I know I haven't been very diligent in updating this blog especially now during this month-long winter break. Yeah, I admit I'm just too damn lazy and I simply don't feel like doing anything besides sleeping, eating junk food, watching TV/movies, doing crosswords puzzles and reading novels, mainly to compensate for the previous gruelling semester. I think I did okay although my relentless effort to lobby aacaan Kannikar for an A in my Thai class fell a bit short; she gave me an AB. Getting A's for the three other classes more than make up for the shortfall. Perfection is way too overrated!
Anyway, there's just so much to write about, politics-wise. Here in the US, the whole Jack Abramoff brouhaha sends shockwave through the Washington political establishment following his guilt admission for bribery and his willingness to cooperate with Federal prosecutors to implicate others. This has led to the rash of major Washington politicos divesting "Abramoff hot-money" from their campaign chests in a hurry to rid themselves of any perceived or real improprieties. Yeah, like these people are angels to begin with.
Down deep in the heart of the Lone Star state, Abramoff's bosom buddy, Tom DeLay, also known by his Congressional sobriquet "The Hammer," is deeply embroiled in his own political hot-water in Texas facing several charges on money laundering and racketeering. He had already been forced to resign his Majority Leader position in the House and we can only hope that this former pest exterminator will go back to his old job spraying bugs and rats.
Another big issue in Washington, DC right now, at least for political junkies like me, is the Supreme Court confirmation fight in the Senate. The Senate Judiciary Committee will start the hearing on Samuel Alito, so dubbed "Scalito," not for lack of reasons, to replace the retiring Sandra Day O'Connor. The term "Scalito" is simply a neologism derived from his comparison with the current Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Both are orthodox Roman Catholics with Italian immigrant background, and most importantly, both are staunch Conservatives. While Scalia is known for his caustic dissents, razor-sharp wit and a wry sense of humor--a law professor actually did a survey based on the court's transcripts and found that Scalia is the funniest among all the nine justices in terms of inducing laughters during oral arguments--Alito is more of a soft-spoken, pensive, controlled type.
But this certainly does not, in any way, soften his conservative credentials, and rest assured that once seated on the bench, he will no doubt be a part of the hardline conservative nexus along with Justices Scalia, Thomas, and Roberts--not unlike the infamous "Four Horsemen" of the Supreme Court during the FDR administration who blocked every piece of the New Deal legislations. As much as I hate seeing another hardline right-winger gets a lifetime appointment to the Court--Sandy O'Connor is somewhat a moderate but her majority vote in Bush v. Gore is totally despicable--I think Alito will get through the brutal confirmation process virtually unscathed, probably not as smooth as the recent John Roberts's confirmation as Chief Justice but definitely not as polarizing and vitriolic--and "pornographic"--as Clarence Thomas's confirmation hearing back in 1991. No, Alito will not get "Borked," a reference to the failed confirmation of Robert Bork in 1987, and there will not be another Anita Hill testifying on Alito's sexual lewdness. Leading Wisconsin Senator on the Judiciary Committee, Russ Feingold, while has not ruled out the possibility of a filibuster, has decided to take a less combative tack in this confirmation process. Feingold voted to confirm John Roberts, much to the dismay of the liberals, and he will vote to confirm Alito. I'll speculate on Russ's so-called "strategic votes" vis-a-vis his 2008 Presidential aspiration in another column.
On a more lighter--and strange--note, the ultra-orthodox Hasidic Jews in New York City are up-in-arms against Mayor Bloomberg's attempt to ban baby circumcision due to the three recent deaths from such practice. Mind you that this practice is not done by a well-trained doctor; instead a religious practitioner known as mohel performs the rite, akin to the tok mudim in traditional Malay customs. The babies died from neonatal herpes, and how did the babies get herpes if their mothers do not have disease? Well, funny you ask. Instead of using alcohol or any sterilizing agents, the rabbis who perform this ritual suck the blood from the circumcision wound to clean it. Yeah, you heard right. Herpes virus can be transmitted from the open cold sores around the rabbis' mouth. That's why you don't kiss somebody with herpes on the mouth--or engage in fellatio or cunnilingus, for that matter--when he/she is having the cold sore bouts. But this Jewish ritualistic circumcision (metzitzah b'peh) certainly gives the phrase "licking one's wound" a whole new meaning and anatomical imagery. I sense a latent pedophilic-homoeroticism here.
By the way, here's a quote from the said NY Times article about why the Hasidic Jews are so hell-bent on this issue:
"What has been promised to us prior to the recent elections - and this was the only request we made - was that the subject of metzitzah b'peh should be completely untouched by the city department of health," the editorial (of a Yiddish newspaper) said. "This and only this was the reason why thousands of Orthodox Jews registered themselves to vote, undersigned a petition to the mayor, came out in droves, men, women and children, to an unprecedented rally."
Who would have thought circumcision forms the bedrock principle of Western democratic practice, namely voting rights! Who cares about the plights of the poor, the socio-economic injustices, corrupt public officials or abuse of powers, right? As long as I can suck blood from babies' penises, all is fine and dandy!
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