.S. Constitution. I guess the House didn’t waste enough taxpayer time and money defending the indefensible.

Many of the usual homophobes spewed their bigotry in despair after the Windsor ruling as well. Rather than bother with names and quotes, let’s take a lesson from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, whose flawless response to their angry bloviating was a calm, “Who cares?”

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Bigot of the Week Award: December 14, Gov. Rick Snyder and the Michigan Legislature

Bigot of the Week

Well fetch my smelling salts. Petulant Republicans in Michigan rammed through anti-union legislation in their lame duck session. Even though they will maintain their slim majority in January, supporters of the bill were defeated in November, giving it no chance to pass in the new session. Desperate to gut union power, the soon-to-be-gone legislators colluded with Gov. Rick Snyder to pass the so-called “Right to Work” bill, marking another huge blow to workers.

The bill is modeled on a plan put forth by the Koch brothers, which tells us all we really need to know. Speaking in support of Michigan unions, President Obama wisely called it a “right to work for less” bill. Before the election, Gov. Snyder had maintained that the draft legislation went too far, saying he would not support it. He suddenly changed his tune, championing the odious measure and signing it in record time.

Legislators maintained that the bill was necessary to keep unions from abusing their power in the public sector. Their hypocrisy is revealed in every step of their actions, however. It includes restrictions on private sector unions. It exempts two large public sector unions, fire fighters and police. Is it a coincidence that both of these groups are more likely than other union members to support Republicans? These actions were clearly nothing more than an aggressive political move.

Dishonorable mention this week goes to a regular recipient of the BWA, Justice Antonin Scalia (Thank you to LGBT ally Jennifer Carey for inspiring me to write this).  As the Supreme Court gets ready to hear two marriage equality cases, Scalia reiterated his odious opposition to equality. Asked by a law student about his regular comparisons of homosexuality to bestiality, Scalia repeated and emphasized them. Curiously, the media — who often seem to enjoy his theatrical antics from the bench — are now pondering his viciousness, noting his nasty, behind the times irrelevance.

REMINDER: TSM is still accepting Bigot of the Year nominations. We’ll spend the last week of 2012 recognizing the most horrific and hypocritical behavior of the year. Please submit your suggestions by December 23 for full consideration and stay tuned for the winners!

Brown and Scalia: The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name

You can judge a man by the character of his heroes

Oops! There goes Sen. Scott Brown (R – MA) again. The tea partier in moderate sheepskin made a rare statewide win for a Republican and grabbed the Senate seat vacated by the death of the legendary Ted Kennedy. He campaigned on a middle-of-the-road, everyday guy image (Joe the Plumber) and continues to try to present himself as an independent and a moderate. (An independent who votes with his party 81% of the time while representing a progressive state, imagine that!)

Based on another Republican who won statewide office in Massachusetts >cough< Romney >cough< I am forced to conclude that there is something special in the tea there. Those words, Sen. Brown, don’t mean what you think they do. As his opponent, the marvelous Elizabeth Warren, begins to poll stronger and stronger against Brown, his smug veneer cracks and the odious reality emerges.

Sometimes it’s the little things, even a short answer to a simple question. In Monday’s debate, moderator David Gregory asked each candidate, “Who is your model Supreme Court Justice?” Brown’s first instinct? Justice Antonin Scalia. He quickly pulled a Palin, randomly naming other justices (including Scalia’s polar opposite, Justice Sonia Sotomayor) and claiming that an independent doesn’t have to have a favorite. But you do, Scott, you do, and you picked the nastiest creature to lurk on that bench in at least a century.

Regular TSM readers are familiar with his ethical challenges and inappropriate behavior, but here are a few greatest hits.

• He provided a scathing rebuttal to the Court’s rejection of Arizona’s blatantly racist immigration law (one of five Bigot of the Week Awards he has won or shared!).
• He supported the majority in the Lily Ledbetter case, effectively blaming the victim and demonstrating his persistent misogyny.
• On which note, he consistently champions the war on women, including this lovely statement in a dissent in a Planned Parenthood case: “The issue is whether the right to choose is a liberty protected by the Constitution of the United States. I am sure it is not.”
• Scalia’s bitter dissents in a handful of gay rights show the depth of his homophobia. As another famous Massachusetts lawmaker, Rep. Barney Frank, observed, “I wouldn’t want it to go to the United States Supreme Court now because that homophobe Antonin Scalia has too many votes on this current court.”
• He was the architect of the Bush v. Gore decision that violated his supposedly sacred Constitution. In the years since, when questioned about the decision, he has said “So there!” and “Get over it.” My he is charm free!

I find myself channeling Doralee Rhodes from 9 to 5… “I never thought I’d say this about another human being but you are evil, Justice Scalia, downright evil!”  And yet this is who Scott Brown admires — this is the kind of Justice he would support if returned to the Senate. Scott Brown has proved that he’s a racist, sexist, opportunistic pig. Now we know he venerates them too.  As the true Brown emerges from the rank and mire (I am picturing Goldman’s Fire Swamp from The Princess Bride, with Brown starring as one of the ROUS), it is clear that Massachusetts must rely on the integrity and authenticity of Elizabeth Warren for the benefit of the entire country.

Bigot of the Week Award: Justice Antonin Scalia (with bonus Rand Paul sauce!)

Bigot of the Week

What a relief! The same week that the Roberts Court followed the Constitution and decades of legal precedent, SCOTUS Justice Antonin Scalia wackied his way back into BWA territory. The world once more makes sense.

In another surprisingly decent ruling, SCOTUS also struck down most of Arizona’s horrific breathing-while-brown immigration law. The odious “papers please” component was sustained but given a stern warning. Scalia’s head nearly exploded as he launched a dissenting screed so noxious that even Justice Thomas wouldn’t join in. Making an argument that legal scholars would typically designate as ass-backwards, Scalia gave this pronouncement:

So the issue is a stark one. Are the sovereign States at the mercy of the Federal Executive’s refusal to enforce the Nation’s immigration laws? A good way of answering that question is to ask: Would the States conceivably have entered into the Union if the Constitution itself contained the Court’s holding? Today’s judgment surely fails that test. […] If securing its territory in this fashion is not within the power of Arizona, we should cease referring to it as a sovereign State.

So laws and rulings affecting the states can only be made after consulting an Oracle to determine if any future state would refuse to join the Union based on that action? REALLY? Perhaps Justice Scalia should brush up on his history, as well as remember his own roots. Scalia, Mr. Anti-Immigration and Anti-Affirmative Action is the son of an immigrant, and it is not long ago that Italian immigrants were looked down upon with great disdain.  Based on his reasoning, it seems that he’s encouraging Arizona to secede. Didn’t we fight a WHOLE WAR over that? Just for good measure, he managed to throw in a dig at the President, declaring the Executive implementation of the DREAM Act sufficient cause for Arizona to create its own police state.

Moron of the Week

Dishonorable mention this week goes to Senator Rand Paul (Idiot – Wonderland), who joins Scalia in the alternate reality where their wishes trump the law of the land. After the Supreme Court issued its ruling on the Affordable Care Act, Republican lawmakers went into a spiral of rage and nonsense. Paul managed to sink below the general level of discourse with this astounding statement.

Just because a couple people on the Supreme Court declare something to be ‘constitutional’ does not make it so.

Wow. Sounds like somebody needs to take a grade school civics course (and a quick lesson in math) before returning to work…

Women’s History: April 9

Honoring Marian Anderson

Although Marian Anderson was one of the best known contraltos in the 20th Century, she did not have an easy time securing venues for her amazingly beautiful instrument. All during Anderson’s career and lifetime, America was a very race torn and divided country, not like today, cough cough cough!  In 1939, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) refused permission for Anderson to sing to an integrated audience.  I can just see Michele Bachmann again saying, ” we need to remember that all of us came here to be free,” and Marian Anderson looking at her saying, “Excuse me?”

With the help of President and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Marian Anderson performed her critically acclaimed open-air concert on Easter Sunday, in 1939 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Anderson would spend the rest of her life breaking down barriers for both women and blacks.

While Antonin Scalia and Rand Paul will hate the introductory comments from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, they are certainly germane right now.  I hope you enjoy the video of the recording of Marian Anderson. Click here to hear FDR’s introduction and Anderson’s performance.

Cruel Clarence Can Claim Crimes Against Humanity

I just can't stand people

For all those that follow TSM, you are well aware of the information documented proving the incompetence and moral bankruptcy of Justice Clarence Thomas. Unfortunately, the following article only adds to his criminal record, rendering Thomas and his puppet master Scalia as misanthropes of the most dangerous type.

Thomas tossed out a verdict that would have cleared John Thompson of a murder he was allegedly guilty of in 1985.  Since 1985, an overwhelming amount of evidence has come to light supporting Thompson’s innocence. Sadly, Thomas and Scalia cannot be bothered with facts regarding human life–dish or irony anyone?  This coming from two anti-choice misogynists. Not only did Thomas throw out the verdict, but felt compelled to put in some exceedingly disrespectful comments about Justice Ginsberg his first opinion drafted, echoed by Scalia.

What terrifies me is this is the Supreme Court we are stuck with for the rest of my lifetime. A court full of activist conservative justices that are bigoted homophobic misogynistic pieces of work. Please read the full article here.

Oprah Turning her Back on Women for Walmart

Oprah: I expected better from you.

At this point, most people are aware that the plaintiffs in Dukes v. Walmart Stores allege that Walmart systematically discriminated against more than one million women in its promotion and compensation practices.  On March 29, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on whether the women should be allowed to move forward with their case as a class. Walmart has a  long established history of being a puppet for right wing voices and a history of long standing misogyny/homophobia, and poor treatment of their employees.  For those of you that decry: “Just let them go somewhere else and work,” you have not been paying attention. When Walmart moves into towns it wipes out all competition and small mom and pop businesses, so there is no other place for working class folks to get a job. This class action lawsuit brought by over 1 million women has been in the news for a long time; granted it is not getting the coverage it deserves.

So how does this tie into Oprah turning her back on women?  Well, I must confess, that I try not to watch the Oprah Winfrey show, but I did catch an episode where she was celebrating a family that had sextuplets due to fertility drugs.  To my astonishment, Oprah gave free airtime to Walmart and glorified them as some type of National Philanthropy organization. Oprah are you really that out of touch with what is going on in the real world? Do you not pay attention to how corporate America now controls laborers? What message do you send when you glorify WalMart on your show? To make matters worse, the case is going before the Supreme Court and we all know how pro-woman the Fecal Five are. Scalia’s son is representing Walmart in this case. Does it not seem ethically sound for Scalia to recuse himself from this case?  Click here to take action! Oprah, I would never diminish the pioneering work you have done for women and specifically for black women, but WOW, you missed the mark on this one.

Complete Partisanship: Scalia, Thomas, and Alito

The country should be outraged that three of the Fecal Five did not bother to show up at last night’s State of the Union address.  Not only is it fundamentally disrespectful, but how do we trust these fundraisers for the Tea Party to do justice on the Supreme Court? Perhaps this disrespectful triumvirate were out on a fundraising gig for the Koch Brothers, or busy buying guns to take aim at people they disagree with.  Perhaps Virginia Thomas is drafting a letter to President Obama for a wrong she perceives he did 20 years ago and demanding an apology now. Can you imagine the public outrage if Supreme Court Justices did a no show for a Republican President?  So where is the outrage now?  Racist much?  The behavior of these justices is petty, adolescent at best, and completely undermines their authority as non-partisan justices. Shame on you; you no longer deserve the trust of the American people.  You can click here and click here to see two different sources about their absence at the State of the Union Address.

Alito: Public Disgrace at the last State of the Union Address

Scalia and Thomas implicated in ethics violations…

Dynamic Duo

Thank you to my friend Mary Sauve for sharing this article.  For those of you that have been following this blog, you know there have been many articles about the nefarious justices, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.  It was a year ago that the Supreme Court ruled the wrong way in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission. Now, finally there is a request that the Department of Justice investigate two of the Fecal Five for their fundraising efforts with the Koch Brothers to help sway the midterm election of 2010.  This article from ThinkProgress should be mandatory reading, if Americans really want to know what is going on with our government and how five of our Supreme Court Justices show such little care of ethical behavior.  Click here to see the full article.

Bigot of the Week Award: Darrell Issa

I know many of you thought Scalia would have earned the BWA, for his lovely statement that the 14th Amendment does not offer any protection to women, or any of us homos, but Darrell (I hate me some homos) actually topped (do what you will with that) Scalia.  Issa is now going to waste tax payer money for his own personal homophobic agenda.  Issa is now going to hold hearings on whether the DADT report’s conclusions were pre-determined via suppressed or withheld negative feedback.  This man is a true Whore and a dangerous one–he is a carrier: his actions are “in line with Issa’s habit of feeding red meat rhetoric to conservative outlets while tempering himself in more mainstream settings.”  Watch out for some nasty dangerous white boys: John Boehner and Darrell Issa.  Click here for the full article.