Legalectric

White Terrorism from Prof. Juan Cole, University of Michigan:

The man who had most to do with Loughner after his arrest, Pima County Sherriff Clarence W. Dupnik, was clearly angered by what he heard from the assassin: “When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government, the anger, the hatred, the bigotry … it is getting to be outrageous. And unfortunately, Arizona, I think, has become sort of the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry.”

From Spotty…

Singing Kum Bah Yah, off key

And from Paul Krugman:

Climate of Hate

By PAUL KRUGMAN/The New York Times

Published: January 9, 2011

When you heard the terrible news from Arizona, were you completely surprised? Or were you, at some level, expecting something like this atrocity to happen?

Put me in the latter category. I’ve had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach ever since the final stages of the 2008 campaign. I remembered the upsurge in political hatred after Bill Clinton’s election in 1992 — an upsurge that culminated in the Oklahoma City bombing. And you could see, just by watching the crowds at McCain-Palin rallies, that it was ready to happen again. The Department of Homeland Security reached the same conclusion: in April 2009 an internal report warned that right-wing extremism was on the rise, with a growing potential for violence.
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Alan’s been working on an election day missive, and I’ve been NOT working on, avoiding, an election day post.  What’s to say?  There’s only one thing to say: GET OUT AND VOTE!

Alan’s from Delaware, and there they have Christine “Where in the Constitution is the separation of church and state” O’Donnell, what an embarrassment, how can she show her face in public, much less run for office, and worse, that people voted for her ?!?!?!?! Listen to this, one that I, particularly as an “officer of the court” sworn to uphold the constitution, had to chuckle over:

In Minnesota, there’s a gubernatorial election goin’ on… Tim “Green Chameleon” Pawlenty is on the way out. There’s Tom Emmer, right up there with O’Donnell, there’s Horner polling at very low two digits, and there’s Mark Dayton, odds on winner.  The good news is that neither Kelliher or Entenza are on the ballot.  More good news is that Dayton does want to act on the tax drain on the middle and lower classes and equalize percentages for those with higher income.  Yeah, ’bout time… Sometimes he looks like my little bro’ and sometimes he acts like him — so that can go both ways… What really bothers me is that he quit while a Senator, so what’s to say he’ll do the job?

He seems to have good taste in dogs:

But Kady and Sadie are too young to vote, and would probably cancel each other out anyway.

I’m a Tea-Partier:

“They are socialists.” “They are fascists.” EH?!?!?!?! I WANT MY FREE CAR! A couple of weeks ago a chiropractor I know in the cities said that “Obama is the anti-christ.” HUH? Someone I know who is using Medicare was ranting about “Obamacare” and forcing people to get health care from the government. SAY WHAT?!?! Today someone asked me, discussing a company siting utility infrastructure in their face, said “”don’t they care about people?” Well, no, they don’t. CORPORATIONS DON’T CARE! Why, it’s not even in the equation … sigh… the requirement of a corporation acting in the public interest in exchange for limited liability as a corporation went by the wayside a LONG, LONG time ago.

This came over the wire earlier from Eric Francis, and says it pretty well, what’s got me scratching and shaking my head, the way people are mouthing scripts heard with no understanding of the implications, and taking it a step further and voting against their interests. I can barely stand to think about it… if I do I start on my own rants… don’t even want to wrap my head around it, so I’m taking the easy way out, here’s how Eric Francis puts it:

It is amazing to hear people who collect and depend on Medicare speak against Medicare; to hear poor people support candidates who would eliminate the minimum wage, cut Social Security or give it to a totally unregulated Wall Street, and then complain about over-regulation. It’s beyond my comprehension to understand why any woman would vote for a candidate who wants to make a woman exercising her reproductive rights into a crime. Why would anyone want to repeal a law that protects people from insurance companies banning them if their child has a pre-existing condition? But, it seems that many do. And they may have no clue what they’re against.

This all may sound like an argument not to vote — but actually I’m here to remind you to make some time to vote Tuesday. I know it’s a small gesture, and we need to participate in our constitutional republic every day of the year. But Tuesday is an especially good day. The kinds of problems our country, and our world, are facing call for our attention and involvement.

Go vote. Then get involved. It’s getting too weird in here…

We’ve been in Minnesota since late April, thankfully, because if I were in Delaware right now, it’d be hard to not flee for the border. So is Alan going back to vote? Chris or Christine, either way Delaware loses…

Listen to the guffaws and watch her expression, she is clueless, utterly clueless, what a nutwad:

I remember when Joan Ericksen was appointed to the Minnesota Supreme Court.  At that time, we were in the throes of fighting Target in Northfield, and her parents, Claire and Gerald Ericksen were so tickled and proud.  At that time, I thought that she was a good choice.  Later, she was appointed to the 8th Circuit Federal Court, appointed by none other than George Bush with the blessing of then Sen. Norm Coleman.   Is that really the same Joan Ericksen?

Now I’m having third and fourth thoughts…

Today I saw the STrib’s report of the City of Minneapolis settling on the “Zombie” case, and it triggered a recollection of another recent case Erickson had tossed out — one of the RNC raids suits.

Here’s today’s report on the “Zombie” case:

Minneapolis will pay $165,000 to zombies

In the “Zombie” case,  Judge Joan Ericksen had tossed out their suit against the City, which was remanded by the Federal Appellate Court.  Here’s the Appellate remand:

Baribeau v. City of Minneapolis 578-F.Supp. 2d, 1201-1224 (Minn. 2008)

… and remembered that it was Judge Joan Ericksen who also recently tossed out a suit by one of the RNC defendants whose home had been raided the day before the start of the convention:

Federal judge throws out lawsuit over RNC police raid

August 10, 2010

St. Paul, Minn. — A U.S. district court judge has dismissed a lawsuit by a St. Paul man who sued police officers for entering and searching his duplex a day before the Republican National Convention in 2008.

Michael Whalen alleged in his lawsuit that police violated his First and Fourth Amendment rights when they searched the St. Paul duplex he owned. He also argued that their search warrant contained incorrect information.

But U.S. District Judge Joan Ericksen dismissed the lawsuit by granting a request for summary judgment from the defendants. She wrote in her ruling that none of Whalen’s claims had any legal merit.

I don’t have time today to dig any deeper, but when I get around to it, I’ll post more about her record.  What I’m seeing here, though, is very disturbing… but these two dismissals really shouldn’t be a surprise given she’s a Bush appointee.

How uptight can they get?

The R’s sure have been hilarious at times:

… and…

… and…