Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'
Still on the road in Minnesota, and I would be feeling slightly guilty for not blogging on the Roberts confirmation hearings this week were it not for one thing: the hearings are a formality. All the Republicans on the Judiciary Committee will vote to confirm, as will half the Democrats (including at least one from my state, probably Herb Kohl); Roberts will be confirmed by the Senate by about the same margin--all the Repugs and half the Democrats. Never mind that he appears to be, where the right to privacy is concerned, the white Clarence Thomas. In the end, the right to privacy is the right that matters most to the largest number of Americans--the simple right to be left the hell alone. Much that we prize in our lives flows from this right. And so Justice-to-be Roberts, like Justice Thomas and many other purported guardians of virtue, represent a threat to much that we prize in our lives.
Quote of the Day: Right-wingers are losing their minds over the winning design of a contest for the memorial to the victims of Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania on September 11. The winner is called "Crescent of Embrace," and because the crescent is a prominent symbol in Islam, the wingers are screaming that it's a memorial to the hijackers rather than to the victims. I haven't been following the controversy all that much because it makes my head hurt, but it seems to be the usual right-wing brouhaha--50 percent straw-man polemics, 49 percent overheated bloviation, and one percent legitimate gripe. There are lots of other crescents visible in American life--as Think Progress observes, a crescent is part of the Christian Coalition's logo--so this is just more opportunistic dumbitude. Perhaps the designers should have been a bit more sensitive in naming it--calling it "Crescent of Embrace" probably wasn't so smart--but anybody who suggests that the designers would prefer to memorialize the victimizers aboard Flight 93 in favor of the victims is interested mostly in swinging a political bludgeon, as opposed to making a serious argument. Michelle Malkin has taken time out from calling for the mass internment of anyone who's ever eaten falafel to swing her well-used bludgeon, but to spare you from actually having to read it, Jesse Taylor at Pandagon has a summary that's also our Quote of the Day:
Still on the road in Minnesota, and I would be feeling slightly guilty for not blogging on the Roberts confirmation hearings this week were it not for one thing: the hearings are a formality. All the Republicans on the Judiciary Committee will vote to confirm, as will half the Democrats (including at least one from my state, probably Herb Kohl); Roberts will be confirmed by the Senate by about the same margin--all the Repugs and half the Democrats. Never mind that he appears to be, where the right to privacy is concerned, the white Clarence Thomas. In the end, the right to privacy is the right that matters most to the largest number of Americans--the simple right to be left the hell alone. Much that we prize in our lives flows from this right. And so Justice-to-be Roberts, like Justice Thomas and many other purported guardians of virtue, represent a threat to much that we prize in our lives.
Quote of the Day: Right-wingers are losing their minds over the winning design of a contest for the memorial to the victims of Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania on September 11. The winner is called "Crescent of Embrace," and because the crescent is a prominent symbol in Islam, the wingers are screaming that it's a memorial to the hijackers rather than to the victims. I haven't been following the controversy all that much because it makes my head hurt, but it seems to be the usual right-wing brouhaha--50 percent straw-man polemics, 49 percent overheated bloviation, and one percent legitimate gripe. There are lots of other crescents visible in American life--as Think Progress observes, a crescent is part of the Christian Coalition's logo--so this is just more opportunistic dumbitude. Perhaps the designers should have been a bit more sensitive in naming it--calling it "Crescent of Embrace" probably wasn't so smart--but anybody who suggests that the designers would prefer to memorialize the victimizers aboard Flight 93 in favor of the victims is interested mostly in swinging a political bludgeon, as opposed to making a serious argument. Michelle Malkin has taken time out from calling for the mass internment of anyone who's ever eaten falafel to swing her well-used bludgeon, but to spare you from actually having to read it, Jesse Taylor at Pandagon has a summary that's also our Quote of the Day:
Shorter Michelle Malkin: the best monument to Flight 93 would be a giant hyperintelligent missile that tracks down terrorists and tells them they believe in a whore's religion right before they die. Preferably with the corpse of Todd Beamer strapped on.Yeah, baby . . . let's roll.
