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May 23, 2012
Tony Pugh: More private colleges offering tuition discounts
Mary Beth Franklin: How to Choose the Right Annuity for You
Tina Susman: The wig wasn't enough: Man gets 13 years for posing as his dead mom
The Kosher Gourmet by Emma Christensen:A simple way to do fish right
May 22, 2012
Warren Richey: Can US group challenge overseas surveillance act? Supreme Court to decide
Thomas M. Anderson: Walking Away From a Mortgage
The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon: Enjoy a celebration of the most rich and layered flavors: Black bean, sweet potato and quinoa chili
May 21, 2012
Mark Clayton: Cybersecurity: How US utilities passed up chance to protect their networks
Howard LaFranchi: NATO summit: Who will foot the bill for long-term Afghanistan security?
Chris Farrell : Earn Dividends in Emerging Markets with This WisdomTree ETF
Stephen Whiteside, Ph.D. : Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: Social anxiety disorder --- or just shy?
Guy Jackson : Victim's father regrets death of Lockerbie bomber
The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: Famed chef's veal shoulder farsumagru: A festive meat course for late spring
May 18, 2012
Rabbi Berel Wein: Striving: The People of the Book's Book for (All of) the People
Steven Goldberg: 5 Great Stock Picks and the Exchange-Traded Fund that Owns Them
Mary Pickett, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Don't be forced into gluten-free lifestyle based merely on a doctor's false-positive test
The Kosher Gourmet by Carolyn Malcoun: DIY healthy lunchbox treats: HOMEMADE FRUIT BARS for kids and brown-bagging adults alike
May 17, 2012
Warren Richey: Teacher fired for being unwed and pregnant can sue religious school, court rules
Josh Mitnick: Netanyahu's 'centrist' coalition is already proving it's anything but
Steven Goldberg: Earn Dividends in Emerging Markets with This WisdomTree ETF
Amina Khan: Research links coffee to lower death rates
The Kosher Gourmet by Faith Duran : Cheesy Potato Breakfast Casserole with Cheddar and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
May 16, 2012
Carmen Terzic, M.D., Ph.D. : Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: A variety of exercises can help improve balance
Melissa Healy: National strategy on Alzheimer's disease aims to halt it by 2025
The Kosher Gourmet by Joyce White : GOODNESS GRACIOUS: GREENS! 4 winning recipes that are no longer just for down-home folks (Includes expert tips & techniques)
May 15, 2012
Kristen Chick: Obama administration resumes arms sales to Bahrain despite serious unresolved human rights issues. Activists feel abandoned
Pat Mertz Esswein: Homes are now affordable again and mortgage rates are low. What you need to know before you buy
Kathy Kristof: Our Practical Investor Fights Inflation with These 6 Investments
Sue Hubbard, M.D.: The Kid's Doctor: Lactose intolerant young child? Check again
The Kosher Gourmet by Kathy Hunt: Spread a Little Excitement with EXOTIC CONDIMENTS (4 RECIPES)
May 14, 2012
Lisa Gerstner: How to Protect Your Identity, Finances If You Lose Your Phone
Harvard Health Letters: Heart disease and dementia
The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon: MANGO COCONUT OAT MORNING MUFFINS are a bright but hearty delight
May 11, 2012
Jessica L. Anderson: Get the Best Deal on a Used Car
Jett Stone: Forget face-lifts and fake knees. Scientists have seen the fountain of youth --- and it's broccoli
The Kosher Gourmet by Chef Mario Batali: The famed chef's vegetable dish that tastes true to the season: FAVAS AND SUGAR SNAP PEAS WITH POTATOES AND TARRAGON
May 10, 2012
Sergei L. Loiko: Putin sends warning to U.S., NATO in Victory Day speech at Red Square
Mary Rourke: How being a 'mentch' got Vidal Sasoon his start and fighting in Israel's War of Independence provided him with confidence and a strong sense of his own identity
Jeff Bertolucci: Get Home Phone Service for Less Than $10 a Month
The Kosher Gourmet by Betty Rosbottom: Gleaming with its golden, crimson, and snowy white hues, this silken smooth and creamy STRAWBERRY ORANGE TRIFLE looks impressive, but is easy to prepare
May 9, 2012
Sharon Palmer, R.D. How you can reduce your risk -- or delay -- chronic diseases associated with aging
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Jewish World Review
June 3, 2009
/ 11 Sivan 5769
Yes, America should read Sotomayor's speech in context
By
Glenn Garvin
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Years ago when I was living in Texas, a small-town police chief whose brains had baked too long in the desert sun got himself into trouble by telling a reporter that blacks and women didn't make good cops because they were variously drunken and promiscuous. When the understandable uproar erupted, the chief protested that his remarks had been taken out of context. ''We give up,'' wondered Texas Monthly magazine. "What was the context?''That's a good question to put to supporters of Sonia Sotomayor who insist that her remark that Latin women make better judges than white men must be taken in context or, as President Obama says, in ''the entire sweep of the essay that she wrote.'' The problem for Obama is that the more most people read of the speech his first Supreme Court nominee made in 2001, the less they are going to like it.Sotomayor's claim that ''a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life'' wasn't some blundering parenthetical reference. It was part of a full-scale repudiation of the idea that the law, or the judges who interpret it, should be color-blind. It even questions whether judicial objectivity is a desirable goal.Sotomayor starts by noting that the number of females and Hispanics in the federal judiciary is growing, but still comparatively low ''grossly below our proportion of the population.'' Fair enough. But then she moves on to criticize a speech by another federal judge Miriam Cedarbaum, best known for throwing Martha Stewart in the slammer.Cedarbaum ''believes that judges must transcend their personal sympathies and prejudices and aspire to achieve a greater degree of fairness and integrity based on the reason of law,'' says Sotomayor. She first expresses her token agreement, then immediately deep-sixes it: "I wonder whether achieving that goal is possible in all or even in most cases. And I wonder whether by ignoring our differences as women or men of color we do a disservice both to the law and society.''As astonishing as I find it that a judge any judge, much less one sitting on the second-highest judicial tier in America would say that she can't put her ''personal sympathies and prejudices'' aside while deciding cases, her next statement is even more troubling. ''Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences, a possibility I abhor less or discount less than my colleague Judge Cedarbaum,'' Sotomayor says, "our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging.''So there, with her reference to inherent physiological differences a refined euphemism for ''skin color'' is the context for Sotomayor's next statement, the now infamous line about how wise Latina women reach better conclusions than white men. There is not, as many of her supporters have implied, some economic patina to Sotomayor's argument, nothing about how pulling yourself up by your bootstraps develops character or tolerance. She is saying judicial capacity is linked to race and ethnicity, period. Somewhere, that old Texas cop is smiling in appreciation.Of course, neither Sotomayor nor her Democratic backers really believe that. If they did, Miguel Estrada, not Sotomayor, might have been the first Hispanic Supreme Court nominee. When George W. Bush tied to make Estrada a federal circuit-court judge in 2001, Democrats killed the appointment with a 28-month filibuster.Though Estrada is a Honduran immigrant, it turned out there was no ''richness'' to his Latino life, because he was a conservative. Estrada ''has lived a very different life from that of most Latinos, a life isolated from their experience and concerns,'' said the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund an organization of which Sotomayor was once a director in denouncing his appointment.That's the ugly flip side of identity-group politics like those extolled by Sotomayor: The wrong political allegiance gets you drummed out of your race. How many times have I heard liberal friends sneeringly refer to Clarence Thomas as an Oreo, black on the outside but white on the inside, because he's got the wrong opinion on affirmative action? To be black, you can't have more than six degrees of political separation from Al Sharpton. Just ask Condoleezza Rice.President Obama ought to understand this; he's had his own troubles. When he first declared for the presidency, the press was full of speculation about whether a guy who grew up in Hawaii with a white mother could really be black. Time magazine: IS OBAMA BLACK ENOUGH? New York Daily News: WHAT OBAMA ISN'T: BLACK LIKE ME. Replied Obama: ''I am rooted in the African-American community, but I'm not defined by it.'' Maybe you should have a talk with the judge, Mr. President.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Comment by clicking here.
Glenn Garvin is a columnist for the Miami Herald
Previously:
05/20/09: Bloody mission goes awry
05/07/09: The problem is they aren't just goofin'
04/30/09: Why can't students say guns in school?
04/08/09: When non-U.S. citizens vote
03/2e/09: Of course the AIG bonus boys the best and the brightest deserve their loot
03/12/09: No choice in Free Choice Act
© 2009, The Miami Herald Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
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