Samuel Alito as Eddie Haskell

I participated in a conference call on the Alito hearings last night with Ralph Neas of PFAW and Nancy Keenan of NARAL and Chris Bowers of MyDD and Armando from Kos (It wasn’t that I am so important; there were a few hundred other bloggers of significantly higher profile than yours truly). Much was cussed and discussed, but the gist of it was that we couldn’t decide if the Supreme Court justice nominee was a Robert Bork lover, or Bork reincarnated, or just a run-of-the-mill FReeper.

I have come to the conclusion that Samuel Alito is actually Eddie Haskell.

He’ll say anything to get what he wants, especially a job; he'll suck up to the boss like it’s going out of style, and he'll act innocent, pretend it never happened or deny it all when he’s caught (sucking up or lying, whichever it is).

A conflicted, insecure, ass-kissing nerd and total creep. Alito is the kind of guy who was afraid of having women at Princeton, a guy so misogynistic and intoxicated with authority that he ruled that a ten-year-old girl could be stripsearched without a warrant. The kinda guy on record as saying Bork was the greatest, a guy who says he’ll recuse himself from cases where he has a conflict of interest and then doesn’t, a guy who favors unlimited dictatorial powers for Bush -- a bitter, confused, misguided, frustrated failure who will have a chip on his shoulder and an axe to grind for the rest of his life if he gets on the Supreme Court.

"It's all about character" -- and as Digby's post above shows, Alito's character is a pile of steaming horseshit.

If there ever was a time for Democratic (and moderate Republican) Senators to stand up and speak up, it is now. Alito must be filibustered. The GOP is reeling right now, barely hanging onto the ropes from the repeated barrage of all their scandals and crimes. All their so-called "wins" are turning out to be losses, where they rigged the game and bribed the refs in order to make it look like they won. And it's all starting to crumble now. They're weak and on the run and they're making one last-ditch attempt to move their lackey into place for life.

Senators: you can stop Alito. If you filibuster and Congress shuts down, most Americans will support you. Rove is going to be indicted, Abramoff is going to sing like a canary, and six months from now half the Republicans in Washington could be in court or in jail.

Drag this confirmation out until the fall when we just might have a legitimate government again -- instead of this dictatorship of desperate delinquents.

You have the power. Use it.

"Arlen, move him more to the left."

"Damn, I hate it when Rove sedates these guys..."

Thanks, Needlenose.

Van Os in Johnson County: "We have to fight back"

Democrat David Van Os, candidate for Texas Attorney General, spoke to local Democrats at the Johnson County Democratic Party headquarters Tuesday night. Van Os intends to challenge current attorney general, Republican Greg Abbott, in the November election.

The San Antonio attorney’s exhortations to reclaim political power from what he termed the corporate elite met with an enthusiastic response from those in attendance. Van Os, a self-proclaimed “true Texas populist,” vented as much ire toward what he calls “silk-stocking Democrats” as he did Republicans throughout the night.

“What gives despots and tyrants power is people running away from them. We have to fight back,” Van Os said. “I’m the most loyal yellow-dog, true-blue Democrat, but what gets me are scaredy cats always running from the Republican clique.”

Van Os said he is nonetheless heartened to see so many Democrats filing at all levels throughout the state. “It’s all over the state everywhere, and these aren’t top-down deals coming from the business elite. These are grassroots campaigns,” Van Os said.

He went on to predict an upcoming political earthquake in Texas and the United States. “The Democrats coming out to file are not Republican-lite Dems, they are the real fighting Democrats and the people need fighting Democrats to come back to life and return Texas to them.”

From the Cleburne Times-Review.

David is correct: the people of Texas have filed for office to take their country back. There are soldiers and teachers and small businessmen and women up and down the Democratic ballot.

The earthquake has happened, and the blue tsunami is rolling toward Texas. And it's going to wash all across this state; inland to Dallas and Fort Worth and through the Hill Country over San Antone and Austin, up to the Panhandle and on past Amarillo, and all the way out to the mountains of El Paso.

It's going to wash quite a few red folks away with it, but if you heed my warning all you'll have to do is get on your surfboard and ride the wave.

A Blue Tsunami hit Galveston this past weekend

And it's gonna wash all across Texas, up to Amarillo and out to El Paso.

Over a thousand Democrats met at the Moody Gardens resort on the island on Saturday for some SDEC business, a few party caucuses, and a big rally featuring nearly all of our November candidates, union and party activists and humorist Jim Hightower.

I still can't quite wrap my head around it. Just a few of the personal highlights:

The only one of our candidates whose hand I missed shaking was Ben Grant's. Mrs. Diddie and I spent some quality time with our friends David and Rachel Van Os in the Strand, having lunch on the wharf. I also got some extended face time with Bob Gammage at the banquet's after-party (and got satisfactory answers to all my questions). Met Fred Head for the first time and exchanged business cards. I didn't spend as much time as I have in the past schmoozing with Chris Bell and Barbara Radnofsky and their staffers, as we were all working separate sides of the room. But their speeches at the noon rally were on fire, and Bell followed up enthusiastically at the SDEC meetings with the news of DeLay's demise.

We named our table the Vast Left Wing Conspiracy and rocked the house. Art Sadin, one of the event's sponsors and who was sitting next to Master of the Universe Walter Umphrey at an adjacent table, came over and asked to be admitted into our circle.

Want some news that's not quite ready for publication? One of the leading 2008 Democratic presidential candidates will be in Houston before the end of January to campaign for his friend who's on the ballot.

A wrap-up complete with photo slideshow is here.

But there was news happening while we were celebrating, and I'll summarize it following:

-- La Cucaracha Grande finally gave up on regaining Majority Leadership, leaving House Republicans to choose between a "Boner" and a Blunt.

-- via Vince at BOR, there's more from the AA-S on the Texas Association of Business, John Colyandro and Ben Bentzin, who is in a special election for a vacant Texas House seat in less than two weeks. A commenter there has an interesting POV.

-- Vince also has the Texas Monthly piece (reg. req.) on how the Texas GOP is cannabalizing themselves. Best example yet of why they will lose in November. Too good to excerpt; go read it all.

-- up in CD-06, things have taken a nasty and personal turn for the worse. (Actually, now that I have finally gotten around to commenting about it, it's over and done with.)

-- Oh yeah: that goombah Scalito is going to be making news this week.

Bulldozing the Dead in New Orleans

Joyce Green died on the roof of her Lower 9th Ward home as her New Orleans neighborhood flooded during Hurricane Katrina. Helplessly, her son watched her die as the water rushed dangerously below them. Just last week he was able to return to their collapsed house on Tennessee Street for the first time, and found her skeletal remains amidst the ruins. He was able to identify them because they were wrapped in the clothes she was wearing the day she died.

During Katrina, the Lower 9th Ward was deluged due to breaches in the Industrial Canal levee. Additionally, an enormous barge that was illegally left in the canal was launched into the neighborhood, destroying lives and property during its reckless trajectory. Four months later, many questions remain unanswered regarding the destruction in the Lower 9th Ward, including the question of possible criminal negligence. However, before those questions have been fully investigated, let alone answered, the City of New Orleans is rushing to bulldoze much of the neighborhood--without informing homeowners.

On the eve of the holiday season, Greg Meffert, the city's chief technology officer, revealed that the city would immediately demolish about 2,500 "red-tagged" homes in the Lower 9th Ward. Before Meffert's announcement, a red-tag merely meant that a home was unsafe to enter. The City of New Orleans website specifically states in bold italicized text that "a red sticker does not indicate whether or not a building will be demolished, only that the structure is currently unsafe to enter."

Yet the City decided to bulldoze red-tagged homes without informing homeowners of the new meaning of the red tags or the demolition order. This is a clear violation of due process, guaranteed under federal and state constitutions, which protects property owners from the unlawful destruction of their property. It is also a clear, opportunistic attack on the Lower 9th Ward community, whose historically black roots run deep in the neighborhood. Boasting the highest level of black home ownership in the nation, the area is also where many black New Orleanians have traditionally been able to purchase their first homes.

Much more from Scott Boehm (click the link in the headline), the Rude Pundit, and Schroeder.

The lobbying that dare not speak its name

I'll be in Galveston this weekend for "Turn Texas Blue". Wordier postings to resume shortly.