29 August 2008

Sarah Barracuda Palin

Just saw this on her Wikipedia page:

Palin was the point guard and captain for the Wasilla High School Warriors, in Wasilla, Alaska, when they won the Alaska small-school basketball championship in 1982; she earned the nickname "Sarah Barracuda" because of her intense play.

Could I love her any more?

McCain Palin 2008

I really am not crazy about John McCain, but I'm effin' giddy right now. Take it from me, the political nerd: McCain has locked up the slightly-interested-in-politics heterosexual male vote. Palin is hot. Plus, I've always wanted to visit Alaska. Hmm? What? She supports more drilling in Alaska? I'm your's Mrs. Palin. I'm yours.

28 August 2008

Some Media Links

Great bit on Comedy Central, if only for the clips they collected from the channel doing its best impersonation of General Slocum, MSNBC.

Ya burnt, Obama? Ya burnt.

While I like the state of Utah much of the year (Utah! Catch the fever!), this Saturday, I wish 100% pure destruction upon your team. Lest you forget, I got my M.F.A. in Immaturity.

Piquant Vin Diesel

I read this yesterday, but didn't get a chance to post about it: 'Babylon, A.D.', the latest Vin Diesel vehicle-of-doom, looks terrible. Just sad. It's jammed to the top with pure violence and stupidity. It looks like a bad episode of '24'.

But I have a confession to make. The description I just wrote is not my own words. I stole it. From the director of 'Babylon, A.D.'.

Oddly enough, since the the film's director is dumping his own corpse of a movie off the 20th Century Fox druglord-yacht, my interest is piqued. I might actually see this thing. Let this also be the point where I note that I am the only person to ever describe any part of any Vin Diesel film as 'piquant'.

Nothing unusual: white girls, spread offenses, sex classes.

There's a man I need to introduce to you. His name is Chris Rainey. Chris Rainey plays football for the University of Florida Gators. Chris Rainey is fast. Chris Rainey is the Tracy Jordan of football:
Reporter: What are you taking this semester?

Rainey: I'm taking sex classes.


Reporter: Six classes?

Rainey: Sex classes.

Laughter erupted from the twenty-some reporters crowding around him.
...
There's waay more from this guy. Like when he told reporters that he was a "white-girl man". The best part? He's only a freshman. That means we get at least three years of this. Knowing how the white women are in northern Florida, though, I bet Chris Rainey transfers to the more frisky sex lands of LSU before the year's out.

(The biggest HT evar to the great Orson for this entire story, which he has been tirelessly following for the past year. A Woodward and Bernstein for our times, I tell ya.)

26 August 2008

Conventions, RIP

Megan McCardle relayed on her blog that this year's convention has lower Nielsen ratings than the 2004 conventions, which had lower ratings than 2000. I have a little more to add to yesterday's post.

When I look at the hypothetical "viewer data" from the last post, it becomes painfully clear to me that the theory of a party convention is a vase of dying, if not already dead, flowers .

For several decades now, conventions have been showcases built for "the public," a faceless throng who's news supply consisted of Edward R. Murrow, the local gazette, and Life magazine. It's too bad that all three of those sources are dead. Furthermore, the theory of conventions is obliterated, not only by the demise of those mid-century media, but is beseiged from the other side by the rise of 24 hour news channels and internet media. 

Conventions have long-winded speeches by brainfreezingly boring politicians. Conventions "introduce" a man or woman who has already been on television more than any other citizen in America, and act like the majority of people who are tuned in are just learning about the politician. Conventions rehash memes and storylines that have already been repeated to exhaustion. Conventions are the media equivalent of screaming repeated answers to a nonagenarian relative. "I said, "I JUST FINISHED MY SECOND YEAR OF COLLEGE, GRANDMA!!'. . . 'NO, I HAVEN'T GRADUATED YET!!" But to turn this analogy on its ear, the television stations and political parties are the deaf members, failing to realize that their two target audiences, news junkies and ignorati, have both moved on.

The more I mull it over, the more comfortable I feel generalizing: people fit into the two categories, news-seekers and non-news-seekers. 

There have always been men and women who were content to dwell on the the more quotidian elements. It's an admirable instinct, one I greatly covet for myself, but seem unable to acquire. These blissful types don't feel any need to know what's going on in the world, and all the more power to them. The rest of the populace, however, needs, to varying extents, timely information about current events. Some need it on a weekly basis (think the old man who reads the Sunday paper with his morning coffee, but who can't find the time to read the rags any other day of the week), while some need it at an up-to-the-second speed (read: Crackberries). There might be differences within the "news" group, but there are still distinctive lines between newsies and non-newsies. Wheat and chaff and all that.

The increased intensity of news media has more aggressively culled the field in the past decade or so. The "knowledge gap" between the highest and lowest has increased. In fact, if you didn't catch the current-events tone of that last sentence, you are probably in the "blissful" category while simultaneously proving my point. (Thanks) With the advance in technology, the speed of information has pushed people towards the margins. If you used to casually consume the news, you now find it near impossible to converse with a typical modern news-consumer, who has read dozens of sites, aggregated hundreds of headlines, and read four differing opinions on each of those stories. You got two options at this point: fish or cut bait. To keep on fishin', though, demands an enormous level of effort and involvement (for the uninitiated, that is. For those normalized to the hyper-speed, it seems quite normal).

To drag this trail of string back out of the labyrinth, the conventions are still built on a model of Ma-and-Pa-chewing-over-the-local-cud, when the near totality of their actual audience, including the aforementioned Ma-and-Pa, are now Hannity and Colmes junkies who comment on ten different online op-ed columns while forwarding on several web briefings and chain-letter political rumors. And that's the old people.

25 August 2008

THE Barack is getting 'introduced' to who? J.D. Salinger and Terrence Malick?

Later on tonight, I'll have more thoughts on the first night of the convention, but if I can just ask a quick question:

For several weeks now, pundits and Democratic surrogates have collectively proclaimed this week as the time that "Obama is introduced" to America. Let's see:

There are two groups of people in this universe, relating to Sen. Obama: those who know of Barack Obama, and those who remain ignorant of his Change-ness. Who can we count amongst the enlightened?

- The 36 million people who voted in the Democratic primaries (roughly 18 mil for both Clinton and Obama).
- Any of the 20 million Rush Limbaugh listeners, especially Operation Chaos actors.
- Anyone who watches the Daily Show, Colbert Report, or Saturday Night Live. Each of those shows have talked a quite a bit about The One.
- Any consumer of the news: PBS NewsHour, MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, NPR, Drudge, &c. Hell, even CurrentTV viewers would know about him.
- Those who have picked up one of dozens of magazines that have placed the Senator from Illinois on their cover.

I recognize that there is a very large overlap between each of those categories. I fart in the general direction, however, of any person who can say, with a straight face, that there is a sizeable portion of people who have managed to avoid all of the aforementioned media sources and will voluntarily tune into the convention this week.

And this is the point where I finish the opposition with a Total Elimination* with this two-kick of truth.

Senator Obama's speech comes on the opening night of college football. Any on-the-fence men having been thusly de-fenced (and it sure isn't towards the convention), the only people left to view the speech will be people who already know who Sen. Obama is. Whoop-dee-doo. So much for an introduction.

*For those who might be wondering who the Saturn and Kronus are in my finishing move, it's my two brain lobes. I think Perry Saturn represents my right-hemisphere, but there's no telling.

24 August 2008

With "Support" Like This, Who Needs Friends

Let me apologize in advance for the profanity. I really try not to swear, but even after taking a day to cool off, merely thinking about the following story gets me talking like an oil-derrick worker. So, y'know, sorry for the four-letters.

Rep. Walter Jones, a Republican from North Carolina, placed a poster of the Camp Lejeune (N.C.) men and women who've died in Iraq and Afghanistan on the hallway wall outside his office. Speaker Pelosi, in her role as nanny-in-chief of the House, demanded the poster taken down. She attempted to defend the disgusting move by claiming the poster fell into the category of "any flag, banner, or device designed or adapted to bring into public notice any person, party, organization or movement" that had been banned by a 1999 statute.

Y'know, what, Speaker Pelosi? You're right. Why the hell should we allow someone to draw attention to the heroes of our time? As we all know, 'one man's hero is another man's genocidal stormtrooper of a neoconservative hegemonic power'.

These young men and women who chose to put their own lives in danger's path so their fellow citizens could elect asshats like you to office, these people who spent years in conditions far tougher and more austere than your worst day in order to prepare themselves for the hell of battle- fuck 'em. The mere action of putting their faces on a poster is too grievous a sin for any reasonable person to abide by. Good for you for standing up for America and her laws. /sarcasm

There are observers who will say that this maneuver is a political blunder, and they'll be right. There are those who will say that this is a good example of the Democrats' tin ear for all issues related to the military, and they'll be right too.

But the real kick-in-the-balls? That these ingrates in office, these assholes who don't even see the despicable nature of this story, will, with a haughtiness usually reserved for food critics, insist that they "support the troops." They won't even be lying. They really believe that their positions, actions, and opinions are more beneficial to the armed services. "Why," they ask, "is there war in the first place? That's the real pro-troop position. The Republicans just want to use these guys as pawns, while we care about the individuals."

My ass.

Right here in this story, Nancy Pelosi can only see these greatest of Americans as political playpieces. She's got her head so far up the anti-war ass that she is incapable of viewing soldiers as patriotic individuals with patriotic families that support them. After looking at anti-war posters and Moveon.org ads and "Bring The Troops Home" ribbon-magnets, the only thing she can see the troops as is a political statement. It's a goddam disgrace when a Congressman can't even put up a poster of men and women who suffered through the worst conditions, worked sleepless nights, and died heroic deaths for the safety of their peers.

The reason why it is no longer dulce et decorum to pro patria mori isn't because there are no longer values worth dying for but because the culture is so full of ingrateful wretches that they don't even want to think about those who've died.

Drunk Uncle Joe

Serious thoughts on Biden from around the interwebs:

1.) David Harsanyi asks Will Sen. Biden Apologize To The Haditha Marines?

2.) TigerHawk looks at Why Sen. Biden Is Unpopular In Iraq. (Hint: it rhymes with "schmartition", a plan that I think was always schmidiotic.)

Great quote at the end:
Anyway, it is a reflection of the diminishing political significance of the Iraq war that Barack Obama, who secured the Democratic nomination in part by making much of his opposition to the war and his plan to withdraw our troops on a fast schedule, is now able to pick as his running mate a senator who voted for the invasion in 2002 and whose favored "solution" would have required more rather than less American involvement in Iraqi domestic politics.
3.) From an old Peggy Noonan column about the good Delawarean Senator (HT: The Corner):
The great thing about Joe Biden during the Alito hearings, the reason he is, to me, actually endearing, is that as he speaks, as he goes on and on and spins his long statements, hypotheticals, and free associations--as he demonstrates yet again, as he did in the Roberts hearings and even the Thomas hearings, that he is incapable of staying on the river of a thought, and is constantly lured down tributaries from which he can never quite work his way back--you can see him batting the little paddles of his mind against the weeds, trying desperately to return to the river but not remembering where it is, or where it was going. I love him. He's human, like a garrulous uncle after a drink.
A-effin-men.

23 August 2008

lolbiden

Well played, Barack, well played:

funny pictures

This is making up for the best election race ever. There are few men in politics that I enjoy watching more than Senator Biden. Dude is pharmaceutical-grade gasbaggery.

On the other hand, if it comes down to a v.p. debate with Romney (bad idea, Johnny Drama), the slicked-back hair over-smiling showdown would be one for the ages.

Pleeenty more where these come from:

funny pictures

Let the convention begin, I say.

22 August 2008

Hannah Obama

Obama, Obama, Obama.

When'd you turn into a 7th grade drama queen?

You announce you've made a decision, but you just won't tell? Really? Why even tell us you've made a decision then?

That's straight Miley Cyrus coy. Now I'm expecting the text message announcement to read something like:

I'M TOTLLZ CRZY 4 JOEY BIDEN!!1! LOLZ!

Evanglicalism 2.0?

A thought-provoking report from the Journal about evangelicals and Obama. There's a couple of points I'd like to mention, but it should be said first that the numbers you see in the article seem to be before the "bump" McCain has received in the past few days. In any case, there seems to be a noticeable shift away from the Religious Right in the evangelical community.

The indicators have been around for years. Derek Webb, songwriter and member of the Christian band Caedmon's Call, made a noticeable shift in politics several years ago (he might have made the shift earlier than , but it became more noticeable at the time). His albums She Must And Shall Go Free and Mockingbird were direct in their complaints about modern evangelical-dom. Webb stressed the universal nature of Christianity, and with lyrics such as "God is not a Republican or Democrat" on the records, he made clear his feelings about the political side of his religion.

The response? Positive. Christianity Today, the flagship evangelical magazine, gave it a great review, praising his strong-worded criticism as "much needed." That hardly sounds like the myopic group of Left-Behinders many on the left imagine evangelicals to be.

But it goes beyond one writer. I can speak, at least anecdotally, of how the susurrus of voices questioning Dobson and Falwell have grown into a fully-grown movement opposing the politicizing of what many believe to be a transcendentally spiritual practice.

I'm part of the generation of Christians who came of age during the rise of the Religious Right. At after-church lunches, you would hear about Clinton's waywardness, how the Democrats are, to a one, left-wing secular humanists. One of my neighbors (who is my parents' age), during the 2004 election, said to me, "I don't know how someone can be a Democrat and call themselves a Christian." Yup, you read that right.

To wit: it got pretty bad at points. But as my peers moved from teens to adults, the willingness to speak out grew as well. Yes, we'd say, God does care about the unborn and yes God commands us to be married to one man or one woman. But I don't think that's all. Even some who are like me, with pretty libertarian-anarcho-capitalist instincts, felt that the "conservativism" of the Religious Right was simple-minded and unBiblical. Out of these various discontents has arisen a more unaffiliated church in many ways, where Democrats and Republicans are welcome, and where the faith in Jesus Chris, rather than the faith in the man-made traditional values, holds true.

There's a guy, Rob Bell, who is huge. Dude has a couple of best seller books (with great titles like 'Velvet Elvis' and 'Sex God') and a wildly popular video series called NOOMA. While I was working with a Christian college ministry (it rhymes with "Schmampus Schmuschmade for Schmist") I ran across kids from all over the political and socio-economic spectrum who were crazy about Rob Bell. When he came to campus to promote "Sex God", it was in a standing room only auditorium and thousands of students came. eager to hear him talk.

Rob Bell is a lefty. He wouldn't put it that way, but his politics fall on the left side of any normal dividing line. Anti-war, green, anti-death penalty, &c. He's the James Dobson antidote. Kids know this, but they like his insight into everyday spiritual issues. I know Reaganites who couldn't care less about his politics, and I know Kucinich fans who love his heart and his mind.

What does all this mean? Nothing drastic. . .yet. I think the numbers will slowly make the move back towards the middle, where Christians fall on both sides of the aisle. What would give the moderating movement a guarine boost to the hindparts would be the Democrats moving against abortion. I think even the most conservative evangelicals I know would admit that the majority of their fellow believers are economically liberal, socially conservative. They don't have a problem with Bush giving billions to Africa, or they wouldn't have a problem with more monetary support for faith-based initiatives at home. Get rid of abortion as a pillar of the Democrat party, and I'd guess 30% of self-identified evangelicals would immediately change parties.

21 August 2008

The Key To Victory?

I know it's the equivalent of picking the low-hanging fruit when you analyze any specific Huffington Post piece, but allow me a moment to point out this gem by Jeff Madrick, a former NYTimes economics columnist.

To distill the entire bag of fruit down to a Flintstone vitamin, Madrick feels that the reason for the current decline in Obama's polling numbers is because the Illinois senator won't raise taxes.
"There are solutions, but not if we don't raise money. What are Obama's people taking about instead? Modest tax cuts for the middle class! Right out of the Third Way playbook. It is nonsense, tragic nonsense. It will backfire.

Americans will put up a little more tax money to solve its serious problems if they are asked. They are willing to share in the pain. If they understand such tax money will be spent to make them better off, relieve their concerns, save their future.

I just can't believe this emphasis of Obama's on minor tax cuts. Now is the time to be bold and maintain the courage of one's convictions."

Duh! That's got to be it! There are millions of Americans out there, sitting in their living rooms, talking over coffee:

"Ya know, Sam, I'm sick of these bums in Washington who just refuse more of my money. I mean, I just called my Senator's office, asking where I could send the extra 10,000 dollars I have, where in government it's most needed. Would you believe that he told me: 'Sir, I appreciate it, but that money is your own. You'll know how to better spend that money than I would.'? He just lost my vote!"

If only Senator Obama knew!

Mr. Madrick, attempting to end his imminently reasonable piece with a level-headed closing phrase, writes:
"This is not a class room. It is not a mere conversation. It is a battle for the truth and the future. It may be our last chance."

Well, I'm just gobsmacked with his reasoning and sensible position.

Pop Culture Wiz-dom

So, I was waaaay ahead of the curve when it came to the Snape debate. Back in book four I was hypin' to my friends that Snape was fundamentally good. Why? Because if you took the premise that Dumbledore was never wrong, then his belief in Snape wasn't misplaced. QEDMF'er.

Time to weigh in on the next debate-- Survivor: Harvey Dent?

Dent's dead.

The way they wrote his story arc within "The Dark Knight", it's clear that the Nolan brothers wanted to have a total character within the movie. Also, let's think about when the film was written: before Ledger's death. That means they had the plan for the Joker to survive through the picture to lead for possibly another movie, but they also needed the finality of a villain dying, some closure to the film.

Obvious now, isn't it?

19 August 2008

What I Just Said, But Better

After typing up my last post, I went to Michael Yon's site (which all of y'all need to keep RSS'ed. I could go on for hours, but succinctly put: Yon is our generation's best war reporter, and should be taught in journalism classes everywhere), and saw his latest dispatch. He writes, better than I, about the transition from Iraq to the Af-Pak conflict.

Must read.

Take-away blurbs:

Many people around the world see America in decline. As someone who travels a great deal, I see the opposite. America is just getting started. Yes, we face enormous challenges and dangerous enemies. But the soul of our country, the initiative of our people, and the depth of the collective intelligence are all far stronger than our critics, and even many Americans, imagine. Al Qaeda thought that America would fall to her knees after 9/11. They were wrong. Today we hunt them like jackals.

Now that media attention is turning back to the Af-Pak war, let's hope that the sum of their reporting will be more informed and less biased than what came out of Iraq. If the Iraq model is followed again, the Western politicians will say whatever is expedient, bending to popular pressure created by the media, many of whom understand the bending of truth better than Einstein understood the bending of light.

Please read him regularly, and support him (he's an independent journalist) if you can.

En vous priant de recevoir mes plus sincères condoléances

Today, 10 French soldiers were killed in Afghanistan, fighting Taliban forces. My sincere thanks to those brave brothers and their equally brave families. The world is temporarily darker for these men's departure, but they gave themselves for a brighter future.

Some thoughts on the attack:

Click through to see a map of the region, and you'll notice 1) how close this is to the Pakistani border and 2) the homogeneity of landscape and demography in this border region (okay, you might not see the homogeneity of demography, but it's fairly uncontroversial to suggest that the entire border region is similar. Yeesh).

With the rising success in Iraq becoming conventional wisdom, attentions are turning to Afghanistan. As we begin to focus forces into the region, we'll begin to see more news from the region as journalists are redeployed. (Kudos to the Times reporter for a good article here, btw.) It think it's important now to reiterate the legion differences between Iraq and Afghanistan.

A "surge" like we had in Iraq will not bear the same fruit. The cultures between the two nations are different, the geography and topography are different, the sources of violence are different. Iraq was and is a well-established society with a strong infrastructure and a history of civilization. Nearly none of that is true in the rural hodge-podge that is Afghanistan. We can't win this war like we did in Iraq, with a steady presence of US and coalition troops keeping the peace and allowing the society to heal.

Let's head this one off at the pass: Afghanistan isn't embroiled in ethnic conflict. The Afghan National Army is multi-ethnic and, from every report I've seen growing daily in competence and effectiveness. This is a land crushed by nearly a century of perpetual conflict, violence, and terror. They need basic utilities. They need roads built in a peaceful environment. We'll need years of steady investment and hand-holding of their politicians to show them to put a premium on good governance rather than power.

As General McCaffrey puts it: "[Afghanistan] is an attempt to create a state, not battle to save one."

Don't expect this stuff to be pushed by the press, however. In the usual fashion, European allies and their acquiescent press will move from strong supportive rhetoric to sniveling second-guessing quite quickly. It's easy to talk strong about back-burner issues.

18 August 2008

Am I Really Reading This?

I know that political types can be sheltered and unaware individuals, but this article is ridiculous:
Senator John McCain was not in a “cone of silence” on Saturday night while his rival, Senator Barack Obama, was being interviewed at the Saddleback Church in California.
You (media) all are asses. Really? Has the state of American political reporting become so guided, so stuffed with talking points and targeted media, so full of formal statements, that we have The Gray Lady parsing a pastor's 'Get Smart' references?

To anyone who saw the forum, it was clear that the good Reverend Rick Warren meant that McCain wasn't hearing Obama's responses, not that Saddleback has 1960's spy-show technology in the waiting room.

This article is such a childish maneuver from McCain's opponents. He had a good night, Obama was probably rusty from his vacation. No cheating, no anti-silence-cone technology, nothing.

The worst part? I had a sneaking suspicion while reading the Times piece that the reporter doesn't even know that the line refers to 'Get Smart'. Journalism schools these days *snorts, spits*, just ain't teachin' nuthin'.

14 August 2008

The Entanglement Can-n-Wire

Time for me to get my science on. It's been too long.

This will be the first bit about entanglement and quantum mechanics, but I can assure you it will not be the last. This is some fascinatin' stuff, brother.

So, via the Scientific American 60-Second-Science Blog, we see that there's been some advances on the front of measuring entanglement speed. Namely, we know that, on the low end, entanglement moves at least 10,000 times the speed of light.

3 000 000 000 000 meters per seconds. That's the old-lady-in-the-right-lane estimate.

The applications for the future of quantum research are limitless, but an easy one is in the realm of quantum cryptography. In Snowden's little hypothesis, a group with vital info, like a U.S. military group or a Swiss bank, will send their info encrypted on a photon. It will then move between the two spots, and any interception between the two points will destroy the quantum state of the photon. Any change in state, the photon is destroyed, preserving the fidelity of the communique.

So, in under 10 years, expect some trans-global transmissions to violate the theory of relativity. Neat, huh?

Fix the Booze Deficit!

Okay, it is near-universally recognized that Colorado produces the most beer of any state in the Union. But then there's this.

#9 Illinois:17.5%
#10 Delaware:17.4%
#11 Colorado:17.2%
#12 Montana:17%
#13 Ohio:16.9%

WHAT?!?!

Where is Lou Dobbs talking about the Colorado booze-trade deficit? I demand that Gov. Ritter fix this immediately. Support Colorado Hooch-Power! Mile-High-Brewers Unite! Help 10 Colorado Brewers Lose Their Jobs - Drink Miller High Life!

Let me know if I missed any key protectionist slogans.

11 August 2008

Internet at War

Some links (note that, due to Russian DDoS attacks, Georgian government officials have to resort to Google blogs):

State Minister For Reintegration Blog

Russian Georgian War Blog
Georgian Minister of Foreign Affairs

And another site that was up earlier, stoprussia.org, seems to be down. No small wonder why, I suppose.

More thoughts later.

Run The Bastards Out



In a spirit of solidarity with the courageous liberals of Georgia, who are in all likelihood going to be alone in their fight against Putin, I post the Georgian War Flag. Godspeed to you.

So What's The Largest Country On Google Maps with Zero Information?

Hey!

Seriously, how the hell can Google maps not even have Tblisi on the map? This is effin' retarded. It looks like a damn snowbank.

07 August 2008

Sorry For The Delay. And Now, A Word From Humor-God

I apologize for the lack of publishin'. I've been working on a final paper for my "War, Peace, National Security", which finally ended today. (You want foreign policy thread between the Yom Kippur War and David Petraeus?! You want it?! BAM! There ya go! Who's next?). With it done, I'm planning on getting back into the blogger lifestyle.

Here's this to guide you into your weekend. Supz funny. Canni-LOL-ism, mos def.

01 August 2008

Antonin Scalia in Denver

Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to attend a booksigning by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, courtesy of the Colorado chapter of the Federalist Society. He was there to sign his book "Making Your Case", but his prefatory remarks were a general defense of originalism. Some other high moments:

- Justice Scalia, as is well noted elsewhere, is witheringly quick and clever. None of us who met him could believe he is 72 years old. He was equally at home eviscerating opponents or at dispensing cheerful advice on balancing work and home.

- I don't know if I'm breaking protocol by relaying this joke from the speech, but it demonstrates, without a doubt, the darkest sense of humor I've witnessed in a public servant of his stature. Here's a paraphrase:

"This last term my court had a case in front of it about the constitutionality of a Louisiana law proscribing the death penalty for child rapists. . .wait . . . no. Rapers of children. I don't suppose child rapists would get much time at all."

I was flabbered and gasted, I assure you.

- My goodness, does he have some depressing stories about the capricious nature of the court. Justice Scalia may be able to laugh about such anecdotes, but they merely managed to infuriate me. I'll relay some of them in the following days.

- Finally, Scalia represents, to me, the difference between intelligence and brilliance. Intelligent people in any field are able to ponder and discuss any number of related topics to the point of exhaustion. Brilliant people are able to discuss the same topics in a manner that is accomodating to laypeople and full of humor.