Non-McMillan Remainders (The Gateway)

That the Obama administration would abandon this judicial nominee–Daniel Alter, a former senior attorney with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)– is a stone disgrace. But despite the headline, the fuss has nothing to do with his being gay.

It has everything to do with Alter’s being a little too frank about Church and State.

And let’s call a spade a spade; it is about Alter’s being a little too outspoken about how non-Christians really feel about the Christian majority’s assumption and presumption that we should all pretend we adhere to the same beliefs, when we most emphatically do not.

Realistically, I think Alter elevates theoretical purism a bit too high over practical operative reality. We are, after all, “a Christian nation”, in the sense that most of its inhabitants call themselves Christians. Naturally, a government in a democratic republic which does not reflect in some sense the majority values, such as they exist, of the culture of the society it seeks to regulate, is doomed to suffer a great deal of social tension. That’s a fact of life.

But that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for some diversity of viewpoint in our judiciary. And if this viewpoint can’t get some representation on the bench in a Democratic Administration, when will it ever? The Republicans are not so shy about elevating to the bench their purists on matters of Church and State.

As well as depressing. www.slate.com www.slate.com

Brilliant strategy: punish the Dems for failing to enact immigration reform by making it harder to do so. It’s so dumb, I initially thought it was the brainchild of some leftist, but it turns out to be a Republican front group.

Figures. Anti-Reid group to Hispanic voters: 'Don't Vote' – Ben Smith www.politico.com

Cindy Sheehan and Matt Gonzalez; stupid left wing wackos: http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/weigel/archive/2010/10/20/cindy-sheehan-goes-republican.aspx

The law in special non-partisan elections for the City Council is that the one who files first gets the first slot on the ballot. When a non-partisan special election for Council coincides with a general, this means someone gets to appear under the Democratic line, and look like he’s the Democratic candidate. This alone has decided some elections.

It is a stupid rule.

I have no brief for any of the candidates in the special for Tom White's seat–it may be the worst field of all time. The front runner lives in Amityville for Chrissake, and the field includes both Allen Jennings AND Al Baldeo.

So though they are all dogs in this fight, none of them are mine.

Nonetheless, stupid rules and bad candidates do not excuse the outrageous manipulation of the ballot someone tried to pull here (it subsequently cost $25,000 to fix after it was exposed).

The focus on what McMillan said about Jews and housing misses the point.

Stuff like this is a small part of the issue:

McMillan also has been accused of anti-Semitism, saying, among other things, that rents were being inflated by Jewish landlords who discriminated against non-Jews in Williamsburg."Mr. McMillan is somebody who has a proven record of posting anti-Semitic slurs," said Deborah Lauter of the Anti-Defamation League.McMillan apologized on his website but seemed unabashed in an interview with the Daily News Tuesday. "Jews were slave masters," he said. "They enslaved my people. You can't call me anti-Semitic." http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/10/20/2010-10-20_jimmy_sez_i_want_you_to_join_my_revolution.html

The issue is stuff like this:

And yes, Jimmy McMillan did inspire the Dybbuk to look up from his computer during the debate and say "He's Right." I did not make that up.