Prometheus 6

Easin' on down the road...

A sad realization

I've mentioned before that my biological father was Afghanistanian but, for all intents and purposes, I'm white. I was raised white and I identify with white people in many ways. I grew up in the Southeast US, however, and I also sometimes identify with blacks, especially because most of the black population I've interacted with have treated me as multiracial.

So what does all this mean? Nothing really except that I'm as much a racial goulash as anyone else. So why am I posting on this topic? I went to an Iranian festival today and, even though my racial heritage is from a totally different country, I was among people who looked similar to me.

I've been remiss...
in that I've never mentioned my distress about the fact that most voters don't seem to realize that the President has the power to appoint many, many, many judges - including the Supremies. Slate, however, has corrected my omission with a great article that asks that very question. Why don't people seem to realize (or care) that even though we can boot out the President every four years, judicial appointments are FOR DECADES.

And the judges are who determine how laws are enforced. All that legislation passed by Congress? Guess what? It's interpreted by all those judges - including the Supremies. So we can get the good legislation produced by Congress and the Prez but if the judges interpret it differently, we're stuck with that interpretation - just as we were stuck with the Supremies' decision to appoint Bush in 2000.

I'm the first to admit that I have been pretty darn slack with regard to 'judge selection activism' but my new political resolution is to pay more attention to who's going where. Of course, this will probably require some rudimentary knowledge of the court system but that's too bad - I'll have to take the time to learn...

That last sentence was the one that impressed me, by the way.