September 2007 Archives

Is this a threat or a promise?warcraft razr theme

The U.S. Supreme Court begins its ‘07-‘08 Term tomorrow. For a preview of cases slated for decision, see:warcraft razr theme

• High court is set for high drama
National Law Journal
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Challenges to the power of the president, Congress and the judiciary, from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to state death rows, will provide early drama and potential landmark rulings in the new term of the still-evolving Roberts Court.

• Supreme Court starts term narrowly divided
McClatchy Newspapers
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Wild cards may yet shape the 2007-08 term. The 43 cases accepted for argument so far are only about half the total that the court is likely to consider before the term ends next June. Some potential high-profile controversies, such as Washington’s gun ban and Louisiana’s death penalty for child rapists, could ripen later this year.

• See also this warning, likely accurate, from the Associated Press:warcraft razr theme

The difference with the term that begins Monday is the mix of cases that are before the justices. Instead of last term’s defining cases — abortion, race and campaign finance — in which [Justice Anthony] Kennedy’s views aligned him with the conservatives, the big issues are those on which Kennedy has more often sided with the liberals.

[…]

Looking ahead to this term’s lineup of cases, “I can’t identify a significant win for conservatives,” said Thomas Goldstein, a Washington lawyer who writes about the court and argues before it. [Emphasis added.]

• Voice of America provides this audio report:warcraft razr theme

• Finally, for a detailed and scholarly analysis of the Court’s new Term, see this paper, in pdf, by law professor Glenn Reynolds.warcraft razr theme

ADDED —warcraft razr theme

Under the headline “Supreme Court faces an array of divisive cases,” the New York Times carries this report by Linda Greenhouse. And under the headline “Voting rights on docket for Supreme Court term,” NBC carries this report by Pete Wilson.warcraft razr theme

Quote:warcraft razr theme

We cannot build enough prisons to solve this problem. And the idea that we can keep incarcerating and keep incarcerating — pretty soon we’re not going to have a young African-American male population in America. They’re all going to be in prison or dead. One of the two. [Emphasis added.]

Who said that? Answer below the jump.warcraft razr theme

Michelle Malkin is not happy with what she describes as a “Catholic-denigrating promotional poster” for the Folsom Street Fair, to wit:warcraft razr theme

Nor is she happy with Miller Beer, a sponsor of the fair:warcraft razr theme

The question isn’t whether the Folsom organizers should be allowed to promote their bacchanalia however they want. Go right ahead with your bullwhips, dildos, and chains. Knock yourselves out. Really.

The question is one of corporate responsibility. The question is whether a mainstream retailer ought to be lending its name year after year to a fringe group bent on alienating a majority of Americans who happen to be people of faith.

[…]

Miller: The beer of open borders and leather-bound Christian-bashers.

Spread the word.

• The Folsom poster is indisputably reminiscent of da Vinci’s Last Supper. But da Vinci’s painting formed no part of the Gospels. His is work is famous, not holy.warcraft razr theme

• Would revelers at the Folsom Street Fair would like to, uh, get bent? Surely. But it’s doubtful that they’re “bent on alienating … people of faith,” as Michelle asserts. Michelle, that event has nothing to do with you or with any other person of faith. (Frankly, it’s a tad narcissistic for you to suggest that it does.) Attendees at Folsom are interested in matters carnal, not spiritual.warcraft razr theme

Miller Genuine Draft: Popular with discreet evangelicals?warcraft razr theme

And even if they don’t, they can still be president: warcraft razr theme

As a candidate, George W. Bush once asked, “Is our children learning?” On Wednesday, he had an answer. “Childrens do learn,” he said.

White vanity is killing minority achievement: warcraft razr theme

In general, research shows that 50% of black law students end up in the bottom 10th of their class, and that they are more than twice as likely to drop out as white students. Only one in three black students who start law school graduate and pass the bar on their first attempt; most never become lawyers. How much of this might be attributable to the mismatch effect of affirmative action is still a matter of debate, but the problem cries out for attention.

Professors Amar and Sander miss the point. They write that under affirmative action, “hundreds of minority law students […] attend more elite institutions than their credentials alone would allow. Data from across the country suggest to some researchers that when law students attend schools where their credentials (including LSAT scores and college grades) are much lower than the median at the school, they actually learn less, are less likely to graduate and are nearly twice as likely to fail the bar exam than they would have been had they gone to less elite schools.”warcraft razr theme

But learning and graduation aren’t the point of affirmation action. The point of affirmative action is to allow white administrators to crow about “diversity” and to engage in an ostentatious show of their good intentions.warcraft razr theme

It is never, ever going to end; no, not evah: “A Minnesota judge said on Wednesday that he would make no immediate decision on U.S. Sen. Larry Craig’s bid to take back the guilty plea he made after a sex-sting arrest, and the Idaho Republican left it unclear whether he would resign next week as he said he would.”warcraft razr theme

Soon and very soon, Larry Craig will get cock hungry again. Where will he satiate his hunger, pray tell? When a not gay man wants cock, there are only a few places he can go. warcraft razr theme

If that toe starts tapping again while Craig is still in the Senate, GOP leaders will have nobody to blame but themselves. Expel him, guys. Expel him. And hurry.warcraft razr theme

Opinion Journal calls on Rudy to stop being weird. That’s one call I hope he takes.warcraft razr theme

On the question whether to give Iran the finger, the ayes have it. Note well how a certain senator from New York voted. Mama says if she has to come out there, she’s coming with a switch. *warcraft razr theme

How successful have conservatives been in their decades-long project to tame the U.S. Supreme Court? An excerpt from Jeffrey Rosen’s profile of Justice John Paul Stevens provides an answer:warcraft razr theme

It may seem surprising that such a passionate leader of the court’s liberal wing bristles when he is called a liberal. But the fact that Stevens sees himself as a conservatively oriented centrist makes perfect sense given what judicial liberalism has become. There was a time, years ago in the Warren Court era, when liberal justices like Stevens’s predecessor William O. Douglas saw themselves as on a mission to recreate American society along boldly egalitarian lines by discovering newly minted constitutional rights. But for better or worse, this ambitious conception of judicial liberalism has been replaced, like much of political liberalism in America, by a more modest, conciliatory and technocratic sensibility. Even the most liberal justices today have little appetite for the old approach.

Judicial liberalism, in other words, has largely become a conservative project: an effort to preserve the legal status quo in the face of efforts by a younger generation of conservatives to uproot the precedents of the past 40 years. Stevens, who wrote or supported many of those precedents, understandably objects when he feels they are distorted or mischaracterized by justices who were in college when he was appointed to the court. At the same time, merely conserving the achievements of the past is less than what many liberals today ultimately hope for.

This is encouraging. David Brooks says the nutroots’ influence is “surprisingly marginal:”warcraft razr theme

Now it’s evident that if you want to understand the future of the Democratic Party you can learn almost nothing from the bloggers, billionaires and activists on the left who make up the “netroots.” You can learn most of what you need to know by paying attention to two different groups — high school educated women in the Midwest, and the old Clinton establishment in Washington.

Meanwhile, Andrew Sullivan is promoting Ms. Clinton to Republicans:warcraft razr theme

Hillary is Bush’s ticket to posterity. On Iraq, she will be his legacy. They are not that dissimilar after all: both come from royal families, who have divvied up the White House for the past couple of decades. They may oppose one another; but they respect each other as equals in the neo-monarchy that is the current presidency. And so elite conservatives are falling over themselves to embrace a new Queen Hillary, with an empire reaching across Mesopotamia, a recently deposed court just waiting to return to the salons of DC, a consort happy to be co-president for another four years, and a back-channel to the other royal family.

Under campaign finance law, does that count as an in-kind contribution to Ms. Clinton’s campaign?warcraft razr theme

Students applauded and cheered Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, when he spoke Monday at Columbia University. warcraft razr theme

See why some of us were not cheering:warcraft razr theme

Ahmadinejad said there are no homosexuals in Iran. After years of Islamist rule, he might be right.warcraft razr theme

HT: Mere Rhetoricwarcraft razr theme

ADDED —warcraft razr theme

Today is a day when gay people of all political stripes should be united. On this day when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is all over the news, we should be standing tall and condemning this leader of one of the most anti-gay regimes on the planet.

Or so we might think. But at least one lesbian — a Jew, no less — is “turned on” by this butcher. And at least 344 of her left-wing compatriots — some of whom are surely gay themselves — would rather have him than George Bush as president.warcraft razr theme

And they say gay Republicans are self-hating …warcraft razr theme

Did you see Ahmadinejad on Sixty Minutes? The man reads left-wing blogs. He has to. How else to explain his fluency with their talking points?warcraft razr theme

Meanwhile, Newsweek reports that the consensus in Washington “against a strike [on Iran] is firmer than most people realize.”warcraft razr theme

If the Israelis have to go it alone, they will face many problems:warcraft razr theme

… they would not only need to hit a dozen nuclear sites and scores of antiaircraft batteries; to prevent a devastating retaliation, they would have to knock out possibly hundreds of long-range missiles that can carry chemical warheads. Just getting to distant Iran will be tricky for Israel’s squadrons of American-made F-15s and F-16s. Danny Yatom, who headed Mossad in the 1990s, says the planes would have to operate over Iran for days or weeks. Giora Eiland, Israel’s former national-security adviser, now with Tel Aviv’s Institute of National Security Studies, ticked off the drawbacks: “Effectiveness, doubtful. Danger of regional war. Hizbullah will immediately attack [from Lebanon], maybe even Syria.”

Still, Israel may opt for limited strikes aimed at setting back Iran’s nuclear ambitions. “The military option is not the worst option,” Yatom says. “The worst option is a nuclear Iran.”warcraft razr theme

Is anyone surprised by this? They don’t look good on cellulite.warcraft razr theme

From Josh Marshall, euphemisms and straw men:warcraft razr theme

Am I the only one embarrassed by the dingbat brouhaha over Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s attempt to visit Ground Zero to lay a wreath?warcraft razr theme

[…]warcraft razr theme

So what’s the problem exactly? Presumably we can be frank enough to acknowledge that the real issue here is that while Ahmadinejad is not Arab to most of us he looks pretty Arab. And he is Muslim certainly — and pretty up in arms about it at that. And we officially don’t like him. And we classify the country he runs as a state sponsor of terrorism. warcraft razr theme

So even though [Ahmadinejad] has absolutely nothing to do with 9/11, when you put all these key facts together, he might as well have done it himself. And what business does anyone with the blood of the victims of 9/11 on his hands have going to Ground Zero?warcraft razr theme

That’s basically it and don’t tell me it’s not.warcraft razr theme

Alternatively I guess it’s that he’s a very mean guy, said bad things about Israel or questioned the Holocaust?warcraft razr theme

Ahmadinejad didn’t merely say “bad things” about Israel. He said “Israel must be wiped off the map.” And he didn’t merely “question” the Holocaust. He called it “a myth.” Had Ahmadinejad called black slavery a myth, Marshall wouldn’t take a blithe tone. But here we’re talking only about the suffering and death of millions of Jhooos.warcraft razr theme

That’s basically it and don’t tell me it’s not.warcraft razr theme

Ahmadinejad’s Iran is supplying IEDs to kill American soldiers in Iraq. I don’t know whether that disturbs Mr. Marshall. But it disturbs me and others, and it gives rise to our view that Ahmadinejad should not visit Ground Zero.warcraft razr theme

Sorry, ladies: Our next president is not interested in your junk.warcraft razr theme

Public approval of Congress is up slightly. In his analysis of the bump, Matthew Yglesias overlooks a key point: Republicans like the obstruction. That’s what they’re approving of.warcraft razr theme

I thought the congressional wing of my party would have caved by now. I am happy to say that I was wrong:warcraft razr theme

The Senate will adjourn for the weekend after a long week of tense debate over Iraq in which Democrats failed to move the ball and Republicans decided to stick with the White House in backing an unpopular war.warcraft razr theme

Meanwhile, it now occurs to passengers on the short bus that Republican politicians aren’t the only ones who are full of it. warcraft razr theme

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… you have no idea how grave the political fallout will be. Consider this an alert from the grassroots early warning system. You ignored the warning we gave you this summer about the amnesty bill. For your sake, don’t ignore this one. *

Maryland court upholds gay marriage banwarcraft razr theme

By a 4-3 vote, Maryland’s highest court yesterday upheld the state’s ban on sex-same marriage.warcraft razr theme

• The court said the ban is not a form of sex discrimination, because Maryland’s Equal Rights Amendment prohibits only discrimination between men and women as classes. warcraft razr theme

• Gays and lesbians are not a suspect or quasi-suspect class, the court said; therefore, a legislative classification based on sexual orientation is not subject to strict or even heightened judicial review. It is subject only to rational basis review, which, as the court explained, means “minimal scrutiny in theory and virtually none in fact.”warcraft razr theme

• The right to same-sex marriage is not so deeply rooted in the history and traditions of either Maryland or the Nation as to be deemed fundamental, the court said.warcraft razr theme

From the Washington Post:warcraft razr theme

The 4 to 3 decision cannot be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court because the lawsuit relied solely on state law. But the judges appeared to invite gay rights advocates to pursue their goals through the political system: “Our opinion should by no means be read to imply that the General Assembly may not grant and recognize for homosexual persons civil unions or the right to marry a person of the same sex,” Judge Glenn T. Harrell Jr. wrote for the majority.

Chief Judge Robert M. Bell issued a sharp dissent, accusing the majority of failing to recognize gay people as a “suspect class,” a group that warrants special protection from discrimination. Bell dismissed the majority view that gays are politically empowered and should not be viewed as such a class.

The court’s opinion, in pdf, is here.warcraft razr theme

Second Circuit upholds funding denial for violation of Solomon Amendmentwarcraft razr theme

If Yale Law School wants to bar military recruiters from campus to protest “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” it will have to forfeit $350 million annually in Government aid, a federal appeals court ruled Monday:warcraft razr theme

The Solomon Amendment has won another round in court, and the only remaining push against it may have suffered a fatal blow this week when a federal appeals court upheld the constitutionality of the controversial measure.

Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the Solomon Amendment did not infringe on the First Amendment rights of law schools that objected to it. The law threatens to withhold federal funds from institutions that limit military recruiters’ access to campuses, which many law schools historically have done to protest the Defense Department’s discriminatory policies toward gay people.

While Supreme Court rulings on specific laws generally settle matters, a group of Yale University faculty members had a separate challenge to the Solomon Amendment and they won in federal district court, where they focused on the First Amendment protections for academic freedom. The Pentagon appealed that ruling, but the case was on hold during the Supreme Court review. Some critics of the Solomon amendment hoped they had an argument that might work, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit disagreed.

The appeals court ruled that the Supreme Court’s decision last year “almost certainly” rejected the academic freedom argument put forth by the professors. And if it didn’t, the appeals court found that the argument “lacks merit.”

The court’s opinion, in pdf, is here.warcraft razr theme

ADDED —warcraft razr theme

Well, that was fast. Yale has chosen. Remember, the options were 1) principle or 2) cash. Don’t let the suspense kill you.warcraft razr theme

No, Boo, they are not kidding.warcraft razr theme

Even if you think the cops are acting like assholes, it’s still stupid to resist arrest. Once the police make physical contact with you, you have only two choices: go easy, or go hard. warcraft razr theme

Here’s video of Andrew Meyer, 21, as he gets arrested and tasered during a question and answer session with U.S. Sen. John Kerry. I can’t be certain of it, but I’d say these are campus cops. (The event took place at the University of Florida). If so, they’re probably all Democrats. Still, I bet Mr. Meyer blames Bush. The Huffington Post did.warcraft razr theme

ADDED: Confirmed. They are campus cops.warcraft razr theme

Michelle Malkin has backstory. Apparently, Boo was being a dick. But I don’t think dickness was the problem here. Ace has bingo: “Boy, that security team sure was in a wicked hurry to lay hands on someone disrespecting a Democrat, weren’t they?” warcraft razr theme

Reportedly, Boo cited ostensible evidence of voter suppression by Republicans. He then “proceeded to question Kerry about why he didn’t contest the 2004 presidential election.” Will the boy ever grasp the irony? He was subdued and tasered by probable Democrats as other Democrats applauded and snickered. But it’s Republicans whom he views as suppressive.warcraft razr theme

Ah, he’s a boy. What can you do, except taser or cajole? warcraft razr theme

Boo, listen to me: The next time Democrats come at you with their tasers, quit hopping around and eat the floor. There is no escape. And as you now know, even John Kerry, in a fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, will crack jokes while you cry for help.warcraft razr theme

Another report says Bush will set them up the bomb:warcraft razr theme

Pentagon planners have developed a list of up to 2,000 bombing targets in Iran, amid growing fears among serving officers that diplomatic efforts to slow Iran’s nuclear weapons programme are doomed to fail.

Hillary Clinton has revealed her health care plan, and we can all breathe a sigh of relief. The Republican nominee won’t propose nationalization of the system, and neither will the next president.warcraft razr theme

Dick Morris says Fred Thompson is a political light weight who’s going nowhere fast.warcraft razr theme

Despicable. In a better world, the perpetrators would get the death penalty.warcraft razr theme

The New York Times, deselected:warcraft razr theme

In addition to opening the entire site to all readers, The Times will also make available its archives from 1987 to the present without charge, as well as those from 1851 to 1922, which are in the public domain. There will be charges for some material from the period 1923 to 1986, and some will be free.

Larry Craig’s toilet has become a tourist attraction. No, I am not kidding.warcraft razr theme

This looks like a concession to Harry Reid, who vowed to block Ted Olson:warcraft razr theme

Bush has settled on Michael B. Mukasey, a retired federal judge from New York, to replace Alberto Gonzales as attorney general and will announce his selection Monday, a source familiar with the president’s decision said Sunday evening.

[…]

Bush supporters say Mukasey, who was chief judge of the high-profile courthouse in Manhattan for six years, has impeccable credentials, is a strong, law-and-order jurist, especially on national security issues, and will restore confidence in the Justice Department.

I know you’re desolated, as am I …warcraft razr theme

In his memoirs, Alan Greenspan writes, “I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil.” This will cheer the Bush haters, yes? warcraft razr theme

But even if Greenspan is right, Jules Crittenden asks the obvious question: So what?warcraft razr theme

Peaceniks and warmongers alike can’t live without [oil]. There is this false notion that if the United States went to wind power, solar power, etc., and eliminated its dependence on foreign oil, we wouldn’t have to worry about the Middle East anymore. Our troubles there would evaporate. This view ignores the fact that [oil] would remain incredibly valuable, a source of financing for jihad and terrorism, and that it would be sold to and very possibly controlled by other parties we are already at odds with, may soon be more seriously at odds with, parties that will be empowered by our withdrawal from a position of world leadership. China and Russia. Maintaining the free flow of oil from the Persian Gulf has been the policy of the United States and has occupied the United States Navy for decades. A dirty secret the anti-war faction doesn’t like to acknowledge. Why did some leading nations resist the war to liberate Iraq? Oil.

Shortly after this young man pulls into a parking lot, a cop pulls in him behind him. Listen as the cop curses and screams like a loon; worse, he threatens to perjure himself, to abuse his authority under color of law and to violate the young man’s civil rights. Not until he notices that the young man has a camera running does the cop’s attitude improve. Imagine that.warcraft razr theme

The cop has been suspended. He belongs in prison. warcraft razr theme

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Though not my guy, John McCain makes the pertinent observation: warcraft razr theme

Senator Clinton said that believing General Petraeus’ testimony requires a ‘willing suspension of disbelief.’ I think it willingly suspends disbelief to not repudiate an advertisement run by a radical left wing organization that impugns and dishonors the integrity of a man who has served his nation with dedication all of his life. If you’re not tough enough to repudiate a scurrilous, outrageous attack such as that, then I don’t know how you’re tough enough to be President of the United States. [Emphasis added.]

If by chance you haven’t seen it, here’s the MoveOn ad.warcraft razr theme

Kay Hymowitz thinks she’s writing about the cultural contradictions of libertarianism. But what she’s really writing about is the paradox of capitalism:warcraft razr theme

On the one hand, libertarians make a fetish of freedom; it is their totalizing goal. On the other hand, libertarians depend on the family—an institution that, in crucial respects, is unfree—to produce the sort of people best suited to life in a free-market system (not to mention future members of their own movement). The complex, dynamic economy that libertarians have done so much to expand needs highly advanced human capital—that is, individuals of great moral, cognitive and emotional sophistication. Reams of social-science research prove that these qualities are best produced in traditional families with married parents.

Family breakdown, by contrast, limits the accumulation of such human capital. Worse, divorce and out-of-wedlock childbearing leave the door wide open for big government.

I can’t speak for all libertarians, but I don’t doubt the benefits of the traditional family, or its importance to a system of free enterprise. (And neither, as Hymowitz acknowledges, did Friedrich Hayek, the father of contemporary libertarianism.) But in any case, “[W]hat,” as Megan McArdle asks, “do you want the government to do? Shall we ban household appliances, so that it’s harder for women to work, so that they’re more economically dependent on their husbands, so that they’re less likely to seek a divorce?” [Emphasis added.] warcraft razr theme

Mammon.warcraft razr theme

The paradox — or, if you prefer, the moral hazard — of capitalism is that it undermines the very values that make it possible. Because it begets abundance and comfort, capitalism may replace industry with sloth; thrift with consumption; discipline with indulgence; and sacrifice with gratification. As Hymowitz notes, capitalism starts with “individuals of great moral, cognitive and emotional sophistication,” but it may end with the fat and lazy. (Even our poor are notable not for their work ethic or even their hunger, but for their obesity and cell phone service, as Hymowitz observes.) warcraft razr theme

If libertarians don’t have an answer for all the cultural implications of a vibrant economy, neither do social conservatives. Though descendants of Burke, they usually share the libertarian’s appreciation for the blessings of capitalism, and their gleaming, well-appointed cathedrals are not attended by the same hardy stock who pitched the old time revival tent.warcraft razr theme

This is apparently a lark; but if so, it’s a damn freaky one. People say the new generation of ghey bois is butching it up. But I ask you: What does the mascara say? warcraft razr theme

Are we going to bomb Iran before Mr. Bush leaves office or what? I vote for what. warcraft razr theme

ADDED — Don’t misunderstand me. Assuming we have actionable intelligence, I’m all for bombing Iran — or, more precisely, I’m for bombing the things in Iran that need bombing. But the chatter aside, I just don’t think the president will actually do it. I’d be happy to have him prove me wrong.warcraft razr theme

My man Rudy is slipping in the polls, and I can’t feign surprise. Let me paraphrase a line from The Devil Wears Prada: You’re running in the Republican primary, Your Honor. An interest in Republican values is crucial.warcraft razr theme

“The problem for MoveOn.org is that the ad will strike many Americans as extreme …” — Frank James, The Swampwarcraft razr themeEven if Fred Thompson isn’t your guy, you must still credit him with triangulating smartly: “Former senator and Republican White House hopeful Fred Thompson called on Democratic presidential candidates Monday to refund all donations received from MoveOn.org after the liberal advocacy group ran an ad attacking Gen. David Petraeus in The New York Times.”

Thompson plainly understands a rule of politics: Whenever possible, open space between your adversary and her supporters, and fill it with tension. warcraft razr theme

Backstory here.warcraft razr theme

Gawd, make it go away. He plead guilty to seeking furtive homosexual sex only because he was panicked by a newspaper’s investigation into rumors that he seeks furtive homosexual sex:warcraft razr theme

Sen. Larry Craig sought to undo his guilty plea in an airport sex sting on Monday, claiming that he admitted to the charge in a panic to avoid triggering a story about his sexuality in his hometown newspaper.

Craig had denied to editors at the Idaho Statesman that he was gay just weeks before his June 11 arrest in the bathroom of the Minneapolis airport. The paper didn’t run a story, but Craig thought his arrest would change that.

Craig’s attorneys wrote that “faced with the pressure of an aggressive interrogation and the consequences of public embarrassment, Senator Craig panicked and chose to plead to a crime he did not commit.”

FindLaw has the Motion to Withdraw.warcraft razr theme

San Francisco Chronicle:warcraft razr theme

Alcoholics Anonymous, the renowned 12-step program that directs problem drinkers to seek help from a higher power, says it’s not a religion and is open to nonbelievers. But it has enough religious overtones that a parolee can’t be ordered to attend its meetings as a condition of staying out of prison, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

In fact, said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, the constitutional dividing line between church and state in such cases is so clear that a parole officer can be sued for damages for ordering a parolee to go through rehabilitation at Alcoholics Anonymous or an affiliated program for drug addicts.

The court’s opinion, in pdf, is here.warcraft razr theme

In the name of God: “Over the last six years, hundreds of teenage boys have been expelled or felt compelled to leave the polygamous settlement that straddles Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah,” the New York Times reports.warcraft razr theme

Disobedience is usually the reason given for expulsion, but former sect members and state legal officials say the exodus of males — the expulsion of girls is rarer — also remedies a huge imbalance in the marriage market. Members of the sect believe that to reach eternal salvation, men are supposed to have at least three wives.

Even if you truly believe that you’re commanded by God to abandon your children to the streets, aren’t you morally obligated to refuse?warcraft razr theme

This vlog from Pat Condell comes to mind:warcraft razr theme

Solid.warcraft razr theme

“President Bush is expected to choose a replacement for Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales by the middle of next week, and former solicitor general Theodore B. Olson has emerged as one of the leading contenders for the job, according to sources inside and outside the government who are familiar with White House deliberations,” the Washington Post reports.warcraft razr theme

Olson, a founder of the Federalist Society and a former U.S. Solicitor General, is probably best known to the public as the lawyer who won Bush v. Gore.warcraft razr theme

What other explanation could there be?warcraft razr theme

If you’re a police officer who copulates for pay on the Internet and are then fired by the department that employed you, can you claim a violation of your right to privacy? Amazingly, you cannot:warcraft razr theme

An Arizona police department had the right to fire a police officer who made and sold “vulgar and indecent” sex videos in which he performs with his wife, a U.S. appeals court ruled.

From the opinion of the San Francisco-based Ninth Circuit (p. 16 of the pdf):warcraft razr theme

Speaking of unwanted publicity leads to the obvious reflection that intimate as their activity may have been in one sense, it certainly was not intimate in the sense of an activity that they intended to hide. Megan Dible was the star of her own show and happily displayed herself to those willing to pay to view her, and even, as a teaser, to those who were not yet paying. Ronald Dible, for his part, participated in the activity, both as a performer, and as a videographer. He even appeared in public places for the purpose of advertising the Dibles’ activities and their products. While some believe that when we assume the bench we enter a hibernaculum and retreat from reality, we can see that on the facts of this case the Dibles’ right of privacy claims are virtually oxymorons.

HT: Patterico’s Pontificationswarcraft razr theme

The audio isn’t good, but the message is.warcraft razr theme

Toilet branding.warcraft razr theme

A month ago they were up ten points. Now they’re up eighteen. warcraft razr theme

To appreciate how ominous this is for Republicans, consider the context.warcraft razr theme

Fred Thompson declares, finally: “After months of false starts, staff shake-ups, and questions about the seriousness of his intention to run for president, Fred Thompson rolled out his presidential candidacy this evening with a two-pronged, guerrilla-style entry into the race that sought to take the spotlight from his Republican opponents as they squared off in a debate.”warcraft razr theme

You should feel him now, cause he’s in.warcraft razr theme

GOP frontrunners take fire: “Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani — the two leading candidates for the Republican presidential nomination — came under pointed criticism both from their rivals and from New Hampshire residents in tonight’s debate in the Granite State.”warcraft razr theme

I a) support Giuliani and b) can’t stand John McCain. (Though a great American, he’s a shitty Republican.) Still, it must be said: McCain won Wednesday’s debate. Hell, even the other candidates were praising him! I doubt that one good performance can salvage his now second-tier candidacy, and powerful interests remain arrayed against him. But keep the sonar active.warcraft razr theme

If the Supreme Court takes it, it’ll be the greatest Second Amendment case evah: “The District [of Columbia] asked the Supreme Court yesterday to save the city’s ban on handgun ownership, saying an appeals court’s decision overturning the prohibition “drastically departs from the mainstream of American jurisprudence.”warcraft razr theme

If the court agrees to take the case, as most legal experts believe is likely, it could lead to a historic decision sometime next year on whether the Second Amendment to the Constitution protects an individual’s right to own a gun or simply imparts a collective, civic right related to maintaining state militias.

Here’s the opinion of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Parker v. District of Columbia, restyled on appeal as District of Columbia v. Heller. And here’s the District’s petition for certiorari.warcraft razr theme

If the justices can find a right to abortion in the Constitution’s penumbra, can they find a right “to keep and bear arms” in its text? I put the odds at 50-50.warcraft razr theme

What is he doing?warcraft razr theme

Here are some possible answers:warcraft razr theme

1. He wants something — say, jobs for his staffers — and he’s shaking the party down.
2. He’s mad as hell at his unceremonious dumping and he’s blowing the party up.
3. He really is straight and innocent of any wrongdoing and has decided to fight for himself.
4. He really is delusional and his pathology is more serious than anyone imagined.

Am I missing something?warcraft razr theme

ADDED: “Does this man think through the consequences of his actions at all, or does he just pinball from event to event in everything he does?”*warcraft razr theme

“The legal battle over the rights of the hundreds of men held as enemy combatants at Guantánamo Bay has lasted more than five years, including two rounds in the Supreme Court. Now, as the parties prepare for their next Supreme Court confrontation this fall, the arguments have come full circle to where they began: over the role of the federal courts,” Linda Greenhouse reports. warcraft razr theme

During its ‘07-‘08 Term, which begins in October, the Court will hear argument in the companion cases of Boumediene v. Bush and Al Odah v. U.S. In an amicus brief, the Cato Institute sets the stage:warcraft razr theme

After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the President dispatched U.S. armed forces to Afghanistan to attack al-Qaeda base camps and to subdue the Taliban regime. Since the invasion of Afghanistan, the U.S. military has taken thousands of prisoners. Most have been imprisoned at U.S. facilities in that theatre, while others have been transferred to the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The President has determined that the Guantanamo prisoners are not entitled to prisoner-of-war status under the Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, August 12, 1949, 75 U.N.T.S. No. 972.

In 2002, several relatives of certain prisoners filed habeas corpus petitions in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the legality of their imprisonment at Guantanamo. These prisoners did not challenge the authority of the President and the military to take suspected members of hostile forces into custody, but they did allege that they had never been a combatant against the U.S. and that they had been denied access to counsel and access to the civilian court system. The Government responded to those claims by urging the District Court to summarily dismiss the petitions. According to the Government, recognizing jurisdiction over the prisoners’ habeas claims would “intrude” on the power of both the Executive and the Congress. This Court heard this controversy in 2004. In Rasul v. Bush, 542 U.S. 466 (2004), this Court held that the federal habeas statute, 28 U.S.C. §2241, extends to prisoners held by the U.S. military at the Guantanamo Bay facility.

After Rasul, Congress modified §2241 by enacting the Military Commissions Act, Pub. L. No. 109-366, 120 Stat. 2600. That law deprives courts of jurisdiction to consider habeas claims. Petitioners maintain that such deprivation is unconstitutional. The Government, in turn, renews its argument that the courts cannot “intrude” on the power of the Executive to prosecute a war or Congress’s power to delineate the jurisdiction of the federal courts. Thus, this Court must now confront grave questions concerning separation of powers principles and the boundaries of the constitutional provision for the writ of habeas corpus. [Emphasis added.]

Here’s the decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which ruled for the Government.warcraft razr theme

The brief for petitioner Boumediene is here; the one for petitioner Al Odah is here. And here is an especially interesting amicus brief. It comes from Israeli military officers who are also professors of constitutional law. They write in support of the petitioners. See in particular Appendix II, beginning on page 98 of the pdf, which compares and contrasts American and Israeli procedures for the handling of unlawful enemy combatants.warcraft razr theme

Briefs from the Government and its supporters are due Oct. 9.warcraft razr theme

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For more information or to make a donation, visit We Are Ellis Island.warcraft razr theme

It’s a call for suffocating nanny state liberalism, and it comes from the same guy who wants you out of your SUV even as he remains in his.warcraft razr theme

Picture it.warcraft razr theme

What’s the enforcement mechanism here? If you don’t get a check-up, will Edwards fine you? Jail you? Let you die of cancer? And how will he know that you didn’t have a check-up? Will you have to file one of these?warcraft razr theme

(Image bogarted from The Astute Bloggers)warcraft razr theme

It didn’t have to be this way. All Larry Craig had to do was tell the truth. Had he done so, he could have defended himself both legally and politically, and many would have rushed to aid him. Even now, people of every sort — including rabidly anti-gay conservatives — think Sen. Craig has been railroaded, and the victim of a double standard.warcraft razr theme

Did Larry Craig enter the restroom of a Minneapolis airport in June with the intention of having sex with another man? Undoubtedly. But intending to have sex isn’t a crime. Nor can Craig be fairly accused of either lewd conduct — he had no sex in that restroom — or of disorderly conduct. Encouraged by the officer’s own behavior to believe that his advances were welcomed, Craig had no occasion to think that he had unlawfully alarmed an innocent by-stander — a critical element to a charge of disorderly conduct. Any competent criminal defense attorney would have joyfully taken this case.warcraft razr theme

The politics were manageable as well. Craig could have grabbed the Republican leadership by the balls: “Why is an intention to have homosexual sex, even in a public restroom, worse than actually, and repeatedly, having heterosexual sex with prostitutes? Why is mine the only resignation required here?” The roar of the GOP’s libertarian wing would have been deafening.warcraft razr theme

Of course, these defenses, being rooted in the truth, were unavailable to Larry Craig, who chose to lie, blame and obfuscate. He had to go.warcraft razr theme

That said, I hope Larry Craig is successful in persuading a court to use its powers of equity to vacate his guilty plea and afford him an opportunity to defend himself at trial, though the odds against this are long. I hope he still and yet enjoys the love and affection of his family. I hope he finds peace. And finally, I hope he knows that many of his fellow Americans, though infuriated by his denials and dishonesty, nevertheless feel a deep empathy for him and those like him, for their longings, for all they have lost, and for all they will never know.warcraft razr theme