Anita Hill and the Ships of Fools, a painting from 1991 plus the TIMING

     Today, the news is pretty disturbing that a person is being considered for the life time Supreme Court appointment with only a bit more than 10 per cent of his record allowed to be scrutinized. The rush to appointment is another disturbing element, not taking into account an FBI scrutiny of a credible sexual assault charge.Several people have encouraged me to post the painting I made back in 1991 when another appointment was made to the Supreme Court in a fashion with behavior I hope is not repeated. I was very proud of Anita Hill and not the inquisitors. (click photo to enlarge)

             Today, Joe was also disturbed by the present rush to push through the appointment and wrote:

You don’t have to be Einstein to know that perception of speed is relative to one’s standpoint.  In a car speeding above the limit, a parallel Olympic runner appears slow. 

The Republican protest that sexual assault accusation against Judge Kavanaugh was late reflects the viewpoint within the pedal-to-the-metal speed of the Republican controlled Senate review process.  Step outside the Republican rush-to-vote vehicle, and the timing of the accusation disclosure appears understandable and reasonable.  From the viewpoint of a woman privately tormented 36 years by a sexual assault, to disclose it to Senator Feinstein within one month of the Kavanaugh nomination, and to remain concerned for less than another month about disclosing her identity to public humiliation, is anything but tardy.  For Senator Feinstein to withhold acting on the anonymous disclosure seeking confidence in its authenticity, is not only reasonable but commendable.

Viewing the speeding Republican review process from the outside, 2 months and 10 days have passed to date since the nomination of Judge Kavanaugh.  Two months and 13 days passed between nomination and confirmation of Justice Sotomayor; 2 months and 8 days, for Justice Gorsuch – not to speak of the 9 months and 18 days that the nomination of Judge Garland was held by the Senate until expiration of the 2016 Congress.  Neither Sotomayor nor Gorsuch had nearly as extensive a public service record, or partisan combatant record, to be reviewed as Judge Kavanaugh. 

                                                                                    Joe Hicks

                                                                                    Belmont