October 2005

There were 47 posts published in October 2005 (this is page 1 of 8).

SCOTUS Qualifications

Interesting:

Judge Alito has served with distinction on that court for 15 years and now has more prior judicial experience than any Supreme Court nominee in more than 70 years.

Just one month ago we learned that prior judicial experience on a nominee’s resume was irrelevant:

And one of the most interesting ideas I heard was, why don’t you pick somebody who hasn’t been a judge? Why don’t you reach outside the — I think one senator said, the “judicial monastery.”
I thought it was an interesting idea. And I thought long and hard about it. I obviously looked at whether or not other Presidents had done — made that decision; they had. And so, recognizing that Harriet will bring not only expertise, but a fresh approach, I nominated her.

So much for the “fresh approach.”

A Sign Of Weakness

The Miers withdrawal illustrates what Ann Althouse said: “Once people have decided you’re dumb, pretty much everything you say sounds dumb.” Or probably more accurately in this case, once the right wing thinks you’re too liberal for them, everything you say sounds too liberal.
Think Progress reminds us what the media said this withdrawal says about President Bush’s so-called political capital.
Unfortunately, the pressure will really be on Bush to pick a judicial crusader. And as we’ve seen he doesn’t even have the backbone to stand up to his own party.

The Smartest State Award

Someone has come up with a “Smartest State Award“:

States were graded on 21 factors, including student achievement and attendance, positive outcomes, strong student-teacher relationships and school district efficiency. Other factors are the number of high school graduates, reading, writing and math proficiency, percent of school-age kids in public schools, high school drop out rates, student-teacher ratios and class size.
“The Smartest State Award recognizes those states that are committed to students and teachers, emphasize excellence in the classroom and ensure that public elementary and secondary schools are efficiently-run,” said Scott Morgan, president of Morgan Quitno Press.

Vermont tops the list.
Alas, Tennessee, at 41, is much closer to the dumbest state than the smartest one. Wasn’t that lottery supposed to make us all smarter?

Raw Story Teaser

New headline:

SOURCES: FITZGERALD DECIDES TO SEEK INDICTMENTS… DEVELOPING…

We’ll all find out soon. And Raw Story will have egg on its face if its sources aren’t good.
UPDATE: The Washington Note has the latest indictment rumors: one to five are being issued; a press conference is being scheduled for Thursday.
UPDATE: Political Wire:

Meanwhile, a former high level Bush administration official told Political Wire that “people are turning on each other” at the White House. Lawrence Wilkerson is likely just the first to come out publicly against the administration.

Hmmm, juicy.