Month: July 2004

Comfortable Armchairs: II

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UPDATE: I’ve been convinced that this post asserts a charge against Glenn Reynolds that is unfair. I apologize to any of his fans who may have been offended, and especially to him. (Still, would it kill him to add a disclaimer each time he writes on this topic???) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With a hat tip to Von … Read more

The long night.

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I’m out for the next few days as I deal with “work,” but a few brief notes regarding an update to my blogroll — all lawyers (two righties, two lefties, and one, erm, “aspiring Judicial Diva”):

Michael Froomkin — a lefty, and represents it well.

Stephen Bainbridge — More conservative than I, but brilliant in his area of expertise (corporate law). His latest attack on John Kerry is right on the money. If he says “John Trial Lawyer Edwards” one more time, however, I’m pulling out my can of “those who cannot do, teach.”*

Brian Leiter — Does not suffer fools, and does not suffer them well.

Curmudgeonly Clerk — Frequently conservative, always considered — the Tacitus of law bloggers. (It doesn’t hurt that he appears to clerk in the Southern District of Texas, and I have fond memories of my appearances before Judge Hinojosa of the same.)

Article III Groupie — Umm, I’m not sure how to describe this site; all I can say is that I visit it more frequently than I care to admit. How to explain what it’s all about? I’ll let A3G give it a go: “This weblog, ‘Underneath Their Robes’ (“UTR”), reflects Article III Groupie’s interest in, and obsession with, the federal judiciary.” It’s too late to vote in her “Superhotties of the Federal Judiciary” contest — “The Hot. Alex Kozinski (9th Cir.)”* won for the men and “The Hot. Kimba M. Wood (S.D.N.Y.)” won for the women — but that’s no reason to stay away.

And, with that, see ya’ll in a few.

von

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Comfortable Armchairs

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The partisan spinning has begun! (It only took an afternoon.) By Justin of Right Side Redux (and via Citizen Smash, who I hope reconsiders): Political correctness and timidness was all the rage during the Clinton administration when considering how to respond to Bin Laden according to “Mike” (an infiltrated CIA agent): On December 20, intelligence … Read more

Linked Stories

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The Philippines agreed to withdraw its troops from Iraq in a trade for a hostage. Unlike the Spanish, who can at least suggest that their pullout is not directly linked to the terrorism which immediately preceeded it, the Philippine government explicitly caved in to terrorist demands and changed their foreign policy. “We still consider the … Read more

The 9-11 Report is Out

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Here’s the executive summary and here’s the full report. (Very large PDFs.) Pay particular attention to what they say about an Iranian link. If you need a break from reading them tonight, don’t forget that THE SECOND OBWI POETRY SLAM begins at 8 p.m. Indiana Time (EST)* tonight — that’s 8 p.m. Central Daylight Time, … Read more

On Militant Islam and Politics

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A recent debate I had with Tacitus on Redstate got me thinking as to whether the roots of militant Islam lie primarily in the socio-economic conditions that exist in Islamic countries or in the religion itself. The issue is crucial because the cause of militant Islamic will dictate our strategy in response. (This view is … Read more

In further Silly Season news…

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(Crossposted to Redstate) Glenn Reynolds reviews W Ketchup. He’s sticking with Heinz. I said it earlier and I’ll say it again: this W Ketchup thing was at best a profoundly silly idea. Dammit, I feel weird if I’m using something besides Heinz ketchup: I don’t know if it’s objectively the greatest in the world, but … Read more

Absolutely not.

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Forget it. Not a chance. I refuse to even think about it. It’s not that important a part of my life… (pause) …OK, that’s a flat-out lie, but this would still have to be the absolutely, positively last option remaining open to me before I’d even contemplate it. And all of this, let me assure … Read more

Threat Theory

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It has sometimes been remarked that the dual attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq are intended, at least implicitly, to be a pincer-like movement to put pressure on Iran. Before Sandy’s Bergery became topic number one, Glenn Reynolds and some others were keen on the idea. An InstaReader summed up the purported strategy as follows: An … Read more

Baffin Island Gopher Hunting

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OK, so I can’t reprint all of it without running afoul of the ObWings posting rules, but for the hilarious title alone I must link to this post by the excellent blogger (and ObWi Reader) Double Plus Ungood: Wall Street Journal Discovers Canada, is Outraged Reynolds posts a link to a story in the WSJ, … Read more

The Peace President

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When it looked like the presidential campaign would be won or lost on the nation’s perception of who made a better wartime president, George W. Bush was, in his own words “a war president.” In an interview held February 7, 2004 with Tim Russert, Bush declared: I’m a war president. I make decisions here in … Read more

Bloody hell.

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At 87% reporting, it may very well be that Cynthia McKinney will be the Democratic nominee for GA’s 4th District. Which means, given the way every damn district has been gerrymandered to a fare-thee-well, that she probably will actually win. Dammit, I was looking forward to decades of an America where Cynthia McKinney enjoyed no … Read more

As a change in pace…

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…I provide this post about Lance Armstrong’s resumption of the lead in the Tour de France. I expect that some of our readers could use the distraction.

The ticking clock.

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UPDATE: I am, of course, happy to be apparently wrong about de la Cruz (Thanks to ObWi Constant Reader JKC for the head’s up). I am still concerned about the ramifications of this deal, particularly the domestic ones. While it is of course nonsensical to seriously believe that any likely American Presidential administration would allow its policies to be seriously dictated by kidnappers and murderers – and let us drink no Kool-Aid, here; any administration that tried would be swiftly slapped down by its own base – it is unlikely that the organizations that have already misunderstood us so profoundly are going to realize their error. Again, my sympathies towards President Arroyo, but in my opinion her actions have made it slightly more likely that a domestic terrorist attack will be launched that is designed to influence our upcoming election. It almost certainly would have happened, anyway, but every little bit hurts.

(Crossposted to Redstate)

There is still no word on the fate of the Filipino and Bulgarian captives being held hostage by terrorists, but Alsayeid Mohammed Alsayeid Algarabawi has been freed:

Alsayeid Mohammed Alsayeid Algarabawi, whose capture was first reported July 6 in a video showing him surrounded by masked gunmen, was brought to the Egyptian Embassy in Baghdad on Monday evening. He appeared healthy.

Algarabawi said he was fed well, allowed to pray and treated in “an Islamic manner, 100 percent.” He also apologized to his family for worrying them.

I’m glad that Mr. Algarabawi made it home to his family; I can only imagine how harrowing an experience it must have been for him, and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.

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ObWi Poetry Slam #2. It’s Coming.

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July. Past the Fourth. In school, it’s the long slow slide: past the pool, past camp, past the games of catch-the-firefly. When you get older (when I got older) there was the gathering threat of High School Football practice — the American kind — in the August heat with forty year olds who are still living a dream, and not a good one, and not too well. You don’t want to hit until you hit someone, good, and they fall down. That it’s not proper or right or mature or anything you’d want to be is part of the pleasure.

Boxing, I tried it once or twice. But I’m too slow and my swing goes wide round, a rounder to the place between the hair and the ear, not straight out with a snap. Not to the nose, like I know it should (but I can’t make my arms behave). It’s not the same. Not like football. I was terrified until the end, and then I started to terrorize others and the fun started. And then, too soon, it ended. Not too much as a surprise after you’ve been worn down a bit but, at eighteen, it was a bit of a shock.

The slam. Feels good; let’s replay it. It’s time to slam again. This Thursday at eight o’clock in the evening, please. It’s on. (So to speak.)

A taste of the last round follows. Trust me, you want to read them.

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Protest Warriors to the Barricades!

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There’s a joke I read on a conservative blog one time that goes more or less like this: Q: Why don’t Republicans get all up in arms and march to protest issues the way Democrats do? A: Because they all have jobs. Well, it seems that under Bush, not all of them do: Activists planning … Read more

Judicial Interpretation

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The gay marriage debate has rekindled my interest in a very important topic: judicial interpretation. I am a proponent of gay marriage. I think that legislatures ought to change marriage statutes to allow same-sex marriages. I believe that attempts to circumvent the legislative process by using judicial sleight-of-hand are dangerous to the process of American government, and are likely to make gay marriage an even more controversial subject than it has to be. I have written at length on the subject of judicial interpretation, most especially here , here, and here . Upon reading this article by Clayton Jones (Beware blogspot link, the entry in question is July 18, 2004.), I found an interesting classification system that might shed light on what people mean by judicial activism:

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Hooked on Ewwww

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“You can’t let the little pricks generation-gap you,” Molly said.              —William Gibson, Neuromancer Then again, sometimes it’s perhaps best to just leave them to it. CNN is reporting on a new fad getting some attention: Meat hook dangling craze mystifies police Law enforcement officials in the Florida Keys are mystified by a bizarre new pastime … Read more

Vacation

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Have returned from vacation; have surveyed the world; have decided that the whole subject-verb-object thing was wrong from the get-go. New rule: use sentence fragments whenever possible. Was here: (View of Prospect Harbor, Maine from the front porch of Cabin von von-family.) Was quite nice.

Numb.

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I just finished reading this: When One is Enough. My older sister recently attempted for the second time to have a baby. She got pregnant, but she miscarried. Nothing that they can really put a finger on; she’s just not well suited to have children. My sister is almost 40; I don’t think that she’ll … Read more

Necessary Security?

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(Crossposted to Redstate) Rivka of Respectful of Otters* has resumed blogging with an interesting post about security procedures and their actual utility, starting with this parable and following with this observation: Bruce’s point is that, while every security measure is implemented for a good reason, the good reason involved often has nothing to do with … Read more

…or you could take the Redstate Blue Pill.

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Democratic religious debates and the Newer Political Math On the one hand: Links to an interesting and informative online debate. On the other hand: the debate is on religion, a topic which can be, ah, controversial. Also, bad use if a math metaphor by a liberal arts major (that’d be me). On the gripping hand: … Read more

Well, you could take the Redstate Red Pill…

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Dirty Laundry is not Time-stamped. On the one hand: talks about upcoming issues inside the Republican party. On the other hand: assumes that such issues will start after Bush’s re-election in November and come to a head halfway through his second term. On the gripping hand: disagrees with Glenn Reynolds that any of this is … Read more

Random Observation while doing something else.

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Jeebus, but Woody Guthrie must have absolutely loathed Charles Lindbergh. We’re talking “wooden stake through the heart” level, here. What? Oh, I’m listening to the Guthrie Asch Recordings Vol 1 Smithsonian Folkways CD (9307-40100-2) that I picked up as a reward for all that walking and cultural horizons expansion stuff; pretty good, and it almost … Read more

Let’s see…

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…I’m back from a tour of the American History Museum, the Washington Monument, the World War II Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam War Memorial and the Albert Einstein Memorial, the lingering endorphins from the unexpected walk are in full Old Star Trek combat music mode with the fever engaged by my mild sunburn, I’m … Read more

Tucker Carlson’s Speedophobia

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There’s been lots of outrage on the left about the supposedly ultra liberal PBS offering CNN’s “Crossfire” conversative Tucker Carlson his own current affairs program, so I thought I’d check it out. As fate would have it, tonight he interviewed Jonathan Rauch about gay marriage. Remarkably there are only two heel marks on my television … Read more

Cheerfully Blitzed…

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…cuz the folks at work insisted that I go out with them for once, and the girlfriend’s at a NJ harp festival, and the heffenweitzen was a buck a mug to start, and… well. Flying, I am, and lucky that my typing skills do not completely atrophy when drunk (I won’t admit to just how … Read more

Report: Allawi in Shooting Scandal

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Well, you know Allawi is being taken seriously as the Prime Minister of Iraq now. He has his first scandal to contend with. I don’t mean to make light of this. If it’s true, he’s what I predicted would follow in Hussein’s footsteps: another authoritarian monster. He’s denying it at this point, though, so I’m … Read more

Unintended Legal Consequences

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I have a friend who takes care of disabled children. She told me about a place called ‘Dollywood’. She told me that one nice thing about the amusement park was that they let severely disabled people in for free. Since I was tickled by the idea of a Dolly Parton theme-park, I took a look … Read more