I don't have the tech skills to link directly to video of the Clarence Thomas book party shown on C-SPAN2 this Saturday (10/6) around 8pm in NYC. But here's C-SPAN's link and description:
About the Program: Radio host and columnist Armstrong Williams hosted a reception to mark the publication of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' memoir. In this program, viewers get an inside look at a Washington, DC party attended by many of the nation's leading conservatives.
Armstrong Williams is the African-American talk show host who was paid cash by the Bush administration to broadcast propaganda. That's an interesting choice to host Clarence's book party.
Shown in the video: Dick and Lynn Cheney squashed into Armstrong's kitchen along with most of the Supreme Court and some major senators. They are all sweating and talking and showing in ways only Proust could describe the truth about our civic life. Namely, that they are them -- and we aren't.
But that's just the beginning. The echoes go on and on. You must see the tape.
Like this artist the framing from the write (right) was clear. "High Tech Lynching", you betcha. Judge Thomas nominated by President Bush to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit: took oath of office, March 12, 1990.
Then nominated by President Bush as Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court: took oath of office October 23, 1991. What a quick study, 19 months as a judge and he is ready to sit on the highest court in the land. Ready to offer wisdom on the most important issues of our time. What a pithy juror. Oh wait, maybe he was given the job through an affirmative action paradigm or because he was an alter boy*. Whatever the reason he is now part of a very exclusive club and due to that status he is now able to hang with the likes of Armstrong Williams and Dick & Mrs. Dick.
Bravo I say. Take your 15 minutes and since you are a self described Conservative you can take my 15 minutes as well. You deserve it. I am happy that he can right (write) a book to clear the air even if it is unregulated air.
* Is he a party to any class action settlement with the Diocese?
You know what really made me sad for Clarence?
He still believes that he was denied jobs after graduation because of the taint of Affirmative action. He never even would consider that SOME white people were still being discriminatory. Still reacting to old stereotypes and prejudice.
I will go along with Clarence on one issue, though. Give me an old fashioned KKK member any day. You know where you stood. They hated you, and you knew it. I am NOT defending them, just telling it like it is. They stayed on their side of the street and didn’t cross. It was easier to tell the good from the bad.
Where Clarence seems to miss the point in all this is he still sees himself as a BLACK Supreme Court Justice. Not just a,,, MAN,,,, who is,,,, also,,,, a Judge on the Supreme Court bench.
An AMERICAN!
I believe that Judge Thomas will always think this way.
He is angry because others will not accept him as holding conservative values. He is thereby always trying to compensate and defend himself. He is a prisoner of his own making. Always going overboard to prove his convictions, always feeling like he is not worthy or needs to show the world or somehow make it all better or justify things.
Dear Mr. Thomas.
There is not one thing wrong with just being a MAN!
An AMERICAN!
And PROUD of it!
All the best
Knute (Neo-LIB)
After Vietnam, Watergate, Iran-Contra , the 2000 "election", and now Iraq (stop me before I get sick), it is folly to deny our complicity in the creation of the current nightmare.
If you got enough money I bet he would do or say anything you want.
better to be a pauper than part of it...now,
having high morals won't buy your breakfast
tomorrow, but you can sleep gooder...
A people who believe in the rule of the majority must believe in the ethical and creditable discovery of that majority will. If as a people we feel we can trust the processes of government to accurately reflect the will of the majority of our citizens, we'll be willing to let the game play on, trusting that the greater good is being done as best as it may be; and that if things drift off-center, the amalgam of human perceptions will steer it back.
We don't have that. What we have now is a citizenship who've seen far too many successful efforts to "game" the system -- making it serve special interests at the expense of the common good. Some of the gamers have suffered for their efforts, but too many have not. Too often the rest of us -- those who would never think or want to take advantage of our fellow citizens -- have paid the price.
Sadly, those who still desire to believe in democratic principles -- let's call them "liberals," shall we -- still cling to the instinct to let things play out, trusting that they will swing back to center in time. But there are those -- let's call them NeoCons -- who have no intention of ever letting that happen. Remember the "Permanent Republican Majority" the neocons wanted? How is that even slightly a democratic concept?
We are far down the road to fascism; it only lacks a sufficient excuse to impose martial law, and our freedoms are a memory. I wish I could believe that the sitting president was too moral to do such a thing.
Wait until next summer or fall, a "sufficient excuse" may present itself.
After the "National Security Presidential Directive/NSPD 51" and "Homeland Security Presidential Directive/HSPD-20" were enacted last May, nothing will suprise me.
Before Bush was even inaugurated, their first order of business was going after Iraq, Iran--the Middle East--Asia, etc. The documents reveal much discussion about how the US was the only superpower in the world, and they had the right to preemptively attack anyone, anywhere they wanted--who was going to stop them. And they weren't about to let little things like laws and rules get in their--the end justifies the means.
The documents also reveal that this group wanted the military ability to wage multiple wars at once. However, since the Cold War had been over for years, they discussed how to convince Congress, during a time of peach, to substantially increase defense funding--to the tune of 100s of billions of dollars--to create this huge worldwide military complex. And then along came 9/11 which led to the "war on terror" that led to the war in Afghanistan and on to Iraq--next stop, Iran.... This is about establishing their "new world order."
It'll give you an idea of just exactly what their agenda is really all about. Check it out.
http://www.newamericancentury.org/index.html
the AMERICAN WAY is going to hell. There's barely anybody stepping up to save it.
Courage anyone?
Statesmanship?
Truth, honesty, coalition building?
Not a chance.
This whole idea of a "Supreme Court" is undemocratic. At the very least, the Robed Wonders should run for their appoitments, since we peasants have to live with their royal decrees.
Their wallets, bank statements and stock/fund portfolios give them such sweet dreams.
and "Us" and "Them"
what a little
piggies' pen.
I find the media attention that is currently being lavished on this man fairly repellent.
May I suggest the title for the next Thomas tome..."White Like Me."