Crossposted from Flopping Aces

Will Republicans be able to oppose the first Hispanic woman for the court?

Obama played the race card, followed by the sex card and the liberal card today when he picked federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor as the nation’s first Hispanic Supreme Court justice on Tuesday.

Was his choice a person to serve ALL Americans on the court or one specifically selected to advance the rights and agenda of specific groups and ideology? You decided:

• Curt posted the video of Judge Sotomayer declaring that courts are where “policy is made.” That will be news to the Senators who review her qualifications.
• Sotomayer believes women are better judges. She said that women, particularly Hispanic women “would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male.”
• Carrying that theme further she insisted that “gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging.” She went on to add that “I wonder whether by ignoring our differences as women or men of color we do a disservice both to the law and society.” So much for equality before the law!

This is only the start of what we know about her and there will certainly be more to come, both good and bad, in the days to come. For Republicans in the Senate the question will be: does she have the judicial temperament and qualifications to serve on the court? If so, most will likely vote for her. If not, they must oppose her vigorously.

Also:

While Obama Foreign Policies Fail, Major Wars Creeping Closer

President Obama’s foreign policy is a complete failure. There’s no white-washing it, and his administration would do better to admit it than to spin the reality. That reality is:

• Iran is still closing in on starting its nuclear bomb factories (if it hasn’t already).
• Pakistan is still on verge of collapse, and
• North Korea is 100% unstoppable

There are many MANY more problems to be sure (not the least of which is the confusion over whether or not we’re all support the pursuit of success in Iraq after Obama and Democrats told us to oppose it for the past seven years). Afghanistan is the land of foreverwar. Somalia and East Africa are in anarchy, and much much more. However, those three foreign policy failures threaten not one, not two, but THREE major wars if Obama can’t produce results soon. Clocks are ticking. Nations are literally preparing for total, “all-out war.”

Obama’s foreign policy-the idea of forcing enemies to unclench their fists by offering them open hands is not producing results (could it be the Iranians are left handed?). Even Barack himself recognizes that the effort to “talk” to Iran is failing, and despite years of promising to meet Iranian leaders without preconditions, he’s announced that Iran has but till the end of the year to demonstrate considerable efforts towards peace. Israel probably doesn’t have that long, shouldn’t wait for President Obama’s pipedream, pie-in-the-sky, hail Mary effort to stave off total, all-out regional war. The Israelis are literally facing the threat of another genocide. They know it, and because Obama’s foreign policy has not produced a single positive result with Iran, there is no practical reason to wait. War is coming to the Middle East-a war that will make the invasion and occupation of Iraq look like kids play.

In Pakistan, President Obama’s stepped up air strikes and Special Forces raids have killed so many civilians that locals actually look at Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban more favorably! They’re backing the Taliban’s offensive that is threatening to collapse that country. If Pakistan falls to extremists or collapses into anarchy, then a war with India is very likely. Any war with India threatens 1-2 billion people with nuclear Armageddon. Obama’s efforts to prevent this have produced zero results. He must change the course of events.

In regards to North Korea, even the BBC is admitting now that nothing shy of total war will stop the unchained dictatorship. No amount of sanctions, no harsh letter from the UN, no speech about fake outrage is going to stop or even deter the weapons exporting nation. They’re military is among the biggest and most dedicated in the world, and while armed with antiquated weapons, their artillery alone could kill 2million people in the South Korean capital at any given moment. If North Korea is not stopped (and it doesn’t look like Obama’s charm can do it), then a regional arms race must begin. Japan must build anti-ballistic missiles, and perhaps even nuclear weapons. China must then increase its abilities with both. The chain reaction proliferation threatens billions of lives. It would be far cheaper in blood and treasure for the world to lose a million troops in an attack into North Korea than to lose a billion or two billion to a regional nuclear war, and if Obama’s charm doesn’t start paying off soon, history will make the decision.

We’re told, “These things take time.” No. They don’t. It’s very easy to see if one side of a conversation is interested, willing, or even capable of barter. Once that’s determined, then the ugly balance sheet must come out. There’s no way around it. He has to ask himself what is the cost of inaction vs what is the cost of action-however horrific. In each of the three cases above (Iran, Pakistan, and North Korea), the price of inaction far outweighs the cost of direct military attack. That’s why it’s so important for diplomacy to work, to start showing results, and to stop being reduced to a Monty Python joke.
“STOP! Or we shall be forced to say ‘stop’ again!”