Maybe it's just because I don't want to start writing class comments, but I found the threads over at Balloon Juice really interesting this morning.
One was a question of how far off base Gingrich was in saying that the Palestinians are a "made up people". There was a fair amount of lefty caterwauling about imperialism and so on, but a few commentators were making some important points.
Basically, my feeling is that if we use the words the way social scientists define them, there is no Palestinian "ethnicity". Palestinians are ethnically Arab. You are born Arab, it's ascribed to you, not chosen. A group of Arabs with long historical ties to the former Roman province of Palestine have taken the national identity of Palestinians. In that sense, Gingrich is right. Palestinians are a made up group. But all national groups are "made up". All national groups create for themselves a narrative of their national existence, usually tied to place and ethnicity. There is a great deal of debate, for instance, as to whether there is a single American nationality, or simply American citizenship.
And it's citizenship that the Palestinians are trying to get. Citizenship - or membership in a state - is what is being denied them.
The second thread was about whether or not the filibustering of executive branch appointees could be ruled unconstitutional. "Advice and consent" does not describe what the Senate is doing now. They are explicitly refusing to have a vote on whether or not to confirm Cordray to the CFPB in order to extort changes in established law.
I guess I can see some, small merit in preserving the filibuster for lifetime judicial appointments, especially at the Supreme and Circuit court level. But filibustering executive appointments seems a rampant abuse of the system and should be challenged in courts.
OK, time to write comments.
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