Read Between the Lines Chuck; Sotomayor even more questionable

Our new SCOTUS nominee, Sotomayor, has been making her rounds on the Hill meeting with the key players. The issue that seems to have been coming up, and rightfully so, is whether or not Sotomayor is a reverse racist or not.

Does she judge with race in mind? Was the case in Connecticut with the firefighters a example of that? Can you truly be for equality and civil rights if you do not view everyone equally?

All of this erupted when a one of Sotomayor's statements hit the news cycle shortly after her nomination. In 2001 (and the WSJ is reporting that she made the same exact statement in 1994, the judge said:

"I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."

(Hmmm. White people can't have rich experiences too? And since when did all of life's experiences help us reach better conclusions? If that were the case, the entire psychological medical field would fold up and close their doors. The truth is, certain life experiences make us bitter, angry, revengeful, biased and untrustworthy. I don't want any of those attributes in a judge, let alone a SCOTUS judge. But, that is not the point.)

Democrats have been defending that horrific sentence for a week now. Today,Sen. Charles Schumer, a senior Judiciary Committee member, met with Sotomayor and afterward he made himself, as always, available to the press. When the senator was asked if he had a chance to bring up the issue with her, the answer was extremely enlightening, at least for me. In fact, I think good old Chuck made it far worse for Sotomayor.

Yes, he did ask her to explain herself. Here is what he said, and read carefully:

"She said, 'Read three sentences later -- nine white males changed history with Brown v. Board of Education."

That was her defense: put it in context! That seems to be the strategy Sotomayor and supporters have taken for about a week now. Well, Chuck did. He read on quoting Judge Sotomayor's three sentences later:

"We should not be so myopic as to believe that others of different experiences or backgrounds are incapable of understanding the values and needs of people from a different group....Nine white men on the Supreme Court in the past have done so on many occasions and on many issues, including Brown.

Ok. Us, the "others of different experiences" than Sotomayor, might, we just might be capable. After all, "nine white men" got it right. In a world of biased, racist white men, nine got it right. The rest of us: grab the hoods and pitch forks.

Are you serious! That is the context they summon together to defend her!? If anything, it reinforces her earlier statement.

I would ask Ms. Sotomayor:
1. There are only nine people who got it right?
2. Any other white people on the right track since 1954? Or has it been downhill from there?
3. So, despite our "white" background, we really are capable of empathy and morality? Really? Truly!?

Way to go Chuck, you convinced me: Sotomayor's views on race must be scrutinized.

Obama Silecning the Marching Beat

Today was a long day. Plugging away on a new project for a new client and it simply wasn't going well. I came home, nibbled on some leftovers, and opened up the op-ed page of the Wall Street Journal. I usually read the Journal in the early morning while sitting outside and sipping a coffee and enjoying the early morning sun; one of my indulgent moments. But, today things just got off on the wrong foot. I was late; while the news was read throughout the day, the op-ed was postponed. Now that I was home, I had time and opened up the pages that waited for me all day, teasing me as they lay on my desk.

And, there it was. At first I skimmed it over and moved on. Than, I read it again and a feeling of remorse settled over me, reminding me of what we, all of us, the country as a whole, has lost since January.

The article was titled Islamists Lose Ground in the Middle East by By JOSHUA MURAVCHIK (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124381143508370179.html) and it is a must read.

Mr. Muravchik describes the incredible, no, monumental election that took place in Kuwait last month. This was more than a election; it was a revolution of ideas, of hope, of real authentic change.

It was the birth of democracy, of freedom in a region ruled by tyrants and ruthless rulers. Four women, four amazing women, were elected to Kuwait's parliament. Unprecedented. Amazing. But, why didn't I hear about it, or at least pay more attention?





The answer is simple: Barak Obama.

After all, how can democracy be celebrated elsewhere, when, at home, the government has taken over the auto industry? How can we value the accomplishment of a electoral system at work elsewhere while our government is protecting and funding ACORN here at home? How can we celebrate the spread of capitalism and independent financial freedom when our own banks are being bought by the government and we are told which cars we can buy? How can we celebrate freedom when we are being punished through numerous taxes for lifestyle choices as mundane as which soda we buy ?How can we appreciate overcoming oppression when Americans are wondering where the money for food is going to come from while the president goes on a $300,000 date? How can we stand as a shinning city on a hill while our president apologizes to the world for our existence? How can we be proud of others while still wondering what has happened to us?

Empathy. That has been a buzz work lately, with the Sotomayor nomination and all. But, if you want to know about empathy,to define it, you must look at the presidency of George W. Bush. Let's leave alone, for a moment, the thousands of meetings the president had with the families of our fallen soldiers, which is a amazing testimony to the man in of itself. The president felt the pain, the burden of oppression, not only for Americans, but the citizens of the world.

President Bush believed in freedom, in liberty and in what the human spirit can accomplish with those ideals as its sustenance. The president worked to promote democracy around the world.




Bare with me for a moment and indulge in the following quote from President Bush:

“Some who call themselves realists question whether the spread of demoracy in the Middle East should be any concern of ours. But the realists in this case have lost contact with a fundamental reality: America has always been less secure when freedom is in retreat; America is always more secure when freedom is on the march.”

But, Bush was concerned with more than just security. It worried about people and the life that would be able to live. He understood the immense suffering felt by a wounded spirit. Mr. Bush had faith in people and truly believed that every single person should have the right to dream and be given the opportunities to pursue those dreams. It wasn't solely about our own freedom, but the idea that freedom for all means safety and security for all. It is also so much more.

Now, with President Obama, we are realist, as President Bush said, but no longer Americans, or at least what made being American so splendid.

I have been to Venice. And in San Marco square there are numerous cafes that line the walls and each of them has an ensemble that plays typical classical music. Tourist love it. Some newly in love and some in love for decades sway along with the dancing notes. But, the square has a horrible echo; a nightmare to any musician. So, these ensembles of talented Italian musicians would take turns. First one band would play a set and than the next and so on. Always polite, always allowing the crowd to mosey along to the next musical delight.

We are America. The birthplace of democracy and all its glorious ideals. We are the place that destiny has empowered to be a nation that is ruled by a government "of the people, by the people and for the people." Read that again and truly grasp who we are as a nation, as a country and what our government is meant to be.

Our music is meant to be shared, to be celebrated. We are not meant to sit this one out and patiently admire the glorious notes another's freedom. We are meant to play on together, to compliment one another. Where has our music gone? We were the composer, and now the tone deaf critic.

If we are polite, if we refuse to join- in in the masterpiece of music that is global democracy, we will fall into the shadows of history and time; become irrelevant, all sad and broken.

America has always been a nation of visionaries; innovators who broke through the barriers built by logic and reason. We are a people who venture beyond the prairie and dive into a new ocean. We are a country founded by people who risked their lives to cross treacherous seas to reach a rocky shore, bear the harshest of winters, and dig in the earth to plant a new seed in a land with no prior example to follow. We always looked towards tomorrow and asked: what if? But now? Now we are on a path that leads us to a place we have never been. A place that will cause us to long for yesteryear, to remember, with a fancy, what once was.

Freedom and liberty is blossoming in the desert. Hope is in the eyes of the old and young alike. The spirit, the remarkable spirit of the human soul is vibrant and reaching for independence, for liberty, for personal freedom like a starving seed that, after the winter, stretches towards the brightly shinning sun; like fresh drops of water on cracked parched lips. Democracy is on the march, moving to the beat of a steady drummer, thumping on the ground as it pounces over tyrants and prejudices. Freedom is on the march elsewhere; here, it is silent, in retreat, bashful and apologetic. Here, President Obama has silenced the drummer.


I am exuberant about the freedom others are discovering, but wondering where America's has gone? I am overwhelmed with joy at seeing the vision of our Founding Fathers enacted in the lives of the oppressed, but enviously yearning for a freedom of our own. I am too young to be nostalgic, but nostalgic nonetheless.

I suppose all I can do is wait; wait and see if the American people will rediscover itself and demand change; not the kind of change romantically but emptily spoken of on a campaign trail from a teleprompter but the kind that can bring us back to our destined greatness. I suppose all I can do is hope; thirst for true change that can bring American back to its founding principles; the same principles that are bringing salvation to the rest of the world.

I suppose all I can do is be thankful I lived to see a man like President Bush in the White House. For now, anyway.