Morning News - GOP Calls Sotomayor Racist

Brett Singer — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:00:00 GMT

The Republican/Conservative Hive Mind Coalition has decided how to attack Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor. What is it? Drum roll, please... She's a racist! This comment from Rush Limbaugh is... well, you decide: "Limbaugh called the president 'the greatest living example of a reverse racist,' and said that he has picked another for the Supreme Court vacancy of retiring Justice David Souter. Limbaugh later equated Sotomayor to former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke." David Duke? Huh? The comment Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich and Hive Mind members are clinging to is one that Sotomayor made at a Duke Law School symposium in 2001: "a wise Latina woman would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."

I haven't read much about Judge Sotomayor, but I think the GOP Hive Mind is grasping at straws by clinging to one quote that she made. How difficult would it be to review cases that were before her while she served as a judge, and to talk about those? I've said plenty of things that I wouldn't want thrown back at me if I were up for an important post. (Supreme Court seems unlikely since I don't have a law degree, but maybe I could be the head of the Department of Video Games and Comic Books.) Also, as a white man who grew up in the Bronx and worked for two years at a job where there were many Latina women, I can honestly say that a great many of them reached better conclusions than I did. So there.

Speaking of the GOP, Mitt Romney seems to think he's still running for President. He's mad at President Obama for the way he's handling our foreign policy. (Grrr... Mitt is angry... Grrrr...) I love how it's OK for people to criticize the President when said President is a Democrat. Remember how we were all supposed to support President Bush because we were a nation at war? That attacking the Commander-in-Chief of the United States could be damaging to troop morale, and make us look bad in the eyes of foreign leaders? I guess that doesn't matter anymore.

One more political item -- Dick Cheney (aside: if my name were "Richard" I wouldn't use "Dick" as my nickname) admitted that there was "no link" between Saddam Hussein and the September 11th attacks. But he still thinks we did the right thing by marching into Iraq. He, too, took issue with President Obama's policies. I'm not 100% positive about this, but didn't various Bush administration officials and the Republican/Conservative Hive Mind spend a lot of time and energy telling the public that Saddam Hussein was, in fact, involved in the September 11th attacks? If so, what is Cheney saying now -- sorry, my bad?

On to less important matters. Susan Boyle checked into the hospital after losing "Britain's Got Talent." She is said to be "suffering from exhaustion," which I think officially makes her a real celebrity, since I have never heard of anyone other than a celebrity checking into a hospital because they were tired. (I know, that's reductionist, and an over-simplification, and probably other words that basically mean the same thing as those two. Bear with me, I'm exhausted.) The funny thing about Susan Boyle? She didn't "lose." She came in second. She was a complete unknown and now she's famous enough to check into a hospital for exhaustion without being laughed at. She will certainly have some sort of career in the entertainment business if she wants to. How is that "losing"? A year from now, let's see who has had a better career -- Susan Boyle or the dance troupe Diversity. My money's on Boyle.

OK, one more serious thing: a federal judge has ruled that "Guantanamo evidence must be made public." This is "the unclassified evidence that it says justifies the continued imprisonment of more than 100 Guantanamo Bay prisoners." So, you know. So there.

Here's a headline you don't like to see: "Federal Reserve puzzled by yield curve steepening." It's one thing if I'm puzzled by financial matters facing our nation. But the Federal Reserve? They shouldn't be puzzled. They should know stuff. Lots of stuff.

Finally, something silly and utterly unimportant. Kathy Griffin says that Eminem walking out of the MTV Movie Awards was "a stunt." What happened? Sasha Baron Cohen, aka Bruno, stuck his heinie in the rapper's face.

Here's what happened:

And here's what Kathy Griffin thinks of it:

See? Now you know everything you need to know to start your day. Enjoy!

Image: Latina.com

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Morning News - Susan Boyle Comes in Second

Brett Singer — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:00:00 GMT

So you know that Susan Boyle person? Scottish woman, has a really big singing voice, knocked people's socks off on "Britain's Got Talent", which is sort of like "American Idol" but with weirder acts, like a guy who dances like Michael Jackson while dressed as Darth Vader? (No, really. That's true.) Anyway, everyone thought Susan would win contest. (My money was on Darth Jackson. Which is why I don't gamble.) But she came in second. First place went to a dance troupe called "Diversity." Maybe in England hip-hop dancing is still hip. Or people just got bored with Susan Boyle. Or maybe it was something else. Anyway, she lost, but like Clay Aiken before her, I bet we'll hear from her at some point. Sometimes second place isn't so bad. (Ask Ruben Studdard. Although he does have a new album out, so maybe he'll stage a comeback. Wow, I think I don't care about this topic. Moving on.)

Well, I'm not moving on quite yet. Apparently Susan Boyle needed a team of psychistrists to get ready for the big TV finale. I have to admit that if her story is true -- never performed anywhere but her church, shot to worldwide fame in a matter of hours, on a TV show watched by millions -- then I can't blame her for being nervous. And maybe I'm wrong but to me, it's impressive that she got as far as she did. Not because she isn't talented. But she was completely unknown a few weeks ago. Now she's very very "known." Sounds like a victory to me.

Now on to science news. Everybody has a cell phone these days, and your plants want in on the fun. Yes. That's right. Your plants. The Discovery Channel has a story about a chip that would allow plants to "call" for water when they were, like, thirsty. "The farmer would just need their regular cell phone service, and the plant would send a text message when it needed water." Neat. Although I'm not sure why you can't just water the things on some sort of regular basis. Then again, I've never owned a plant that didn't die within a month. So maybe I'm not the right person to ask about this.

This headline form the Wall Street Journal is both completely sensational, but also accurate. Here you go: Lawmakers Bill Taxpayers For TVs, Cameras, Lexus. It's accurate. I hate reading stuff like this. Some of the item, like a digital camera, I can see as being needed for a lawmakers' job. But a Lexus? Times are tough, drive a crummier car.

Republicans, Let's Play Grown-Up
Sticking with the Journal, one of their columnists says that the GOP should "play grown-up" with regard to Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court. Political commentator Ellis Henican says that if Republicans keep attacking Sotomayer, "they might well achieve a rare double fiasco for the Once-Grand Party - pursuing a doomed campaign against a highly qualified Supreme Court nominee and guaranteeing that Latinos will vote Democratic for the next 30 years." I guess we'll have to see how this one plays out.

Cuba's gonna talk to us! Wow!

A group of scientists in Houston, Texas are working on a cancer vaccine. I will now make the understatement of the year -- hey, that'd be cool.

Finally, "Up" ruled the box office this weekend by taking in almost $70 million. "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" came in second place, and has already broken the $100 million mark. "Star Trek" broke $200 million. There were some other movies in the top ten that I don't care much about. A few words about "Up" and their box office total: the number is somewhat artificially inflated because of the $3 per ticket surcharge for 3D (or "RealD" as they call it these days). Not every theater is showing "Up" in 3D, but a lot are, and that makes the total dollar figure larger. It also means that in Manhattan it costs $55 to take two adults and two kids to see the movie. Which, for the record, I thought was really good. But I could do without the extra cost.

Image: Wikipedia

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