CNN:
Senate confirms Judge Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court nomination, 68-31, making her the first Hispanic on the high court.
Sotomayor becomes first Hispanic on high court
The U.S. Senate has confirmed Judge Sonia Sotomayor, in a 68-31 vote, as the first Hispanic justice on the Supreme Court. Nine Republicans joined a unanimous Democratic caucus in supporting her nomination. The 55-year-old federal appeals court judge becomes the 111th person to sit on the high court, and the third woman justice.
Showing posts with label sotomayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sotomayer. Show all posts
Thursday, August 06, 2009
What Part of "Public Servant" Do They Not Understand?
I found this terrific post first on Michelle Malkin's site with a link to Hot Air and Green Room.
Who We Are
posted at 8:48 am on August 6, 2009 by Doctor Zero
There seems to be a bit of confusion among Democrats about the nature of the opposition to their plans. Maybe I can help clear things up, by telling them a few things about us.
We’re not paid minions of any corporate interest or lobby. Most bloggers working to stop the Obama health-care disaster are like me, writing when they can find the time, because we care about the future of our country. The same is true of the people showing up at town hall meetings, and organizing rallies. Some of us are well-dressed in tailored suits. Others wear jeans and T-shirts. Most of us are dressed in what we wore to work.
Our support for a massive government program does not increase when you tell us we’re not allowed to ask questions about it.
We’re not racists. We’re also not racialists. We don’t think a wise Latina is inherently more qualified to do anything than a wise Asian woman, a wise white woman, or a wise white man. We’re tired of being fed excuses for high government offices staffed by anything but the best people for the job. There are too many high government offices, so we’d like some of Obama’s absurdly incompetent appointees to take their titles with them when they leave. We remember what it was like when we got rid of the Clinton mob, so we’ll be conducting inventories on the contents of those vacated offices, before we turn out the lights and pour cement in the locks.
We don’t like having to fight desperate battles to save our freedom and future from socialist politicians every ten or twenty years. We don’t like having our time wasted with trillion-dollar statist fantasies, when our government is already trillions of dollars in the red. We’re tired of checking the papers each day, to see which group of us has been targeted as enemies of the State. We’re growing impatient waiting for the Democrats to come up with ideas that don’t require their supporters to hate someone. We’ve had our fill of “progressives” who act as if we’re living in 1909, and none of their diseased policies have ever been tried before.
We believe government should be punished for failing to live up to the expectations of its citizens, not the other way around. We don’t think people who destroy thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in market value should get a pass because they meant well. We’ve had enough of dodging a massive State that wants to organize, subsidize, penalize, and divide us. We refuse to pay tithe to a religion we don’t support, including the official State religion of global warming. We demand honesty, humility, and transparency from our public servants, no matter how many elections they’ve won. We won’t settle for making the only important decisions about our futures in the voting booth, once every couple of years.
We don’t blame people for showing up to grab their share of a government handout. We blame the people who stole the money from the rest of us, and put it on the table for them. We don’t think respect for private property ends at a certain income level, or that only some people should be applauded for doing their best to get ahead in life. We believe in the power and righteousness of capitalism, the exchange of goods and services between free people acting in their own best interests. There is no moral substitute for it. Every other scheme for governing human affairs amounts to a few dominating some, to the applause of others. Our freedom is not for sale, and we reserve the right to defend it from theft.
We don’t invest our hopes in the government. It is beneath the dignity of free men and women to spend their days hoping a politician decides to provide for our needs. We face the future, not with passive and helpless “hope”, but with active and dynamic faith in ourselves, and our fellow Americans. We are opposed to a political class that tries to cultivate our hopes by showering us with fear. We don’t trust politicians with our fortunes, much less with our lives. In fact, we don’t trust politicians much at all… but we absolutely require them to trust us.
We do not regard America as the sole country on Earth that should be forbidden from taking pride in its history, traditions, and achievements. We reject the notion that celebrating our traditions is an automatic insult to anyone else. We owe absolutely no apologies to murderous dictators or unelected tyrants, and we care little for their feelings. We believe there are many lessons to be learned from our history, by all the people of the world, and we cannot teach those lessons if we allow ourselves to be shamed into silence. We will never hesitate to call evil by its proper name, or give evil men good reasons to fear us.
Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have a lot of work to do. There’s an election coming up next year.
This post was promoted from GreenRoom to HotAir.com.To see the comments on the original post, look here.
Who We Are
posted at 8:48 am on August 6, 2009 by Doctor Zero
There seems to be a bit of confusion among Democrats about the nature of the opposition to their plans. Maybe I can help clear things up, by telling them a few things about us.
We’re not paid minions of any corporate interest or lobby. Most bloggers working to stop the Obama health-care disaster are like me, writing when they can find the time, because we care about the future of our country. The same is true of the people showing up at town hall meetings, and organizing rallies. Some of us are well-dressed in tailored suits. Others wear jeans and T-shirts. Most of us are dressed in what we wore to work.
Our support for a massive government program does not increase when you tell us we’re not allowed to ask questions about it.
We’re not racists. We’re also not racialists. We don’t think a wise Latina is inherently more qualified to do anything than a wise Asian woman, a wise white woman, or a wise white man. We’re tired of being fed excuses for high government offices staffed by anything but the best people for the job. There are too many high government offices, so we’d like some of Obama’s absurdly incompetent appointees to take their titles with them when they leave. We remember what it was like when we got rid of the Clinton mob, so we’ll be conducting inventories on the contents of those vacated offices, before we turn out the lights and pour cement in the locks.
We don’t like having to fight desperate battles to save our freedom and future from socialist politicians every ten or twenty years. We don’t like having our time wasted with trillion-dollar statist fantasies, when our government is already trillions of dollars in the red. We’re tired of checking the papers each day, to see which group of us has been targeted as enemies of the State. We’re growing impatient waiting for the Democrats to come up with ideas that don’t require their supporters to hate someone. We’ve had our fill of “progressives” who act as if we’re living in 1909, and none of their diseased policies have ever been tried before.
We believe government should be punished for failing to live up to the expectations of its citizens, not the other way around. We don’t think people who destroy thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in market value should get a pass because they meant well. We’ve had enough of dodging a massive State that wants to organize, subsidize, penalize, and divide us. We refuse to pay tithe to a religion we don’t support, including the official State religion of global warming. We demand honesty, humility, and transparency from our public servants, no matter how many elections they’ve won. We won’t settle for making the only important decisions about our futures in the voting booth, once every couple of years.
We don’t blame people for showing up to grab their share of a government handout. We blame the people who stole the money from the rest of us, and put it on the table for them. We don’t think respect for private property ends at a certain income level, or that only some people should be applauded for doing their best to get ahead in life. We believe in the power and righteousness of capitalism, the exchange of goods and services between free people acting in their own best interests. There is no moral substitute for it. Every other scheme for governing human affairs amounts to a few dominating some, to the applause of others. Our freedom is not for sale, and we reserve the right to defend it from theft.
We don’t invest our hopes in the government. It is beneath the dignity of free men and women to spend their days hoping a politician decides to provide for our needs. We face the future, not with passive and helpless “hope”, but with active and dynamic faith in ourselves, and our fellow Americans. We are opposed to a political class that tries to cultivate our hopes by showering us with fear. We don’t trust politicians with our fortunes, much less with our lives. In fact, we don’t trust politicians much at all… but we absolutely require them to trust us.
We do not regard America as the sole country on Earth that should be forbidden from taking pride in its history, traditions, and achievements. We reject the notion that celebrating our traditions is an automatic insult to anyone else. We owe absolutely no apologies to murderous dictators or unelected tyrants, and we care little for their feelings. We believe there are many lessons to be learned from our history, by all the people of the world, and we cannot teach those lessons if we allow ourselves to be shamed into silence. We will never hesitate to call evil by its proper name, or give evil men good reasons to fear us.
Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have a lot of work to do. There’s an election coming up next year.
This post was promoted from GreenRoom to HotAir.com.To see the comments on the original post, look here.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
The Joy of Free Speech: IOWAHAWK Skewers Sonia!
A Wise Latina Will Add Spice to the Menudo of Justice
Iowahawk Guest Commentary
by Judge Sonia Sotamayor
Nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court
There has been a great deal written in recent weeks about an old extemporaneous quote of mine in which I stated that "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." One needn't read the prophetic entrails of my culture's colorful Santeria chicken sacrifice ceremonies to realize this out-of-context quote has caused some public concern and confusion. I would like to take this opportunity to clear up any lingering questions, and reassure the American public I will bring to the Supreme Court a jurisprudence borne of the intellect of Louis Brandeis, along with the spicy salsa rhythms of Tito Puente and Celia Cruz. ¡Azucar! ¡Arriba!
First, let me say that in no way did I mean to disparage the legal abilities of white males or others of non-Latina persuasion. Nature endows each of us -- male or female, white or black, Latina or Latino, Caribbean Mestizo or Aleut, Micronesian or Southwest coastal Scandinavian, Tutsi or Hutu -- with the rich, innate, culturally-specific legal DNA and genetic tribal empathy chromosomes that reflect a diverse ethnic rainbow of justice. I was not suggesting that one is somehow better than another; only that they are beautifully, beautifully different.
Indeed, it is only through these differences that America can forge a better, more diverse tradition of legal justice. As you know, the Latina women of my culture are passionate and fiery, and if we learn our famously hot blooded men have been cheating with some raven-haired puta at the cantina, there will be hell to pay. As a Justicia on the Tribunal Supremo I will be naturally vigilant for any colleague who strays from the law, and will not hesitate to clobber them with the rodillo of established legal precedence. Afterwards, when we have reached consensus, there will be hot makeup majority opinions.
This is exactly the kind of wise, precedent-faithful Latina legal approach that I believe will be welcome by others on the Supreme Court bench, all of whom bring their own unique genetic legal wisdom and instinctual empathy. Justices Roberts and Souter for example, with their aloof, sexless, constipated, emotionally-stunted WASPy intellects and natural affinity for preppy white collar criminals. Justice Stevens has this as well, along with a keen grasp for the legal issues facing Americans with senile dementia. As an Irishman, Justice Kennedy enjoys a natural "gift of the gab" and poetically tragic alcoholism. Like you, I imagine that Justice Breyer can be kind of pushy and whiny, but we should also remember that as a Jew he is probably very skilled at cases that involve complicated numbers and math. To the casual observer, it probably seems absurd to have greasy Italian "goodfellas" like Justices Alito and Scalia working inside the legal system, but if we give them a chance they may eventually break the code of Omerta and finally turn state's evidence against their Cosa Nostra bosses. Yes, many have criticized Justice Thomas for being a self-hating "Oreo" and "Uncle Tom," but I like to think that deep inside him still lurks the the DNA of an angry Cadillac-driving streetwise Superfly, ready to show "The Man" that his pimp hand is strong.
And let us not forget the Justice I assume I have been nominate to replace, the great woman jurist Ruth Bader Ginsberg. With her retirement, America will be losing a towering legal Yenta who tackled some of the Court's toughest legal issues with her relentless nagging maternal Jewish guilt complex. Obviously, she will be irreplaceable, short of finding another Yiddishe bubbe from Boca Raton. But as the court's new designated woman I will do my best to emulate her through Latina culture's tradition of the wise old village bruja, ready to cast the Evil Eye spell on those who would subvert our Constitutional rights.
I believe jurisprudence, like cooking, requires many ingredients to make a satisfying meal. In Latina culture we love menudo, the delicious spicy sopa made from simple ingredients. Think of the Constitution as our base ingredient: a bland, tasteless broth of boiled white tripe. Doesn't sound so tempting, does it? Now here's where the fun comes in: all of the cooks gather in the cocina and bring their own special secret ingredients to the mix. Souter salts the pot and Roberts adds Wonder Bread and mayonnaise; Breyer the lox and cream cheese. Thomas drops in fried chicken, and Alito and Scalia spaghetti. Now here comes Kennedy with corned beef and potatoes. Stevens adds the Metamucil. Now we're cooking! Finally, I stir in my special picante blend of Latina legal spices. What started as a boring simple broth is now a delicious crazy justice stew -- that tastes different every time!
And after the menudo is finished, we will go out into the hot evening air of the Supreme Court plaza for drinks. Sangria and Irish whiskey, 2% milk and Colt 45 Malt Liquor. The night breeze is intoxicating, no? Now it is time for the music of justice! The instruments will be taken out, like the Buena Vista Social Club. Carribean drums and mazurkas, the blues guitarra and the bagpipes, creating the caliente salsa beat of la ley! Bailando en la calle, everybody! What's that Justicio Juan Roberto? You are too white and do not have the ritmo to do the dance? Let wise Latina Justicia Sonia show you the steps! Meringue, samba, macarena! ¡Andele! Yes, yes! Lose yourself in the rhythm, Perito Breyer! Together we make the beautiful Constitutional musica together!
In conclusion, the future of American jurisprudence requires wise jurists from every gender and genetic background -- including Latina. In fact, I seem to remember that my law school books were filled with Latin words. Let us recognize and celebrate those diverse, culturally-specific legal traditions. Together we can build a future where we will all be Livin' La Vida Loca!
If you haven't yet had the pleasure of discovering Iowahawk, he's at http://iowahawk.typepad.com/ Don't miss his tribute to the late, great state of California. Meanwhile I'd better clop on out to the kitchen in my wooden shoes and get busy on that roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. Somebody get me a cold glass of Harp, willya?
Iowahawk Guest Commentary
by Judge Sonia Sotamayor
Nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court
There has been a great deal written in recent weeks about an old extemporaneous quote of mine in which I stated that "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." One needn't read the prophetic entrails of my culture's colorful Santeria chicken sacrifice ceremonies to realize this out-of-context quote has caused some public concern and confusion. I would like to take this opportunity to clear up any lingering questions, and reassure the American public I will bring to the Supreme Court a jurisprudence borne of the intellect of Louis Brandeis, along with the spicy salsa rhythms of Tito Puente and Celia Cruz. ¡Azucar! ¡Arriba!
First, let me say that in no way did I mean to disparage the legal abilities of white males or others of non-Latina persuasion. Nature endows each of us -- male or female, white or black, Latina or Latino, Caribbean Mestizo or Aleut, Micronesian or Southwest coastal Scandinavian, Tutsi or Hutu -- with the rich, innate, culturally-specific legal DNA and genetic tribal empathy chromosomes that reflect a diverse ethnic rainbow of justice. I was not suggesting that one is somehow better than another; only that they are beautifully, beautifully different.
Indeed, it is only through these differences that America can forge a better, more diverse tradition of legal justice. As you know, the Latina women of my culture are passionate and fiery, and if we learn our famously hot blooded men have been cheating with some raven-haired puta at the cantina, there will be hell to pay. As a Justicia on the Tribunal Supremo I will be naturally vigilant for any colleague who strays from the law, and will not hesitate to clobber them with the rodillo of established legal precedence. Afterwards, when we have reached consensus, there will be hot makeup majority opinions.
This is exactly the kind of wise, precedent-faithful Latina legal approach that I believe will be welcome by others on the Supreme Court bench, all of whom bring their own unique genetic legal wisdom and instinctual empathy. Justices Roberts and Souter for example, with their aloof, sexless, constipated, emotionally-stunted WASPy intellects and natural affinity for preppy white collar criminals. Justice Stevens has this as well, along with a keen grasp for the legal issues facing Americans with senile dementia. As an Irishman, Justice Kennedy enjoys a natural "gift of the gab" and poetically tragic alcoholism. Like you, I imagine that Justice Breyer can be kind of pushy and whiny, but we should also remember that as a Jew he is probably very skilled at cases that involve complicated numbers and math. To the casual observer, it probably seems absurd to have greasy Italian "goodfellas" like Justices Alito and Scalia working inside the legal system, but if we give them a chance they may eventually break the code of Omerta and finally turn state's evidence against their Cosa Nostra bosses. Yes, many have criticized Justice Thomas for being a self-hating "Oreo" and "Uncle Tom," but I like to think that deep inside him still lurks the the DNA of an angry Cadillac-driving streetwise Superfly, ready to show "The Man" that his pimp hand is strong.
And let us not forget the Justice I assume I have been nominate to replace, the great woman jurist Ruth Bader Ginsberg. With her retirement, America will be losing a towering legal Yenta who tackled some of the Court's toughest legal issues with her relentless nagging maternal Jewish guilt complex. Obviously, she will be irreplaceable, short of finding another Yiddishe bubbe from Boca Raton. But as the court's new designated woman I will do my best to emulate her through Latina culture's tradition of the wise old village bruja, ready to cast the Evil Eye spell on those who would subvert our Constitutional rights.
I believe jurisprudence, like cooking, requires many ingredients to make a satisfying meal. In Latina culture we love menudo, the delicious spicy sopa made from simple ingredients. Think of the Constitution as our base ingredient: a bland, tasteless broth of boiled white tripe. Doesn't sound so tempting, does it? Now here's where the fun comes in: all of the cooks gather in the cocina and bring their own special secret ingredients to the mix. Souter salts the pot and Roberts adds Wonder Bread and mayonnaise; Breyer the lox and cream cheese. Thomas drops in fried chicken, and Alito and Scalia spaghetti. Now here comes Kennedy with corned beef and potatoes. Stevens adds the Metamucil. Now we're cooking! Finally, I stir in my special picante blend of Latina legal spices. What started as a boring simple broth is now a delicious crazy justice stew -- that tastes different every time!
And after the menudo is finished, we will go out into the hot evening air of the Supreme Court plaza for drinks. Sangria and Irish whiskey, 2% milk and Colt 45 Malt Liquor. The night breeze is intoxicating, no? Now it is time for the music of justice! The instruments will be taken out, like the Buena Vista Social Club. Carribean drums and mazurkas, the blues guitarra and the bagpipes, creating the caliente salsa beat of la ley! Bailando en la calle, everybody! What's that Justicio Juan Roberto? You are too white and do not have the ritmo to do the dance? Let wise Latina Justicia Sonia show you the steps! Meringue, samba, macarena! ¡Andele! Yes, yes! Lose yourself in the rhythm, Perito Breyer! Together we make the beautiful Constitutional musica together!
In conclusion, the future of American jurisprudence requires wise jurists from every gender and genetic background -- including Latina. In fact, I seem to remember that my law school books were filled with Latin words. Let us recognize and celebrate those diverse, culturally-specific legal traditions. Together we can build a future where we will all be Livin' La Vida Loca!
If you haven't yet had the pleasure of discovering Iowahawk, he's at http://iowahawk.typepad.com/ Don't miss his tribute to the late, great state of California. Meanwhile I'd better clop on out to the kitchen in my wooden shoes and get busy on that roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. Somebody get me a cold glass of Harp, willya?
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Culturism, Affirmative Action, Marxism and Sotomayor
The Supreme Court overruled a decision by President Obama’s choice for that Court, Sonia Sotomayor. To get a promotion as a firefighter in New Haven Connecticut, you must pass a test. In one round of testing few Hispanics and no African Americans passed. As New Haven was afraid of a Federal lawsuit, they tore up the test results. White applicants sued. Sotomayer ruled against them.
The Court decided on the grounds of whether or not potential discrimination against one group amounted to actual discrimination against another. This 5 – 4 decision was a blow against Affirmative Action. And thus, liberals contended, knocks the legs out from the Civic Rights Act. Is this racial discrimination or not? Unfortunately, none considered the possibility that it might be culturist discrimination.
Culturism notes that some cultures study more. Thus some cultures have higher literacy rates. Thus some groups do better in school. Affirmative Action assumes that cultural differences do not exist and, therefore, all distinctions in academic and economic achievement are irrational and due to race. Using this logic America is unfair and racist. Social justice chants echo these sentiments. These lead to lawsuits, resentment, racial discord and – most importantly, no incentive for African – Americans to study harder. Taking a culturist view that black applicants need to study harder, would serve all concerned better.
Liberals claim that the tests are culturally biased. I am not familiar with the details of the test, but it seems that knowledge concerning fire-fighting procedures would likely be fairly objective. If ebonics versus standard English were the issue, black people should take this as proof that they need to master standard English. To expect China, the international business community and the majority of Americans to write tests in ebonics is silly. Refusal to acknowledge this fact does not provide a way forward. If pandered to, ebonics can only lead to ghetto-ization.
Marxism uses the same culturally neutral logic as Affirmative Action. In assuming that all differences in achievement are due to unreasonable bias, it also undermines values. Rather than hard work, anger at injustice becomes the way forward. It also undermines motivation. In the USSR the failure to understand human nature cost tens of millions of lives. In America it seeks to create equality from the bench rather than individual effort. The laziness of the human who has been given excuses undermined the USSR. Freedom leads to disparity. If we crush initiative in the name of equality we may follow the direction of the USSR.
In failing to consider the impact of cultural diversity, Sotomayer and her potential colleagues on the Court become dangerous. Following their logic, they will not stop blaming America until all people achieve at equal rates. As this culturally neutral outcome is impossible, such a stance can only lead to permanent discontent, resentment, and grievance. If Asians are beating whites in college admissions, or whites are beating blacks in passing fire-fighting tests, the answer is personal or cultural responsibility. Those groups need to study harder. This is the way to productivity. Equal opportunity does not lead to equal outcome. Culture is important. Replacing the lefts constant reliance on racist and Marxist thought with culturist thought is vital.
The Court decided on the grounds of whether or not potential discrimination against one group amounted to actual discrimination against another. This 5 – 4 decision was a blow against Affirmative Action. And thus, liberals contended, knocks the legs out from the Civic Rights Act. Is this racial discrimination or not? Unfortunately, none considered the possibility that it might be culturist discrimination.
Culturism notes that some cultures study more. Thus some cultures have higher literacy rates. Thus some groups do better in school. Affirmative Action assumes that cultural differences do not exist and, therefore, all distinctions in academic and economic achievement are irrational and due to race. Using this logic America is unfair and racist. Social justice chants echo these sentiments. These lead to lawsuits, resentment, racial discord and – most importantly, no incentive for African – Americans to study harder. Taking a culturist view that black applicants need to study harder, would serve all concerned better.
Liberals claim that the tests are culturally biased. I am not familiar with the details of the test, but it seems that knowledge concerning fire-fighting procedures would likely be fairly objective. If ebonics versus standard English were the issue, black people should take this as proof that they need to master standard English. To expect China, the international business community and the majority of Americans to write tests in ebonics is silly. Refusal to acknowledge this fact does not provide a way forward. If pandered to, ebonics can only lead to ghetto-ization.
Marxism uses the same culturally neutral logic as Affirmative Action. In assuming that all differences in achievement are due to unreasonable bias, it also undermines values. Rather than hard work, anger at injustice becomes the way forward. It also undermines motivation. In the USSR the failure to understand human nature cost tens of millions of lives. In America it seeks to create equality from the bench rather than individual effort. The laziness of the human who has been given excuses undermined the USSR. Freedom leads to disparity. If we crush initiative in the name of equality we may follow the direction of the USSR.
In failing to consider the impact of cultural diversity, Sotomayer and her potential colleagues on the Court become dangerous. Following their logic, they will not stop blaming America until all people achieve at equal rates. As this culturally neutral outcome is impossible, such a stance can only lead to permanent discontent, resentment, and grievance. If Asians are beating whites in college admissions, or whites are beating blacks in passing fire-fighting tests, the answer is personal or cultural responsibility. Those groups need to study harder. This is the way to productivity. Equal opportunity does not lead to equal outcome. Culture is important. Replacing the lefts constant reliance on racist and Marxist thought with culturist thought is vital.
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