A SONNET FOR HARRIET

OK so boredom and yesterday's post have inspired me to write a sonnet about l'affaire Miers:

John Roberts is a brilliant legal mind;
Although his politics don't fit my mold,
I wouldn't be surprised someday to find
He'd not done slavishly as he was told.
But Harriet Miers is another story
A crony from the inner circle formed
And who, despite Bush promises of glory
Has failed to leave the wingnut coldness warmed.
"Bush broke his promise!" they proclaim, betrayed,
"To nominate another Clarence T!"
"He told us we'd be rid of Roe v. Wade,
but with this woman where's our guarantee?"
She calls Bush the most brilliant man she's met!!!
A sentiment my marrow can't forget!!!

HARRIET WHO?

So Bush has put forth Harriet Meiers as his nominee to replace Sandra Day O'Conner on the SCOTUS. The consensus seems to be from both the left and the right that she's possibly the most "stealth" nominee anyone could have imagined, because she has no
"paper-trail", and that her resume hardly qualifies her for the position (her most formidable positions having been her election to head of the Texas State Bar and her time as head of the Texas Lottery.

I have one question:

Is she one of the top 9 legal minds in the country?

Ok that's unfair -I'll rephrase:

Is she one of the top 100?

Top 500?

If not, why are we even talking about her?

This is as I've said a LIFETIME POSITION on the most important court in the land and arguably the most important court in the world. What's she going to bring to it? Anyone? Anyone?

This is after all the woman who claimed that George W. Bush is the most brilliant man she's ever met. That alone should...oh let's be polite and just say "raise a few eyebrows".

My advice: ALL the senators on the Judiciary Committee should reject her, and tell Bush to stop kidding around and send them a serious nominee.

SAME AS IT EVER WAS

From GWB's speech today:

There's always a temptation, in the middle of a long struggle, to seek the quiet life, to escape the duties and problems of the world, and to hope the enemy grows weary of fanaticism and tired of murder.

Perhaps that's why he's had more vacation than any other president in our nation's history?

Ineffective leadership has produced this desire for centuries:

Henry VI part III Act II Scene V

K. Henry:

Here on this molehill will I sit me down. 15
To whom God will, there be the victory!
For Margaret my queen, and Clifford too,
Have chid me from the battle; swearing both
They prosper best of all when I am thence.
Would I were dead! if God's good will were so; 20
For what is in this world but grief and woe?
O God! methinks it were a happy life,
To be no better than a homely swain;
To sit upon a hill, as I do now,
To carve out dials quaintly, point by point, 25
Thereby to see the minutes how they run,
How many make the hour full complete;
How many hours bring about the day;
How many days will finish up the year;
How many years a mortal man may live. 30
When this is known, then to divide the times:
So many hours must I tend my flock;
So many hours must I take my rest;
So many hours must I contemplate;
So many hours must I sport myself; 35
So many days my ewes have been with young;
So many weeks ere the poor fools will ean:
So many years ere I shall shear the fleece:
So minutes, hours, days, months, and years,
Pass'd over to the end they were created, 40
Would bring white hairs unto a quiet grave.
Ah, what a life were this! how sweet! how lovely!
Gives not the hawthorn-bush a sweeter shade
To shepherds looking on their silly sheep,
Than doth a rich embroider'd canopy 45
To kings that fear their subjects' treachery?
O, yes, it doth; a thousand-fold it doth.
And to conclude, the shepherd's homely curds,
His cold thin drink out of his leather bottle.
His wonted sleep under a fresh tree's shade, 50
All which secure and sweetly he enjoys,
Is far beyond a prince's delicates,
His viands sparkling in a golden cup,
His body couched in a curious bed,
When care, mistrust, and treason waits on him