Bush nominates Alito to the Supreme Court.
This morning Bush nominated Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr. to the Supreme Court. The Washington Post has a profile of Judge Alito which has links to his official White House bio and some of his judicial opinions.
From what I have seen so far (and I have not done a lot of looking), Alito is more of a right wing conservative than I would like as a replacement for O'Connor (see Miers withdraws her nomination. Now what?). If he were replacing Scalia or Thomas, I would have no real problem with his nomination. Right now my biggest concern with Alito involves the area of separation of church and state.
In terms of qualifications, Alito is at the absolute opposite end of the spectrum from Miers. He is like Roberts, only with 13 more years of experience as an appellate judge.
If Alito can show himself as capable of being fair in the way that Roberts did in his hearings, it will be very difficult for the Democrats to defeat this nomination.
And although this nomination does not thrill me, I am thrilled that Priscilla Owen did not get the nomination.
And I will close with a question for which I really do not have an answer. I have a tinfoil hat theory, but it is a real stretch. Anyway, here is the question: Why in the world did Bush not nominate Alito in the first place rather than Miers?
From what I have seen so far (and I have not done a lot of looking), Alito is more of a right wing conservative than I would like as a replacement for O'Connor (see Miers withdraws her nomination. Now what?). If he were replacing Scalia or Thomas, I would have no real problem with his nomination. Right now my biggest concern with Alito involves the area of separation of church and state.
In terms of qualifications, Alito is at the absolute opposite end of the spectrum from Miers. He is like Roberts, only with 13 more years of experience as an appellate judge.
If Alito can show himself as capable of being fair in the way that Roberts did in his hearings, it will be very difficult for the Democrats to defeat this nomination.
And although this nomination does not thrill me, I am thrilled that Priscilla Owen did not get the nomination.
And I will close with a question for which I really do not have an answer. I have a tinfoil hat theory, but it is a real stretch. Anyway, here is the question: Why in the world did Bush not nominate Alito in the first place rather than Miers?
posted by WCharles @ 10/31/2005 10:29:00 AM
13 Comments:
I think this is why the Democratic leadership pretended to be upset when Miers withdrew - they knew Bush's next nominee would be someone his political base, the religious right, would accept. I'll reserve comment until I read more his positions, but see the whole concept of church and state separation as a modern day construct based on a statement Jefferson made in a private letter and used today to justify the supression of religion, so I do not share you concerns.
Oddly enough, suppression of religion is one of the reasons I think separation of church and state is essential. A lack of separation of church and state could lead to suppression of other aspects of life. But these are topics for future posts...I admittedly need to do some more study.
When you're ready for a separation of church and state debate, let me know. I'll be ready too. I will say, I strongly oppose a state church like in Great Britain. And oddly enough it was the Baptists under Roger Williams in Rhode Island who initiated the concept of freedom of worship as opposed to Maryland which was a Roman Catholic state.
"On gun rights, Alito in 1996 was the only appeals judge to vote against upholding Congress’ authority to ban fully automatic machine guns. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence sarcastically described “Machine Gun Sammy” as a “perfect Halloween pick.”" This is one area I break with many conservatives - I am for gun control. But, you Texans all carry six shooters, don't you?
" I am for gun control."
I am, too, with the key word being "control." Too many people who are against gun control seem to think that any "control" means "prohibition." I am not for prohibition, nor am I for ultra-strict controls. However, I am still waiting for someone to tell me why any civilian needs an assault rifle.
"But, you Texans all carry six shooters, don't you?"
Yeah, and we all ride horses and have oil wells, too. :-)
NY being a relatively liberal state, you won't find many six shooters around. Just shot guns used by the hunters. This area being relatively rural compared to NYC, has good deer hunting. You will find a few horses, but most of them are under the hoods of all wheel drive SUVs. Oh, and just 13 miles from my house they are drilling for oil.
BTW, just got another horn - a straight Bach 42G built in 1975. Nice horn.
"...a straight Bach 42G built in 1975."
Nice horn, indeed. Made back when Bachs were not just consistent, but consistently wonderful.
So how many times have you tried to play low C and B in 1st and 2d positions? I think I would be lost without at least one trigger. :-)
The bigger problem with a straight horn is the balance. It feels very slide heavy. I use the Doug Yeo grip on my bass and that doesn't work as well on this tenor and the normal grip feels awkward to me. It will take some getting used to. Problem with the low C's and B's is getting them in tune. I do use 6th position for low C on the bass much more these days though, so it's mostly the B I have to worry about.
Before returning to trombone talk, I want to tell you that I found out that Jimmy Carter has just published a book entitled Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis. Here is a partial description of the book: "In Our Endangered Values, Carter offers a personal consideration of 'moral values' as they relate to the important issues of the day. He puts forward a passionate defense of separation of church and state, and a strong warning of where the country is heading as the lines between politics and rigid religious fundamentalism are blurred." I don't know if I will have time to read Carter's book before we start discussing separation of church and state--and I doubt the book would significantly affect my views, but I wanted to let you know about it.
Now, for trombone talk...I had not thought about the balance. After playing on a Conn 70-H for three years (the first bass bone I played on), nothing since then ever seems front heavy. I had grip problems with my Kanstul because the wonderbar on the Holton allowed me to use the middle finger to grip the horn, and I was not use to having to use that finger for the second trigger. I tried the Yeo grip but found it unworkable. So I solved my problem by using a fingerless weightlifting glove I had and spending $1 on some boot laces, cutting a 16" piece, and tieing it to form a loop. I simply put the loop over my index finger at the bottom knuckle, take it under the slide between the hand brace and bell section, and loop it over my index finger again. It works like a charm for me, especially given that I did not pay $20 for a Clebsch strap or $100 for a bullet brace or Greenhoe rest.
Carter was once labelled a fundamentalist, but I doubt he ever really was. Our local newspaper does have a liberal slant to it, but not excessively so. But, there is one columnist, Dave Rossi, who is quite liberal. I remember reading Rossi refer to Carter back in the 70s at a Baptist Peanut Farmer and his sarcasm dripped off the page. More recently he has held Carter in high regard especially in comparison to Bush.
I've heard about Carter's book, but I probably regard him only a little higher than you regard Bush. But, his comments are worth reading. I am very leery to use the term fundamentalist these days because of the extreme negative connotations. I am nothing like an Islamic Fundamentalist suicide bomber. Yet we can be lumped together.
I gotta tell you though, switching to the Yeo grip caused problems with my marriage. Using Doug's grip the brace cut across my wedding band causing it to dig into my finger. My ring finger would then get numb. So, since my wedding band was quite tight anyway after some 25 years, I started wearing it on my pinky finger. It fit well there, but just a little loose. Well, one morning I noticed it was gone. Must have lost it while gardening outside. I emailed Doug and blamed him. Well, I ended up getting a nice new wedding band from my wife with a stern warming not to lose this one.
" I am very leery to use the term fundamentalist these days because of the extreme negative connotations."
Kind of like how the term "liberal" has been treated by many (excluding you) on the right.
That being said, I agree with your point.
As for Yeo, given how long he has been in Boston, you very well might be the victim of a vast Red Sox conspiracy. :-)
Labels can be dangerous - I'm realizing that more and more these days. Give me a nice, tight, concise definition of a liberal, or a conservative. Betcha can't do it. Our society has become so diverse it is almost impossible to offend somebody. I believe our country was based on biblical principles - not necessarily Christian, but biblical. And society in general acted accordingly. I would not say today's society is based on biblical principles by a long stretch. So there was a common denominator our forefathers shared that is not shared by many in power today. Speaking of labels, at one time Baptists were strongly in the Democrats camp. Today they tend to be Republicans. As their theology became more liberal, their politics became more conservative. Go figure.
Oh, Doug is big football fan - Patriots. I would love to see the Giants play the Patriots in the Superbowl someday. I would make a little wager with him... like if the Giants won he has to give me one free lesson. But, he grew up in NYC and is a traitor.
Check out this commentary, particulary the last two paragraphs. Interesting concept.
http://hnn.us/roundup/entries/17590.html
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