Date Night at the Morrissey residence tends towards the modest. When the First Mate and I go out on the town, we usually have a quiet dinner and a movie in the local suburbs. Occasionally, we’ll go into the city to see a show and try a more expensive restaurant as a treat, but when we do, we usually just drive ourselves and don’t take three Gulfstream jets to go there. Our nation’s First Couple have a different style…
…President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama landed in New York Saturday afternoon, and after taking a helicopter from JFK into Manhattan, drove up the West Side Highway, where the northbound lanes were shut down by police for their visit, past Ground Zero, into the Village for dinner at the Village’s Blue Hill restaurant. From there, they went north to Times Square, where they went to to see a production of “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” at the Belasco Theater on West 44 Street…
…Sounds like a great night out on the town, Mr. President. Glad we could pick up the tab for it. I guess the FM and I will have to skip a few Date Nights for ourselves to pay for all of that.
Being Canadian, I am not used to having my country’s elected officials use tax payer money for lavish evening out. Sure our last Governor General, Adrienne Clarkson, had decided to double her budget by spending tax payer money on numerous trips around the world, but she was appointed, not elected. Aside from the White House parties, this trip to New York City for a night on Broadway is just another personal indulgence which is paid for by taxpayer money. Does it bother anyone that he spends this way?
Sure Jazz Shaw pointed out in his article that President Bush did take trips down to his ranch in Crawford, Texas with taxpayer money, but he never threw these lavish parties at the White House, nor did he close down a fair sized section of New York City to show his wife a Broadway show. These constant comparisons to the former President are just mind-boggling, especially when they criticized them before. If it was bad for President Bush then, then it is worse for President Obama now, especially with this kind of irresponsible spending. It should speak volumes when the White House can’t give an estimate to how much this evening cost…
When the rest of America is tightening its belts, the Obamas are spending like royalty… “New Camelot” simply doesn’t understand that even Kings and Queens can be thrown out of power, especially if their subjects feel cheated out of their hard-earned money… Pathetic…
There’s nothing like a tragic police shooting to bring a tasteless guffaw out of Rep. Charlie Rangel.
Speaking yesterday at a rally in honor of slain cop Omar Edwards — gunned down by a fellow cop in a case of mistaken identity — the embattled congressman outrageously quipped that President Obama, in town for a date with First Lady Michelle, should watch his back walking around the Big Apple because he is black.
“Make certain he doesn’t run around East Harlem unidentified,” the controversial lawmaker snarked.
“If [he] did not have the Secret Service . . . around him, [city cops] wouldn’t know if he was president of the United States.”
Give it a listen, and while people will villainize this man for what he says, Rush Limbaugh is saying what many of us have been thinking since Barack Obama was put on the ticket last year… Pathetic…
As I stated yesterday, their is a lot of baggage that comes with this pick, mostly racial. This isn’t about race, it never has been, but White House supporters want to make this Supreme Court nomination all about it. I saw the advertisement about supporting Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination, reading off her life story, reminding how “great” it would be to have a Latina woman as a member of the Supreme Court, but it couldn’t do anything to sway my already cemented opinion about this woman and why President Obama chose her. If race is what mattered, why were the Democrats so against Miguel Estrada nomination in 2001? Byron York wrote about this today, highlighting the point Limbaugh and others have raised since Sotomayor’s nomination was announced. If anyone thought this whole fiasco couldn’t get worse, think again, it already has.
Aside from the comments made in A Latina Judge’s Voice, this affiliation should raise some eyebrows. It isn’t that she belongs to La Raza, or is “overly proud” of her heritage, it is both, which goes to show that this woman is obsessed with race. This isn’t about being an “affirmative action” pick either, it is about her race based views and how they will affect her decisions if she does get appointed. As a Supreme Court Justice, Sotomayor would be asked to keep such personal feelings from clouding her judgement, but already we see that not only can’t she do that, but she refuses to even try, she has admitted as much already…
As Rush said, she is already incapable of being on the Supreme Court, but instead of addressing issues that matter, the Obama administration and its supporters would rather us care that she would be the first Hispanic to take on such responsibilities… Why should we when they refused to consider the impact “Justice Estrada” could have made if they care about his ethnicity in 2001… Pathetic…
On this note, I would like to point out to all the political analysts and bloggers out there who are telling us not to become wrapped up in this debate on race, that it is part of the White House’s strategy to label anyone willing to question the racist statements as bigots and racists. NEWSFLASH, the fact that we don’t support President Obama and his administration makes us just that, bigots and racists, to these people. If you can’t raise the point, if you are worried about whether or not we come off as politically incorrect, then they have won. It is a “lose/lose” situation, and unless we are willing to stand up and challenge their assertions, we don’t get a chance at “winning”…
Call it what it is, let everyone know what is going on, let them hear the real story which isn’t being reported… We shouldn’t have to play by their “rules”, especially when these people refuse to do the same… Pathetic…
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! Stuart Taylor and K.C. Johnson did some digging and found Sotomayor’s Princeton thesis, where she declares herself a Puerto Rican nationalist and that she believes strongly in her country’s independence. Great, so not only is she a racist, but a member Puetro Rican political fringe. Obama sure knows how to pick them doesn’t he? Mind-boggling…
A note to all those bloggers trying to ignore this issue, WAKE UP! Do your research and stand behind what you say. When you have already been branded a bigot and a racist by those who truly are, walking away does more damage to you then them… Pathetic…
UPDATE: More on Sonia Sotomayor as we approach the confirmation hearings. The more research that is done on her past rulings, the more reason there is to be concerned. Read Michelle Malkin’s new post on this, it raises more questions then answers…
Had numerous issues to deal with, including law school applications and looking into taking summer courses to boost my GPA.
Even on my “break”, I still kept a watchful eye open on what was happening, not only on my blog. Let’s look at a few stories which caught my eye.
Acid Attack at Nantong Vocational College - Now this one hits a little close to home, seeing as how I taught at the at the college for a year. According to a student of mine, a girl was attacked by her boyfriend with sulfuric acid. She suffered burns on her hands, face and back, and was quickly rushed to the hospital. The boyfriend got away after the attack, but was picked up a short time later with his co-conspirators. According to what I have heard thus far, the female student was a really ambitious, already being the student leader of the school’s art department. It is truly terrible to see someone with so much promise be cut down in this manner, unable to lead the life she wanted because of her boyfriend’s irrationality. She was going to leave him, and with Chinese youths being as paranoid as they are when it comes to dating, he felt that if he couldn’t have her, no one could.
Now, as I mentioned in my last article, I do have concerns with the treatment of women in China. It isn’t the Middle East by any means, women aren’t stoned to death for looking at men, among many other things, but there is this belief that they are inferior to men. This belief is to blame for the treatment of female children, and is one of the few ugly things about Chinese culture and society. Being disfigured, her chance of finding a good job, let alone a husband, is very low, no matter her academic qualifications. Seeing how harsh society will be to her, I do believe he deserves whatever punishment the Chinese legal system will deliver.
Kotaku’s Gladiator First Impressions - Another minor story, but one that I want to tell…
Here’s the first footage of Gladiator AD, High Voltage’s new fighting game for the Wii. Bloody! Let’s just hope the MotionPlus-compatible gameplay is better than their grasp on history in that opening dialogue.
This is the birth of civilization, government and religion…
While it can be argued that various empires which came before had left their mark on the world in these three aspects, none have been as long lasting at the Roman Empire. In respect to civilization, the Romans were the first to truly unify their empire through roads, each one leading to the capital, as the saying went. Cities and farming communities unified by this innovation in transportation, along with other benefits that came from swearing allegiance to Rome, like military protection. In respect to government, you did have a centralized political structure, a totalitarian ruler, but, in theory, he shared power with the Roman Senate. Those with political power were generals, notable soldiers and regional leaders from around the empire, serving as both a council to the Emperor, and a political body which the citizenry could turn to for assistance in local issues. While the Greeks are credited with “inventing” democracy, such political freedom was only given to a select few, if at all, as many cities states within the loosely unified “empire” were ruler by tyrants, a single, all-powerful leader. In respect to religion, Rome unified their people through Christianity under the rule of Emperor Constantine I. Roman Catholicism would become the foundation for modern Western religion and morality, as well as the basis of early Western law.
…The foundation of economics, education, and higher thinking…
As I said above, Rome was unified through the construction of roads. While it served a military purpose at first, it quickly became the key to trade throughout the empire. Farmers and other merchants from all over would come to the capital and sell their goods to a larger market. On top of this, trade throughout the empire, as well as neighbouring nations, as well as manufacturing and mining (done through slave labour), made Rome an economic powerhouse. In reference to education, while the Greeks had institutions for “higher learning” for the “privileged few”, the Romans made this far more accessible. While not present during the early days of the empire, later on families which could afford to, paid to send their children to private schools. When they were old enough, they would continue their education in rhetoric schools, training which would prepare them for their careers. This, along with their innovations in war and architecture, could easily satisfy the statement made in reference to “higher thinking”. Greek philosophy sounds impressive, especially with some of the lessons taught by their many great minds, but “soft sciences” don’t win wars or conquer nations.
…The cultivation of arts, culture and grand architecture…
In reference to arts and culture, whatever the Romans conquered, they adopted. From language to arts and architecture, Rome learned from what they collected and cultivated it. There are many examples of this, paintings, sculptures, architecture, etc, all which point to Rome being a cultural hub, and to deny this is just plain stupidity, especially with what we know about Ancient Rome. Aside from this, you also had sporting events held in the numerous arenas around the empire, most notably the gladiator games. All this united the Romans under one banner, one national identity. In reference to grand architecture, aside from the invent of the Roman aqueducts, one could simply look at Colosseum to understand just how grand Roman architecture was. To deny these people their proper place in engineering history is a blatant display of ignorance.
The rest of the trailer consists of a discussion on the gladiator games, gladiators in general, and how gruesome their fights can be. After this examination, it is easy to see how stupid this statement was. Surely a five minute Google search or quick Wikipedia reference would have kept this idiot from opening his mouth on a subject he obviously knows little about. I hope Luke Plunkett and his Kotaku colleagues are better with games then history… This display was downright pathetic…
*****
Aside from the smaller issues, I have been keeping my eye on the larger ones as well…
Sonia Sotomayor nominated for Supreme Court Justice - I have to stick with Mark Levin’s statement on this one, how can she uphold the constitution of the United States when Sotomayor has spent her career undermining it? It is so bad that the majority of her rulings have been overturned by the Supreme Court itself. You don’t even have to think about whether or not she would use her position to push radical policy, she has made a career out of ignoring what the law says and advocating for various causes, let alone nearly admitting it a few years ago…
Nice eh? Doesn’t sound very qualified from that statement alone. How about her racist comments about the wisdom of “white men” compared to Hispanic women, and the New Haven firefighter case which shows her continuing racial bias? I have said it before on this blog, race, one’s genetic make-up, has NOTHING TO DO with their who they are. To suggest that simply being of Hispanic origin makes her a more capable individual than those of European decent is, by definition, racist. I don’t care about her “rags to riches” story, it means nothing when she is now using her elevated place in society to preach such hate. As I stated previously on this blog, such people undermine the teaching of the Civil Rights movement, that by seeing Americans and judging them on their skin colour, not on their abilities, they have ignored the principles Martin Luther King Jr and others like him stood for. Take for example the New Haven firefighters case, where Sotomayor and her colleagues ruled that city was well within it rights to deny qualified individuals promotions because the weren’t the right “colour”. Since then, Sotomayor has done her best to keep this case from getting to the Supreme Court by discrediting Frank Ricci in a one paragraph statement, saying that the case posed a threat to civil rights, something Slate ignorantly parroted in an article published in defense of this racist.Judge Jose A. Cabranes who also happens to be Hispanic, saw things differently. He issued a dissent, stating that,
This per curiam opinion adopted in to the reasoning of the District Court, without further elaboration or substantive comment, and thereby converted a lengthy, unpublished district court opinion, grappling with significant constitutional and statutory claims of first impression, into the law of this Circuit…
…It did so, moreover, in an opinion that lacks a clear statement of either the claims raised by the plaintiffs or the issues on appeal. Indeed, the opinion contains no reference whatsoever to the constitutional claims at the core of this case…
…This Court has failed to grapple with the questions of exceptional importance raised in this appeal… If the Ricci plaintiffs are to receive such an opinion from a reviewing court they must now look to the Supreme Court. Their claims are worthy of that review.
It takes someone who is truly “colour blind” to make this kind of statement about a racially charged case. Instead of trying to advocate for one side or the other, Cabranes applied his understanding of the law, free of racial or political bias. This is definitely something Sotomayor lacks, but it isn’t the only thing according to legal analysts. Law professor Jonathan Turley made the point on MSNBC recently that her past decisions lack “intellectual depth”, something which can also be inferred from Cabranes’ statement. While Chris Matthews did his best to defend the Supreme Court nomination, it was clear that his reasons were far from “pure”. Aside from this, many other analysts criticize Sotomayor on what could be described as her “Judge Judy-esk” courtroom antics, stating that she is very outspoken, difficult to work with, temperamental and downright abusive to lawyers. In contrast to Ed Morrissey’s view on this, I found the short clip “enlightening” to say the least, especially when you take into account not only the questions she asked, but the language of said questions (her use of the word “torture” when referring to “enhanced interrogation techniques”), as well as the way she cuts of government representative before he can finish his answers. If that isn’t a display of her rabid bias, I don’t know what is.
Got to love James Carville’s Alberto Gonzales comment, comparing Hispanics in general to “one bad apple”. Racist much Skeletor? In any event, ignoring whatever rhetoric the White House and its supporters can muster, let’s simply examine why President Obama made this decision. This is simply a continuation of his “constant campaign” strategy, trying to secure an second term by picking a Supreme Court Justice on her race, as others have stated, as well as her political leanings. This is what Gibbs meant when he “suggested” to critics that they should watch what they say, believing that not accepting Sotomayor based on her race would cost the Republicans Hispanic votes in the next election. Since when was race a substitute for competence? If anything, such an ill-advised choice should reflect highly on the “Messiah” who made it. To me, this screams of Obama’s racial views and bigotry. I do stand behind Rush Limbaugh’s statements on “reverse racism”, especially when you put this decision besides statements he has made in the past about “typical white people”, along with his long attendance at Jeremiah Wright’s Trinity United Church. In this discussion on race, let’s not forget that Sotomayor’s desire to push policy from the bench falls in line with Obama’s desire to rewrite the Constitution, a document he views as flawed. Let’s not forget his 2001 statements on this matter…
Instead of paying attention to this, people would rather talk about how “great” it is to have such “diversity” at the highest legal levels. Obama should have picked someone based on their competency, not their skin colour or political leanings. What happened to “changing the politics of Washington”? This Supreme Court nomination further highlights his incompetence, and should be a strong warning of what is to come. Once again, we aren’t even finished the first year of his four year term and “The One” is giving people on both sides of the aisle reasons to not vote for him in the next election.
In any event, I will continue to blog about this and other stories, providing my unique perspective on events which catch my eye. Especially pathetic displays of jealousy, ignorance and partisanship. Downright pathetic…
Now I won’t sit here and debate the One-child policy, I just won’t. The actions taken to curb the population boom Chairman Mao Zedong encouraged (if China was to rebuild, they would need an army of workers right?), are understandable, but have led to a number of problems. The one that upsets me the most is the refusal to teach sexual education in public schools. Even if they don’t know about sex, it doesn’t mean people won’t have it, instead it will lead to a bunch of ignorant individuals running around having unprotected intercourse, getting pregnant, and then getting abortions. This problem has gotten so bad, that coupons are handed out for the procedure, this on top of student discounts. Even with widespread distribution of condoms, the quality isn’t there, and even if it was, these people don’t know how to use them. To be honest, sometimes I felt like going into class with a condom and a banana and teaching the proper procedure to my students, especially after hearing all these wrong answers to the simplest sexual questions.
With that out of the way, I would like to address an issue that has definitely gotten worse in the last little while; the idea that population was becoming overly unbalanced in the People’s Republic of China. I think Allahpundit and others who believe such nonsense studies should be given a reality check. Ted Turner wasn’t simply wrong about applying such policy outside of China, but about how effective this policy has actually been. I will tell you this, I taught upwards of 700 students at Nantong Vocational College, I can say that the majority of them were girls. Many of these students also came from families with more than one child. One female student who I still talk with had, not only an older brother, but an older sister. The truth is that outside of the major cities, this policy isn’t applied. It could be because so many births go unreported, that provincial governments don’t care to record them, or that the demand for unskilled labour is still very high in less developed regions, but either way, the reality is that the One-child policy has simply failed.
This study everyone keeps quoting should be torn up and forgotten. A survey of ONLY four million, out of a country of more than 1.3 billion means nothing, and seeing that this study only takes in official records, should also raise red flags. Do I think there is a problem? Yes, I do think that the belief that a male child is “better” than a female child has led to serious social issues in the country, but I will have to disagree that it has gotten seriously out of control. Where do you think many of these abandoned girls go? They are picked up by adoption agencies, and sold to work in factories or in the sex trade when they are old enough, with the lucky ones taken in by loving families, like this new wave of foreigners who can’t have their own children. These people never get registered into any database, further skewing the survey results. Having actually spent time in China and returned back to the “safety” of the West, I can tell you that it is downright disturbing that so many continue to believe these myths. I have people telling me what I “should” believe about these people, what is the “truth” about the country, not what I saw and experienced when I was there. Anyone who has spent time outside the major cities, has actually seen what happens in “real” China, knows that even such a “draconian” government doesn’t have complete and total control of what happens in a country with such a large population…
People who believe this garbage should be grouped in with the likes of Ted Turner, individuals who still refuse to educate themselves on a country and a people they prefer to villainize than understand… Pathetic…
UPDATE:I ran into this article on China’s One-child policy and I thought anyone reading this post should take a look. As I explained, outside major cities, families do have more than one child. I am surprised many people haven’t bothered taking this into account when taking swings at the Chinese government for this radical policy. While far more “thought out” then other articles I have read, it does seem to ignore the “underground” element when considering the fate of many unwanted baby girls. As I explained, many families refuse to report a second child, many government agencies refuse to record them, etc even in larger cities. Chinese families are also allowed to “apply” for a permit for additional children. Something not discussed in this article or that of Hot Air’s Allahpundit…
To be honest, I find it rather upsetting that so many would villainize a people they refuse to even understand. When I was in China, I spent months trying to convince my students that much of what they learned about “laowai” were false, if not hateful. Rumours circulated around campus about foreign teachers being rapists and thugs, with stories about me beating up other students spreading like wildfire. It took a while to earn their trust, and when I did, I got to learn a fair bit about these people. You would be amazed at how different they really were from the “villains” many people here in the West portray them as. There was this sense when I first arrived that at least we in the West were more tolerant, more understanding and more mannered than the Chinese, but now that I have returned, I find this to be the greatest myth of them all. We are very different, but that in no way makes us “better”. Tolerance is only given when one’s views mirror that of mainstream thought, understanding is only allowed to those portrayed as victims (villains who are given unwarranted sympathy), and it seems as of late that manners, or simply our own morality, has been forgotten.
As a wise man once said, don’t judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes… It seems many of those who will criticize the Chinese refuse to even consider this… Pathetic…
