Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth

Henry David Thoreau

Steve passed on a book by Thomas Sowell.  One of his 45 or so books.  He is insightful but at times difficult to read.  Complex passages and arguments.  Other times his writing is clear and concise with poignant vignettes. A critique of his writing is here: www.2blowhards.com.  While roundly criticized by the left and liberal black community  Milton Friedman has said of Sowell, "The word "genius' is thrown around so much that it's becoming meaningless, but nevertheless I think Tom Sowell is close to being one.”

His bio is on Wikipedia and on the Hoover Institute webpage.

Hello Empathy And So Long Equal Justice

IBD Editorials ^ | May 27, 2009 | Thomas Sowell

It's one of the signs of our times that so many in the media are focusing on the life story of Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court.

You might think this was some kind of popularity contest, instead of a weighty decision about someone whose impact on the law of the nation will extend for decades after Barack Obama has come and gone.

Much is being made of the fact that Sonia Sotomayor had to struggle to rise in the world. But stop and think.

If you were going to have open heart surgery, would you want to be operated on by a surgeon who was chosen because he had to struggle to get where he is or by the best surgeon you could find — even if he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and had every advantage that money and social position could offer?

If it were you who was going to be lying on that operating table with his heart cut open, you wouldn't give a tinker's damn about somebody's struggle or somebody else's privileges.

The Supreme Court of the United States is in effect operating on the heart of our nation — the Constitution and the statutes and government policies that all of us must live under.

Obama's repeated claim that a Supreme Court justice should have "empathy" with various groups has raised red flags that we ignore at our peril — and at the peril of our children and grandchildren.

(Excerpt) Read more at ibdeditorials.com ...

It is never too late to give up your prejudices

Henry David Thoreau