Antoni Gaudi and Sonia Sotomayor

Over the years, the television news show, 60 Minutes, has brought me immense and remarkable pleasure and it is difficult to measure the benefit I've also received from watching so many informative segments; yet, this Sunday night I watched two reruns of productions I’d not seen before and I thought they were among the best ever.
by Charlie Leck

When the magnificent they rank the greatest of weekly TV shows ever, they are going to need to give great consideration to putting CBS’ 60 Minutes in first place. I don’t need to say much more about this, do I? There are millions of people who agree with me.

Yet, what I find even more pleasurable and informative is the ability to nowadays go on-line and watch the entire show – or those portions you wish to watch again – and then to get much of the back-story behind the making of a segment and to see a bit of the material that got left behind on the cutting room floor.

Never was this made more clear to me than last night, when I watched two remarkable, informative and beautiful segments about Sonia Sotomajor and the brilliant and artistic architect, Antoni Gaudi. And then I went on-line and watched them again this morning along with some additional delicious material.

This blog is not going to provide you much more information about either of them; rather, it’s a tease that urges you to go to the 60 Minutes web site and watch these two segments if you have not yet seen them. Watch them and you’ll understand why I’m doing this and you’ll feel like you should thank me if you didn't already see them on your own (and there is a 75 percent chance that you have).

By God (and I mean it), I thought to myself after watching these two segments last night, I think this is a remarkable and wonderful world. Sing it, Louie!

“…and I say to myself what a wonderful world…”

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A BLOG YOU REALLY OUGHT TO READ

Trying to find out more about Judge Sotomayor? Check in here!
by Charlie Leck

Judith Warner, a wonderful writer to whom I have pointed you before, writes Domestic Disturbances every Friday in the NY Times, and this one (29 May) is really terrific. I'm doing you a real favor here, by sending you to Warner's blog. You might want to bookmark her and make a point of reading her each week. She's really a splendid writer. I have not read her book, Perfect Madness, but the reviews of it were sensational and it has sold extremely well.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor

Sotomayor looks like the kind of judge the Supreme Court needs!
by Charlie Leck

The following came in from MoveOn.org and Nita Chaudhary. I thought it was worth passing on. Those of you, like I, who live in a Congressional District with a Republican Representative should urge that Congressperson to work for Sotomayor’s confirmation. Granted, the Congressman can’t do all that much about the Senate’s Confirmation hearing but the indication of support is still mighty important. Of course, if you live where there is a Republican Senator, let that Senator know you want Sotomayor confirmed. The list below is reason enough. She’s highly qualified.

Ten Things To Know About Judge Sonia Sotomayor

1. Judge Sotomayor would bring more federal judicial experience to the bench than any Supreme Court justice in 100 years. Over her three-decade career, she has served in a wide variety of legal roles, including as a prosecutor,
litigator, and judge.

2. Judge Sotomayor is a trailblazer. She was the first Latina to serve on the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and was the youngest member of the court when appointed to the District Court for the Southern District of New York. If confirmed, she will be the first Hispanic to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court.

3. While on the bench, Judge Sotomayor has consistently protected the rights of working Americans, ruling in favor of health benefits and fair wages for workers in several cases.

4. Judge Sotomayor has shown strong support for First Amendment rights, including in cases of religious expression and the rights to assembly and free speech.

5. Judge Sotomayor has a strong record on civil rights cases, ruling for plaintiffs who had been discriminated against based on disability, sex and race.

6. Judge Sotomayor embodies the American dream. Born to Puerto Rican parents, she grew up in a South Bronx housing project and was raised from age nine by a single mother, excelling in school and working her way to graduate summa cum laude from Princeton University and to become an editor of the Law Journal at Yale Law School.

7. In 1995, Judge Sotomayor "saved baseball" when she stopped the owners from illegally changing their bargaining agreement with the players, thereby ending the longest professional sports walk-out in history.

8. Judge Sotomayor ruled in favor of the environment in a case of protecting aquatic life in the vicinity of power plants in 2007, a decision that was overturned by the Roberts Supreme Court.

9. In 1992, Judge Sotomayor was confirmed by the Senate without opposition after being appointed to the bench by George H.W. Bush.

10. Judge Sotomayor is a widely respected legal figure, having been described as "...an outstanding colleague with a keen legal mind," "highly qualified for any position in which wisdom, intelligence, collegiality and good character would be assets," and "a role model of aspiration, discipline, commitment, intellectual prowess and integrity."

Judge Sotomayor is an historic, uniquely qualified nominee to the Supreme Court. Let's get the word out and make sure we get a prompt, fair confirmation on her nomination.