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.

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.

Posted by Brian at 5:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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.

Posted by Brian at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Now, now. Is this website any way to treat an "extremely well qualified" Supreme Court nominee? What ever happened to the simple up-or-down-vote theme?

Posted by Brian at 11:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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.

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?

Posted by Brian at 6:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Apparently, we just haven't had enough spanking over the past decade or so.

Posted by Brian at 1:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

New headline:

SOURCES: FITZGERALD DECIDES TO SEEK INDICTMENTS... DEVELOPING...

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.

Posted by Brian at 12:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

That's the explanation The Daily Show's Ed Helms offered for why TV news people stand out in the middle of a hurricane during their coverage. At any rate, this Al Roker episode illustrates how stupid the whole thing has become.

Perhaps it's just me, but I don't need a person standing out in the open to tell it's windy and rainy. Simple video footage showing something flapping in the wind will suffice. Apparently if one of the cool kids does it, they all have to do it.

Posted by Brian at 10:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I tune into Neil Boortz for a few minutes this morning, and listen to him talk about looting. Boortz says he hears rumors of something going on in Florida. These rumors, by Boortz's own admission, haven't been confirmed by any news media reports, but they "make sense." So like any responsible person would, he passes along the story that people have traveled to Naples, Florida, specifically so they can loot after the hurricane.

Quite a problem, or at least quite a rumor of a problem. The solution? Boortz advocates that anytime a region is declared a disaster area, the laws should be loosened allowing people to use deadly force not only when their life is in danger, but also when they feel property is threatened. Trespassing, on its face, is enough to trigger a reasonable suspicion of threat to property. So if you see a trespasser, you can shoot him or her, no questions asked.

Not only that, but Boortz wished aloud that sometime during this hurricane, he would hear of a looter being killed.

So now property is worth more than human life. It's so refreshing to hear talk radio promoting moral values, isn't it?

Posted by Brian at 10:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Over the weekend I upgraded to Miovable Type 3.2.

Although my eyes start to glaze over when I see terms like MySQL and php, the worst part of it was actually the simple act of transferring the files to the server where the website is located.

Note to self: figure out how to transfer more than one folder at a time using the file transfer program. Yeah, that didn't take very long--only an hour or two. What a pain. Hopefully everything works.

Posted by Brian at 10:36 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Why does Brent Scowcroft hate freedom?

Posted by Brian at 7:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Because every newspaper should have the right to regurgitate White House talking points in its unsigned editorials.

Posted by Brian at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Novak:

George W. Bush's agents have convinced conservative Republican senators who were heartsick over his nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court that they must support her to save his presidency. But that does not guarantee her confirmation. Ahead are hearings of unspeakable ugliness that can be prevented only if Democratic senators exercise unaccustomed restraint.
. . .
Officials charged with winning Miers' confirmation told me neither of these issues is troublesome, but in fact they suggest incompetence and neglect by the White House. To permit a conference call with scores of participants hearing close associates of the nominee predict her vote on abortion is incompetent. To nominate somebody implicated in a state lottery dispute in the past without carefully considering the consequences goes beyond incompetence to arrogant neglect.

Posted by Brian at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

You are a candidate for a prestigious job, a position many people are claiming you're not qualified for. The search committee gives you a questionnaire. In an effort to silence your critics, you go the extra mile and do a thorough job responding to the questionnaire, right?

Not if you're Harriet Miers:

Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers was asked by the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday to clarify some of the answers she provided this week in a questionnaire their panel sent to her.

At a news conference, Chairman Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, and Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, ranking Democrat, described many of her written responses as "incomplete" and "insufficient."

"Please prepare a supplement to your responses" in a number of areas "with as much detail, particularity and precision as possible," they wrote in a letter to Miers.

Posted by Brian at 4:37 PM | Permalink

If the New York Daily News is correct, (and Josh Marshall notes this article should carry weight), then President Bush and the White House has some explaining to do regarding statements suggesting they didn't know about Rove's leaking in PlameGate.

These guys couldn't have lied to the American people, could they? Say it ain't so.

Posted by Brian at 1:12 PM | Permalink

Wow. Wilma went from a tropical storm to a category 5 hurricane in one day. As far as pressure goes, it has tied the record for the second strongest Atlantic hurricane. The eye is only 2 miles across.

I assume it won't stay like this for long, but that's an incredible explosion in power.

Posted by Brian at 4:28 AM | Permalink

Fall can be gloomy, what with diminishing sunlight and all:

Bill Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard, said he expects indictments this week in the CIA leak case involving White House advisers Karl Rove and Scooter Libby.

Kristol said "the mood is bleak in the White House today," and said the environment surrounding the federal grand jury testimony is "pretty grim."
. . .

As for what this means for President Bush and the daily working of the White House, Kristol said it is too early to tell.

"The White House has to ask, 'How do we segregate this?' � This is a problem, but the legal system has to run its course.

"Meanwhile," Kristol said, "the president has to take the initiative on foreign policy and economic policy and sort of set this aside."

Posted by Brian at 12:54 AM | Permalink

Well, according to the latest SurveyUSA 50 state approval poll, not so much. Only nine states had as many respondents who approve as disapprove with the way Mr. Bush's is doing his job.

And in Tennessee: 57 % disapprove with the performance of our God-fearing leader.

Ouch.

Posted by Brian at 8:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It may not know how to deliver water to hurricane victims, but government knows how to save man's (or woman's) soul.

And no, not every religion considers Sunday to be a day of rest. Regrettably, not everyone has had the benefit of the Spring Hill aldermen/theologians in adopting his or her religious beliefs.

Posted by Brian at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

"Dead Man's Motive Uncertain."

Posted by Brian at 10:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The results are coming in:

Iraqi election officials said Monday that they were investigating "unusually high" vote totals in 12 Shiite and Kurdish provinces, where as many as 99 percent of the voters were reported to have cast ballots in favor of Iraq's new constitution. The investigation raised the possibility that the results of the referendum could be called into question.

Posted by Brian at 9:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

. . . in Iraq:

Q. What is it about Iraq that Americans don't understand?

A. It's been hard for Americans to accept how complicated it is there. Most Americans want an up-down, yes-no answer to whether we're right or wrong, succeeding or failing. Certainly the summer of 2003 when I was reporting that piece it was anything but simple. What interested me most was how Iraqis and Americans viewed each other. There were misunderstandings and suspicions, but a fair amount of good will on both sides and a desire to reach out and find out who these other people were. That has changed. The violence is so enormous.

Posted by Brian at 2:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

If you happen to live in a place where railroad tracks offer better routes than roads, I suppose that this might be a interesting, albeit slow, way of getting around. But I don't think I'd try it on abandoned lines that look like they're about to fall apart--especially the bridges.

Posted by Brian at 12:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Granted, bar association columns generally don't showcase prose in its highest art form, but Ms. Miers' contributions in that forum weren't much deeper than what she now has at "her" blog.

Posted by Brian at 11:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In noting that Australia is replacing the United States as the destination of choice for international students, Richard Bradley notes:

It's clearly no coincidence that this student exodus has occurred during the unilateralist presidency of George W. Bush and the war in Iraq. The rest of the world doesn't like us very much now, and that's just another example of how a war that was supposed to make us safer has actually weakened our international position.

Posted by Brian at 1:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I've been skeptical about all the talk about a conservative revolt over the Miers nomination. Basically, I'll believe it when I see a Republican senator coming out on the record saying he (she) will vote against the nomination, and not before.

I'm starting to wonder, however, if we can't be nearing that tipping point with all these "negative" stories (from a conservative's point of view) coming out about her.

Two more striking examples have come out today. First, John Fund on the selection process:

Mr. Card is said to have shouted down objections to Ms. Miers at staff meetings. A senator attending the White House swearing-in of John Roberts four days before the Miers selection was announced was struck by how depressed White House staffers were during discussion of the next nominee. He says their reaction to him could have been characterized as, "Oh brother, you have no idea what's coming."

A last minute effort was made to block the choice of Ms. Miers, including the offices of Vice President Cheney and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. It fell on deaf ears. First Lady Laura Bush, who went to Southern Methodist University at the same time as Ms. Miers, weighed in. On Sunday night, the president dined with Ms. Miers and the first lady to celebrate the nomination of what one presidential aide inartfully praised to me as that of "a female trailblazer who will walk in the footsteps of President Bush."

The DRUDGE REPORT has obtained a copy of sworn testimony given by Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers in 1990 in which she said that she "wouldn’t belong to the Federalist Society" – a conservative and libertarian lawyers' organization – because it was "politically charged."

But Bush's Supreme Court nominee did not include in that catagory the NAACP and other liberal groups, the transcript reveals!

Posted by Brian at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

That President Bush has resorted to using religion as a selling point for his Supreme Court nominee is a contemptible ploy which is rightly being denounced by many bloggers.

I like Josh Marshall's take:

A year ago, in light of one of White House's many wag-the-dog stunts, I noted "how truly important it is that we democratize the Middle East. Because once we have, some of them will be able to come back here and redemocratize us."

Perhaps the same goes for ending theocracy over there. Sooner the better, so they can bring modernity to us too.

Posted by Brian at 1:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I agree--whatever it is that News-Night has evolved into isn't working.

Currently, the only real news show remaining on prime time cable is Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Everything else is basically celebrity justice/missing white women shows or shoutfests. Apparently, people don't watch news anymore.

Posted by Brian at 12:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Oops. I guess Mr. O'Reilly meant to say "voter fascism". I'm glad we have the "no-spin zone" looking out for us and making sense of these complex issues.

Posted by Brian at 12:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Uh oh. This can't be good for a would-be presidential candidate:

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) has been subpoenaed to turn over personal records and documents as federal authorities step up a probe of his July sales of HCA Inc. stock, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

Posted by Brian at 12:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Heh.

Posted by Brian at 9:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

. . . this would be on my "to do" list.

Heck, perhaps I'll add it anyway.

Posted by Brian at 4:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Billmon points out how claims of progress in Iraq, based on status of the constitutional process, are likely exaggerated.

In retrospect, that great T.V. moment when they rolled out the so-called draft constitution for parliamentary approval was pretty meaningless. And if they reserve the right to continue amending the document as they go along, what are voters really approving on Saturday?

Posted by Brian at 3:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There's a reason that some people end up in jail rather than becoming rocket scientists:

A man armed with a bow and arrow who commandeered a Union Pacific freight train stopped in Montclair on Sunday night was shot and wounded by police, authorities said.

Juventino Vallejo-Camerena, 43, of Pomona climbed onto one of the train's two locomotives about 10:45 p.m. and threatened the two crew members with a bow and arrow, Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis said.

The engineer and conductor fled the train, which was stopped at a signal, and cut off fuel to the engine with an emergency button outside the cab. They were not harmed, Davis said.

Alone in the cab, Vallejo-Camerena refused to drop his bow and arrow after Montclair police officers ordered him to do so, said Capt. Keith Jones, spokesman for the department.

He nocked and pointed the arrow at officers on the scene, near Monte Vista Avenue in western San Bernardino County, and threatened to take over the train, Jones said. Police then shot Vallejo-Camerena in the wrist and upper arm, according to a Montclair Police report.

Posted by Brian at 12:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Heh.

Posted by Brian at 3:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I don't think anyone will be confusing Judge Roy Moore with Shakespeare.

Posted by Brian at 12:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This weekend the phone and Internets access was down for more than 24 hours (fortunately, cable TV still worked). I didn't miss the phone much, but it reminded me how many things I've gotten used to reading or doing online. For instance, I thought about looking up a potential route for cycling and realized--the horror--that I'd have to find a paper map if I wanted to check out the roads. So much for that idea.

This morning I learned--to my surprise--that the outage was caused by a plane crash occurring over in Cookeville. After reading that the pilot died in the crash, the "hardship" I endured during the episode doesn't seem so bad.

Posted by Brian at 1:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Call me cynical, but I have a growing suspicion that the likelihood of a major terrorism attack in the U.S. is inversely proportional to the amount of related press conference warnings held by elected officials.

Posted by Brian at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Yes, prices are marching upward. And for many people this winter could be nasty:

For the 2005-06 heating season, "residential per-household expenditures" will rise by 71 percent for natural gas in the Midwest, 31 percent for heating oil in the Northeast, and 40 percent for propane in the Midwest. For all of 2005, EIA projects Americans will spend $1.08 trillion on energy, up 24 percent from 2004. That amounts to 8.7 percent of gross domestic product, the largest percentage since 1985.

Just seemed a weird how that played out.

Posted by Brian at 1:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The way things should be:

[The President] would be both ashamed and afraid to bring forward, for the most distinguished or lucrative stations, candidates who had no other merit than that of coming from the same State to which he particularly belonged, or of being in some way or other personally allied to him, or of possessing the necessary insignificance and pliancy to render them the obsequious instruments of his pleasure.

Posted by Brian at 2:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

More evidence that humans are becoming obsolete.

Haven't we be lead to believe that robots are supposed to do the things for us that we don't want to do?

Posted by Brian at 1:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Want the benefits of outdoor walking without, you know, actually having to put your shoes on the ground? Then this brilliantly-conceived contraption is for you.

Man, why didn't I think of that!

Posted by Brian at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A new way of paying tribute to American veterans.

Posted by Brian at 2:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We all have our place:

But there’s a larger issue here. I cringe every time I hear the we-must-appoint-a-woman mantra or the-fairer-sex-will-save-the-day schtick, but it’s not just blind chauvinism. Call it informed chauvinism. You see, the governing principle here is that finding a traditional woman in the political arena is a little like finding a NOW member in a full-length burka.

Think about it: generally speaking, where do you find good, conservative, traditional women? The answer is in the home, not the House. Traditional women are usually devoted to traditional endeavors, such as raising their children and tending to hearth and home. And when they are forced by necessity into the workaday world, they’re usually doing merely what is required to put three squares on the table. They’re not seeking to exalt themselves through careerism.

Posted by Brian at 2:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Wonderful:

It's an only in New York story. A woman was given a ticket for sitting on a park bench because she doesn't have children.
The Rivington Playground on Manhattan's East Side has a small sign at the entrance that says adults are prohibited unless they are accompanied by a child.

Forty-seven-year-old Sandra Catena says she didn't see the sign when she sat down to wait for an arts festival to start. Two New York City police officers asked her if she was with a child. When she said no, they gave her a ticket that could bring a one thousand dollar fine and 90 days in jail.

Posted by Brian at 11:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Alas. It does make it a little harder to push for the confirmation of a nominee who you can't endorse.

UPDATE: Many people have been generally befuddled on their comments regarding Miers, due to her lack of a "paper trail"--i.e., she hasn't written any articles entitled "I'm Pro Choice," or "I Oppose the Right to Abortion." So they are forced to speculate. This is the extent to which they are now reaching.

Posted by Brian at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This pretty well summarizes what I heard today:

Wingnuttia is rather angry at the choice. I don't think this is because they're really concerned that she's not conservative enough for their tastes, although that's part of it. They're angry because this was supposed to be their nomination. This is was their moment. They didn't just want a stealth victory, they wanted parades and fireworks. They wanted Bush to find the wingnuttiest wingnut on the planet, fully clothed and accessorized in all the latest wingnut fashions, not just to give them their desired Court rulings, but also to publicly validate their influence and power. They didn't just want substantive results, what they wanted even more were symbolic ones. They wanted Bush to extend a giant middle finger to everyone to the left of John Ashcroft. They wanted to watch Democrats howl and scream and then ultimately lose a nasty confirmation battle. They wanted this to be their "WE RUN THE COUNTRY AND THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT" moment.

Posted by Brian at 2:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Old habits die hard. I guess it should be no surprise that points one and two of my previous post apply to this nomination of Harriet Miers.

Ms. Miers having no previous experience as a judge should not necessarily disqualify her from being on the Court, though perhaps this should. Regardless, this pick certainly fits the mold of the cronyism storyline the media has finally been developing.

Posted by Brian at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)