BrandonHendricks.com

Well it almost happened, but it was avoided. The Republicans were ready to use the Constitutional / Nuclear option to stop the Democrats from abusing the filibuster. But 14 Senators made a compromise to avoid it. And I think we are all better off because of it. If the Republicans had used stopped the use of filibusters for judicial nominations, the Democrats would have brough congress to halt (which may not actually be bad). Also as I have mentioned, one day the roles will be reversed. So if the Republicans want to play the Democrats game, they will be able to do that. But this is not the end. The compromise leaves Democrats the option to filibuster “Extreme Nominations”. What is exteme? Many say anyone who is Pro-Life is extreme. If the Democrats filibuster a Supreme Court nominee, then I say go nuclear, but not until then.

What is strange about this compromise is that groups on both sides are mad. James Dobson of Focus on the Family and Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council said their will be consequences. I as Pro-Life as anyone else, but until a Supreme Court Nomination comes into play, this will matter little. I don’t need Dobson and Perkins telling me what is necessary to be a good Christian Voter. (I have the Pope for that.) Perkins is from Louisiana and ran against Mary Landreui for Senate in 2002.

The Senators who compromised did a good job though lets hope when it comes time to Nominate a Surpreme Court Justice, the Democrats keep their end of the bargain.

In the House, the issue was Embryonic Stem Cell Research. My Congressman, Charlie Melancon favors federal funding on ESCR at least in cases where the Embryos have already been killed and will be discarded. Not sure if he think future Embryos should be destroyed for research. I have written to him opposing this and on a few other bills that I have mentioned here.

http://www.nola.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/news-3/1116917711133590.xml

I start at LSU on June 13. I am getting a drug test this week for that. I also am making my 4th Degree for the Knights of Columbus on June 5. I’m just glad I got the Tuxedo buying over with.

[b]Life[/b]

It’s between 11:30am and 12:00pm on Tuesday (disregard what the post time is) and I have 3 and a half more days of Wild.Net left. I have slowly started clearing off my desk. Still haven’t heard from LSUHSC yet.

Pray for Robin’s mom who was in the hospital with a Gull Stone, went home and then went back in with a Blood Clot.

Things to do after I am done with work:
Exercise / Work Out / Get Back in Shape
Work on some Java Stuff
Work on Video Editting
Lobby my Congressmen

Almost got the blog intergrated with my site layout. Just need to rewrite the comment section.
[b]Politics & Bills[/b]

While searching for some Legislation, I came across a site http://www.GovTrack.us/ which allows you to search for Bills (like http://thomas.loc.gov/ ) but this will send you updates on the status and how a certain person voted. I have set up and account and will use it a lot.

Haven’t found many new Bills, but I have updated a few of my old entries to show that a Bill has been voted on. The main news is the REAL ID Bill passed as part of the Appropriation Package for the military and tsunami. Only three Republicans (including Rep. Ron Paul (Republican – TX)) voted against it.

Support the Read the Bills Act of 2005.

http://www.downsizedc.org/read_the_laws.shtml

Forget to mention this one a while back.
Support S 520 & HR 1070 – Constitutional Restoration Act of 2005

John Bolton has cleared the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and will go on to a Full Senate vote. It sounds like Bolton has a few faults (one being he is too flunt) but he will tell the United Nations how it is and hopefully get us out. http://www.MoveAmericaForward.org/

Speaking of Ron Paul and organization the US should get out of, here is Ron Paul’s latest commentary in regards to the World Trade Organization. http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul250.html

[i][editting this post][/i]I forgot about the filibuster / judicial nomination issue, which may be settled by the next time I post here.

First of all, let me say that both sides are wrong and if the situation was reveresed, both sides would be doing the exact same thing that the other side was doing. I wish the Democrats would stop filibustering Bush’s nominations, but on the other hand, I hope the Republicans do not use the Constitutional aka Nuclear Option. I just read today that both sides failed to reach a compromise so it looks like that is going to happen. It will be a close vote if it does come down to this. And if it does, everybody loses.

Only 10 judges have been filibustered. 3 have withdrawn, leaving 7. Two of the seven I would vote no on if I were a Senator: Precilla Owen of the Texas Supreme Court and William Pryor, former AG of Alabama. In Texas, a young man was hurt in a car accident which was the fault of Ford. The family sued, won, and Ford appealed. The family could not afford the medical care necessary and this man was on Medicare or Medicaid and once he was 21 they stopped paying for it. During the appeals process, the case reached Owen. Owen ruled that case had to retried in a different venue, though none of the other courts had ruled that way. There is also a little more to it but I am not a lawyer. Since the case had to go back to the lower court, the man eventually died when his life support equipment failed, equipment that the family could not afford to replace without the money that was suppose to be given to them. Had Owen not done this, perhaps this man would have lived. (However, Owen does have a good pro-life record.)

William Pryor was the Attorney General of Alabama and was the prosecutor in the case that removed Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore from the bench. (Moore should be getting a judicial nomination.) Pryor has also vowed to uphold Roe v. Wade.

On the other hand, Janice Brown of the California Supreme Court would make a good Federal Judge and the Democrats only problem with her is that she is a black woman who is conservative.

Counting today, 14 days left at Wild.Net. LSUHSC has interviewed me a second time and requested references, but I have not yet accpeted or rejected.

Attended the Knights of Columbus Louisiana State Convention with Robin this weekend. Rep. Bobby Jindal (Republican LA-1), also a KC, was the guest speaker. He spoke on what converted him to Catholicism. Robin had a good time, had a $65 meal and got to hear Jindall speak for her birthday.

[b]Bills[/b]

Support S 8 & HR 748 – Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act – [i]Passed in House[/i].
I can see some opposing this as it does say abortion is ok under certain circumstances, but it does not do anything else to promote abortion that is not being done now and it does make it harder to get an abortion which is a good thing.

The Senate passed its emergency spending bill (most of it a waste), but did not include its companion to the REAL ID Act which is good. [i]The appropriations bill HR 1268 passed a joint conference 100-0 in the Senate[/i]

Bush signed the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005. Overall I oppose this bill. The “Family Entertainment” part allows use to filter out objectionable content when viewing a DVD. Hollywood opposed this part of the bill while I don’t have a problem with this part. The “Copyright” part makes it a federal crime punishable by up to three years for being in possession (distribution not required) of a movie that has not yet been released in theaters. Hollywood loves this part and was willing to accept the other portion. The punishment should fit the crime and this is overkill. I view distributing a movie vs. a song differently. I can see making distributiton a crime, but possession should not be and three years is overkill. Many Social Conservatives see this as good since they can filter sex and violence from movies from young children. Hollywood Liberals and Executives favor this as well because this will help stop “piracy” because they are losing money. This does hurt the movie industry more than the music industry but this is still overkill. More evidence of Republicratic Corporatism.

Support HR 552 – [url=http://www.prolifealliance.com/Life%20at%20Conception%20Act.htm]Right to Life Act[/url]
This bill will extend the 14th Amendment to protect unborn children, just as it did to blacks when it was oringinally passed shortly after the Civil War.

Support HR 1201 – Digital Media Consumers’ Rights Act of 2005
Help Reform the Digital Millenium Copyright Act of 1998

Support [url=http://www.downsizedc.org/read_the_laws.shtml]Read the Bills Act of 2005[/url]
I contributed money to this and am listed as a Rep. Legislative Sponsor.

In case I haven’t mentioned it yet, good job to the [url=http://www.minutemanproject.com/]Minute Man Project[/url] in Arizona for Patrolling the Border. And good job to [url=http://tancredo.house.gov/irc/welcome.htm]Tom Tancredo (Republican – CO)[/url] for taking our immigration problems seriously.