Let the games begin.

In the coming weeks, the United States government will spend the majority of its time arguing whether or not President Obama’s nominee to fill the vacancy on the United States Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor, fits the judicial bill.

Unfortunately for us, the taxpayers, unless Barney Frank‘s giant tongue shifts and unearths a videotape showing this woman moving a dead body, running a meth-lab or staging cock-fights in her back yard, she will be our newest Supreme Court Justice, which leaves me wondering: What’s the point?

When the Democrats hold a 56-41 majority in the senate, 257 seats in the house and the ACLU is salivating over a Hispanic woman taking the bench, the confirmation process is little more than a kangaroo court and a forum for special interest groups to remind the country that they still exist, no matter how irrelevant they may be.

Let me break it down for you: Sotomayer is pro-choice, anti-gun, anti-torture and more than likely, a huge supporter of “change,” “hope,” and all the other vague campaign rhetoric that whips crowds into a frenzy.

In 2009 there were fewer than 600,000 abortions, a number that depending on which reporting method used, is probably actually much lower.

As far as gun rights go, there is no real statistic to accurately gauge the importance they have on the American people, but I’ll bet that aside from maybe a few hundred West Virginians, gun rights is not an issue that affects too many people’s day-to-day lives.

However, these are the issues that will dominate these proceedings — things that affect such a small percentage of the population but wind up being the focal point of determining justices, congressmen and even presidents.

So again, what’s the point?

Give this lady the job, and spare us the drawn out examination of everything she has ever done in her entire life, which is only going to bring us to the same result, while parading the who’s who of the Legislature through the hearings as their questions are only used to promote their own political opinions, strengthen their base for the 2010 elections and really not have much change on the result.

Look at it this way: The shorter these hearings go on, the less time the West Virginians have to mobilize, saddle up, ride their horses to Washington and whine and cry about hanging on to their guns, which means less time I have to see them on CNN.

But like I said, if Barney’s tongue moves, and out shakes the videotape, I will be once again forced to put my big stupid foot in my big stupid mouth.

Reach the Jim at jaking5@asu.edu