What happened to Neda…
“At 19:05 June 20th Place: Karekar Ave., at the corner crossing Khosravi St. and Salehi st. A young woman who was standing aside with her father watching the protests was shot by a basij member hiding on the rooftop of a civilian house. He had clear shot at the girl and could not miss her. However, he aimed straight her heart.
I am a doctor, so I rushed to try to save her. But the impact of the gunshot was so fierce that the bullet had blasted inside the victim’s chest, and she died in less than 2 minutes. The protests were going on about 1 kilometers away in the main street and some of the protesting crowd were running from tear gass used among them, towards Salehi St.
The film is shot by my friend who was standing beside me. Please let the world know.”
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In a few days time, President Barack Obama will make history—again. He will nominate a Supreme Court justice. There have only been 110 men and women to hold a seat on the high court in our nation’s history. I have more pairs of shoes than that, and some of them—like Supreme Court justices—I wish had never been picked.
Take for instance those pretty red leather sandals with gold bands on them. They shredded my feet the first and only time I ever put them on. And then there were the pointed toed stilettos I bought for a gala. My arches hurt so badly that midway through the reception I took them off and headed for the door before the dinner bell rang. You get the picture.
After Justice David Souter announced his retirement last week, I got to thinking about my own hit-and-miss shoe buying record. History will reward those justices, like Souter, who pushed us forward on racial justice, freedom of speech, and privacy issues. Those who showed themselves as somewhat less than studied ideologues will go down in flames as footnotes that deserve to be kicked around by law school students.
Shamefully, there have been only two women, Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. O’Connor has since retired but, despite her battle with pancreatic cancer, Ginsburg remains. In a world where women outnumber men among college and law graduates, I find that stupefying. Likewise, there have only been two African Americans on the court. Thurgood Marshall left this earth far too soon and, well, Clarence Thomas feels worse than a bad pair of stilettos and has the mental heft of a pair of beach flip flops.
A former Constitutional Law professor, it’s a good thing that President Obama is a lot smarter than me. But in case he finds himself having an off day when he makes the pick, I have a few recommendations for his consideration.
It would be nice if the Court reflected the richness of our diversity. But for the record, I am not eager for a black man or a woman. In fact, I don’t think race or gender should be a factor in the president’s decision. Picking a justice is not an opportunity for political payback– no matter how many letters the White House receives trumpeting the value of a Hispanic jurist.
The nominee should be a better than qualified, brilliant legalist. As one New York Times columnist said, “Let’s stick to the true issues. If some of the senators don’t like Obama’s choice because he or she is in favor of abortion rights or affirmative action, they should admit it and not try to pretend their real objection is that he or she smoked marijuana in the twelfth grade.”
Which takes me to my next point: Forget trying to find a “safe” pick that will please both sides of the aisle. Not happening. Not in this political climate. Remember the Stimulus bill? The nominee, no matter how distinguished, will be picked apart like last night’s pot roast. I am willing to wager that nearly every Republican will then vote against them no matter who Obama chooses. Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions will almost certainly lead the way. Pay him no mind. He thought the Ku Klux Klan was cool until he found out they smoked pot and thought it was okay to call one of his Black staffers “boy”.
What should the president worry about? Given the previous administration’s record on human rights and privacy, I want a jurist who is committed to upholding the Constitution. I want a staunch defender of privacy rights who is willing and able to interpret the law and not just parrot extremists from the left or the right. That person should find and rule Guantanamo Bay an abomination. If they so much as question the appropriateness of Miranda or think for one moment that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) was okay, they should be disqualified. The court is no place for activist judges who want to re-write the law no more than it is a place for “naturalists” who would sooner see us return to Jim Crow than actually find merit in our nation’s laws on voting and employment rights. The nominee should have a demonstrated ability to adjudicate cases that have come before them with a sense of fairness tempered by the constrictions of law.
And finally, take former President Bush’s lead and pick a young jurist—someone who will outlive your presidency and the next. There’s something to be said about picking a bad pair of shoes. You can always return them to the customer service counter. Unlike Supreme Court justices, who get a lifetime appointment, you don’t have to wear them.
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Tags: obama, souter, supreme court
Come on in and shut up!
So says Steele to GOP moderates…http://tinyurl.com/cnwq3f
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When Pigs Fly!
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard the news. At any given hour last week, you could have tuned into a network or cable news program and heard the same top story. Swine flu. In the early days of the outbreak, experts warned of a potential pandemic. Translation? Stock up on canned goods, gather your loved ones, and take cover in the nearest underground bunker!
The H1N1 virus, a new virulent strain of influenza which normally infects pigs has been transmitted to humans, is certainly nothing to play with. The origin is unknown, but there’s one thing we know for sure. It’s serious.
This is especially true for countries with distressed public healthcare systems that cannot afford stockpiles of drugs. Until last week, transmission of influenza from pigs to human was uncommon. Only about 50 cases had been identified since the mid-20th century. But that was before the age of frequent international travel. If some sneezes in Los Angeles, you can be sure that someone in Singapore will catch it somewhere down the line. We are one big community, living on an ever shrinking planet.
The good news is that disease is highly responsive to drug therapy, which includes Tamiflu. Anti-viral drugs, widely available in the U.S., make the symptoms milder and can prevent complications. It’s a disease we can control.
The swine flu virus that sparked so much fear worldwide appears to be no more dangerous than the regular flu virus that makes its rounds each year, said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. Twenty five deaths in Mexico, one in the U.S.
So, why all the hubbub?
Why are governments ordering the slaughter of pigs? Why are some officials shutting down whole school districts for weeks at a time? Why are people, even without symptoms, crowding emergency rooms? Why are others taking to public transit wearing Michael Jackson-styled face masks when less than 1,000 cases have been confirmed around the world?
Simple. We’re scared.
The hysteria has fueled all kinds of insanity. “Stay away from pork!” one of my Facebook friends screamed on my profile. Bad advice, since flu is not a food borne illness and cannot be transmitted through a pork chop. “This is payback from the Mexican drug lords!” another one typed in all caps. “Al Qaeda is behind this,” said another. I quickly “un-friended” all three of them.
There was better advice to be had. Wash your hands, the president told us. If you’re sick, stay home from work. If your children are sick, keep them home from school. Sound advice for this and every other illness.
But let me call your attention to a disease that cannot be prevented with a little Ivory soap and water. HIV.
The disease that causes AIDS continues to infect and kill people around the world. In the U.S., the CDC counts 80 cases per 100,000 in 2008. In 2006, there were an estimated 53,000 new cases according to the same study—13,000 more than the year before. Most notably, African American women represent that lion’s share of newly diagnosed cases. In fact, we are 23 times more likely to contract the disease than our white counterparts. AIDS is among the leading causes of death for Black women and we represent that largest share of perinatal transmissions. Our babies are being born with a death sentence.
The incidences of HIV are more than double for African Americans than for any other race or ethnicity. Unfortunately, we are not alone. In South Africa, the numbers are even more horrific. One in ten of all South Africans over age two are living with HIV.
And if there is one thing we know for sure, AIDS kills. Sure, there are living enhancing and extending drugs. But the probability of someone with HIV/ AIDS dying is 100%.
It’s a statistic I know all too well. For ten years, I watched my oldest brother Don fight for his life, tooth and nail. He died nearly four years ago. So forgive me if I am bothered by the wall-to-wall media attention paid to swine flu. The uproar hardly seems justified.
I don’t mean to diminish the potential impact of the H1N1 virus. I am simply calling for perspective. Forty-nine prep school students in New York contracted swine flu and with the appropriate medical care they all recovered nicely. Thousands of New Yorkers are living with HIV. Their chances of recovery? Zero. Here in Georgia, a single case caused officials to cancel the Cinco de Mayo festival that normally draws 35,000.
“A few hundred people contract the swine flu and everyone wants to wear a mask. But millions contract and die from AIDS and no one wants to wear a condom!” another Facebook friend wrote.
While you’re washing your hands and looking for a face mask that matches your new spring outfit, I want you to remember that a much more deadly, more sinister disease is still on the rise.
When will I stop talking about HIV and the tragic impact is continues to have on African Americans? As my grandmother would say, “When pigs fly.”
Goldie Taylor is CEO of Goldie Taylor Brand Communications and president of GIFT—the Global Initiative for the Testing and Prevention of HIV.
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Tags: HIV, pandemic, swine flu
Special note to Dan…
You are no longer welcome here.
Peace,
Goldie
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Five (kinda) deep questions
1. Are white people still that pissed off that we have a black president, that they refuse to help him solve this economic crisis?
2. Do people really think that letting AIG fail and the calamity that would cause is actually a good thing for world markets?
3. Does anybody really believe that Rush Limbaugh cares about anything other than his ratings, his paycheck and his own substantially wide ass?
4. When in the hell will the media shut up about Chris Brown and Rihanna and start focusing programming content that it devoid of mysogynistic, hyper-sexualized behavior?
5. Is anyone else as addicted to Twitter and Facebook as I am?
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Tags: 5 Questions, AIG, chris brown, economic crisis, Facebook, Limbaugh, Rihanna, Twitter
Recent Entries
- What happened to Neda…
- Neda, may your sleep be short…
- I AM Green!
- How (not) to pick a Supreme Court justice
- Come on in and shut up!
- When Pigs Fly!
- Special note to Dan…
- Limbaugh: ‘If Obama Fails, America Is Saved’
- For my brothers and sisters living with disabilities…
- Five (kinda) deep questions
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