Birmingham Blues

UAB has received an anonymous $5 million donation, one of at least 16 around the country that have gone to woman-led universities.  The money comes with stipulations: $4 million must be used to fund scholarships for women and minority students, and the recipients can’t attempt to find out the donor’s identity.

Predictably, the white males at al.com, upset that they’ve never, ever, over the course of human history been granted any advantages because of their white maleness, are complaining about discrimination.

Sheesh.  I’m thinking that may deserve a Whiny Ass Titty Baby^tm Award.

Clarence Thomas says he keeps his law degree from Yale in the basement with a 15-cent price tag sticker on it. Seems he’s still angry that Yale’s admissions office decided to accept him back in the 1970′s because it took him a few months to find a job after graduation in 1974. He thinks it’s because he was an affirmative-action admission. I’m sure it had nothing to do with the less-than-great economic conditions in the early 70′s or the racism that permeated hiring practices at the time. Gee, maybe it was the giant-size chip on his shoulder that persists to this day.

Thomas says the white people at the law firms where he interned while at Yale didn’t believe he’d really earned his grades, and he blames that on affirmative action. What he refuses to see is that without affirmative action, the good to excellent students who happened to be black or female wouldn’t have had the same opportunities that the white males did. I hate to break it to him, but there is something inherently unfair in insisting that only the most exceptional blacks and women could be admitted to the top law schools when mere mortals of the white, male, and frequently well-connected variety were admitted without question.

Of course the white attorneys of the day doubted his intelligence and abilities. They had, for the most part, been raised to think blacks were inherently inferior. If Yale hadn’t given him the opportunity for an excellent legal education, he might not have been able to challenge their assumptions.

So apparently he’s still mad that the system in the 70′s was overtly racist — and that Yale tried to change that, giving him a hand up and a chance to prove himself in the process. He won’t even let the school hang his portrait along with other graduates who have become Supreme Court justices.

Justice Thomas, you are not an inferior black man who somehow fooled Yale and everyone else who ever gave you a shot. You are, however, a Whiny Ass Titty Baby^tm, and that designation knows no color. Get over it already.

Jeb Bush, speaking at a news conference prior to his keynote at the University of Mobile’s Scholarship Banquet:

“I can’t watch the news, as a brother who loves my brother,” said Bush, the brother of President George W. Bush and son of former President George H.W. Bush. “The food fight has to stop, and there needs to be a restoration of civility.”

Oh, good God. I almost spit all over my screen when I read that. Tell you what, Jeb. When your brother publicly repudiates and stops using Karl Rove’s political tactics, then we can talk about civility. Until then, stop your whining.

H/T Del, in comments below

It seems Bayer Retail Co.’s sensibilities are offended by the idea of Parisian being replaced with *gasp* Belk.  I can’t blame them.  Can you imagine the horror of being forced to shop at a “moderate-price department store”?  No, No, NO!  I want to throw away money on overpriced designer outfits, housewares, and gifts.  How dare you offer me affordable shopping?

When I first moved to Birmingham, Parisian was one of my favorite places to shop.  Excellent service, quality clothes, good selection, prices at the high end of reasonable, and excellent sales.  Now I rarely go in the store, much less purchase anything.  A series of buyouts by various national retailers has left us with less than great service and skyrocketing prices.  I’d much prefer a mid-price department store, although my experience with the Belk in my home town tells me its prices are pretty steep.

It’s amusing to hear Bayer taking up for the rich people, given its disregard for the opinion of Lockerbie residents in the fight over the famous Mountain Brook dirt pile.  (For those of you not from around here, Bayer wanted to develop a piece of land along a busy freeway that borders the wealthiest suburb of Birmingham.  In the process of development, Bayer insisted on rerouting a major intersection and taking some land that appeared to belong to residents of Lockerbie, an exclusive gated community.  Bayer won in court, and I wouldn’t be surprised if revenues at the Summit dropped noticeably after that.)

If I were Belk, I might just yank the store out of the Summit altogether and focus my resources on the Galleria or Brookwood Mall or other shopping centers in fast-growing parts of the metro area.  Leave Bayer with a big, empty space to fill and no department store.  That won’t happen, but it would be funny if it did.

The religious right in Illinois didn’t get enough valid signatures on petitions to re-ban gay marriage in the state, so state election officials say the amendment will not appear on the November ballot. That’s not good enough for Peter LaBarbera* and his band of homo-haters — they’re headed to the evil federal courts for relief.

A 1996 Illinois law already prohibits same-sex marriage, but gay-marriage opponents say they fear courts could overturn the law unless the state constitution is changed. More than 40 states have taken steps to define marriage to ban same-sex marriage either through constitutional amendments or with statutes.

Organizers of the gay marriage referendum are claiming in federal court that getting a referendum on the Illinois ballot is both burdensome and unconstitutional because of the complicated process to gather and verify petition signatures, said Peter LaBarbera, executive director of the conservative Illinois Family Institute and Protect Marriage Illinois.

But LaBarbera and other gay marriage opponents were rebuffed earlier this month when a district court judge dismissed their claim so now they want a federal appellate court to intervene. [emphasis mine]

“It’s not near over,” LaBarbera said.

So judicial activism is okay if you get the result you want. I get it now.

* Miss LaBarbera, as he’s known at Pam’s House Blend, is known for going “undercover” to “infiltrate” gay events where he might have the opportunity to witness — or even engage in — fun and games. He says he needs to know the enemy. There are those who wonder if he might have other motivations. He does seem a bit obsessed.

I know this is just your garden-variety legal wrangling, or at least it is when you can afford high-powered attorneys, but it makes me laugh anyway. Scooter Libby’s lawyers argued that special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald had been given too much power and that the President should have appointed an investigator with the Senate’s approval. Uh huh. That would have worked well.

[Judge Reggie B.] Walton said there must be a way to appoint special prosecutors to ensure that “the perception of fairness withstands the scrutiny of the American public” when high-level government officials are investigated for alleged wrongdoing.

Well, duh.

…to go with his whine. Jim Shea, Jr. has dropped out of the race for the Utah state legislature because he apparently didn’t meet the three-year residency requirement. He withdrew one day before the chief election officer was scheduled to rule on a challenge to his candidacy.

“Apparently, I’m getting my first taste of dirty politics,” Shea said. “Apparently, the Democratic Party is very nervous and has gone to some extreme measures.”

So insisting that everyone follow the rules is going to “some extreme measures”? Geez, this guy won an Olympic gold medal in skeleton in 2002. I wouldn’t have expected him to be such a baby.