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| I want to help try and build a more responsible society here in Britain. One where we don't just ask what are my entitlements, but what are my responsibilities. |
A Critique of the Conservative Response to the Kagan SCOTUS Nomination
Let me make this point clear: Elena Kagan is not someone I would nominate to the Supreme Court; I have no doubt she will find some pretext for a preordained progressive judicial outcome. At the same time, I believe she is strongly qualified, and if I was in the Senate, I would vote to confirm. Generally speaking, I believe that a President deserves to have his decision confirmed. I did not support Justice Sotomayor's nomination, but that wasn't because I thought she was unqualified (in fact, she served several years on the Court of Appeals, just like Alito); I did think she had demonstrated some very bad judgment, e.g., the "wise Latina" comment, and I thought there were more exceptional candidates available. I don't doubt that a progressive like Kagan might privately agree with the feminist/minority ideological standpoint behind the "wise Latina" comment, but the fact that she recruited and befriended conservative colleagues at Harvard Law School suggests that she has a less strident personal style.
There are a couple of talking points widely discussed on Fox News Channel and conservative blogs: (1) Elena Kagan's position on trying to ban military recruiters at Harvard because of "don't ask, don't tell" , and (2) Kagan's lack of judicial experience.
First, I disagree with Kagan's paternalist, arrogant attempt to bar access to public sector recruiters based on disagreement with idiosyncratic administrative policies. You have to wonder about her judgment when she says something so patently absurd: "don't ask, don't tell" is "a profound wrong, a moral injustice of the first order"? "Don't ask, don't tell" isn't a prohibition against service by, or a witch hunt of, gay Americans; it simply requests that gay soldiers be discreet over their sex lives. I don't discuss my (straight) sex life with family or friends. I don't know what Ms. Kagan understands to be a "moral injustice of the first order", but I think there are a lot worse things out there, like duping an elderly couple out of their life savings, setting up a charity and stealing good faith donations, or devising work-at-home schemes to rip off unemployed people. If Ms. Kagan genuinely wanted to make a difference, perhaps it would be to her side's ideological benefit to ENCOURAGE their "enlightened" graduates represent the interests of gay soldiers within the system... I also think it's hypocritical for Kagan and company to have solicited federal funds for the benefit of their programs and students while barring federal recruiters. But I do not blame Kagan for pursuing this issue through our legal system; I have no doubt her position was representative of progressive group think at Harvard.
Second, the lack of judicial experience? You have a chicken-or-the-egg issue; every judge got his or her start somewhere. A professor with teaching and administrative experience at two of the top law schools in the country, a solicitor general who has presented cases in front of the Supreme Court isn't qualified to be a Supreme Court justice? You can't argue that she doesn't understand the mechanics and methodology underscoring judicial decisionmaking.
Political Cartoon
Dana Summers indirectly references the Obama Administration's hypocritical response to Bush's initial delayed response to the unfolding Katrina disaster (one of the strongest hurricanes on record) in contrast to Obama's even longer response to the greatest ecological disaster in decades. Obviously Obama was never a Boy Scout ("Be prepared"); given one-third of American-produced oil coming from the Gulf of Mexico, there was no obvious emergency plan in place if and when we had an accident in the Gulf? How long before a spill was apparent did it take for a fire boom to deploy? Instead all we get is Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's rhetoric to "keep a boot on the throat" of "Beyond Petroleum" BP.... One has to wonder, with "Big Government Knows Best" federal regulators on the job, how adequate had been risk assessment of deepwater spills and the adequacy of manual disaster recovery a mile below the surface? I haven't seen any evidence that BP is denying financial responsibility for the accident. The "leadership" we have seen from the White House is pushing on a string...
Quote of the Day
I can’t write a book commensurate with Shakespeare, but I can write a book by me.
Sir Walter Raleigh
Musical Interlude: Still More "Midnight" Songs
Creedence Clearwater Revival, "Midnight Special"
Wilson Pickett, "In the Midnight Hour"
ABBA, "Gimme, Gimme, Gimme (A Man After Midnight)"
Allman Brothers, "Midnight Rider"
