In the coming weeks, you will hear that Judge Sotomayor is
- a liberal activist judge, whatever that means. In conservative circles, it's o.k. and even desirable to be a right-wing activist judge, but woe betide he or she who grounds rulings in actual human experience;
- believe it or not, the possessor of a funny last name that should be pronounced whatever way "Americans" feel like and not how she calls herself. Fair enough: From now on, I'm going to pronounce "Krikorian" as "Idiotic";
- not especially intelligent. Judge Sotomayor graduated summa cum laude from Princeton. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that she's smarter than, say, a Yale legacy student with a C average;
- a racist and a bigot, based on her decision in Ricci v. DeStefano. Stanford Law's Richard Thompson Ford explains why the decision upheld decades of civil rights law...
One thing is certain: She and we will not be spared this kind of stupidity. God/Buddha/Allah/Yahweh/Higher Power help Oklahoma...
Just A Song: Thanks to Stupid And Contagious for this insightful entry about the duende suffusing Townes Van Zandt's "Rake"...
Just my little piece of the world has more on Judge Sotomayor here...
Hispanics now comprise 15% of the population of the United States and are our fastest-growing ethnic group. Is it too much to ask that one of them sit on the Supreme Court and that she not be self-loathing? Especially after the way a Hispanic Attorney General embarrassed himself, his heritage, and his country with his disgraceful performance in office...
Fifty years ago last Sunday, Harvey (The Kitten) Haddix pitched 13 innings of perfect baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates, an individual pitching feat that no one has come close to equalling since. In these days of relief specialists and closely monitored pitch counts, it's unlikely that anyone ever will, too...
Justin Townes Earle, Midnight At The Movies. I was all set not to like it on the assumption that Earle was simply riding on the coattails of his father, Steve Earle. How wrong I was. More country and less gruff than his father, Earle has a vision and sound all his own; he mines traditional country themes of love and loneliness with a fresh and at times rollicking perspective. Best of all, though, is the autobiographical "Mama's Eyes" about a son torn between respect for his father's genius and his mother's sense of right and wrong. One gripe: At 32 minutes, Midnight At The Movies is far too short. If Earle felt like he didn't have enough original material to stretch the album, he could have included more trad songs along the lines of his excellent reading of "They Killed John Henry"...
It's purple martin time in New Orleans! More on martins in a post to come...
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9 comments:
Thanks K for all the links. You have been a good reliable commenter and I appreciate it.
You do very good work in your own right. I read you quite often, just don't always comment. Thanks for your good words and for keeping up the fight.
Don't forget that they're also going to try to paint Judge Sotomayor as an activist judge, whereas a careful reading of her opinions, and in the opinion of her peers, she sticks much closer to the rule of law than her accusers. Christy Hardin Smith discusses that point.
Annette: You have an excellent blog, and I'm glad I found it.
Roy: This "feelings" business is really a stumper and shows how desperate the R's are. Americans respond to Obama because he's the most calm and cool president we've had since John Kennedy. You want a guy who went with "feelings" and you need look no further Obama's predecessor. ("I looked the man in the eye. I was able to get a sense of his soul.") Of course, if you want a guy with absolutely no humanity whatsoever, you need look no further than Biden's predecessor.
Hey, great post! I'm excited about his choice and the ranting has already begun, of course.
I would have expected the right to be stupid about it, but once again, they've exceeded my expectations. I constantly underestimate them in the area of blatant hatefulness and idiocy. Thanks for the post.
Also, Miss Beatnik - great. Although in the picture they didn't look a whole lot like the beatniks in NYC. From what I coulod see they look more like Sandra Dee.
Let's hope all the bickering ceases and the lady gets her chance. I am most happy with the President's choice.
Townes Van Zandt - better than Cicero or Ovid, he deserves to be immortalized. (Though I am not sure he would see it that way.)
panter - thanks for the great analysis (as usual)
you should get an ex-pat (from texas) position writing for the texas observer
Sylvia: Thanks! It's a solid choice.
ZY: The right's potential for hateful whining is bottomless. I'm serious: Just when I think that they've sunk as low as they can, they surpass themselves. That's what happens when you think that the Rush Limbaugh Show is the fifth Gospel.
CP:: Be sure to read John Hayes' story about Townes in the comments section of my 5/14 post. You'll get a kick out of it.
Mouse: Now there's a thought...
I love this post, too.....great call about Gonzalez as opposed to Sotomayor! No doubt she would never have to embarrass herself the way he did!!
I LOVE the beatnik beauties and of course, the cool, hip, beatnik art! Ha!
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