Today, November 13, is Louis Brandeis' birthday

[hfojvt]

So I was informed when I looked up the Constitution online

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Brandeis

"In his widely cited dissenting opinion in Olmstead v. United States (1928), Brandeis argued, as he had in an influential law-review article prior to being nominated to the Court, that the Constitution protected a "right of privacy," calling it "the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men." Brandeis's position in Olmstead became the law of the land in Katz v. United States, of 1967, which overturned Olmstead."

Wiki says that his religion was Judaism, but I have this quote from his mother

"I do not believe that sins can be expiated by going to divine service and observing this or that formula, I believe that only goodness and truth and conduct that is humane and self-sacrificing towards those who need us can bring God nearer to us, and that our errors can only be atoned for by acting in a more kindly spirit. Love, virtue, and truth are the foundations upon which the education of the child must be based. They endure forever ...And this is my justification for bringing up my children without any definite religious belief: I wanted to give them something that neither could be argued away nor would have to be given up as untenable, namely, a pure spirit and the highest ideals as to morals and love. God has blessed my endeavors."

Also, I happened to discover that one of his children married one of Walter Rauschenbusch's children. Walter was a baptist minister and a Professor at Rochester Theological seminary, and also one of the leading thinkers in the Social Gospel movement, which was sort of a mix of socialism and Christianity.

Anyway, one of their children, who could claim both Louis Brandeis and Walter Rauschenbusch as grandparents went to the same church as one of my grandfather's cousins. All she said about them, though, was "very strange people". Not sure why I bring this up on Mr. Brandeis' birthday, except that it's my six degrees of separation with Louis Brandeis and Walter Rauschenbusch. Both historical Americans that I salute :toast:

[hfojvt]

1. kick

it's still his birthday

[HamdenRice]

2. One of the greatest, most progressive minds of the 20th century

but I predict this thread will sink like a rock because most people are 99.9 percent illiterate about both economics and the Constitution, two things that were at the center of his thought.

[Jack from Charlotte]

3. Read that one of the other justices did not speak to him....

the whole time they were both on The Supreme Court because Brandise was Jewish. Un damn real!

[hfojvt]

5. that is disgusting

not only that an American would act like that, but that such a person would rise to the level of SCOTUS.

[hfojvt]

4. there are other reasons for sinkage

first, perhaps because of the name of the author of this thread. He's not popular, and for good reason. He often kicks at other people's sacred cows, questioning things and denying things that NO PROPER LIBERAL is supposed to question or doubt. So fu$% him and the horse he rode in on. His pizza is 3 years 11 months and 29 days overdue. Plus, I hear he refers to himself in the 3rd person, like he's Stephen Colbert or something.

Plus, DU has a slant to the negative. When somebody we hate dies or is in the news, we cannot stop talking about them. It's easy because you can kick some thread with a mildly clever insult. Or start another thread with your photoshop of Sarah Palin's head on a moose's a$$ that makes the whole class laugh.

On the other hand, there is nobody we like. Clinton, flawed, not progressive enough. Michael Moore, flawed, too progressive (and arrogant). Noam Chomsky, flawed, is anti-semitic, or anti-Israel, and was wildly wrong about Cambodia or some such 30 years ago. Even people who are liked or admired by some, their flaws will be argued here, or, quite often, their ideas and life will be ignored.

Sorta reminds me of what I read in a Marx biography. That he had a group of friends who were committed to "ruthless criticism of everything existing". Except on DU that applies more to people than it does to ideas, and even with people, you can make enemies (or show your true colors) by dissing Michael Moore or the Chomsk.

[RoyGBiv]

6. Well then ...

I'll give it a K&R ...

'Cause I happen to appreciate people who kick sacred cows and speak of themselves in the third person.

And because I think Brandeis was a freakin' genius.

[hfojvt]

7. and you are spelunking on page 3

it turns out that "Other People's Money" and other writings by Brandeis are available online

http://www.law.louisville.edu/library/collections/brandeis/node/191

[RoyGBiv]

8. Yeah, well, I do that ...

Actually, I have a few people whose names I look up at the end of the day to see what they may have posted.

And that's what happened here.