Mon 8 Jun 2009
MONDAY MUSINGS
Posted by admin under politics
The weekend was so busy that I almost forgot that it was time for our weekly Monday Musings. There have been a lot of stories that have caught my eye this past weekend and past week. The first one that caught my eye was the continuing attempts by the radical right wing to demonize Supreme Court Nominee, Judge Sotomayor. They have called her a racist, stupid and lied that she made it through college and law school due to her minority status. G. Gordon Liddy even commented that he hoped that she wasn’t hearing cases when she was menstruating! http://thinkprogress.org/2009/05/29/liddy-sotoyamor-menstruating/. I did not think that I would ever use that word on this site. After all of these mindless and untrue claims, you would think that the neocons would run out of lies, but the hits just keep on coming. With all of that crap being spewed by the right, you can imagine my surprise when former First Lady, Laura Bush, came out in favor of the nominee. On ABC’s Good Morning America program Mrs. Bush stated: ” ‘I think she sounds like a very interesting and good nominee,’ ” Bush said.” http://thinkprogress.org/2009/06/08/laura-endorses-sotomayor/. Kudos for Mrs. Bush for going above the lies and sexist claims from the heads of her party. Maybe Mrs. Bush’s comments will send a signal to the rest of neocons that it is time for the lies to stop.
The next story that just hit the wires today was that the Supreme Court just decided that buying judges won’t be allowed in this country. http://thinkprogress.org/2009/06/08/judge-for-sale/. In the decision in Caperton et al v. A.T. Massey Coal Co. Inc, etal, the majority drew a line that judges cannot cross. http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/08pdf/08-22.pdf. This case is an interesting one because a West Virginia State Supreme Court of Appeals justice refused to recuse himself from a case that involved one of his campaign contributors. Not just any contributor, but one that gave a cool $3 Million dollars to his campaign. The decision was 5-4 in favor of judges recusing themselves from cases involving their significant campaign contributors. Which judges voted against this? I would think that you could guess by now that it was Chief Justice Roberts, Justice Alito, Justice Thomas and Justice Scalia who decided that bribing judges is ok in their world. Chief Justice Roberts wrote the dissent and states that the new decision will actually cause more judges to be accused of being biased. He complains that the majority was not specific enough with guidelines to allow future judges to know when they are crossing the line of bias. I guess when you decide a case in favor of a party that gave you a $3 Million contribution and you still don’t see anything wrong with it, maybe the minority does need some more guidelines. Or maybe they just need a new moral compass. Only a neocon Republican conservative judge could think that not recusing yourself in that situation was nothing serious. Thankfully, the majority was not swayed by this type of monetary logic. I am glad that the Supreme Court decided that justice should not only be blind, but it should also not be bought.
Judge Sotomayor has made an important point for the benefit of transparency. The meaning of many words have already been changed under the enlightened tutelage of President Obama and now, the word ‘racist’ has finally been re-defined, which is long overdue. As the Judge so clearly noted, a Latino women can make better decisions than a white male and as usual, the right-wingers cannot get their pea-sized brains around this latest progressive statement of truth. They complain that her statement marks her as a racist, but the fact is that her statement clearly illustrates how the ethnic, cultural & racical differences in people in America do result in some people rightfully having the power to exert a positive influence for the benefit of the whole citizenry. The demagogues always get wound up focusing on the little picture and reject the basic truth that peoples’ differences, racial and otherwise, lead to positive influences on the masses when judges like Judge Sotomayor are given the power to exercise their power of difference and establish legal & social policy. She & the President have brilliantly demonstrated how racial differences between Americans actually lead to greater transparency & will level the playing field in the long run and thereby equal justice for all as judged by those judges who are better suited to make decisions, like Judge Sotomayor. Conservatives need to stop confusing racism, as it used to be know, with the progressive transparency of President Obama.
Joe,
It is good to hear from you again. I can agree that Sotomayor scares the neocons because she is the face of a reality that they just can’t handle. She represents the Latino community which is fast becoming the majority in this country. I know that thought sends conservatives into therapy, but she will be a better Supreme Court Justice than any of the Bush appointees.
My Dad,
There was a young judge named Sotomayor,
For whom liberals say they do quite adore.
She makes policy from the bench,
Belongs to La Raza with no stench
And stated a white guy remark that was said to be poor.
Qman,
I didn’t know that you were a poet. Maybe I will give it a try:
There once was a neocon who was a lad,
who often had discussions with “Dad”,
He tried as he might, to steer “Dad” to the Right,
But “Dad” could not be swayed and would not shirk from the fight.
My Dad, in the interest of other readers, I will immediatley end the def poetry jam. However, I kind of like the lad reference; sounds young like me.
Qman,
I agree that poetry is not one of my few strengths. I thought you might like the “lad” reference. You would probably be the oldest Lad in America.