Tuesday, May 11, 2010

SCOTUS: Nominees and Snakes

Okay, so one of the arguments against Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supremes is that she didn't get her driver's license until she was in her 20's, ergo, she's totally out of touch with 'real people.' Pllleeeaassee. Give me a huge break. I didn't get my driver's license until I was 20, and I'm real people. Some of us didn't need to drive until later in life - my trusty red Schwin got me where I needed to go in college. I know a woman who is my age, who still doesn't have a license, and she raised seven children in the 'burbs without a license or car. Hmm, I think she's well aware of 'real life.' If you're going to attack a nominee, do it based on her legal publications, her public comments, not something as specious as when she procured a license to drive a car.

Attacking her because she's fifty and unmarried is beyond reprehensible. No one threw mud at David Souter, who was also unmarried when nominated. Calling Ms. Kagan a lesbian because of her lack of male spouse is nothing more than blatant sexism. Shame, shame, shame on those who are using this argument to oppose her nomination.

Why anyone would put themselves through the public wringer to accept a nomination to a public office is beyond my comprehension. What have we become? A nation of amoral, self-aggrandizing, mean people? Sometimes it seems so. Has the great experiment, democracy, become another Garden of Eden to be invaded by the snake? That talking serpent who set about to destroy a good gig? The pundits and poobahs who scream that we're a nation of nitwits and idiots, using blogs and political posts, TV and radio, are nothing more than loquacious serpents with vocabulary programed to incite and inflame and drive us to eat the apple that'll doom our country. Okay, that may be a rash generalization, but come on people, can't we be civil and respectful as we disagree? Me, I'm not listening to any snakes. The voices in my own head are enough, thank you very much.

Speaking of voice: how do you get into a young adult voice? It's more than slang, patois, whatever you call it. That's easily dated. Been mulling the issue.

3 comments:

CJ Parker said...

Holy smoke, girl. LOL Dragged out your soapbox huh? I don't care about this woman's sexual partner, I don't care that she didn't get a driver's license until the age of 20. I didn't get mine until I was 28. I lived in New York City. Every tried to park a car in that city? You need a second job just to pay for parking. Now, that said, I don't know how to pin point it, but somehting bothers me about her. But to be honest, this is the last thing I want to worry over. We have an oil spill that is killing a way of life here in Louisana. It's soiling our coatline, killing our fish, shrimp and oysters. Not to mention the birds, turtles and dolphiins. Ooops. Didn't mean to get on my own soapbox.

Tracy D said...

CJ, I want to do very bad things to the higher-ups at BP, Haliburton (sp?) and the third corporation that screwed up with the oil rig. I can't stand to watch the pictures on the news. Just horrific. The coast will take generations to recover, if it ever does. It's enough to make me run screaming through the streets. When will we ever learn?

Yes, a nomination to the Supremes is much less important on many levels. Time, for one thing, will take care of many Supreme Court messes. (Lordy, I pray it will.) Time alone won't heal what's happened to the coast of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama...the entire Gulf Coast. It's as if the Coast has been gang-raped by the oil companies.

My soapbox is going to get a real workout. I can feel it comin' on....

CJ Parker said...

I just walked to the mailbox and had to cover my mouth and nose with my shirt. The smell of oil is so thick today, it burns the nose and throat.