Posted on 05/27/2009 7:09:17 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
Re: Your on-air bashing of Free Republic
So, you think that because one poster on FR comments that a diabetic supreme court nominee might not live to a ripe old age that all 350,000 of us are insensitive right-wing loons?
Got news for you pal. The owner of Free Republic (namely me) is diabetic and I've already lost one leg due to this despicable disease and the other leg looks like it's ready to fall off any day now. My sister died of complications brought on by juvenile diabetes at the tender age 43. I've out-lived her in years, but I don't think I'll be signing on to any life term judgeships. And I sure as hell wouldn't wish this disease on anyone else.
Hey, what can I say. My political enemies make fun of the one-legged old gimp every day of the week. Good thing I'm not as sensitive as you about such nonsensical non-issues.
And if it's impossible for a minority to be racist, then it's impossible for a diabetic to be insensitive. /sarc
But, I do agree with you on one thing. We FReepers are a bunch of right-wing loons, bitterly clinging to our guns and religion. And proud of it you elitist gasbag!
Name and town, name and town:
Jim Robinson Free Republic, LLC PO Box 9771 Fresno, CA 93794
Not so. He gushed over Zero (especially after his interview of Barry) and confidently predicted he would govern from the center. BOR is just now starting to catch up with what we knew from the beginning of The Manchurian Candidate's campaign. BOR ignores the obvious in order to appeal to his viewers who's intelligence falls left-of-center on the bell curve.
What makes my blood boil is his moral equivalency....i.e., the crazy left-wing haters do such-and-such but the crazy right-wingers (namely FR and others) "do the same".....a mantra which he intones regularly and which is almost always false.
He broadbrushes the right as being just as evil as the left in his talking points while never backing it up with specific facts or examples.
It's his tricky way of appearing to be fair and balanced, but in truth it's devious and politically evil.
Watch how many times he tacks on "Of course, the right does it, too" as a disclaimer when he criticises any leftist wrongdoing.
I think O'Reilly's stretch of high ratings over the past years has made him feel omnipotent and godlike. Sounds like someone else we know who considers himself messiah-like and who, like BOR, sermonizes out of both sides of his mouth.
Leni
O’Reilly is a selfserving jackass.
That is me! Good post Jim Rob.
Don’t try and reason with a sexual harasser pervert.
Unfortunately, unless you have a counter hooked up to your TV for the Nielson TV rating service, he won't know you're not listening.
Actually, listening to him and then posting what you heard will do more good. FR probably has a half-million members and lurkers plus their families to spread the word about this Obama defender.....and as Yogi or Stengel once said, "That ain't beanbag!"
Leni
Lots of us diabetics out here. Give em hell Jim!
..........................
Now let's consider each current Justice of the United States Supreme Court and how likely they are to vacate the court at some point before January 20, 2017. Note that no Justices will celebrate birthdays between now and Inauguration Day, so all ages currently listed will be the same when President Bush leaves office.
JUSTICE JOHN PAUL STEVENS -- AGE 88
Justice Stevens is a healthy and vigorous 88 years old, but he is still at that age when things can go downhill rapidly. I suspect that if McCain should win the Presidency, Stevens will give it a good go at waiting until 2013, and I think he'd have a decent shot at accomplishing just that. But if Senator Obama wins this race, Justice Stevens will almost certainly call it a career. It seems extremely unlikely that John Paul Stevens will serve through the next two Presidential terms.
Odds of vacating before January 20, 2013: 90%
Odds of vacating before January 20, 2017: 98%
JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG -- AGE 75
One of the liberal wing's stalwarts, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is the second-oldest member of the Court. At 75 she is a nine-year survivor of colo-rectal cancer. While currently in good health, she has already reached the age at which half of Justices retire. One should not be surprised to see her retire in the first term of an Obama administration, though continued good health and a popular President Obama three years from now could well create a situation where she chooses to remain for another three or four years, confident that a Democrat will hold the Presidency during that time.
Odds of vacating before January 20, 2013: 65%
Odds of vacating before January 20, 2017: 85%
JUSTICE ANTONIN SCALIA -- AGE 72
In the next eight years Justice Antonin Scalia will pass the average and median ages of retiring Justices. However, if his temperment is any reflection on his constitution, Scalia may have well more than eight more years in him as a Justice. Personally, I tend to think that his contrarian nature indicates that he'll be serving as long as is reasonably possible even to the point where I suspect he doesn't concern himself with who might be in the Oval Office when and if he does comtemplate retirement.
Odds of vacating before January 20, 2013: 30%
Odds of vacating before January 20, 2017: 65%
JUSTICE ANTHONY KENNEDY -- AGE 72
Justice Kennedy currently occupies the position of the Court's swing vote, periodically enraging both the left and the right, depending on the decision. Like Scalia, he has now sat on the USSC for over two decades, and though he does not seem to intensely relish his position to the extent that Justice Scalia does, that impression may only be due to their comparative personalities. I suspect Kennedy is more likely to step down if another vacancy changes the makeup of the Supreme Court such that he is no longer the swing vote between equal-strength ideological blocs.
Odds of vacating before January 20, 2013: 35%
Odds of vacating before January 20, 2017: 70%
JUSTICE STEPHEN BREYER -- AGE 70
I believe Justice Breyer is of an age and health that gives him realistic hope of serving on a United States Supreme Court with a liberal majority, and for that reason I think he is more likely than not to remain on the court beyond the next two Presidential terms. Breyer may look forward to a day when he is in his late 70s, when Justices Stevens and Ginsburg and perhaps Souter have stepped down in favor of younger liberal Justices, and when Justice Kennedy and perhaps a conservative Justice have also been replaced with younger liberals. Justice Breyer would then sit as the elder Justice of the High Court's liberal majority.
Odds of vacating before January 20, 2013: 15%
Odds of vacating before January 20, 2017: 40%
JUSTICE DAVID SOUTER -- AGE 69
Though still shy of 70, Justice Souter is a likely candidate for an early retirement. He reportedly strongly considered it in the wake of the Bush v. Gore ruling, which he considers an absolutely travesty. Further, his love of his New Hampshire home is matched by his dislike of Washington, DC. I imagine he'd gut out a McCain Administration, not expecting the country to vote for a fourth consecutive GOP term as President, but if Obama is elected I think Justice Souter will step down as soon as convenient, though quite possibly allowing Stevens and perhaps Ginsburg to do so first.
Odds of vacating before January 20, 2013: 50%
Odds of vacating before January 20, 2017: 80%
JUSTICE CLARENCE THOMAS -- AGE 60
Justice Thomas' legal career has often been a bitter one and judging from recent publications he remains a bitter man. Though only 60, he's been on the USSC for almost 17 years, and promises to be on for many more. Even more so than Scalia, I think, Clarence Thomas is determined to soldier on through decade after coming decade. How his bitterness affects his aging remains to be seen. Perhaps he'll come to some terms with his situation and that will change his outlook; this could only help his health. But I foresee continuing years of silent defiance of his detractors as he sits on the High Court.
Odds of vacating before January 20, 2013: 15%
Odds of vacating before January 20, 2017: 30%
JUSTICE SAMUEL ALITO -- AGE 58
There's not much to speculate with the Court's newest Justice. At only 58 years of age and in fine health, Samuel Alito looks to be around for the foreseeable future, likely well beyond the next eight years.
Odds of vacating before January 20, 2013: 10%
Odds of vacating before January 20, 2017: 20%
CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS -- AGE 53
The Chief Justice is the youngest of them all. One would expect him to spend at least another dozen or 15 years on the Supreme Court. At this point he could retire at a relatively young age while still having made an impact as Chief Justice. On the other hand, 25 or 30 years down the road the USSC might still be the Roberts Court. At any rate, it would take something unforeseen to see him exiting the seen before 2017.
Odds of vacating before January 20, 2013: 5%
Odds of vacating before January 20, 2017: 10%
To simplify the analysis a bit, I'd like to break down the current Justices of the United States Supreme Court into four groups based on general similarities in alignment and likelihood of a vacating their seats between January 20, 2009 and January 20, 2017.
OReilly is a liberal in non-partisan clothing. I saw the video of his temper and he is a book selling blow hard.
Excellent!
I don’t know why I tune in to O’Reilly, but I was watching when he said this. He indicted FR as “the worst of the right-wing sites” - or something similar. Appalling. Obviously he doesn’t take note when my fellow freepers are requesting prayer for those on the left or when stories of true nonpartisan patriotism are circulated and applauded. Apparently he’s so concerned with appearing nonpartisan that he misses the truth. Or he’s just not interested.
Consider me a cling on!
One right-wing loon, bitterly clinging to my guns and religion checking in!
Sorry I missed this last night. I NEVER watch the gasmaster anymore; he bores me to tears.
But I’ll be watching tonight, expecting to hear this letter read by the holier than thou (well, except for the Messiah) one himself.
Way to go Jim! But to be honest, I didn’t even realize the idiot O’Reilly said anything...I stopped watching his show several years ago.
Instead of if a tree falls in a forest... My question is “When O’reilly says something stupid and no one hears it...did it happen?”
Newscorp executives endorsed John Kerry in 2004 and Murdoch gave to Hillary’s senate campaign.
Just because Fox News is to the right of CNN doesn’t make them conservative.
BoRe isn’t a conservative. He’s a former tabloid tv host.
All the Rage--Wanda Sykes’ death wish is but the latest exhibit of leftist bloodlust. (FrontPageMagazine.com May 13, 2009 Ben Johnson)
Perhaps the line got so much applause because so many in the “mainstream” media have expressed similar sentiments about conservatives. NPR’s Nina Totenberg, who covers politics at taxpayer expense, wished Sen. Jesse Helms would contract AIDS. (He instead suffered from vascular dementia.) Totenberg later publicly hoped Gen. Jerry Boykin would find he “is not long for this world.” Columnist Julianne Malveaux proposed this nutrition plan for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas: “I hope his wife feeds him lots of eggs and butter, and he dies early, like many black men do, of heart disease.”
ROFL! Actually, I can't be sexist because I'm female....
God bless you, JimRob, and bravo for putting that in perspective. I very recently lost my husband to the complications of diabetes-the person who posted such sentiments is indeed mean spirited. That said, O’Reilly is, as usual too thin skinned.
Well, I’ve learned a heck of a lot more from reading FR than from listening to O’Riley! Thanks for your work Jim.
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