Instapundit found a filibuster protest at his mall yesterday. I mean, how could any citizen feel that a filibuster is good, for any reason. I think it’s gone on long enough, and barring it from Judicial Nominations is a start, personally I think they should be barred for good. No doubt this little outing was organized by MoveOnPAC.

HERE’S SOMETHING I HAVEN’T SEEN BEFORE: A pro-filibuster protest at my local mall this afternoon. Signs read: “U.S. Senate — Nuclear Free Zone,” and something I couldn’t make out regarding “right-minded judges.”

The Ventura County Star is also reporting this. The article is here in it’s entirty for those of you who don’t want to login.

My favorite quote from this article is:

“The idea of the filibuster is to make sure we don’t have a single-party system,” Young said.

No, the idea of the filibuster is to grind progress to a screeching halt. It’s the essence of bureaucracy…

And from one of the signs:

Filibuster 133 Years Old

Hell, I can think of things older than that used to be legal but were abolished… Hmmm, slavery, witch trials, George Burns…

By Sylvia Moore, smoore@VenturaCountyStar.com
Photos by Karen Quincy Loberg / Star staff
April 28, 2005

“It ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

So said Ventura resident Tamara Coe about the filibuster process as she stood outside the county Government Center on Wednesday with more than 30 other protesters angered over Senate Republicans’ plans to change the rules involving judicial nominations.

The Ventura event was part of a nationwide protest organized by the political action committee MoveOn PAC, part of the liberal group MoveOn.org. Demonstrations also were held in Los Angeles, Orange County, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo.

A filibuster is a tactic in which a senator engages in endless debate to block a vote on a nominee or legislation. Sixty senators can override a filibuster.

Senate Republican leaders say the Democrats, who have blocked 10 out of 48 appellate judge nominations by President Bush, are unfairly playing politics with people qualified to serve on the federal bench. The Republicans say all of Bush’s nominees deserve an up-or-down vote from the full Senate and have threatened to change the Senate rules to eliminate the filibuster option for judicial nominations.

(continued)

Kris Young, the local MoveOn coordinator of Wednesday’s protest, called the Republican plan “neither democratic nor what the American people want.”

“The idea of the filibuster is to make sure we don’t have a single-party system,” Young said.

The protesters waved signs such as “Filibuster or Bust,” “Save Our Courts” and “Stop Bush’s Power Grab. Save Our Constitution.” Some motorists honked their horns as they drove past.

Ventura residents Rachel Morris and Cecilia Fargo held up a sign that read, “Filibuster — 133 years old.”

Morris said the filibuster should be kept as a way to give the minority a voice in controversial issues.

“I am concerned that the current regime is trying to get rid of checks and balances,” said Morris, a Web site developer. “If they do succeed in that, they will succeed in stacking the judicial branch.”

Mary-Frances O’Connor, a Ventura psychologist, said she believes the views of the most controversial of Bush’s nominees are far outside mainstream public opinion.

“My fear is that many of the rights ordinary Americans take for granted, like the right to privacy and the minimum wage, are not supported by these radical judges and would be struck down,” said O’Connor.

Young and other protesters insisted that the objections about Bush’s nominees are not about those judges’ religious faith, as some conservatives have complained. They just argued that religion shouldn’t be used to impose a certain viewpoint on others.

“I don’t see religion as a problem inherently,” said Young. “What the Christian right wants are judges who accept Jesus Christ as savior. That doesn’t make sense. … That leaves Jews out. That leaves Muslims out. Those kind of viewpoints are not acceptable to democracy.”

– The New York Times News Service contributed to this report.

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