Castles In The Sand

Yesterday, we only briefly touched on the Supreme Court's decisions regarding campaign finance law and immigration. As we've often said, anything worth doing is worth doing well - which is why we took our time unraveling both decisions, which we will do for you today.

As a reminder for Thursday's Supreme Court decisions regarding both the Stolen Valor Act, and of course, the Affordable Care Act, we'll warn you in advance: These court decisions are not as easy to accurately decipher as many TV and radio pundits, and instant bloggers - from all political backgrounds - attempt to make it seem.

Regardless of the mental stability of its justices, there is a reason these difficult cases make their way to the Supreme Court. If these were easy legal decisions, the cases would never get this far.

The massive wave of problems related to immigration that was handled in the Court's decision on Monday was a perfect example of how even the best plans and previous Supreme Court rulings can be washed away like so much sand, in the face of a tsunami.

In short, the court did not - as many, many, many legitimate media outlets said - uphold any part of Arizona's SB1070. For all the bragadoccio by Arizona's Gov. Brewer on Monday the fact is, the "Papers, please" provision of the court's decision was not the heart of the law. That provision allows law enforcement officers who have "reasonable suspicion" of someone's immigration status to stop them and ask them to provide identification.

That provision may also be on thin ice. As the Court itself made clear, and as legal scholars and others have confirmed, the Court is deferring to the earlier judgement of a lower court. Since SB1070 never really took effect, there was no way for the Justices to honestly judge whether it would work in practice. For now, that provision remains - but if Arizona law enforcement officers abuse it, which is entirely possible - that provision may also end up before the Court, and is likely to be struck down as well.

All the other provisions of Arizona's attempt at making its own, separate immigration law were smacked down very hard. Arizona - or any state or U.S. territory - is not allowed to have its own immigration policy. They cannot create new criminal charges that target immigrants. They cannot detain people indefinitely, because a person might be undocumented. Finally, certain Executive Branch actions regarding the application of Federal law - like President Obama's recent actions on immigration - are completely lawful.

In short, anti-immigrant forces got their race-based political excuse for legislation washed out in a wave of previous legal rulings.

Truthfully, the Court's other major decision on Monday - regarding campaign finance reform - while handled poorly, has a similar background.

In short, the high court  decided on Monday that whether or not states like Montana have had campaign finance restriction laws on the books for a single year or a century, states cannot set their own campaign finance laws, any more than they can set their own immigration policies.

We still firmly believe a less ideologically driven court would never have made its initial decision to allow corporations and wealthy individuals to effectively outright buy our elections.

That said, the consistency between the Court's decisions on immigration and campaign finance gives the Court back another small grain of credibility and legitimacy.

Depending on the decision the Court makes on health care Thursday morning, those grains of credibility may yet yet be washed away before the week is out.

Empty, Vague - And Hoping You Don't Notice.

As we mentioned Monday morning, this week will be filled with news and decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court, that will prove more than a few things to the American people.

One of those things already proven on Monday afternoon was the complete lack of professionalism and infantile anger of several of the justices on the conservative wing of the Court, especially that of Antonin Scalia. Justice Scalia's nakedly political ranting in dissent of the Court's 5-3 decision to strike down most of Arizona's SB1070 was passionate, if nothing else. The decision on immigration, released Monday afternoon, along with the Court's larger decision on the Montana campaign finance law, both served to lay bare the true positions of the extremists on the Court.

Justice Clarence Thomas, however, continued what has become a legendary habit of silence. Even at his most animated, Thomas seems to only display an occasional vague and dispassionate opinion. In short, Justice Thomas usually displays the kind of purposeful anonymity that most political media observers equate with GOP candidate Mitt Romney's "Mittness Protection" program.

Frankly, if only those two choices of judicial temperament are offered, we'd rather someone display the obvious partisanship of Scalia, to the nearly empty chair attitude of Thomas. At least we know where Scalia stands - even if he stands neck-deep in incompetence.

Thomas' attitude reminds us strongly of the current U.S. Senate race in Nebraska, between former Senator Bob Kerrey, and Nebraska state senator, Deb Fischer.

For quite some time now, Kerrey has been openly and publicly looking to interact, debate, and compare his ideas for helping Nebraskans to those of Fischer. The biggest problem Kerrey has run into with doing that is Fischer just hasn't seemed to want to debate anything - and it doesn't appear she's looking to do so at any time down the road, either.

We warned about Fischer's approach to campaigning back in mid-May, when she won the GOP nomination. Even then, we noted Fischer only won by remaining quiet - and then at the last minute, accepting the massive cash avalanche from the corporate right.

What even we didn't mention is that even as Fischer split the Republican Party, and quietly walked away with the nomination, she still failed to strongly let Republican voters - or really, any Nebraska voter - know what her positions are.

That Fischer's camp recently released a ridiculously biased poll, put together by a wholly unreliable Republican polling firm, that appears to have only polled by landline phone - an almost completely discredited method of accurate polling - hasn't kept multiple hack media outlets from bleating about a Fischer landslide.

What they've also missed, is the same thing we missed in May.

Fischer has yet to truly make any of her positions well-known - and as some in the Nebraska media have noted, she and her campaign have pretty much gone quiet.

Meanwhile, Bob Kerrey hasn't just been sitting around, waiting for Fischer. He's continued doing what Bob Kerrey has always done - plodding forward, meeting with other Nebraskans, listening to everything they have to say, even the ones that don't agree with him. He also continues to call out waste and abuse - like the corporate ag welfare Fischer's family readily collects.

In our collective experience, most Americans, whether they agree with a politician or not, at least want to know where those politicians stand.

Kerrey may not be as animated as Supreme Court Justice Scalia, but it's also quite obvious where Kerry stands. Fischer continues to display the same lack of passion as Justice Thomas, or even Mr. Romney.

To us, empty chairs, vague positions, and disinterested politicians have no business being part of a vibrant, effective government.

The Not-So-Fast And Superfluous

We're beginning this week warning you that the headlines and stories will be coming fast and furious this week - but likely the least important headline will be that of the partisan witch hunt surrounding the Justice Department, Attorney General Eric Holder, and the ridiculously named 'Fast and Furious' program.

Part of why the media will be flooded with news this week has nothing to do with the serious topics we'll be discussing. The fact is, since Independence Day falls in the middle of next week, nearly everyone who can afford to is trying to sneak in a five day weekend, one way or the other. For both politicians and the media, that means there really won't be much going on during the first week of July.

That means everything is getting packed into this week - so hang onto your backsides.

To start with, there are a large number of major decisions coming from our questionably just Supreme Court. The Court's decision on Arizona's SB1070 is due this week was released this morning and it will certainly have national ramifications. No matter what the Court decides, it's also nearly certain that Mr. Romney will have to try and defend his empty positions on immigration for the second week in a row.

The fate of health care insurance will also be decided - temporarily - by the Court this week. Make no mistake; no one, on any side, will be happy with the result, as polls have already confirmed. Further, legal scholars have overwhelmingly agreed that if the Supreme Court follows its own legal precedent, the Affordable Care Act - including the individual mandate - will be upheld. These same scholars also fully expect that at least some of the law will be rejected by the Court - meaning the Court's decision will likely be more political, and less just.

No matter what the Court decides, the American people have made it clear, they DO like most of the provisions of the ACA. They just don't like them all grouped into the package known as "ObamaCare", thanks to the propaganda of the right wing.

There's more news this week than just what the Supreme Court is doing, however.

Politics in the Middle East are changing rapidly right now, especially on the heels of the presidential election results being released in Egypt. What's more, the civil war in Syria appears to be widening, as Syrian government forces shot down a Turkish fighter jet in international airspace. Turkey also has seen recent terrorist attacks from Kurds in Iraq - so the Turks retaliated by targeting Iraqi Kurdish sites with their jet fighters.

Meanwhile, the economy around the world is still fragile for most people, even while corporations are making their biggest profits ever. Wildfires are lighting up all over the Western United States, and the richest corporatists appear ready to buy the election for their Republican stooges. Student loan rates are also set to explode like a time bomb, and millions of Americans still need more and better jobs.

So what is our Congress doing to try and fix some of these disasters?

For its part, the Democratic-led Senate has been surprisingly busy passing some legislation, including bi-partisan efforts like the Farm Bill, which passed last Friday, 64-35.

The Republican-led House, however, has had the world's worst collective case of cranial-rectal inversion. Republican Darrell Issa has been on a partisan witch hunt of Attorney General Eric Holder in a desperate attempt to try and find ANYTHING he can use to impeach President Obama.

However, as Issa admitted to Fox over the weekend, there is no evidence of White House involvement in "Fast and Furious."

That's why President Obama's bold move to use 'Executive Privilege" on some parts of the DOJ's investigation of Fast & Furious isn't evidence of a cover-up by the White House. It's evidence of our nation's chief executive blowing past a GOP-controlled House of Representatives that have their heads up their backsides. Mr. Obama continues moving forward, doing his job, as he attempts to deal with some of the massive problems facing America - like immigration - without the help of Congress.

There's a hell of a lot going on in the world right now. That Republicans in the House are wasting time on this superfluous political stunt displays for everyone exactly where their priorities are. That would be right where Republican leader Mitch McConnell said they would be, all along - to take President Obama down at all costs.