We again hark back to Levy v. Louisiana, which supplies equal protection security to illegitimate children: "They are humans, live, and have their being.* They are clearly "persons" within the meaning of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment." We do so since Michael Kinsley, whose condition in some way might one day be dealt with by it results, again defends stem cell research.
In particular, the stupidity (fits the tone of the piece) of in effect applying "being" to stem cells. This led to the usual back and forth on the Slate fray, which is generally tedious stuff. In vitro fertilization, etc. It should be added that even various strongly anti-abortion lights in the Senate etc. support such research, so the only reason why this discussion is taken seriously is because the "spikey rascal" had various sleepless nights back in 2001 over the issue. [The net result was some sort of "impressive" compromise that turned out to be equal parts irrational as misleading. Par for course.]
This colorful label of our exalted leader, who is [officially] always right, was supplied to someone who instant messaged me last night ... she was on practicing her English, being a native of Scotland. It turns out that this "simple cailen" is in the stem cell business, involved in its research and so forth. I did not ask her about that, though did learn about her coos (cows) and the family business of growing barley for a nearby distillery. Those Scots are so colorful. The chat was partially bilingual [ ‘S e ur beatha. (You're welcome.)]. Online life is interesting, huh?
I myself am Irish/Italian though each side had quite different views of their heritage. The maternal/Irish side honored St. Pats with the traditional meal [corned beef and cabbage with potatoes], had an Irish sounding surname, and was sure to drill in Catholic guilt into the children (though it did not take in all cases). But, apparently, it was not appropriate to emphasize the heritage -- they were Americans. OTOH, the paternal side (leading to my own surname which no one spells or pronounces properly plus Italian food) was a bit harder to suppress, not that there was any evident particular desire to do so. After all, my dad was a first generation American, my grandparents immigrants from the old country at the end of the 19th Century. Whoa. That can make one feel old.
No, the language was not past down to us. My mom does speak Brooklyn now and again ... so there is that bit of quaintness. And, I have a Bronx/Boston (baseball ironies aside, I have been asked if I was from Boston) sort of accent, which is sorta representative of my Irish/Gaelic heritage. Is math a dh' amais thu! (You guessed it!)
Oh well ... only saved a couple Scottish phrases. Anyway, I again make reference to JP Day -- 3/18, between St. Patrick's Day and St. Joseph's Day, which honors Irish/Italian mutts. Besides being head-butted by Frenchmen, the ideal thing to do is have pasta and beer, and note the similarity of each country's flags. It's like that Iraq/Iran thing, though I'm not aware either is even alleged to have WMDs.
Irish food, notwithstanding.
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* This case came up in my Slate fray travels by the usual convoluted route. I posted a NYT editorial discussing how CJ Roberts, some noises about how moderate he has been notwithstanding, was a selective practioner of judicial restraint. This lead to the usual bit (cited earlier) that "judicial activism" means liberals interpreting the Constitution wrongly and eventually ridicule of the famous wording of Griswold.
Finding such things amusing as well as interesting, I decided to actually quote the ruling, including citing Holmes using the word, providing its proper context in the process. And, then I tossed in the Levy quote, suggesting it is not referenced as much since the words are not as funny sounding.