Miers Out... Who Will The Nominee Be?
Well, I'm sure that you've all heard the announcement that Harriet Miers has withdrawn her name. So the question on everyone's mind now is, "Who will the President nominate to replace her?"
And while you're all expecting me to write that it will be Secretary Norton, I'm not going to do that. There are, unfortunately, too many issues surrounding the Interior Department right now for the Secretary's confirmation process to be any more smooth than a Miers process.
So who will it be? (drumroll, please....)
The Honorable Consuelo Maria Callahan, Judge of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
(s0rry, I know the pic is a bit small)
From her short bio on the Federal Judicial Center website:
Born 1950 in Palo Alto, CA
Federal Judicial Service:U. S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Nominated by George W. Bush on February 12, 2003, to a seat vacated by Ferdinand F. Fernandez;
Confirmed by the Senate on May 22, 2003, and received commission on May 28, 2003. Education:Stanford University, A.B., 1972
McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific, J.D., 1975
Professional Career:
Deputy city attorney, Stockton, California, 1975-1976
Deputy district attorney, San Joaquin County, California, 1976-1982
Supervisory district attorney, San Joaquin County, California, 1982-1986
Court commissioner, Municipal Court, Stockton, California, 1986-1992
Judge, San Joaquin County Superior Court, California, 1992-1996
Associate justice, Third District Court of Appeal, California, 1996-2003
Race or Ethnicity: Hispanic
Gender: Female
Comments of "Courting Influence" website: "As the first Hispanic woman to serve on 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Callahan won unanimous approval (99-0) in the Senate. Sen. Leahy (D-VT) noted that, "Not a single person or organization has submitted a letter of opposition or raised concerns about her." (The Oakland Tribune, June 2, 2003)
Bob Novak claims that she was on the short list below Miers.
The American Constitutional Society characterized some of her noteworthy cases as follows:
"In Ileto v. Glock, 370 F.3d 860 (9th Cir. 2004), a mentally disturbed man, prohibited by law from owning a gun, opened fire on a Los Angeles-area Jewish Community Center wounding several children and killing postal worker Joseph Ileto. Callahan penned a dissent sharply criticizing the majority decision that allowed a suit filed by victims against the gun manufacturer to go forward. She wrote, "(t)he potential impact of the panel's decision is staggering ... the practical costs of forcing manufacturers to defend to juries all non-meritorious claims, as well as arguably meritorious claims, for all injuries that occurred in California cannot help but have a substantial impact on California's economy."
"In Arnold v. Runnels, Arnold, a criminal defendant, told police that he did not want his answers to be taped during questioning. When police turned on the tape recorder anyway, Arnold refused to answer the questions. The tape was admitted as evidence during trial with the prosecution arguing that Arnold's refusal to answer question should be construed against him. After conviction Arnold appealed to the 9th Circuit, which ruled that the prosecution's use of the tape violated his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Callahan dissented, arguing that Arnold did not sufficiently invoke his Fifth Amendment rights, and adding, "the error, if any, in admitting the tape, was unlikely to have had a substantial and injurious effect or influence in determining the jury's verdict." http://www.acsblog.org/judicial-nominations-2011-who-is-consuelo-callahan.html
And she apparently tap dances up a storm.
I need to read more about Judge Callahan - I don't know enough about her record on things like federalism, property rights, the regulatory state. But if I had to hazard a guess today, this would be it.
- Andrew Langer
posted by Andrew Langer at 9:42 AM
2 Comments:
Shadow Hills will go down in Insurance History
(Los Angeles, CA: November 6, 2005) Wolfgang Keller doesn’t know where to start. He’s been in the US for some time, working as a practitioner of Scientology technology from his Shadow Hills home. “It is a universal form of spiritual counseling” he says.
Keller and his fellow Scientologists believe that many of earth’s problems are due to periodic incursions by members of so-called invader forces. Even though details are restricted to those privy to Scientology’s higher teachings, Keller’s daughter, Iris, says that they are “evil alien beings, all they do is cause problems” and she is quite certain that they are responsible not only for unrest in the Middle East but also dropped cell phone calls and missing socks.
Keller, who trained as an engineer in Germany after the war, had built a high powered transmitter behind his house. For several years, he had been trying to communicate with the invader forces in an attempt to make peace. “Someone had to do it” he says, and “since I was trained in the highest levels of Scientology, I was well qualified” he adds.
In July he picked up signals indicating that representatives of the invader forces had agreed to a meeting. “You can imagine that we did not know what to think” said Keller’s other daughter, Maya.
The family and other staff member’s of Keller’s business, ARCTEAM worked around the clock to prepare. Even though they believed the invaders had good intentions, they were ready for trouble. Keller made sure everyone was equipped with a “Theta Tone.” Even though access to these is normally restricted to Scientologists, Keller explained that these devices have been used for thousands of centuries to defeat the various invaders.
After the preparation, the waiting.
On the morning of November 5th, Keller’s family was awakened by a loud purring noise. Hovering over the house in Shadow Hills was a blinker. A blinker, in Scientology teaching, is a cat-like alien that can fly and teleport. They are also believed to be very, very dangerous. Scientology teaches that the Egyptians used blinkers to conquer other kingdoms, and that the Tunguska explosion was caused by blinker “kittens” at play.
Keller’s family greeted the blinker. But there was trouble almost immediately. The blinker knocked down a row of trees behind the Keller home. Keller ordered everyone to get away, and he headed to his basement.
The blinker fired some kind of rays from its eyes and did considerable damage to the Keller home. Young Iris Keller caught this with her camera before getting away. “I will never forget it as long as I live” she said. “People make fun of what we believe, but that thing was here and attacked us.”
Keller tried to raise a protective field around the area with theta tones, but it did not work. He also placed a frantic call to Scientology’s Flag headquarters. He was placed on hold.
Keller’s family fled to nearby Sunland and alerted authorities. By the time they arrived, all they found was rubble. Keller was safe in a basement bunker, and was briefly hospitalized for observation and then released. Reports that Keller was singing the “Horst Wessel Lied,” often associated with Nazi Germany could not be confirmed, although it is known that some of Keller’s teachers had worked on the V-2 and other similar projects.
Sunland Police Captain Danny Harris says “it looks like Iraq up there,” referring to the hill where Keller’s home stood. “There was nothing we could do” stated Fire Marshall Ed McEvans.
Keller says he will rebuild. He has already spoken to his insurers and they are understandably skeptical. “It is not every day your house gets burned down by laser eyed cats” he says. “I am treating it as a fire” he continues, but admits that he is not sure what they will do.
Keller also plans to talk to Scientology leadership. “We were told we had the tech to fight them” he says. “I have paid a lot of money for training and look what happened” he adds, looking around at the rubble. “I will talk to David Miscavige in person” Keller stated emphatically. “He is L. Ron Hubbard’s successor, and he will have an answer.”
November 13, 2005 3:19 PM
Alrighty then.
November 13, 2005 5:53 PM
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