The Stephanie Grace Email: Are You Kidding Me?

Working at a large law firm and having gone through the tortuous process of taking the LSAT and applying to law school, I have a tendency to roam teh internetz to see what those in the law community are discussing.  This week the major law-related story was about a very misguided Harvard Law 3L who thought it was a good idea to not only argue at a dinner with other HLS students that blacks are genetically inferior when it comes to intelligence, but then to memorialize said argument in an email.  There are so many things wrong with this picture, so let's break it down.

1) Stephanie Grace's premise is just wrong
To think that intelligence is genetic is ridiculous.  Do some people just "get it?"  Sure, but to say that an entire race is dumber because of their skin color is ludicrous.  I'm a nurture over nature guy to begin with and I find statements disparaging an entire race just factually unsound.  Someone is intelligent because they apply themselves and were given the tools to succeed intellectually during their development.  It has nothing to do with skin color.

Climate Bill on Hold Yet Again

As Kane has pointed out, Arizona's new immigration bill has created a huge stir throughout the country, and with good reason. The Latino community is rightfully outraged, and their frustration will no doubt manifest in the November elections, either in a surge in votes for Democrats, or a deliberate abstention from voting as a punishment for the Democrats they've elected who have not come through on federal immigration reform. Harry Reid, whose home state of Nevada is almost a quarter Hispanic, has acknowledged this reality, and has made it a priority to pass immigration reform before November, when many polls project he is likely to be ousted from his Senate seat.

On a slightly unrelated note (but a now extremely related note), the climate bill created by Senators Kerry, Graham, and Lieberman that was supposed to be unveiled on Monday has been delayed once again, after six months of delay. Why? Because Lindsey Graham, the only GOP Senator who seems willing to work with Democrats on either climate legislation or immigration reform, has asserted that he is unwilling to do both, and will kill climate legislation if Democrats attempt to tackle immigration first.

The Arizona Immigration Law is Wrong on Multiple Fronts

The new law in Arizona dealing with illegal immigration has caused quite a stir in the country.  The law makes it a misdemeanor to lack the proper immigration paperwork in the state, as well as requires cops to determine a person's immigration status if they form a "reasonable suspicion" that a person is in the country illegally.  In other words, it's a carte blanche for profiling.  But even beyond the moral/racial ramifications of this misguided legislation, Arizonans (and Arizona Republicans) might soon find themselves regretting this one.

Earth Day

On Monday, I had the opportunity to sit in on a talk by Joe Romm, author of the Climate Progress blog. He's a physicist by trade, and an incredibly bright guy. He's worked in the clean energy sector for decades, and recently joined the ranks of the Center for American Progress to blog about climate change science and policies.

Joe Romm must be the most frustrated guy in the world. He has a vast wealth of knowledge about climate change, climate policies, the coverage of the media, and all the subtleties and details of what needs to be done, and of that, what isn't being done at all.

Long Island Teen Guilty of Manslaughter in Hate Killing

Jeffrey Conroy, the white Long Island teenager accused of killing an Ecuadorean immigrant during a night of "beaner hopping," was convicted of first-degree manslaughter as a hate crime yesterday in State Supreme Court. The prosecution had been hoping for a guilty verdict for the most serious charge, second-degree murder as a hate crime, which would give the judge the option of sentencing Conroy to life in prison.  With a guilty first-degree manslaughter conviction Conroy now faces a minimum of eight years to a maximum of 25 years of time with the Aryan Brotherhood behind bars.  In addition to the manslaughter charge, Conroy was convicted of attempted assault against three other area Latinos, one of them Lucero's friend who had been with him that night.

Oklahoma City Remembered

Fifteen years ago today, domestic terrorists bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children under the age of six. Timothy McVeigh, who personally carried out the bombing, was a sympathizer of the Militia movement who wanted to exact revenge on the federal government for the Waco Siege, an attempt by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms to search the Branch Davidian ranch for illegal firearms.

The Oklahoma City Bombing was the most murderous and destructive act of terrorism in the U.S. prior to the September 11th attacks. Now, fifteen years later, we find our country in a frighteningly similar situation, with regard to right-wing fury over both gun rights and the size of government.

Attending a Tea Party Rally on Tax Day

On Thursday the grand finale of the "Tea Party Express," as they've been calling it, held a demonstration in Washington, DC, ostensibly protesting taxes, big government, and excess spending, but also evoking some other, rather unrelated issues. I only had time to stay for a few minutes, but I got to talk to a few people and take some pictures. I think I was there at a bad time, because I just saw a guy doing a bizarre stand-up routine that had very little to do with the rally, and the people I was around seemed pretty bewildered by it, though they all broke into wild applause when he ended with "So are we gonna vote these guys out of office?!" and made a reference implying assassinating our incumbents that related to a joke about Lincoln he'd told a few minutes earlier. Here are some photos:

Chase to Kane: Spend Money You Don't Have

In the midst of a financial crisis, Americans have been following common-sense rules that should have been followed for the past few decades.  These include balancing checkbooks, reducing debt and credit purchases, and essentially not spending money they do not have.  While the means to which we reached this end (failing financial institutions, skyrocketing unemployment, "The Great Recession") are far from ideal, if any good comes out of this whole ordeal, it is the rise of fiscal responsibility beginning at the grassroots level.

But herein lies the problem.  Financial institutions like large banks don't make as much money when they have smart, fiscally responsible consumers.  In 2009 banks stood to make over $38 billion in overdraft fees; fees that they raised during the recession to rake in more money.  The overdraft situation got so out of hand that Congress stepped in to regulate the way banks go about charging customers for spending money they do not have.

More Cringe-Inducing Sound Bites From the Catholic Church

I do not know who runs the Catholic Church's PR, but they need to be replaced immediately.  The Church is facing a massive, worldwide scandal involving the sexual molestation of children and all its leaders can do in the form of an apology is single out one country (because of a government report) and apologize to them with no disciplinary action taken against those involved.

But it would not be as bad if it were just this psuedo-apology.  Instead, the Church has done everything it can to make itself look like the victim.  Never mind the institutional sexual abuse of minors and the ensuing cover-ups; it is the Catholic Church that is the victim, according to its leaders.  They compared themselves to Jews during the Holocaust.  They said legitimate criticisms of the way they mishandled sexual abuse allegations was "petty gossip."  Now, in an effort to distract criticisms of its practices, they are blaming homosexuality on the unfathomable abuses.

Republican Secretary Making Some of the Biggest Strides in Good Policy

In December 2008, I criticized Obama's choice of Ray LaHood, a Republican Congressman from Illinois, as his choice for Secretary of Transportation. Now I find myself biting my tongue. LaHood has taken the Transportation Department, one that is typically viewed as relatively unimportant, and made some of the biggest, boldest policy statements a transportation secretary has made in recent memory. His department has played an instrumental role in allocating stimulus funds for transit projects (including $8.8 billion for new high-speed rail systems throughout the country), establishing new vehicle emission standards, and now, defining new and long-needed priorities for urban planning and transportation systems.

Pope Benedict XVI Needs to Resign

I hinted in my post last week about the Catholic Church's ever-growing sexual abuse scandal that Pope Benedict XVI might want to think about resigning to save face.  With new revelations that the Associated Press has obtained a letter from the pope, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, which advises against laicizing priest Stephen Kiesle, who pleaded no contest to charges of lewd conduct for tying up two boys in a church rectory and molesting them, I believe that Pope Benedict XVI has no other choice.

Fake Shoe Bomb Incident Treated Properly

When I got a CNN Breaking News email (which are getting ridiculous, but that's another post for another time) about an alleged shoe-bomber on a Washington to Denver flight I thought, "How the hell did somebody get explosives on a domestic flight?"  Well, as usual, the media had jumped the gun and reported on rumors that had little basis in fact.  The reality was a Qatar diplomat flouted the well-established rule of no smoking on airline flights and tried to sneak a cigarette in the lavatory.  When asked by an air marshal on the flight what he was doing, the diplomat allegedly responded sarcastically that he was lighting his shoes on fire.  At that point he was restrained and taken into custody by the air marshal for the rest of the flight and questioned by G-Men once the United Airlines plane landed safely in Denver.

CNN vs. Al Jazeera's News Coverage on Monday

This picture speaks for itself. And boy, does it say a lot about the state of "mainstream" media in our country.

Does Some Civility Still Exist in Washington?

In an age of extreme political incivility, when politics is based not on policy but on talking points, sound bites, retorts, and inflammatory rhetoric, it is very rare to see genuine friendship and respect among opposing parties' members. But Tom Coburn (R-OK), one of the most obstructionist Senators in history and a fierce opponent of nearly every government initiative, recently spoke out against incivility and blind hatred.

On C-SPAN, Coburn noted his close personal friendship with President Obama (a stronger one, he said, than his friendship with George W. Bush). And at an Oklahoma town meeting, he actually defended House Speaker Nancy Pelosi against boos and jeers from the crowd. He even called out Fox News on its proliferation of misinformation (specifically, that you will go to jail if you don't have health insurance).

McCain: "I Never Considered Myself a Maverick"

In a move that clearly shows McCain's desperation stemming from a challenged primary for his Arizona Senate seat by former Congressman J. D. Hayworth, McCain told Newsweek in a recent interview that he "never considered [himself] a maverick." McCain, who very much owned that term during the 2008 presidential election, seems to have completed the decimation of his image as an above-the-fray politician to a pandering, willing-to-say-anything-to-get-elected hypocrite.

He cannot honestly think that the American people are as dumb as his former running mate. It's only been a little more than a year since the presidential campaign when he was using the word "maverick" with impunity. Until Saturday, that is, when he disavowed himself of the word as casually as one would an buzzing gnat; a small annoyance. But unfortunately for McCain his attempt to indulge his base by denying that the majority of 2008 ever happened is well off the mark. And it's also going to piss off this guy.

The Catholic Church's Response to Ever-Widening Sex Abuse Scandal Falls Short

Yet again Nate writes a post that paves the way for a Kane rant.  Nate's post last week about the Catholic Church comparing criticism it is receiving over new revelations of institutionalized sex abuse within its dioceses to the persecution of Jews throughout history got me thinking about how out-of-touch the Church's response has been to this recent round of abuse allegations.

When I first read that the Church was comparing itself to the plight of Jews throughout history I thought, how ironic.  Why would an institution that has received a lot of criticism for remaining "neutral" during the Holocaust compare its current situation of receiving genuine criticism for acts committed under its umbrella of responsibility to death camps and Nazism?

Conservative Firebrands Don't Actually Care About the Constitution

Ostensibly in an effort to cater to the partisan ideologues that watch 24-hour news networks and provide them with their ratings, CNN hired conservative blogger Erick Erickson in March to contribute to John King's program. On his radio show on Thursday, Erickson said that if a census worker with an American Community Survey form came by his house, he would "pull out my wife's shotgun and see how that little ACS twerp likes being scared at the door." He went on:

"They're not going on my property. They can't do that. They don't have the legal right, and yet they're trying. The servants are becoming the masters. We are working for the government. We are becoming enslaved by the government."

Memo to Vatican Priests: Criticism of the Catholic Church for Sexual Abuse Charges is not Tantamount to the Persecution of Jews

I spent the entire time I was reading this article trying to figure out how, exactly, it was being interpreted that the criticism the Catholic Church is getting for a slew of new molestation cases is comparable in any way to the violent persecution of Jews. I couldn't find anything that answered that question.

Here's a request of all people in positions of power: please stop comparing things to the persecution of Jews, the Holocaust, and Hitler. The unfathomable atrocities of the past should be constantly remembered and the gravest of human transgressions should always be reflected upon and never be allowed to happen again. But comparing those atrocities with things like flak for sexual abuse allegations, health care reform bills, and political tactics not only detracts from your case for why you're right or why you're a victim, it also diminishes the barbarity, gravity, and enormity of those events.

Thanks.

Happy April Fools' Day!

To honor this unofficial holiday I was going to write a post praising Palin and the Tea Partiers, ending it with "April Fools!" However, trying to come up with a post that sounded realistic and not over-the-top ridiculous proved to be an impossible task. So instead, I wanted to focus on Palin and the Tea Partiers in two humorous ways (is there any other way?).