Yes I know Ms. Sotomayor will make a great Supreme court Judge. Now days more people from backgrounds like all of us from the ghettos or lower income families have worked so much harder to earn degrees and do miraculous things with our lives in spite of many obstacles. She brings so much more to the table in dealing within the courts than those whose eyes have been blinded from the true hearts and minds of people of few means.

I wonder how anyone who "hasn't" mingled with all walks of life could ever decide on the kinds of cases Judge Sotomayor can vote on with "true empathy" for the common man or woman from lower classes of incomes, or inner city people, of which many a courageous and God loving people exist and live happily. In fact, I think her subjectivity will address and add a new outlook on these people the most. She can look for the common decency in men and women, and know that they too dream for a better life -- some more desperate than others to escape the miseries that come from hard work just to barely scrape by.

Her mother prayed that she would make it home from school, and she knew how much harder Sonia would have it due to the moral decay festering in many of these communities. The world is a tough place for many of us from very poor beginnings, and many people still won't give you respect because of where you came from, especially with their feelings of being better than everyone else -- who may be poor, but that doesn't mean that they are stupid or dishonest. 

The deck has been stacked against many people from inner city, some from single parent homes, and some who have drug addicted parents and many of the girls get pregnant before they are 16 years old. She knows that it isn't everyone who is a drug dealer or a thief from a neighborhood with meager means. Unfortunately, many of you don't even believe that because of the stigma of being poor. I hope to see her and her mother in the news more often.

Judge Sotomayor has had to work against the odds of prejudice for her entire life, and I can hear the republicans complaining already. I hope that doesn't get her down because people are jealous. They will judge her first for being a woman, then for being Puerto Rican, and finally for being from a lower income level. There are many elite who will never accept her because they are materialistic and have no sense of who they are. So many men have already started with the jealous bickering and snide remarks, but I tell you she is above all of that because of the loving family and friends she has. Anyone who has seen her record, and the long list of accomplishments and hard work she has to her credits ... cannot be anything but impressed and proud to have her as a Supreme Court Judge. I think she is perfect for the position, one that was truthfully unfairly balanced in the number of men to women, and I am sure there are those who would like one of the "good-old-boys" to be appointed.

Any woman could have taken the easy way out, but instead Judge Sotomayor decided to pursue the "American Dream" by studying hard and finding her passion for the law. In addition to her accomplishments, she remembers and loves the family and friends who helped her along the way. In fact, she chose to help others when she would've made a lot more money as a big time law firm. Luckily for us, she must have seen the emptiness of materialism at an early age. I'm glad she is a baby boomer because many problems are brewing for them as they are getting older and are beginning to retire, and they may need someone who can make a difference in their lives when they retire. 

There are those who would like to get rid of Medicare and the Social Security system that they have coming to them. There are people so cold that they would rather that these hard working people have no prescription coverage, and then many people would like to see them just die off without any medical help or any money to live on. I have a feeling that those same people who are complaining about her appointment are the same people who are complaining about the cost of the baby-boomers to the system. I'd like to remind you all that they make up 1/3 of the population, and many of them have done very well for themselves, so don't complain because they may be your boss or landlord -- and were the true activists who protested war in hope of "peace for the world." Hopefully, she is one of the younger baby-boomers because many of them came back from the war without any respect or help from the government to get back into society. And she may play a role in assuring them their benefits.

When it comes to making a decision based on the facts, the constitution and a person's personal liberty, I think Judge Sotomayor will inspire us to find a renewed sense of compassion and faith in people whose basic rights teeter between the basic "laws of the universe," an infinite place where we are all somehow connected as one, and the courts must determine our world's fate as well as the fate of Americans by the decisions she will make if she is confirmed.

Because of her belief in herself, she can maintain and use those same basic principles that got her through all of her hard times as a girl. Likewise, there are an infinite number of ways that the changing times are going to ask of us, What is government to do about this? I know she is the one you will all want on the bench because she brings a lot of wisdom to the bench.

The changing times require that we step back and take another look at our basic American ideals, and ask ourselves whether or not some of our traditions are unfair: If they are holding people back from their personal freedoms, or enslaving people to live in denial for another century. If it ever comes up, I doubt she will worry about the extremists who are living in denial about the issues of sex education in schools and teaching prevention, or even providing free condoms in the school's health clinics, verses the dangers of our kids catching a deadly disease. This is where government is there to truly save us from ourselves.

Also, the AIDS problem is only getting worse and more costly to the Medicaid system. Another place I think we will see a difference is in the woman's right to choose, the rights of people who would prefer to smoke marijuana either for medical reasons, or simply because it is so unfair to allow people to drink an alcoholic drink after work when so many people would prefer a joint. She may be the last hope for those people who have been imprisoned like a criminal for smoking a joint. I don't even know her, but I've seen her record, and I hope she is there when all of the other issues come before the Supreme Court that will determine our country or our world's fate. 

To those of you who think there is something wrong with her appointment, think again. She knows that those who scream the loudest are usually the ones who would take a person's personal freedoms away from them and force their beliefs and values on others. I for one am tired of the bigots who raise their voices to complain about things that is none of their business most of the time.

Moreover, Judge Sotomayor sees that in any civil society throughout her days on the Supreme Court will require that the basic laws of our constitution should bring about much thought and deliberation before justice can prevail. And, whatever her faith or religion, as a od loving person, she is bound to have an open mind to the differences and similarities of everyone else with their own religious beliefs.

Our society suffers from so many problems, but many of them are from the feelings of emptiness and fear that cannot ever be filled with money or power, but as she knows, it isn't right either for those who break their backs and just barely get by while those who do nothing reap all of the rewards. It isn't a sign of anti-capitalism to speak up and say "no more" to criminals like those on Wall Street and those who would like to price gouge, charging too much for things that didn't cost the buyer that much ... if anything.

This is a growing problem due to the competition for jobs. I hope she can do something about those who are taking our children's innocence, and I'm talking about the pedophiles or child molesters who are in jail for only a few years after raping an 8 or 9 year-old. The entire system of registering child molesters is broken -- like the man who lives across the street from me and two other child molesters in my neighborhood. These children's lives are ruined for good, and nobody can let their kids out to play anymore because of men like these buying houses in communities with children living there. As an ex teacher from Miami, I can tell you that my neighborhood isn't any different than most neighborhoods in Miami where the schools get a big list with names and addresses of the child molesters from schools and updated every few months. 

Then the child molesters claim to have rights. The system of enforcing the law and keeping kids safe is completely broken. Who is giving them such short sentences?

Then the boys and girls who are just a little under age and consent to have sex with one another can have their lives ruined for doing what all teen-agers do because they are often are charged when they should not be labeled sexual preditors. Sometimes it drives me crazy because I can't let my grandkids out to play anymore without watching them every minute. Kids shouldn't have to stay in the house and get fat or play TV games instead of going out to play. These guys are released before a person who's been arrested for being caught with more than a couple of joints. Now, how would you like it if your daughter or son were put in jail for having a couple of drinks. I ask you, What is the difference?

Judge Sotomayor must be able to recognize and understand the root causes of why people give in to temptations, and she will listen to those who stand for something new like gay marriage; sex and AIDS education in schools; a woman's right to do whatever "she" thinks is best for herself and her own body in case she needs to end a pregnancy; a person's right to receive medication and Medicaid, but don't qualify in most states for assistance unless a person infected with HIV has full blown AIDS. How can they keep from getting full blown AIDS unless they have the expensive medicine to prevent it from spreading to full blown AIDS?  How cn people prevent getting full blown AIDS without the "cocktail" and medicines to prevent full blown AIDS or the diseases they die from like pneumonia, which is prevented by taking a pill everyday -- like the 10 to 14 pills they need everyday. And last, but not least, when will every state approve people who are sick with the right to smoke marijuana as  an alternative to costly medicines to cure pain and nausea.

You can see Judge Sotomayor's closeness with her mother, and how that has made her aware of what an "angel" looks like. She has had to coexist with the obvious "evil" that takes over in too many poor neighborhoods, where police turn a blind eye to the drug dealers selling drugs right out in the open. What is that about? When are they going to clean up these drug dealers and get them off the streets and into treatment or jail? I know Judge Sotomayor will understand and recognize whether it is because someone is an addict, or just a drug dealer taking over the neighborhoods where people could live happier if they were cleaned up.

As a Supreme Court Judge, because they have stood out in stark contrast to her brother, her mother, and the other good people in the projects, she will have the opportunity to do the right thing. In these same neighborhoods where crack is sold openly on the corners, people have no way to prevent their kids from this evil except to keep them in the house all year too.

To those of you who are unhappy about her appointment, I think being a self made person and living with the poverty stricken should be a requirement to anyone running for office or before they are confirmed as a Supreme Court Judge. They should also be required to take a test and prove they have a broad understanding of the inner workings of both "good" and "evil." However, I want to know that the supreme Court Judge who is confirmed. If not Judge Sotomayor, I'd like to know that it is someone who has "seen it all" is making judgements about people after living with and learning from all types of characters. You can't really know that if you haven't had to work hard to raise yourself out of the poverty and ignorance that many people never get away from (even after they have been in jail) because they do not know anything else.

On a final note about Judge Sotomayor: The true lives of people like her are usually so full of conflicts that they make for a great work of fiction, or a truly unbelievable story. I believe that we will see more of our civil rights protected by her, and that is a good thing. She knows by now that not all of those who had it easier are all bad people either, but I think she will never look at the wealth a peron has as any kind of determining factor in her decisions.

You go Judge Sotomayor! Please, if I can ask one thing from you, don't ever give up on anyone because people who want to change and who obviously are trying through programs, seeing psychologists and cooperating with the courts can and do change. Think of all the people who you've known who got out of those neighborhoods after getting clean from drugs and will never steal again in order to get high. Think of it him or her as one more criminal off the streets. If they have not had that second chance at life, then please make sure that everyone get that same second chance at life. We do recover..