A momentous occasion (Page 2)

Sorry, I guess that was too cryptic. Wasn't so much about Camus as it was about Robert Kennedy. When asked why he had changed his mind about the death penalty, he replied that he had read Camus.

I've been a documentaryholic lately.

Have you seen "The Fog of War" with Robert S. McNamara? I was only recently made aware of it a few months ago. Excellent documentary.

Steve

Not to hijack the thread (ok...to hijack the thread), since yesterday, whenerver i try to go to google.com, i get redirected to google.fr. Anyone else have something like that happen?

Don, I goggled... er googled (Robert Kennedy Camus) and found this on amazon.com in reference to a biography about RFK (Robert Kennedy: His Life):

Thomas also gives us a portrait of a man who was changing throughout his life, evolving from a morose, sullen boy, hot-tempered and eager to fight, to a philosophical man of reflection who carried greek plays and the works of Albert Camus in his briefcase and whose sense of the injustice in the world grew stronger as he grew older. Here Thomas provides us with an RFK who was very much a work in progress, and therein, suggests Thomas, was the real tragedy of his death, that RFK was cut down before he could evolve fully into the philosophical crusader against injustice he was becoming.

and another book about him:

Maxwell Taylor Kennedy, Robert's youngest son, has drawn upon that journal, as well as material from his father's speeches, to create a unique portrait of RFK's spirit and character. In addition to his own powerful testimony to his passion for social justice, we learn that Robert Kennedy was able to learn as much about the meaning of freedom and justice from Albert Camus as he was from Thomas Jefferson or Abraham Lincoln. The concern with civil rights, pacifism, and America's role in the international arena (among other issues) that permeate Kennedy's thoughts are as relevant today as they were in the 1960s. Make Gentle the Life of This World is a stirring reminder of one of this century's strongest political visions.

Here's a funny quote I found:

Of Camus's ''Resistance, Rebellion, and Death,'' Kennedy observed sagely: ''That book is really depressing. And long.''

Yeah...it feels just plain dumb to me. If she gets confirmed, I might just go ahead and move to Canada. She has no judicial experience, no one knows anything about her, she's a cronie (can anyone say Brownie??). My gut tells me she's a puppet for W's "vision", and will get on the bench and vote how he tells her to vote. No way, no how is she getting confirmed.

This is insanity...

Actually, that was in reference to Senator Frist's wife:

I want to thank my friend, Senator Bill Frist, for joining us today. He married a Texas girl, I want you to know.... A West Texas girl, just like me.       --Nashville, TN, May 27, 2004

But this is my favorite because it tells us so much about his overall strategy:

"I'm the master of low expectations." - aboard Air Force One, June 4, 2003

My take on this underwhelming nomination is that he's throwing her out there to divert attention from him, his low ratings, discontent with Iraq, post-hurricane shock and anger. Divide and conquer, standard operating procedure. Get "the people" all in a lather as the usual suspects line up on their sides and fight this out like junkyard dogs. The Dems are damned if they do, damned if they don't. I wonder if the Republicans understand how bad this nomination is for the country in general. If Bush wins on this, we all lose. Zero-sum outcome.

If only the politicians were more loyal to their country instead of to their party...

She is to SCOTUS what Michael Brown was to FEMA. Unqualified.

But wait... she can learn on the job! OJT for SCOTUS. Why not?

Why not, indeed?! This is soooo inspiring! I'm going to apply to be an astronaut. Keep your fingers crossed for me!!!

Jim, If you want a job for which you are unqualified, you're going to have to get a bit more focused. Pick one already!

Jim, there is more to the right to bear arms than the establishment of a militia. The Founding Fathers greatly distrusted governments and rulers; they crafted a system that was supposed to serve the people rather than rule the People. The right to bear arms was their way of ensuring that the citizens would have the means to overthrow a despotic ruler or change a government that no longer served the People.

I don't own a gun; I hate them. However, I staunchly support this particular amendment. Politicians are not to be trusted. They aren't in it for love of country; they are in it for love of power.

From the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

I think it's great allegory, but an armed populace isn't going to affect change.