The Supremes

I was really reminded of what passes as intelligent discourse these days by reading two letters-to-the-editor in today's newspaper. No, I'm not talking about Oprah or some other Hollywood-types' views of what's wrong with this world.

The letters, both, were ecstatic over the nomination of Sotomayor to the SCOTUS. She's a great choice and should be confirmed because, hold on to your hats, because "she's a great choice!" Now there were no reasons why Soto is "a great choice," other than she is a Latina woman, just that she is. I suppose BO could have just gone down to Mexicantown, off Fort St, according to these letter writers, and picked someone to nominate?

Reminds me of a North Central Accreditation discussion I had with the bldg chair one year. "It's just so great!" she gushed. I asked what made it so great. Somewhat nonplussed at the question (after all, how can anyone doubt that "It's just so great?"), she finally stumbled upon, "Because it's just so cool!" Wrong answer, but that's the type of intellectual leadership (is that oxymoronic?) you'll find in your schools today. While I'm at it, one time, in filling out surveys evaluating the school's performance, teachers were more critical than the leadership committee would have liked. So, they merely changed the teachers' answers to the survey, dismissing them with "Oh, they didn't really mean that" and other such tripe. (Well, they really did "mean that!") After intramural protests fell on deaf ears, when the NCA committee that confirmed (or denied--yeah, right, as if that was going to happen!) came, I approached it and told them about the changed answers. Yep, you guessed it, I was ignored. Nobody asked me a single question. I think that's because "It's just so cool!" Shame, shame on them all....