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5.27.2009
Repeat Offender

I was away from my desk for much of yesterday, so even though my boss excitedly told me that Obama would be announcing his nominee for the Supreme Court yesterday morning, I still didn't see it until later that afternoon.  Judge Sotomayor's name is vaguely familiar to me (I think perhaps I've read one of her decisions somewhere, but I can't say where), but beyond that and what the NBC Evening News last night and Morning Edition on NPR this morning had to say about her, that's the extent of my knowledge of the nominee.  


And then I sat down for lunch here and thought I'd at least skim through the news while I ate my soup.  This was the first story on the MSNBC ticker on MSN:

GOP faces delicate task in fighting Latina pick

All-out assault on Sotomayor could alienate Hispanic and women voters

President Obama nominated federal judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court yesterday, putting her in line to become the nation's first Hispanic justice and creating a difficult political equation for Republicans as they weigh how aggressively to fight her appointment.

An all-out assault on Sotomayor by Republicans could alienate both Latino and women voters, deepening the GOP's problems after consecutive electoral setbacks. But sidestepping a court battle could be deflating to the party's base and hurt efforts to rally conservatives going forward.
In introducing Sotomayor at the White House yesterday morning, Obama hailed the 54-year-old appeals court judge as an accomplished and "inspiring" individual with a compelling life story. She would replace Justice David H. Souter, who was appointed by President George H.W. Bush but became a reliable member of the court's liberal wing.


Senate Republicans responded with restraint to the announcement yesterday, and their largely muted statements stood in sharp contrast to the fractious partisanship that has defined court battles in recent decades. Leading conservatives outside the Senate, however, did not hold back, targeting a pair of speeches in which Sotomayor said appellate courts are where "policy is made" and another in which she said a Latina would often "reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."

Critics also targeted her support for affirmative action, with Rush Limbaugh calling her a "reverse racist" in his syndicated radio program, citing a case in which she ruled against a group of white firefighters who claimed discrimination in hiring practices. 
 There is obviously more in the link; I've only highlighted the first couple of paragraphs.  But it's the headline and the insinuation in those early paragraphs that have my back up.

To suggest, as reporters Shailagh Murray and Michael D. Shear do, that Republicans face a choice of either opposing Sotomayor and "alienat[ing] both Latino and women voters" or conceding Sotomayor's confirmation and staying in those voters' good graces, is, I feel, both a naive and bipolar view of politics in general and this nomination in particular.  It's also more than a little offensive -- and I say that as a Democrat.  It assumes that identity politics -- your race, gender, creed, what have you -- is far more important than, say, a judge's positions or temperament.  It assumes that any nominee who is the member of a minority should or may enjoy some special protection in that nomination process as a result.  It assumes that voters themselves are stupid, and are unable to distinguish between a legitimate question regarding a nominee's record or ideas and their basic identity -- and thereby willing to punish anyone who dares question their nominee.  

It is, in short, an offensive and undemocratic notion.  And it's in the Washington Post, stated almost as if it were the Conventional Wisdom of the political class -- which is odd, since nowhere in the entire piece does it quote anyone who suggests that the GOP will feel the wrath of women or Hispanic voters if they oppose the nomination.  The closest they get is Chuck Schumer, warning the GOP to oppose Sotomayor "at their peril" but never really saying why that's so.

So that's my complaint for the day.   It seems like it's the same things we talk about year after year: can we, for once, have a discussion about politics and law without someone polarizing the positions into two camps and then treating it like it was Wrestlemania XIV?

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5.24.2009
Waiting at the Shake Shoppe

Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.



5.21.2009
Riverwatch



5.11.2009
Wake Up With the King


Wake Up With the King
Originally uploaded by Gus Dahlberg
Or, as I told Val, "because when I'm buying Burger King (TM) brand Onion Rings or Ketchup & Fries potato snacks, the first thing I worry about is how much transfats are in the bag, and not that I'm buying ONION RINGS IN A BAG."



4.14.2009
A Smile for a Rainy Day

It is pouring in Columbus and I am worried about my grandmother. This made me smile in spite of that:



Obviously from the giant Cornhole All-Stars graphic, we’re bringing the game of Cornhole to the iPhone. I’ll quickly throw in that this is anything but an ordinary game of Cornhole....

...We are based in the great city of Columbus, Ohio. That’s right I said it: Columbus, Ohio. Our fine state lays claim to the origins of Cornhole. Don’t even give an ear to Kentucky who thinks they invented the game. It all started here. One only has to drive through the OSU campus to see lawn after lawn filled with Cornhole players. You get a feel for its popularity and tend to wax reminiscently on the game’s origins. The religious experience of Cornhole is spreading like wildfire. It seems to have found its way to the suits of downtown Brooklyn, who are rumored to participate in “Corporate Cornholing” and to Scottsdale, AZ, where they host the Worldfest of Cornhole.


That said, we did not set out to recreate a game for the iPhone because of popularity, rather, Chuck and I just wanted to create a fun, social game that showed some Ohio pride with a twist. So, we put our heads down and teamed up with expert designers and developers (Corn fed- Columbus grown I will add). And with local pride blowin’ under our wings (don’t forget Ohio gave birth to flight), we began to conjure up visions of corrupt sheriffs, scurvy-infested pirates and rickety crypt keepers who would dominate western towns, pirate ships and graveyards...

Much more, including development notes and concept art, at Graphic Conversation.

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3.30.2009
Dusty

Ye gods, this place needs cleaning. I think maybe it's time to scrap the old design and start fresh. Thoughts?



3.27.2009
Carl and Nora, Sittin' In a Tree


IMAGE_254.jpg
Originally uploaded by Gus Dahlberg
Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.



2.21.2009
Jackets down low!


Jackets down low!
Originally uploaded by Gus Dahlberg
Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.



2.20.2009
That's a big Amish donut, yeah

Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.



2.03.2009
Carl's Song of the Day - January 2009

Your favorite pop star is BACK, baby.



1.28.2009
Gus Chips Out



1.24.2009
A Thing Which is Awesome

Via Michael Scherer at TIME's Swampland blog: photographer David Bergman's 1,474 megapixel photograph of the inauguration.  A nice shot in and of itself, but the amazing part is the zoom -- right into the faces of each and every person in the picture, in clear and unmistakable detail.  Try it for yourself and see.

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1.17.2009
There's a Jedi in My Bathroom



1.02.2009
IMG00065.jpg



12.04.2008
Of Flatscreens and Lingonberries

Greg Allen on Costco:
Seriously not needing anymore flatscreens, and being of such an age and technological sophistication that I only buy flatscreens that pass the, "But how does it look if I drop 250,000 rubber balls down a San Francisco hill?" test, I decide I'm not going to spend a thousand dollars on three flatscreens from Kirkland or whoever, we go buy an entire office partyful of Brie instead, a 550g wheel which, embarrassingly, is almost gone not 4.5 days later.

But here's the thing about buying a 3lb jar of Skippy [1] peanut butter. No one has a knife long enough to reach the bottom, and you can't just toss it out and open the other 3lb jar it was shrinkwrapped together with, because a) there's like a depression or something in the news, b) why go all the way to Costco to save 50 cents on a year's supply of peanut butter if you're just going to toss it, and c) in fact, that blob down there is actually like half a regular jar from the deli; it only looks like a small amount because it's at the bottom of a peanut butter bucket.
[greg.org] (via kottke)

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