Sotomayer

Hmmm. What is a Republican Senator to do? Each Senator is afraid to torque off the Hispanic voter. Cannot be elected without them, especially as the number of them swells. On the other hand, the Senators have a job to do - represent their constituents and completely determine appropriateness of the person for the job.

Every President puts up the person they think is ideologically oriented the proper way. Seems like they mis-fire fairly often. Bush did his best to move the court to the right in hopes of, no doubt, to ultimately overturn Roe V. Wade. RVW is long the "litmus" test for selections to the court. Souter and O'Connor didn't work out the way their Republican President sponsor expected or the court surely we be more conservative.

George was smart (not often by the way) to appoint Roberts - young, well spoken, and a leader who will be there a long, long time.

At any rate, the Republicans are screwed on this one. If they block Sotomayer's appointment, they will surely be penalized by one of the fastest growing voting blocs there is. If they don't block her appointment, there will be a young, well spoken liberal jurist there for a long time.

Gitmo

Here is the rub:

The world views Gitmo as the symbol of American torture and suspension of civil liberties. In my view, those held there have no right to civil liberties but should be treated within the Geneva Convention.

Now, Barack Obama said he was going to close it and he was elected. He immediately moved to set in motion its closing, as promised. Good.

However, now the cowards in the congress and in other countries don't want the detainees moved to their jurisdiction. They don't want them because their constituents don't want them. Their constituents are us.

Close the place because we need the world to quit hating and fighting against us. The world economy is just that - world wide and we cannot fix it on our own any more. John McCain, who was tortured in Vietnam was for closing Gitmo. He and Obama need to put the screws to congress and make them take these terrorists and terror supporters. Then we can move on to real problems.

Notre Dame and Barack Obama

Once again Barack Obama delivered a thoughtful speech. Like last weeks address at ASU, he used his power of oratory to deliver a memorable event for the graduates. That ND invited him is interesting but they should be commended.

No matter what side of the Pro-life, Pro-choice argument you are on, the best thing to do is to have dialogue to find as much common ground as possible. For example, we can all agree that trying to reduce unwanted pregnancies is a good thing.

Very reasonable for ND officials to be open to dialogue and by being so, teaching their graduates a valuable lesson, how to work together rather than just calling each other names. Isn't teaching what the University is supposed to do?

The Unreasonable Politician

Nancy Pelosi has had her "political-sense" compass go out of whack. She is treading very close to being steamrolled by the political and media machine in D.C. She should listen to Barack Obama and drop the whole Bush administration-torture argument.

Doesn't she have work to do?

Also, the liberal part of the Democratic party should learn the lessons from the far right conservative portion of the Republican party - if you get too whacked out and politicize everything, the electorate (read the moderate electorate) will move back in the other direction. Perhaps they think that Obama will save them. Barack Obama will likely save Barack Obama, but it is likely that congress will shift back over the next two elections.

Remember the stats shared in the past in this blog: The single best combination for our economy since WW2 is a Democratic President with a Republican Congress.

Nancy - do what is reasonable - get to work!

Random Reasonable Thoughts

First, driving-traffic thoughts:

Remember, I live in Phoenix with our love affair for cars (my family has 5, hmmm) and no regard for the waste of time sitting in traffic jams.

If people are going to dart in and out of traffic, they should have a car designed for such driving. Otherwise they are just adding to the traffic problems by zipping their huge SUV from lane to lane - usually with a cell phone in their hand and against their ear.

This is anecdotal, I admit, but if you get behind a white American-made sedan, it will travel at or below the speed limit.

Mini-vans, especially Dodges, blow black smoke out like a school bus once they are 3-4 years old. Surely Chrysler/Dodge can do better.

Rode the train to the ball game last night in downtown Phoenix. Adds a bit of time to the trip but is pretty stress free. Oh, by the way, it was nearly full on the way down and packed on the way home. Nice. I paid for two tix for about half the price of parking downtown.

Other things:

President Obama is delivering the Commencement speech at ASU tonight. We are to expect traffic jams and full trains - see above note. Disruptive but still a good thing for a university and city.

I am still reeling from my last post - I cannot believe that I agree with Dick Cheney.

EBay is a great invention, and I have used it to buy and sell many things. Very cool. But, scammers are rampant and ruining a good thing. Remember, long ago we used public flogging to deter thieves etc. Perhaps we can bring back public flogging for these types of things.

Worse, the scammers playing on the fears and needs of the unemployed. Geez, how do they sleep. Flogging?

Swine Flu - was it hype? Mostly, I think. Are we sitting on a time bomb? I think not, but we shall see.

Immigration in this country remains broken. Those here legally and trying to come here legally continue to be delayed, deferred, etc. and the illegals are being counted, courted, and otherwise protected. Yet, those same illegals complain that our Sheriff Joe is picking on them unnecessarily. Huh?

All for now.

Cheney

I hate to agree with Dick Cheney. He is a criminal in my mind - far smarter than Bush and took advantage of it while he pushed the buttons. But, he is right, the government needs to leave alone those who authorized torture. It was an incredibly difficult time. I have said many times that I thought Bush acted appropriately post-9/11. Tough time to be making decisions - but he made them and we should be thankful.

Actually, I believe Obama has said they won't prosecute so Cheney should go quietly into the wilderness - go hunting perhaps.

Maybe Talking Helps - Duh!

In Iran, the dual citizen, US-born reporter, Roxana Saberi, was released from prison. She had been convicted of espionage. Her arrest, "trial" and release came in part because President Barack Obama is engaging in dialog with the Islamic republic. This after the U.S. and Iran have had no diplomatic relations for the past 30 years.

It should be noted that pressure inside Iran, even from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the racist nut-job, thought she needed better judicial care.

Maybe, just maybe, talking to bad people will result in something good. To be sure, Obama and the U.S. government have to be careful with this rogue country, but talking allows for small victories. Small unless you are Ms. Saberi and her family.

Congress

Congress has decided that it is time to have an investigation of big time college football. Specifically why they don't have a playoff series instead of the ridiculous Bowl Championship Series (BCS).

Personally I think college football needs a playoff system. So what.

Personally I think Congress needs to get to work on one of many real issues! Call your Congressman and tell him or her to get to work.

My Party Wants to Shine Up Its Image

The Republican party, with help from John McCain are setting about to resurrect the party by fixing their image. Good start - McCain, left to his own devices would have been the "Maverick" he was once branded and may have been able to overcome the Bush legacy (pardon the term.)

It shouldn't be hard: Republican strength in my mind is:

• Fair, but small taxation
• Pro-country - without having a market on this however
• Pro-business - business will always bring more innovation than bureaucrats
• Benevolence
• Belief in freedom of religion, speech, gun ownership
• Generosity for the less fortunate
• Go way back, they were anti-slavery - the party of Lincoln
• Go way back, they were concerned about the earth - the party of Teddy Roosevelt
• Pro-family
• Pro-life, all life
• The party of Lincoln, Teddy R., Reagan

What it has become, thus the liabilities they must overcome:

• First and foremost - hypocritical - low government spending (Bush & Rep. congress spent like crazy, but the Reps have already forgotten that), "family values" espoused by Hyde, Livingston, Gingrich, Stevens, cheats one and all, freedom to talk about religion but want to regulate movies and music content
• Taxes for middle america but not on the richest and corporations - tax loopholes abound for the richest among us
• Allowing companies to move jobs overseas in the pursuit of profits
• Greed - who takes millions in bonuses for running their companies into the ground and is allowed by the government to do so?
• Intolerant of anyone who is not a Republican and thinks the rest are all un-American
• Belief in freedom of religion, all guns no matter what the use, and free speech as long as you aren't talking about sex, music, anti-gun chatter, questions about Bush, Rush, Cheney
• Intolerant of racial differences
• Pollute for profit is perfectly okay - Hummers are good things
• Pro-family as long as the family looks like their family
• Pro-life for the unborn but could care less about destroyed lives in the wake of greed
• The party of Bush, Cheney, Rush, et. al.

In order to get back those of us who are fiscally conservative, want secure borders, tolerant of differences, and decidedly not aligned with Rush, et. al. they will have to return to their roots or they will be marginalized.

Swine Flu

The other day a picture of a little girl with a surgical mask on and great big eyes appeared on the cover of the AZ Republic newspaper. The headline above blared that deaths were imminent. Later that day, the media was basically saying, "calm down people, you are overreacting."

Which is it? I believe it is overreaction but who really knows. In the mean time, the press needs to be a little less alarming and a little more about the facts of what is happening.

Also, people die of the flu all the time in this country and this particular version isn't any more aggressive, etc. than the regular flu. Just not covered by the current flu shot. By fall, when it reappears after a warm summer, there will be a flu shot to cover this.