Speaking at the annual meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council in Atlanta, former U.S. Sen. Zell Miller (D-GA) took President Barack Hussein Obama to task on several domestic and foreign policy issues, according to The Wall Street Journal:

 

"Today, we're spending like we're Paris Hilton, regulating like we're Ralph Nader, nationalizing like we're Hugo Chavez, printing money like we're the Weimar Republic and taxing like we're, well, the Democratic Congress."

 

He also urged the president to stick closer to home. "Our globe-trotting president needs to stop and take a break and quit gallivanting all around," he said. "I think Rahm Emanuel ought to get some Gorilla Glue and put it in that chair in the Oval Office and say 'Sit here awhile.'"

 

Mr. Miller criticized Mr. Obama's decision to close the Guantanamo Bay prison where suspected terrorists are kept behind bars, labeling it "nuts." "This strange Obama sense of justice penalizes our civilians' [sic] with their loss of freedom while rewarding the terrorists with new rights they never had before," he concluded.

 

Mr. Miller left the stage to a standing ovation from the largely conservative crowd. Ole Zell is a reminder of the days when the Democratic Party used to be home to many conservatives, though his kind has sadly become an endangered species

 

Natch, The Associated Press zeroed in on that “Gorilla Glue” comment and tried to find a black leader who would take offense – and none took the bait:

 

Two black leaders who know Miller well said they were not offended by the suggestion that Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel employ a bottle of Gorilla brand adhesive.

 

The Rev. Joseph Lowery, a civil rights leader, noted the glue is a brand name. "I ignore it," he said. "I consider the source and go about my business."

 

Democratic State Rep. Tyrone Brooks, who leads the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials, said he wasn't bothered by Miller's comment, but that it came a few years too late.

 

"It would have been much more appropriate that he suggest that Karl Rove used some Gorilla Glue on George Bush and Dick Cheney," said the Atlanta Democrat.

 

Not to worry, PoliticsDaily.com columnist Mary C. Curtis quickly stepped in to suggest that Miller is a racist for using “gorilla” and “Obama” in the same speech:

 

Just when President Obama's appearance before the NAACP signaled how far the country has come, Zell Miller popped up and popped off, signaling that we're not quite there yet. …

To be fair, Gorilla Glue is a legitimate kind of strong adhesive, and Georgia civil rights leaders took the speech in stride. But you have to wonder why some other brand didn't come to Miller's mind - Elmer's, maybe?

After the monkey dolls labeled with Obama's name at Sarah Palin rallies, after a South Carolina GOP official's comparison of Michelle Obama to a gorilla, after the references fall flat - or worse - time after time, you'd think folks would get the message: Give the simian slurs a rest.

 

Sometimes a chimpanzee is just a chimpanzee.

 

 

Identity Politics, From The Other Side

 

Providence Journal columnist Froma Harrop is of the opinion that U.S.-born Latinos are less a racial minority than an ethnic group. But the ethnicity of Latinos has been subsumed in the larger framework of racial politics:  

 

Latinos were included in affirmative action programs. Like African-Americans, they tended to be poor. And they were considered racially different - that is, "brown" - even though many are black and some are blond. Their bloodlines may be Indian, European or both. …

 

But to the extent that affirmative action made sense, it did so only for American blacks. African-Americans had suffered a unique trauma of slavery and Jim Crow. No other group came to this country in chains.

 

Sure, Latinos can talk of discrimination and nasty remarks, but their experience has been largely an immigrant one. Every group that comes here gets beaten up.

 

At the risk of belaboring the obvious, Hispanics are not a monolithic group. For instance, most Puerto Ricans of The Stiletto’s acquaintance do not hesitate to remind “Anglos” that – whether they were born on the island or on the U.S. mainland – they are American citizens. They are proud of this birthright and - political affiliation notwithstanding – tend to look askance at illegal immigration.

 

The Senate Judiciary Committee invited two Hispanics to testify at Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation hearing. Linda Chavez, whose ancestry is from Spain on her father’s side, and Benjamin Vargas, a Puerto Rican. Here, excerpts from their statements:

 

Chavez: I testify today not as a wise Latina woman but an American who believes that skin color and national origin should not determine who gets a job, a promotion or a public contract or who gets into college or receives a fellowship. …

 

Despite her assurances to this committee over the last few days that her "wise Latina woman" statement was simply a, quote, "rhetorical flourish fell flat," nothing could be further from the truth.

 

All of us in public life have, at one time or another, misspoken. But Judge Sotomayor's words weren't uttered off the cuff. They were carefully crafted, repeated, not just once or twice, but at least seven times over several years. …

 

Identity politics is at the core of who this woman is. And let me be clear here. I'm not talking about the understandable pride in one's ancestry or ethnic roots, which is both common and natural in a country as diverse and pluralistic as ours.

 

Identity politics involves a sense of grievance against the majority, a feeling that racism permeates American society and its institutions and the belief that members of one's own group are victims in a perpetual power struggle with the majority.

 

Vargas: I am Hispanic and proud of their [sic] heritage and background that Judge Sotomayor and I share. And I congratulate Judge Sotomayor on her nomination. …

 

I am the proud father of three young sons. For them I sought to better my life, and so I spent three months in daily study, preparing for an exam that was unquestionably job-related. My wife, a special education teacher, took time off from work to see me and our children through this process. …

 

I was shocked when I was not rewarded for this hard work and sacrifice, but I actually was penalized for it. I became not Ben Vargas, the fire lieutenant who proved themselves [sic] qualified to be captain, but a racist statistic. I had to make decisions whether to join those who wanted promotions to be based on race and ethnicity or join those who would insist on being judged solely on their qualifications and the content of their character. …

 

In our profession, we do not have the luxury of being wrong or having long debates. We must be correct the first time and make quick decisions under the pressure of time and rapidly unfolding events. Those who make these decisions must have the knowledge necessary to get it right the first time.

 

Unlike the judicial system, there are no continuances, motions or appeals. Errors and delays can cost people their lives. In our profession, the racial and ethnic makeup of my crew is the least important thing to us and to the public we serve.

 

It has been observed that Sotomayor showed no empathy towards Vargas’s colleague Frank Ricci, who overcame dyslexia to pass the promotion exam. She also quashed the hopes and aspirations of a fellow Puerto Rican who merited promotion, to side with black firefighters who did not make the grade - literally. So in that regard, she can credibly claim, “I do not permit my sympathies, personal views or prejudices to influence the outcome of my cases.”

 

 

More Evidence That An Unborn Baby Is Not “A Clump Of Cells”

 

When it was his turn to question Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor about her judicial philosophy – especially as regards abortion, gun rights, and looking to foreign court rulings for guidance - Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) put this article from The Washington Times into the record that disproves abortion rights activists’ disingenuous description of an unborn baby as “just a clump of cells” (second item): 

 

They weigh less than 3 pounds, usually, and are perhaps 15 inches long. But they can remember.

 

The unborn have memories, according to medical researchers who used sound and vibration stimulation, combined with sonography, to reveal that the human fetus displays short-term memory from at least 30 weeks gestation - or about two months before they are born.

 

"In addition, results indicated that 34-week-old fetuses are able to store information and retrieve it four weeks later," said the research, which was released Wednesday.

 

Scientists from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Maastricht University Medical Centre and the University Medical Centre St. Radboud, both in the Netherlands, based their findings on a study of 100 healthy pregnant women and their fetuses with the help of some gentle but precise sensory stimulation. ...

 

"It seems like every day we find out marvelous new things about the development of unborn children. We hope that this latest information helps people realize more clearly that the unborn are members of the human family with amazing capabilities and capacities like these built in from the moment of conception," said Randall K. O'Bannon, director of education and research for the National Right to Life Educational Trust Fund.

 

Then Coburn got down to brass tacks – and Sotomayor tacked this way and that to avoid answering his questions:

 

Coburn: [D]oes technology in terms of the advancement of technology, should it have any varying whatsoever on the way we look at Roe v. Wade? For example, published reports most recently, of the 21-week - 21-week - that's 142 days fetus alive and well now at nine months of age with no apparent complications because the technology has advanced so far that we can now save children who are born prematurely at that level.

 

Sotomayor: The law has answered a different question. It's talked about the constitutional right of women ... in certain circumstances. And as I indicated, the issue becomes one of, what's the state regulation in any particular circumstance?

 

Coburn: I understand. But all I'm asking is, should it have any bearing?

 

Sotomayor: I can't answer that in the abstract, because the question, as it would come before me, wouldn't be in the way that you form it as a - as a citizen. It would come to me as a judge in the context of some action that someone's taking, whether if it's the state, the state, if it's a private citizen being controlled by the state challenging that action. Those issues are...

 

Coburn: But viability is a portion of a lot of that. And a lot of the decisions have been made based on viability. If we now have viability at 21 weeks, why would that not be something that should be considered as we look at the status of what can and cannot happen, in terms of this right to privacy that's been granted under Roe v. Wade in cases?

 

Sotomayor: All I can say to you is what the court's done. And the standard that the court has applied - what factors it may or may not look at within a particular factual situation - can't be predicted in a way to say, yes, absolutely, that's going to be considered, no, this won't be considered. …

 

Coburn: Should viability, should technology at any time be considered as we discuss these very delicate issues that have such an impact on so many people? And your answer is that you can't answer it?

 

Sotomayor: I can't, because that's not a question that the court reaches out to answer.

 

 

(Islamo)Fascistic Fashionistas

 

Last week, Sudanese religious police arrested 13 women and flogged 10 of them in public for wearing pants, a violation of Sharia law, reports The Associated Press:  

 

[J]ournalist Lubna Hussein, said she is challenging the charges, which can be punishable by up to 40 lashes.

 

"I didn't do anything wrong," Hussein said.

 

Islamic Sharia law has been strictly implemented in Sudan since the ruling party came to power in a 1989 military coup. …

 

Hussein said she decided to speak out because flogging is a practice many women endure in silence. She even sent printed invitations to the press and public figures to attend her expected trial.

 

"Let the people see for themselves. It is not only my issue," she said. "This is retribution to thousands of girls who are facing flogging for the last 20 years because of wearing trousers," she said. "They prefer to remain silent."

 

Hussein is literally putting her body on the line to protest her country’s barbaric treatment of women. Meanwhile, in France, where the country’s president is trying to free French-born Muslim women from the strictures of centuries-old tradition, witless couturiers “paraded all manner of burqas, abayas and niqabs,” reports the blog Luxist:

 

Were designers stating they were for or against the ban? Do they endorse freedom of religious expression or were they speaking out against the oppression of women? Besotted with so many images of the controversial garment in the news recently, perhaps they were simply inspired to put a piece or two on the catwalks. Or, were they out to get press?

 

"When I ask designers questions like these, they always look confused," says David Wolfe, creative director of The Doneger Group, whose job is to predict trends for fashion professionals. "They operate so much from their gut. Whatever the media focuses on, the sensitive designers pick up the vibe, whether consciously or subconsciously. Fashion is an endless drug and designers look for the new high-anything that hasn't been seen or worked to death." [Emphasis, The Stiletto.]

 

Still, the irony that Western women could soon be slapping down the Amex for Givenchy-designed gold veils at a time when the Islam world and secular governments wrangle over the burqa's meaning is striking.

 

Yeah, well, harem pants are so 1980s and burkas go back to the 6^th century B.C. Neither is “new” by any stretch of the imagination – oh, wait, perhaps the point of the Luxist post is that none of these couturier hacks have any imagination left to stretch.   

 

 

Putting Things In Perspective

 

This ad from Our Country Deserves Better PAC is an eye-opener: