The fifth vote was Breyer, and don't lionize Sotomayor

Have to disagree a tad with friend Brains' original framing (now corrected) of the Strieff case that just gutted the Fourth Amendment even more.

The 'fifth vote' was NOT Tony the Pony Kennedy, it was Stephen Breyer. A Democrat.

Not the first time he's been a squish outside two hot-button social issues. You can go Google.

And, in the second half of this review of her stance on privacy issues, Sotomayor has herself been a squish at times on the Fourth Amendment, as in the Howard case. She's also shown a fair amount of deference to the Imperial Presidency.

The bottom line? This shows that outside two hot-button social issue, Democaratic Supreme Court justices aren't always "reliable" votes. "My Democrats right or wrong" types like to say "oh the SCOTUS" against us Green voters every 4 years. And this lets me throw it back at them.

Yes, the right called Roberts a squish on Obamacare. But, wth his ruling being used to undercut the Commerce Clause, he wasn't really, especially if you add in the Hobby Lobby case.

Yes, on two hot-button social issues. there's five reliable votes, as on the best interpretation of the Second Amendment,. However, on a number of issues besides Fourth Amendment ones, there's plenty of squishiness. I mentioned some issues with the imperial presidency. War on Drugs issues often tempt liberal justices to vote law and order. They also often have little problem letting schools restrict the First Amendment rights of juveniles.

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And Tony Kennedy's fifth vote to preserve some abortion rights also undercuts this bullshit.

Smackdown! A #Green vs #Democrat brouhaha

Friend Perry says I'm more snarky than him, but this time, per the header, he's the one stirring the pot on independent progressive voters. But, I'm here to back him up! ( Not that he actually needs it. Just that I want to jump in.)

What riled him up is a post on a Dems-only Facebook group to which I shall not directly link, which had a link to a Mother Jones article talking about a New York Republican operative using its ballot access laws to put two Greens, unbeknownst to them, on the primary ballot for a Congressional race in New York State against a vulnerable first-term Republican.

First, why this Facebook group was just now posting a link to a five-month-old article, I have no idea. Maybe that's a problem right there?

The Facebook group also included the photo-poster above.

But, let's get at the meat of the issue, as Mojo has another article, from 2012, about rich conservatives giving money to Green candidates in such races.

That said, it's not just Mojo that gives the back of its hand to third-party candidates.

That's one reason I refuse to subscribe to The Nation. And, as I blogged, even somebody theoretically as brainful as Charles Pierce has jumped in the Obamiac wading pool.

Do I believe the Green Party is ideal? No. I've blogged before about its uncritical embrace, at the national level, of pseudomedicine ideas. I also don't think GMO plants are Satan incarnate, though I do cast a skeptical eye on the likes of Monsanto and some particular ways it pushes GMOs. Here is a bit of my thought on that issue, and a bit more here.

Is it often a better alternative to Democrats? Yes. Per Perry, I describe why I vote Green when I can, here. If that's not enough, Dear Leader himself has provided plenty of reasons to vote Green at the presidential level. And continues to do so today. Only the "soft bigotry of low post-Bush expectations" allows for him not getting more flack for the flop in Libya.

Oh, and STOP FUCKING ASKING ME FOR MONEY. William Rivers Pitt nails it. That said, it's not just Dems who do this. I stopped giving money to the ACLU in 2008, maybe earlier; I still regularly get "final notices" from them, just like the Dems. Gang Green enviro groups are horrible about this, and anti-environmental with the amount of trees killed for all their paper hardcopy mailings.

Jon Stewart also nails it, complete with reading those idiotic fund-sucking emails.

The Daily Show
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Sometimes, for a comic, more than jokes writing themselves, reality writes the jokes, as when Jon Stewart notes that Democrats are just as money-grubbing as Republicans. A guy named Rich Richman hosting a national Democratic fundraiser headlined by Dear Leader. Gee!

Back to the issues at hand, though.

Dems who whine about Greens taking votes? Get better candidates. Dems who whine about Greens getting GOP help to get on ballots? BOTH "main" parties block third parties; if you don't like it otherwise, go help more Libertarians get on the ballot.

All's fair in love and war, after all. Grow some cojones or ovaries.

Otherwise, Democrats? Stop nominating neolib candidates, especially at the national level.

Beyond that, both "main" parties have for years continued to make ballot access harder and harder for third party candidates. In swing states, they've eliminated fusion candidates or slates. Elsewhere, they've made individual third-party candidate or party-line ballot access harder to obtain. 

And, as for Democrats who equate the Green Party with Ralph Nader? First, Ralph Nader has never been an official Green Party presidential candidate. Second, I've thrown him under the bus myself. That said, people who make the Nader claim are typical Obamiacs.

As for booting people? Daily Kos, the Great Orange Satan, booted me, what, 7-8 years ago, for being too Green. Of course, Markos Moulitsas is the "genius" who thinks there's "secret librulz" hiding inside the CIA.

I mean, with Dems like this, who needs Republicans?

#NYTimes gives #Greens at least a bit of space

Dr. Jill Stein

The New York Times, on its "The Caucus" blog, is asking five questions, from time to time, of a variety of presidential candidates. Earlier this week, Dr. Jill Stein, the Green Party's top candidate, got her turn.

When asked if Obama deserved credit for what he did on health care, or other accomplishments, she said:
Small time, sure. There are minor improvements. But on the other hand, he took single-payer off the table. ... And how about bringing Wall Street in, the guys who created the problem, among his first appointments. It was pretty clear right then that this was going to be business as usual on steroids.
Small time is about right. 

And, as for supporters of the bipartisan duopoly, who accuse people of me of "wasting votes," here's what she had to say on the differences between the parties;

You might look at one party as a rapidly sinking ship and say we’re going to vote for the other guy because the ship’s not going down so fast.We don’t like him but he’s not sinking the ship so fast. But the real question is, if both of those ships are heading for the bottom of the ocean, do you want to be on either of them? No.

Yep, that's the "Democrats right-or-wrong" comment I hear all the time.

And, note the the NYT: She's a medical doctor, so why isn't she called "Dr. Stein"?

Note to Digby: I don't wear team jerseys

Blogger Digby can be quite interesting, usually insightful, often spot-on.

But, per this blog post, about how humanitarian our motives in Libya may or may not be, she may be a part of the problem herself, to some degree:
People keep asking me if I support Dennis Kucinich's call to impeach Obama for failing to get congressional authorization for the operation in Libya. Actually no, and not because Obama wears my team jersey.
I take away from this that she wears "the Democratic team jersey."

Sorry, Digs, but until you're ready to start advocating third-party voting, your anger at the D.C. Village, neoliberal pseudoliberal Democrats, etc., just isn't enough.

Denver PD goes Nazi Gitmo in spaces

A day after noting how the Denver Police Department went Nazi with a group of protestors in the area of the Democratic National Convention, the PD has allegedly exacerbated its original actions.

Protestors in shackles. Tricked in to false confessions or pleas. Denied access to attorneys.

And, this is all in deliberate spite (pun intended) of the fact that the ACLU had arranged for attorneys to be swiftly available to any arrested protestors.

More comment from the ACLU in this letter. (PDF)

And, let’s not forget that Denver’s Democratic Mayor John Hickenlooper continues to be silent on the police lawbreaking, on whether or not protestors arrested Monday did have a permit to be in the Colorado Civic Center and more.

And, you “Democrats right or wrong” voters wonder why I would vote Green.

It goes deeper than Barack Obama.

As for Denver, I hope it, and Hickenlooper and Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman personally, get their asses sued off.