Musings

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Sotomayor et al. v. The Old Boys Club

There are some good articles coming out about Sotomayor. Let me say first off that I am glad she will be confirmed, because I have been impressed at how she is handling herself, and most importantly, impressed by her spotless judicial record. What I want to write about here are the wider social implications of these hearings. It's amazing how confronting just a little bit of diversity brings out the underbelly of society in such a profound way.

Here's an intriguing article from Slate Magazine. Favorite quotation:

Sen. Graham would never have lectured Justices Roberts or Scalia about being bullies, because he thinks it's perfectly normal when men ask tough questions. He can't even see the irony in saying he welcomes wise Latina women—so long as they don't change a thing.

And here's an article The Daily Beast that makes the case that Sotomayor is a liar. The comments are pretty rabid on this one. I think she should be confirmed because she seems to have a good judicial record, but I agree that she's lying and also agree that this is the fault of the Good Old Boys' Country Club she has to pass through to get the job. Hearing the debate about all this makes my stomach turn, especially on morning radio talk shows. I am grateful to Sotomayor and Hillary Clinton and their ilk, but deeply embarrassed for them as they have to navigate this process. I know they have weathered worse than this, and will weather worse still, and I know they are more than capable of rising to the challenge. It just saddens me that they have to deal with this at all. Obama says we are now in the Joshua Generation, and that MLK and Malcolm X, etc., were the Moses generation. I agree this seems to be true in terms of race, but in terms of gender, we haven't made it to Joshua yet. We're still in the time of Miriam.

And though I hate to hear the name Sarah Palin in the same sentence as Hillary Clinton or Sotomayor, this article makes a good point that they are just using opposite tactics in fighting the same machine.

At least the Episcopal Church has finally recognized the difference between homosexuals and pedophiles. And in a recession, no less. There is hope that they may soon recognize the God-given right to get married too. It's almost enough to make me go to church again...

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

SpaceX

My little brother (who is at least a foot taller than I am) is an engineer on the team that designed this rocket that launched successfully this week. You can watch the launch on the website. Poke around on there if you want for more info on the company. Their goal is to increase reliability and reduce cost on space travel by a factor of 10. It's owned by the same people who created the ultimate dream car, the Tesla.

Here's the SpaceX website, and here's the launch video.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

A few thoughts on Iran

There are many people who are writing far more effectively on this subject than I can right now, but here are a few scattered thoughts:

Just as we did after 9/11, America stands at a major crossroads. After the World Trade Center fell, we had the goodwill of the entire world on our side, and we completely squandered it. There was a brief moment just before the Iraq war when the UN inspectors were saying they needed more time to determine if Iraq had WMD, but instead, we invaded the country before they could complete their work, and of course found no WMD. At that moment, we had the opportunity to empower the UN to do its job of peacekeeping and insuring justice between nations, just like Washington does between all the different states in America. Now, it seems (one would hope) that our new President will continue to speak out on human rights, but I am also proud so far that he is not using US military power. There are many Americans right now who are wondering why Obama is not doing more - many of these are the same people who criticized Bush for invading Iraq. Though it was a proven lie, the justification for the Iraq War was the same as the current justification for wanting Obama to do more - human rights. We must never use military might or violence to achieve the ends of human rights. Not only that, but, as the BBC points out, it would actually be harmful to the protesters for Obama to do more than he's doing. Here's a quotation from their article:

But the BBC's Jon Donnison in Washington says the president is treading a fine line - he does not want to be seen to be interfering, which could stir up anti-American sentiment within Iran and work against the protesters.

As I was thinking about this tonight (and realizing that it's 20 years to the month after the Tiananmen Square Massacre), I finally got around to watching Obama's speech in Cairo. It was wonderful, and worth watching, so I've included it below. Here's a short paragraph, but you really should watch the whole speech.

For we have learned from recent experience that when a financial system weakens in one country, prosperity is hurt everywhere. When a new flu infects one human being, all are at risk. When one nation pursues a nuclear weapon, the risk of nuclear attack rises for all nations. When violent extremists operate in one stretch of mountains, people are endangered across an ocean. And when innocents in Bosnia and Darfur are slaughtered, that is a stain on our collective conscience. That is what it means to share this world in the 21st century. That is the responsibility we have to one another as human beings.

I've heard this type of thing before, in John Donne's Meditation 17.

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.

It's pretty amazing to be able to watch all this develop in the present moment on Twitter, but I think there's something to be said for the old style of journalism too - the kind that verified its facts before spreading them. Fox News and CNN are pretty much using only Twitter and Facebook as their sources, which is basically just relying on gossip. We have to be careful before we rush to action, careful about mob mentality, careful not to sacrifice our principles when we become outraged at violations of human rights. That is what led us into Iraq, and so many other atrocities throughout history. Obama is right to proceed slowly and carefully. It's what we elected him to do.

I've tried not to get my hopes up since we've stood at this same crossroads so many times before. The beginning of the Iraq War was pretty much the last blow to my optimism about this. But although it's more cautious this time, I can feel that hope starting to build again. Maybe this time we'll choose the right path...

Monday, June 15, 2009

Google Bookshelf

Ok - so this is amazing. With Google Books, you can now upload the books that you have by their ISBN, which you can either enter by hand on a keyboard, or with a barcode scanner. I have a T-Mobile G1, which I was able to use to scan, and I'll be the iPhone would be able to do this too. Without a scanner, you can just type the numbers directly into the import feature. All the details are at this link, including this video which will walk you through everything you need.

The real kicker, though, which they mention at the end of the video, is that not only can you use your computer to search the titles of all your books, but because it's Google Books, you can type in any word that would be IN any of your books! If you are wondering where that quotation came from, and are just not sure which of your books has it, search your books online, and it will lead you right to the book, and in many cases, will actually show you the page number of what you're looking for. Pretty amazing!