Wednesday, July 20, 2005

The Roberts Nomination   There are two types of judges that President Bush the Younger has nominated:  states' rights judges and federal power judges.  They're all conservative, and mostly ideologues slavering to legislate from the bench (which Republican appointees to the bench are statistically vastly more likely to do), but those with a limited view of the role of the national government are as likely to clash with the conservative federal power judges as with liberal judges.  John Roberts is a states' rights judge. In the case of the Supreme Court, most of the conservative judges tend to be in favor of big government, as are the three somewhat liberal members.  As something of a libertarian, I would welcome a vote to restrict federal power.  He would also be a reliable vote against many of the more authoritarian provisions of the Patriot Act. Of course, there's a dark side to his limited government views.  It appears he would roll back many laws that physically protect us, regarding any attempt to prevent a company from forcing its workers to deal with unsafe conditions or poisoning the local citizenry as an impermissible intrusion into their corporate liberty, for instance.  And of course, there's his record as Deputy Solicitor General (under Ken Starr) arguing that the terrorist organization Operation Rescue, which has threatened the lives and safety of doctors and women, was not engaged in a conspiracy to try to prevent women from having abortions...when in fact that's pretty much the organization's charter. Roberts' extremist, and judicially activist, philosophy raised enough concerns that he was defeated as a judicial candidate in 1992 and 2001 before finally making it onto the bench in 2003.  So am I against him?  I still haven't made up my mind.  While it's true that while he does seem to bear a striking philosophical resemblance to Reagan's seemingly insane Justice nominee Robert Bork, there are potentially even worse candidates out there. 5:36:42 PM    comment []

Youth Group, Skeleton Jar   The only time I'll definitely list mp3s I recommend is on Saturdays, but nothing says I can't do it occasionally during the rest of the week. Youth Group, a band that hails out of Sydney, Australia, has released a confident and likable album, Skeleton Jar.  They have the hooks and the lead singer to be big.  It seemed to me like they came out of nowhere, as this was their first US release, but of course, they've released 4 singles, 3 EPs, and 2 records since 1998 in Australia, so in reality their polish should be no surprise.  All these songs are from the new album.  If I had to pigeonhole them, I'd describe their sound as emo.   Youth Group-Skeleton Jar Youth Group-Someone Else's Dream Youth Group-Shadowland Youth Group-Lillian Lies 2:37:05 PM    comment []

Faith in Harris Slumps   Other Republican candidates are hesitant to emerge in Florida to run against Katherine Harris in the Republican primary for Bill Nelson's Senate seat.  This is because despite her enormous unpopularity in the general population, they believe her support among hard-core Republicans to be great.  Well, maybe not.  At least, her supposed popularity for sabotaging the 2000 election has not translated into an ability to raise money for the Senate seat.  After she announced for the Senate last month, the Harris campaign raised less than $13,000 in the rest of June.  During the same period last year, she raised more than double that; and during 2003, she raised $45,000.  Her support, at least among donors, has consistently been in decline...and has plummeted since she announced she was running.  Granted, her fundraising can't possibly continue to be this bad.  But Florida is a big state; a candidate who has difficulty raising six figures a month is not likely to stage a serious challenge to a reasonably popular and profoundly uncontroversial Senator. And even token opposition to Harris might beat her in the Republican primary if she's unable to raise the money to run a serious candidacy. 12:29:22 PM    comment []

The Nominee:  Ick   The President has picked a useless, miserable excuse for a human being as his nominee for Justice; or in other words, a lawyer.  He made a point of saying that Judge John Roberts is well-regarded in his field.  Well, exactly.  Is the fact that lawyers like him supposed to be a recommendation?  If I were the President, I don't think I would have lead with how popular he is among lawyers.  See, I would think that was an argument against him. Maybe while he was at it, the President could have announced that Bernie Ebbers and the guy who ran Enron into the ground were for this guy, too.  Or an endorsement by Charles Manson; how about that?  Nor is the fact that he was ratified by the Senate before, for a different job, likely to cut any weight with me.  It's not like I, or most Americans, have a high regard for a majority of Senators.  The Senate has been called the nation's most exclusive country club.  But a country club that has Trent Lott is hardly exclusive, but merely expensive to join. I haven't made up my mind yet, but nothing I've heard or read has me filled with enthusiasm for this nominee. 6:39:22 AM    comment []

Belated Quote for the Day, 7/19/2005   "My loathings are simple:  stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music."   -Vladimir Nabokov   I just love that list.  It suggests to me the idea that soft music is responsible for all the other things. 12:06:04 AM    comment []