Do you know of such a white man? I've heard a lot of criticism of Sotomayer, but no one offering up any alternatives. My guess is that the justice system is in such an abysmal state that Sotomayer (unfortunately) is probably the best replacement that Obama could nominate, and it has little to do with her gender or ethnic background. The fact that she happens to be a woman and Latino has infuriated a tiny minority, but none of them have recommended or cited a good replacement. Sad state of affairs over all IMO...

I think everyone should pay for everything in micro-payments. Imagine having a $60 credit card bill every month. You send the credit card company $2 everyday through electronic bank bill-pay (a process you can automate. Now imagine if everyone did this. The machines would grind to a halt hopelessly drowned in paperwork, even large companies would hopelessly bogged down in paperwork no matter how much of their process is automated.

Everything does not pollute. Bio-organisms like humans consume and expel organic substances. Pretty much all organic substances can be easily metabolized by the environment eventually. Even the most toxic of substances will be assimilated back into the ecosystem *eventually.* The problem with industrialization is that we are expelling certain substances faster than the environment most favorable to us can deal with them, and that is detrimental to a lot of life including our own. And the government is not making all pollution illegal, it is regulating some pollution that it can regulate without people screaming bloody murder about it. If the population and corporations would be a little more rational and sensitive to the problem of pollution, the government would have regulated pollution a lot more than they have. But a very minor regulatory step like eliminating one choice of car color in one state gets such an irrational public backlash that it's impossible to deal with the very biggest aspects of pollution. There is no 'line' that says how much pollution is OK. It's simply a goal you work towards by continually modifying polluting behavior. Some of the modifications may seem minor and silly and may seem to infringe on the personal choices and rights of people. But so does asthma and lung cancer and drought and flooding, all of which many Americans have had problems with. I'd gladly change the color of my car if I knew it would reduce the chances that my home would be under water in the next 50 years...

You are coming from a premise that the color of one's car is somehow a basic human right. In the last 75 years or so American's have evolved into a species that considers their car an aspect of their personality rather than a mechanism for transport. The car has become glorified through idiotic car commercials, car magazines, a 'sport' (NASCAR) etc... etc... Now that we are starting to see the devastating effects on the environment from the overuse and misuse of cars, Americans are faced with a choice: a) give up or modify their status symbols and toys, or b) give up their right to breathe clean air. This is not a liberal idea, although it may be a 'progressive' one. It seems to me a sign of maturity to give up the infantile idea that your car expresses some aspect of your personality, unless you are someone with no personality... FYI- the car I drive is a white Nissan X-Terra, which I bought because I need to transport equipment as part of my job. Most of the year when the weather is nice however- I ride a bicycle to work... I do not derive any personal sense of identity from my vehicle- I bought it because my dad works for Nissan and it represented the best deal I could get and it scored high in reliability and gas milage.