Alito

I don't know much about him besides the few opinions I've perused on Muslim cops and beards and College newspapers and alcohol ads, but he seems to have the right enemies. Anybody who Ted Kennedy hates must be, at their core, good. But Teddy hatred is not, in and of itself, a good reason to support someone. But it's a good start.

Libby Indictment

Haven't followed this too closely, but I have to note... If lying to a Grand jury was wrong for Clinton (and it was) then it's wrong when one of our guys does it too. It sounds like he lied, but it sounds like a stupid lie. It's also sad that our federal prosecutors are being sent on these fools errands since there was no underlying crime.

The criminal justice system is in danger of becoming "politics by other means".

Miers Post Mortem

Harriet Miers is gone. This did not have to happen. I love Bush, but he mucked this up royally and damaged a good and loyal friend in the process. Harriet Miers, while not SCOTUS material, has had a long and accomplished career. She was White Counsel for goodness' sake. Peter Principle or not, that's a great accomplishment. Now she'll be tagged as "incompetent" and an "intellectual lightweight" with the bruising she took from Conservatives this past 2 weeks.

Don't get me wrong, we had the right to stand up to Bush and did so in a mostly above board manner, but it's still sad to see. Who among my brethren (sisters too) in the legal community would turn down a chance to sit on the Supreme Court of the United States? Not many, if any would pass up the plummest of jobs -- even if we weren't sure we had the chops to do it. In addition, who's going to turn down the President of the United States? Most good public servants will step up to the plate when called on to serve.

GW Bush never should have chosen her either due to the appearance of cronyism or to the real and substantial deficiencies in her ability to either express a coherent judicial philosophy or fight the intellectual battles that will occur with Breyer and Ginsburg. We need a jurist who can compete in these battles. I don't know enough of McConnell or Luttig, but I've read some Janice Rogers Brown's opinions out here in CA and she seems fine, with all else I know of her.

Bush "screwed the pooch" on this one. Rove must be inordinately distracted with the faux scandal re Plame.

Books Ordered and Received!!

Is there a greater joy -- materially speaking -- than receiving books in the mail? I got and read Paul Cartledge's Sparta I am in the middle of Donald Kagan's Peloponnesian War and have VD Hanson's A War Like No Other and 1776 by McCulloch. Cartledge's book was a great read -- academic and written with gusto. I see he's been a consultant on a few PBS docs on the Greeks.

Kagan's book is very insightful -- more later and in depth. Can't wait to start Hanson's book.

A close second is going to a used book store and finding a steal. Suetonius' Lives of the Caesars is my latest gem there. Used books are the saving grace of a father of three

Hmmm...

Why is that I'm beginning to feel the need to blog and not the need to work? I blame Ann Althouse and her addictive blog. Now I need to find the proper balance between 3 young kids, a demanding job (as demanding as academics can be), etc. etc. Boo hoo.

Perhaps this will re-invigorate those writing juices.

Islamo-fascists and the KKK

I'm teaching a section on Islamic Civilization in my Humanities class tomorrow and I've been thinking a lot (in addition to the War on Terror thoughts) about Islamo-fascism and anticipating questions. Even though I'll be dealing mostly with the art and architecture, music, etc. I'm sure there will be questions about religious extremism.

What makes Islamo-fascism so dangerous? Why should we care? What's the difference? The best example I can draw from American Christianity is the KKK and the idiotic concept of the Curse of Ham (or the Curse of Cush) taken from the story of Noah in the Book of Genesis (9:20--25). Ham saw Noah's drunkenness and nakedness and God cursed Canaan -- Ham's son. Another son of Ham was Cush who is credited with fathering the people of Cush -- Ethiopia and eastern Africa. In a sinister bit of eisegesis, the KKK and other white racists in the 19th c. (perhaps it arose earlier, but that's beside this point) read into this story the idea that God had accursed Africans (read -- "Black people") and they were therefore sub-human (also using Darwinian ideas) and deserving of slavery, discrimination and were unfit to marry into the white race, etc, etc. Utter bullshit no doubt -- but a dangerous bit of scriptural interpretation.

Islamo-fascists -- Wahhabis especially -- do the same thing to their Koran. They read into it that Americans are the Great Satan and that suicide bombing of non-combatants is not just permissible, but encourgaed, etc. The main difference? Imaginge the KKK running an entire country -- say... the size of Saudi Arabia, having seemingly endless reserves of oil and money. The genesis of both movements comes from the same place -- ignorance and hatred. The impact of islamo-fascism is exponentially greater because it takes up a small but significant minority of 1.2 billon Muslims who are embeddded in the halls of power of many countries in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. These countries have nukes, armies, navies, universities and seminaries with which to inclucate their children and intimidate their neighbors and us. Also, their mainstream moderate leaders and rank and file refuse (either out of fear or ambivalence or a mixture) to call these radicals out.

Evangelicals in both the UK and the US eventually ended the slave trade and have lead the fight for civil rights in both countries for all Americans. ignorance gave way to knowledge -- through proper exegesis of Scripture -- "love they neighbor..." Christian voices cried out for the abolition of slavery, lynching, and Jim Crow that scarred this country. The KKK could not hide out in the churches for long. Though they still spout their tripe; they do not have government cache and the power and resources to terrorize Blacks at will as during Reconstruction.

Where are these voices in mainstream Islam? I know they're out there. Are they not getting air time? Are they being shouted down and intimidated? Radical islamo-fascism will thrive and grow unless Muslims of good will solve the problem. We can only kill or contain so many of these radicals. The problem has to be dealt with by those who control access to Islam's holy scriptures and by those who wield gov't power in those countires where this ideology thrives.