Sonia Sotomayor

One of the criticisms thrown at Judge Sonia Sotomayor is that she feels what effect laws have on people and not just deciding cases strictly by the law. What they really mean is a Conservative view of the law. How can any person decide a case without thinking the effects of that decision unless they are robots and who wants a robot as their Judge? When Sonia was a young lawyer said that as a Puerto Rican woman she has more qualified to be a Judge than many white men and many conservatives have jumped on this to call her racist. When you first look at this statement it looks like a racist statement, but when you put it in context, I think and hope she meant that being raised poor in the Bronx, losing her Father when she was only nine, that her life experiences mean she can Identify with more people than a White men from a rich family that had everything handed to them. Everyone views what they see by their past experiences no matter how little or how much education they may have. It can only be hoped that Sonia Sotomayor has the experience to be able to put herself in another persons shoes.

 

 

 

 

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Tax and Spend

Paul Krugman column in the NY Times on Monday May 25, 2009, The State of Paralysis in California saying that the problem with the California budget dates back about 30 years when the Voters of California Passed Proposition 13 a ballot measure that placed cap on property taxes. This leaves the California budget to depend on income taxes for most of its money and in a recession that money dries up leaving California in a big hole. Paul Krugman seem to say that putting a cap on property taxes is a bad idea because seniors are paying less taxes on their homes than younger home owners. Why can't the spending part of the budget be cut as much as I hate to agree with conservatives the income tax is the fairest of all taxes because people only pay what they can afford and doesn't throw them out of their homes. State budgets are by their nature harder to cut because they have more meat and less fat, the federal budget on the other hand has a lot of fat called the military budget. The Bush administration spent most of the budget on the military and building Iraq and cut the domestic budget to the bone. Now the Obama administration is spending on the domestic budget, but is still spending almost the same amount on the military budget so the balance between money coming in and the money going out is out of balance giving us a big deficit. If we as a country finally come to realize that we cannot afford an empire and close most if not all of our bases overseas, cut military budget in half (it is now 57% of the federal budget). We must move from a war time economy to a peace time economy then we will enough money for both federal and state spending.

Star Trek

Here we go again, the same old crew, but new actors the new Star Trek Movie is very good. My Wife, Son and I went to see it on Monday (5/11/09) and enjoy it. The actors seem to be picked to look like the original actors of TV Series. You would think it would be a poor copy of the original, but they did a good job and the movie would be enjoyable to even those not interested in science fiction.

Pelosi vs. the CIA

Nancy Pelosi who has been speaking out against torture was attacked by Republicans who said she was briefed by the CIA in 2003 about their plans to torture detainees. Nancy says that the CIA never said they were going to actually going to do it, just that it was one of the things they were thinking about doing. The CIA said that the record of the meeting says they did tell her they plan to torture at the briefing. Nancy then said that the CIA was lying whereupon the Republicans attacked her again saying that the CIA never lies. Now it must be remembered that Nancy Pelosi was in the briefing by herself, not being allowed any of her aids to company her. She not allowed to make a record of the briefing or to ask any questions, the only record was made by the CIA. One CIA agent whom the CIA record said was at the meeting later admitted that he was not at the meeting which of course backs up Nancy Pelosi that the CIA lied.

    Now I may only be a common old working lad, but even I know that the CIA is in the business of lying and rarely tells the truth only what they want you to know. The CIA is worst than useless it is dangerous, their lies lead us into the Iraq War and has killed 3,000 civilians on 9/11 and almost 5,000 in the US Military. One way I would cut the budget is to do away with the CIA and sale the Headquarters at Langley to the highest bidder.

Catholic Church Abuse in Ireland

There was an article in the New York Time on May 21, 2009 about a 2600 page report on the Catholic Church's abuse in residential schools. Tens of thousands of children (mostly orphans) were Sexually, Physically and emotionally were abused by nuns, priests and other Catholic personal. The article and one letter from the Catholic league try to minimize the blame of the church. The report is only the latest documents of abuse by the church which only covered a little over 60 years because they only interviewed people that were still alive. The abuse of the Irish people by the Catholic Church actually started in the 15^th century after the Catholic king James was defeated by the Protestants and the Catholic Church was Anglicized and told the Irish it was a sin to learn to read and they suffering made them better Christians. All the books I have read, most always has at least one incident of abuse by priest, nun or teacher, it is all through Irish History and might be coming to an end only now that the church is losing its power over the Irish people.

    If Ireland can move to be a more secular then battle between Catholics and Protestants will be over with it the abuse of the Irish people by both religions. So hopefully the future will be brighter for the Irish.

American Morality a one way street

After World War Two the United States along with others made the German people go though Nazis Death Camps so they would see the horrors their government did in their name. Then at Nuremburg the American government brought to Justice all the German officials holding them responsible for their Criminal acts they could find. Yet the American were blocked from seeing the worst pictures of American massacre of Vietnamese villages during the Vietnam War and now President Obama is blocking them again from seeing the criminal acts of their government. If we thought it would help the German people to see the concentration camps, then why not the American people. Some say it will hurt the American Forces now invading Iraq and Afghanistan, well for one thing they should be there in the first place, second it is not as thro our enemies need pictures to confirm what they already know and third if you can't do the time, then don't do the crime. These pictures are just another instance of American one way morality.

Another instance is Military Tribunals that President Obama was against, but once again changed his mind and now he is for them saying because America has a long history of using Military Tribunals, but America has a long history of doing a lot of things wrong. You are suppose to learn from history by correcting what you got wrong the first time and doing the right thing. The worst type of court is a Military court which 99% of the time already have their minds made up after all it is their enemy that is on trial.

This yet another example of why we need an international court with the power to hold existing governments responsible for their actions and not having to wait for them to fall.

 

 

    

Politicians working for themselves or for their constituency

When Vice-president Joe Biden was a candidate he said that "as a Roman Catholic he was against abortion, but most of his constituencies in Delaware were Pro-choice. So as their senator he supported and voted for Pro-choice legislation" which is the way I think it should be. The right wingers use to make a big deal out of the fact the Bush didn't listen to polls and they say that President Clinton did listen to the polls. Our Government is a representative Democracy Politician are elected to represent their Constituents not themselves. We saw with President Bush not listening lead to one disaster after another not that the people are always right, but as the public becomes more educated and it is up to each person to be as knowledgeable as they can be so they are informed voters. Now the other side of that is should you vote for politicians that changes their positions of issues to please their constituents. I guess it comes down to what their voting record is in congress if you agree with the legislation that they support you vote for them, but you have to understand the issues and now they effect you.

US Stress Test for Banks

The Test results which is more of a report on the finances' of the biggest banks to see if they can stand an even worst down turn of the nation's economy and to the surprise of no one some need more money. The report says they are strong, but need about $75 Billion more dollars of taxpayers' money (most to Bank of America 34.9 Billion). Some investors say the report was too easy and some say it is too hard on the banks and just showed what the inspectors wanted to see, but I think that is true of most if not all business and government reports tend to show what we want them to show. The real question is whether the businesses such as Banks or Auto Companies should be bailed out by taxpayers or allowed to fail or nationalized. Those are the options now bailing them out maybe only a temporary solution and add to the national debt. Allowing business to fail or what is called "Free" market would result in only one company surviving in any one industry and having no comparison. Nationalization which most Americans have a fear of because they are contently being told the government would mean a big bureaucracy which is true in any case of course, but they fail to tell you that your choice is between government bureaucracy and private business bureaucracy. One working for the people and the other for profit (the bottom line) which one do you think has your best interest in mind? If we are going to put our money into banks we might as well run them and keep the credit flowing to our country's business that create jobs here.     

Who is panicking the public?

The talking heads on the TV News were all over Vice-President Biden this week for his comment about Swine Flu the on the Today Show When he said "I wouldn't go on the Subway or on an airplane" . The talking heads who are were talking on and on about how bad the Swine flu is for about week already making it out to be worst than it is as they always do were all over Joe Biden says that he is telling people to stay off Mass transit, but that is not what he said he only said that he wouldn't if he were sick. Joe Biden is the one that took the Trains to and from Delaware – Washington DC for the 30 plus years he was in Congress. I guess they have to have someone to pick on now that Bush is gone and Joe Biden has been elected.

Obama covers up Bush’s Crimes

Barrack Obama says if crimes happen in the pass we should forgive them and move on which proves what I have been saying all along that only a international court can investigate and punish any government leaders for crimes against humanity. The only time the upper class is punished for their crimes is when they lose their power. The cover up of Bush's crimes is nothing new they didn't punish Nixon for his crimes or Johnson for his crimes or for that matter any of the forty-four Presidents. This country talks big about freedom and democracy, but when it comes down to it they are all to willing to give up their freedom for a little safety or to go against all their principles for their 30 pieces of gold. The real question is will Society ever change and I think little by little it is and the mass commutations like the internet hopefully means the world can someday change for the better.