Pick a Legacy
2 very different but equally interesting things have happened in the past 2 weeks in regard to the environment. The first, which has gotten a lot of press time, is George Bush designating something like 100 square miles of ocean around a bunch of uninhabitable atolls in the Hawaiian Islands as National Parks. This is a fantastic move and quite frankly rather surprising coming from a President who, until now, had been trying to make certain that his lasting environmental legacy would be 2 things he hasn't been capable to do yet: open up the Alaskan wilderness to oil drilling and acknowledge the very real problems global warming present. One of those 2 he's tried to do and the other he probably won't ever try. Let's face reality with the Pacific Atolls situation for a second: they provide absolutely no strategic benefit to any corporations or government interest. Making such a move, while extremely commendable, is as easy and uncontroversial as deciding to not run over a puppy that strays into the middle of the road.
The other development, and far less covered in the press, was the narrow victory of the environmental concern in the Supreme Court which re-affirmed that the Clean Water Act of the 1970’s does establish a separate government entity to define what is meant by a waterway and not the Supreme Court. The vote was 5 to 4 with only Justice Kennedy of the “Conservative Bloc” siding with the dwindling and weak “Intelligent Bloc”. The 4 uber-scary conservatives, led by Scalia and Thomas with Alito and Roberts dutifully in tow, insisted that, in spite of the fact that it’s not stated anywhere in the law, that a body of water must be connected to a navigable waterway in order to be considered a waterway. Lakes would qualify but not desert run offs, and so on. The interesting note here is that one of the Liberal Justices made a note in his opinion that it is the Supreme Court’s job to interpret and the Constitution and laws passed, not re-write them. Basically, in his opinion, he warned of CONSERVATIVE Judicial Activism. With the people that the Village Idiot has appointed to the court, that’s EXACTLY what we’re going to be seeing for the next 20 years.
My question is this: which environmental victory is more telling of the kind of legacy that the Village Idiot is going to be leaving behind. I’m saying it’s the Supreme Court case. Not because it was something Bush actually did. In fact, I’d bet a zillion dollars that he would have been dead set against the ruling because it means less land is open for development. Firstly, it’s a HUGE victory because MAYBE, one of the 5 Conservative Bloc actually has a working brain. But more importantly, we get a view of EXACTLY what those 4 uber-Idiots are going to be doing as Conservative Activists. The mind-less right can continue to spew it’s talking points on how Activist Judges are out to fag-atize the United States with gay marriage and actively kill babies by performing abortions in their court-rooms, but why is a conservative judge writing clauses into laws any less scary? The Supreme Court case is more important because it’s a nice environmental victory now but is a sign of the losses to come. The Village Idiot’s environmental legacy will be felt in Supreme Court for years to come.
JOB SEARCH SIDE NOTE: Royal Caribbean interviewed and hired people for the 2 open positions they had while I was on the road. I’m supremely annoyed that they didn’t even bother to call me to see if I could make it for the interviews. I had a 2nd phone i-view with Citrix cancelled because they weren’t sure who they wanted to actually speak with me. And today, I had my first face-to-face with the consulting group, Auxis. They’re small with a very local flavor. The interview went very well and they definitely moved up a notch or 2 in packing order.
The other development, and far less covered in the press, was the narrow victory of the environmental concern in the Supreme Court which re-affirmed that the Clean Water Act of the 1970’s does establish a separate government entity to define what is meant by a waterway and not the Supreme Court. The vote was 5 to 4 with only Justice Kennedy of the “Conservative Bloc” siding with the dwindling and weak “Intelligent Bloc”. The 4 uber-scary conservatives, led by Scalia and Thomas with Alito and Roberts dutifully in tow, insisted that, in spite of the fact that it’s not stated anywhere in the law, that a body of water must be connected to a navigable waterway in order to be considered a waterway. Lakes would qualify but not desert run offs, and so on. The interesting note here is that one of the Liberal Justices made a note in his opinion that it is the Supreme Court’s job to interpret and the Constitution and laws passed, not re-write them. Basically, in his opinion, he warned of CONSERVATIVE Judicial Activism. With the people that the Village Idiot has appointed to the court, that’s EXACTLY what we’re going to be seeing for the next 20 years.
My question is this: which environmental victory is more telling of the kind of legacy that the Village Idiot is going to be leaving behind. I’m saying it’s the Supreme Court case. Not because it was something Bush actually did. In fact, I’d bet a zillion dollars that he would have been dead set against the ruling because it means less land is open for development. Firstly, it’s a HUGE victory because MAYBE, one of the 5 Conservative Bloc actually has a working brain. But more importantly, we get a view of EXACTLY what those 4 uber-Idiots are going to be doing as Conservative Activists. The mind-less right can continue to spew it’s talking points on how Activist Judges are out to fag-atize the United States with gay marriage and actively kill babies by performing abortions in their court-rooms, but why is a conservative judge writing clauses into laws any less scary? The Supreme Court case is more important because it’s a nice environmental victory now but is a sign of the losses to come. The Village Idiot’s environmental legacy will be felt in Supreme Court for years to come.
JOB SEARCH SIDE NOTE: Royal Caribbean interviewed and hired people for the 2 open positions they had while I was on the road. I’m supremely annoyed that they didn’t even bother to call me to see if I could make it for the interviews. I had a 2nd phone i-view with Citrix cancelled because they weren’t sure who they wanted to actually speak with me. And today, I had my first face-to-face with the consulting group, Auxis. They’re small with a very local flavor. The interview went very well and they definitely moved up a notch or 2 in packing order.
posted by RauluaP at 1:12 PM
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