Oh no! Disaster!
Someone I don't really know (i.e. been in the same room, never ever spoken) is going to get hurt soon. Not "ow, my bone's sticking through my skin" hurt, but the other kind. The heart kind. And it's really getting to me. I don't know the entire situation, sure, but all signs point to ouch. I want to help. But I'm in no position to provide any.
Sometimes it's much, much, much, much better not knowing people.
"Oh look outside the window, there's a woman being grabbed
They've dragged her to the bushes and now she's being stabbed
Maybe we should call the cops and try to stop the pain
But Monopoly is so much fun, I'd hate to blow the game
And I'm sure it wouldn't interest anybody
Outside of a small circle of friends."
--Phil Ochs
A part-time thing, a paper ring.
I remembered a few days ago that the way I would actually make posts to a weblog was to make random scribbles as the day progressed, then look at those scribbles and decide whether any of them are worth writing about. This was useful whenever I had a job that allotted me no internet-connected computer.
But now I have an internet-connected computer at work, but I'm afraid to post when I'm at work. If nothing else, I'm afraid I'll end up posting a lot more, but I'll be posting random crap that I'll feel compelled to delete posts almost as constantly as I'm posting random musings from the office. Sure, having a weblog like that would keep all five of you coming back here all the time, afraid you may miss the post I put up about how Ericka in credit's hair looks dumb now, but c'mon...we're all better than that, right?
Enough with the meta-posting. Time for posting.
I have tended not to pay that much attention to the news lately (other than scanning headlines and digging for hope for the upcoming Blues season (more on that another time)), mostly because a lot of it delves in to the "uh....duh" category (case in point, but that may just seem obvious to me because of the whole "universal health care lover" part of me). I did, however, catch a small part of the confirmation "hearings" for John Roberts, when Joe Biden was making a fairly simple baseball analogy in to this convoluted weirdness. Two things struck me:
- I'm sure people are making a big deal over the fact that Roberts refuses to answer any questions involving abortion. And they should, really. His reasoning relies on "the Supreme Court is impartial", that it's separate from everything else, including Congress, and so his beliefs (or whatever) are immaterial to Congress. And that's horse pocky (tee hee!). Scalia was put on the court by Reagan because he's a fellow wingnut. Same with Thomas, but substitute Bush's name. Ginsberg and Breyer were Clintonites -- and have followed suit. O'Connor was supposed to be a trump card from Reagan -- a conservative female. Didn't work out that way, though. Anyway, the justices on the court are there because they share beliefs with the leadership...anyone doubting that is silly and naive. If beliefs are the reason for being put on (along with being able to spell the word "law" and (Thomas being the exception) not being a weirdo), beliefs should be discussed during the hearings. Then again, Congress heard Scalia form words, and they still put him on, so whatever.
- Biden is a trickster. By asking him the "hypothetical" situation regarding state's rights and abortion (i.e. "What if a state passed a law banning abortion?"), he could make Roberts look silly or crazy, depending on the answer. If he refuses to answer because the word "abortion" was put in there, that opens the door for the Democrats' "need for openness with the nominee". If he says that the law should stand, he's seen as an abortion-hating fanatic. If he says that the law should be overturned, Democrats will do their damndest to hold him to his supposedly pro-choice stance while he's on the court. Tricky, tricky.
I was also amused by Arlen Specter referring to Roe v. Wade as a "super duper precedent" during the hearings. That's right...chairman of the committee saying "super duper."
A cookie to whoever can tell me where the subject line comes from.
