LEXINGTON, Va. — Americans today are self-indulgent and don't make the sacrifices that their parents and grandparents did, and the nation's leaders don't ask people to act for the higher good, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said Monday at a Virginia college in a rare public speech.
"Our country and our principles are more important than our individual wants," Thomas told close to 400 people who greeted him with a standing ovation at Washington and Lee University, a Shenandoah Valley liberal arts school.
He quoted President Kennedy's famous, "Ask not what your country can do for you" speech, but said Americans today are more likely to say, "Ask not what you can do for yourselves or your country but what your country can do for you."
Thomas took his seat on the court in 1991. He and Justice Antonin Scalia are considered the core of the court's conservative 5-4 majority.
Thomas endured a grueling confirmation process over allegations that he sexually harassed a former staffer of his, Anita Hill, who testified during the Senate hearings.
Since then, he has been one of the less public members of the court, although he has made several appearances to promote his 2007 autobiography. Thomas referred to that book, "My Grandfather's Son," as he described the obstacles he dealt with growing up in the segregated South in the 1950s and 1960s.
The court's only black justice spoke with reverence of the priests and nuns who taught him at what had previously been an all-white Roman Catholic school that he began attending in 1964.
"They were the ones who taught us we were inherently equal," said Thomas, a Georgia native.
Speaking in Lee Chapel, where Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee is buried, Thomas told a questioner that Lincoln was his favorite president.
"We always saw Lincoln as the great emancipator," he said.
Thomas told the crowd he declines most invitations, but was persuaded to accept the one from William and Lee student Robin Wright. He had met her as a young child, he said, and had known her mother, U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright of Arkansas.
I wonder IFF he is EXCLUDING the MILLIONS of LIVES that have been SACRIFICED in the 2 WARS initiated by SHRUB!!??
I'm just askin. . . . . .
GreenLadyHere
rikyrah: I tell U, I'm keepin' my eye on "The Gov."
According to Steve Brusk at CNN, Sarah Palin will be the keynote speaker at a June 8 Republican fundraising dinner, a collaboration of the National Republican Congressional Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Palin did not speak at this year's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) convention as expected, citing the "duties of governing."
NOT gonna lose sight of this SSSSSSSSSSnake!!
GreenLadyHere
rikyrah: I missed these. Soooo, hope they R NOT duplicates: :>)
In a sign of a long, hard-fought campaign in Pennsylvania, President Obama dropped some Philly lingo at his small business event Monday morning. “I wanted to know if there was whiz on it,” he said of a sandwich described by a Philadelphia restaurant owner.
It’s a very local reference to the cheese whiz on a Philly cheese steak. VIDEO
What another BUSY DAY!!
Do ya think that HE'S "doin' 2 much!?" - - -MAJOR SNARK!! :>)
GreenLadyHere
rikyrah: LOOKIN' AHEAD:
1. NEW EVENT TOMORROW -- FROM DAILY GUIDANCE: "In the morning, the President will meet with Senate Budget Committee Chairman Conrad and House Budget Committee Chairman Spratt to discuss the budget. The meeting is closed press. Following the meeting, the President will make a statement in Room 350 in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. This event is pooled for TV and open to correspondents." -- Mike Allen (9:09 p.m.)
A White House aide tells POLITICO44 that Obama (O’Bama?) will be hosting two St. Patrick’s Day bashes ...
... at the White House Tuesday night.
The theme at the WH will be green all day. Starting at the top o the morning--or more like 11a.m. -- Obama and Joe Biden will meet with the Taoiseach of Ireland in the Oval Office. A little while later, they'll attend a Shamrock Ceremony in the Roosevelt Room.
After meeting with the Northern Ireland officials, Obama will travel to the Capitol where he will deliver remarks at Speaker Nancy Pelosi's St. Paddy's Day lunch.
Then, later in the evening, Obama will deliver the remarks at not one but two St. Patrick's Day receptions at the WH, where he's hosting Irish American lawmakers and other Irish Americans, a White House aide said.
Michelle Obama will trade in her fashionable duds for construction gear when she pitches in Tuesday to build an affordable ...
... energy-efficient home on the National Mall. The event, which marks the 30th anniversary of YouthBuild, coincides with Congress’s attempts to expand national service programs.
Obama will deliver brief remarks at the event. Community service is one of the pet subjects she is taking up in her role as first lady, along with issues related to military families and work-life balance.
LOOKIN' FORWARD TO THEIR CONTINUING LEADERSHIP!! :>) :>)
Myth
AIG:: Send us the check, you can't let us fail; send us the check we gotta help these people keep their insurance. So hurry up and send us the check!!!
CHECK CLEARS THE BANK!!
AIG: April Fool!! We gon get paid! Obama you just been had!
I think AIG is just round 3. Obama's in it for 15. ...even further, I suspect he's rope-a-dope'in. He's proven himself a strategist.
RobM
CDS Anyone ready to declare force majeure and end these things now or do you want to pay taxes forever? AIG The intial $85b was a direct loan from the Federal Reserve Bank. We, the taxpayer, received 80% of the common stock but no seats on the board. The bonus' were authorized in Nov 08 by former Chr. Given the nature of the business, bonus' are probably due to workers in the insurance and other sides of AIG. The guys in London should be sent to GITMO. There is a way to take it back; hat tip big picture.com/ritholtz.com http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/03/white-hous... GEITHNER He was told they planned to pay it. I do not believe he told President Obama. Had he a public White House flogging would have stopped it. He should be fired immediately LIDDY Fire him immediately. RAHM EMANUEL Dirtier that I thought; I always was leery of the Israeli connection but I always despised him for his ties to Clintons. His father was Irgun and he is probably Mossad now. Has to go for not letting President Obama be ahead of this. LARRY SUMMERS Goes as part of house cleaning
I believe Geithner has deliberatly tried to stay under the radar because it was his intent the whole time to help out his AIG buddies. HOW COULD HE NOT KNOW JUST LIKE HOW COULDNT BERNIE MADEOFF WIFE NOT KNOW. They played Obama for a fool with that CONTRACT bull. I don't know how involved Emanuel or Summers is in this but I am convinced that Geithner is the Head Fox In Charge guarding the chicken coop. NAOBODY is going to want to set next to Timmy at the next cabinet meeting cause he's growing horns.
allamr18
i saw fuck em both bring in paul krugman and nouriel roubini to replace summers, and get volker to replace geithner and keep going
pjamma
I really like Meghan McCain. Granted I've only seen a few interviews and read a few of her blog posts but she seems like a good person. If the republican party is looking for new faces they should put her front and center. But then they would have to disown the likes of Malken, Ingram and Coulter who have all spoken out against her. That would be a good thing.
Damn they are silly. I swear....its like the First Lady is some sort of freak of nature....SHE'S A BLACK WOMAN, A FIERCE INTELLIGENT BLACK WOMAN...WE EXIST.
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