Asinine

Over the past week and a half, this country has been subject to a constant news story that is insulting when you consider our two wars, economic crisis, push to pass healthcare reform, and various other problems. I am, of course, talking about the arrest of Professor Henry Louis-Gate in Cambridge.

Now, race is a major issue in this country despite the fact that we now have an African-American president, but in my opinion this story should be no more than a footnote, and not worthy of the hours and hours of coverage that it has gotten. Of course this was propelled by the president wading hip-deep into the issue when he should not have. But it is stories like this that really brings out the stupidity of some people, along with asinine statements and ides.

Take, for example, Congressman Richard E. Neal of Massachusetts, and his objections to the selections of beer that are going to be served at the White House meeting between President Obama, Professor Louis-Gate, and Sgt. James Crowley. Rep. Neal recently wrote a letter to the president urging him to serve Sam Adams, or another beer from an American-owned brewery.

Oh, come on. The story is already blown out of proportion. Do we really need to care about what beer they drink?

Born in the USA

Months after President Obama's inauguration, conspiracies still abound about the legitimacy of his U.S. citizenship. Incredible, but not surprising. I don't know that there is much that could surprise me anymore when it comes to politics and stupidity. Check out Roland Martin's short piece from CNN.com.

Sotomayor vs. SVU & CSI

Right now on USA, there is a Law & Order: Special Victims Unit marathon. On Spike, there is a CSI marathon. And on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and PBS, there is day two of the Sonia Sotomayor marathon -- special all day coverage of the Supreme Court nominee's confirmation hearings. Can you say exciting? Yeah, me neither.

I've watched a little bit of the hearings. Democrats are praising her, Republicans keep bringing up the "wise Latina" comments. But the real question is: will any of this make a bit of difference? No. The Democrats hold a 60-40 majority in the Senate (counting Bernie Sanders, who is an Independent), and Sotomayor only needs to receive 51 votes to be confirmed. As Sen. Lindsay Graham put it yesterday, "Unless you have a complete meltdown, you are going to get confirmed."

So what is the point of all this? I think that an appointment to the Supreme Court is an important matter, and public hearings are a great thing. But I just wonder what Senators are hoping to learn in these three days that they have not been able to learn in the past month and a half. Is there really a need to have three hours of opening statements from senators? There is a finite amount of time before Congress breaks for the summer recess, and a seemingly infinite amount of issues that need to be addressed. So, why is all this grandstanding so important?

Anyway, you can watch SVU, CSI, or Sotomayor, Sotomayor, Sotomayor, and Sotomayor. What channel do you want?

Robert McNamara

It was reported today that Robert McNamara, former secretary of defense under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, has passed away at age 93. A very controversial figure, he was not only heavily involved in the Cuban Missile Crisis, but was a key architect of the war in Vietnam. If you get the chance, I highly recommend viewing Errol Morris' documentary, "The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara."