Tuesday was a busy day for me, between work and drinking, so I didn't have a chance to watch the Gorsuch nomination hearings. Reading The Rude Pundit, I decided to check out Al Franken's grilling of Gorsuch regarding his dissent in a decision about a truck driver who was fired because he abandoned a trailer which had frozen brakes and a non-functioning heater. Put in stark terms, the man had a choice- disobey the orders from his company or die of hypothermia. He disobeyed orders and was fired, then filed a complaint with OSHA about the firing, and Gorsuch dissented from the decision, which supported the truck driver's case. Gorsuch's family made its fortune by retailing ski clothing- the idea that the guy wouldn't know how deadly being stuck without heat in minus-fourteen degree temperature is ludicrous. Here's Franken's amazing grilling of Gorsuch:
Gorsuch's attitude is that Alphonse Maddin, the truck driver in question, should have followed orders even unto death. Basically, he should have been a martyr to capitalism, and obediently frozen to death so as not to negatively impact the company's bottom line.
As much as I've thought Chuck Schumer, my senior senator, has been a Wall St flunky, I am proud that he will fillibuster Gorsuch's nomination. Sure, the excesses of Wall Street are villainy, but they aren't the sort of 'Dead Peasant' cartoonish supervillainy that Gorsuch is comfortable with.
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I'm not a fan of Schumer, either. I guess these things are relative, to some extent, though. I can dislike him a lot while still preferring his positions to those of other politicians.
Have I mentioned I'm in Texas?
Attila the Hun would be a preferable Senator to ours.
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