hmmm...

I've finally been reading about Alito. For the longest time, I've felt very bad because I disliked him just because Bush nominated him. That's really a poor reason to be against a nomination but so it was. Today, though, after my reading, I have actual reasons which pleases me in a strange way. Most importantly, I am very leery of his past support for unchecked Presidential power. I also don't like that Alito was prepared for the Senate hearings by the same people that gave legal advice to Bush on the NSA phone taps. So much is just rough. Anyway, after my reading, I was out walking and this poem came into my head (it's cliche but that's what I do):

TO The States, or any one of them, or any city of The States, Resist much, obey little;
Once unquestioning obedience, once fully enslaved;
Once fully enslaved, no nation, state, city, of this earth, ever afterward resumes its liberty.

Oh Walt, you speak such truth! Anyway, ponder the meaning, think about current events, discuss.

Keeping with these events, I want to take a moment to recount a highlight. Yesterday, during the hearings there was a rather heated exchange between Senator Kennedy and Senator Specter over the subpoena of documents from the Library of Congress. The exchange basically went like this:

Kennedy: "I want to see these things about his possible involvement with a racist/misogynist organization at Princeton."

Specter:"Screw you Ted, you can't bring this up now. If you wanted these documents you shoulda said something earlier."

K: "Uh, I totally wrote you a letter on December 22."

S: "There's a huge difference between sending a letter and receiving a letter. I take great umbridge that you presume to tell me what mail I got."

K: "So...about the documents..."

S: "I am the chairman! (mutters about the difference between sending and receiving)"

*Later*

K: "I'd like to enter these documents into the record."

S: "What are they Ted?"

K: "This is the response I got from you saying that you received my letter of December 22. And this one is my response to your response."

S: "Oh."

Democratic political bloggers: "Oh shiiiit, Ted just put the smack down!"

Republican political bloggers: "Ted Kennedy is fat!"

*Later* in a break...

S: "Well, I got the letter but I didn't know it was important. If he really wanted those things he should've said something to me at the gym."

K: "I haven't been to the gym in a while."

OK, sorry about the script. I was feverishly watching the drama play out on-line. In other news, Alito's wife ran out of the hearings in tears. We think it was a publicity stunt to garner public sympathy. Gag me! In another exchange, things went kinda like this:

Senator Kohl: "What do you think about O'Connor's dissent about government seizure of private property?"

Alito: "That's a tough call, some people will be mad, some will be happy. It could be good or bad."

Kohl: "So, basically you have no thoughts and you're wasting my and the nation's time."

Alito: "..."

This post is officially out of control. Please call your Senators. There are important things we need to protect: privacy, congressional oversight, non-discrimination laws, juristic freedom, checks and balances. Remember Whitman's words and for God's sake call somebody.