The Collected Writings of Sardonicus

Lots of interesting stuff coming in today. Harriet Miers withdrew her nomination to the Supreme Court, but it's hard to tell what really happened with all the spin that's going on with this story. There are number of possibilities. The two most likely possiblities were that Miers was too embarrassed and fed up with the criticism to continue, and the second is that she was pressured by the Republican party or Bush handlers to withdraw. One scenario I couldn't "see" was Bush changing his mind and personally asking Ms. Miers to simply go away. Despite his bad poll numbers in virutally everything, and the Republican split over the Miers nomination, Bush doesn't come across as someone who will second-guess himself. He's fiercely loyal to the people who are loyal to him. Look at John Bolton's nomination to the UN for example. The current administration fought tooth and nail to get that guy in there, despite WIDESPREAD criticism from not only the Democrats and the international community, but also his own party.

But I am happy that it's over. I watched a Charlie Rose interview with Justice Breyers today- an associate justice who currently represents the application of the broad interpretation of the Constitution (and thus a rival of Scalia), as well as a possessor of a well-renowned wit. The strength of character of some of the other justices would just overwhelm Miers.

What's going on in the Middle East between the Israelis and the Palestinians is getting ridiculous. An Israeli airstrike on the Palestinian-populated Gaza Strip today was issued in response to the suicide bombings in Israel yesterday. I was watching a documentary last week on the Camp David Accords- my first in-depth examination of the political situation at the time- and was surprised at how hopeful that time was and how-relatively- hopeless it seems now. Even with the Israeli withdrawal a few months ago, the process seems to be moving nowhere.

And that Yasukuni Shrine-issue is starting to get out of hand. Forget the fact that it was deemed unconstitutional by Japanese courts a few weeks ago, why are so many Japanese leaders CONTINUOUSLY visiting the shrine that honors Japanese war criminals? Yeah, the Koizumi claims he makes those trips as a "private citizen," but let's be real. But to be fair, China and South Korea simply need to try to get over it. Yeah, I understand China wants to use the issue to advance a sense of national unity, but what's Korea doing? The ROK is rich enough to not need an economic "apology." I wish Korea was proud enough and simply stop trying to play a victim's role. It gives the international community the impression that Koreans have an inferiority complex.

White Sox won yesterday. Yawn.