Deciding vote in the 5-4 ruling: Alito.

If O’Connor were still on the bench, it would have been 5-4 the other way.

There will be many more rulings like this in the coming twenty years.

In the week before the 2004 election, I kept a big ol’ picture of the aging Supremes on the top of the site, correctly pointing out that Rehnquist wasn’t long for this world. Preventing Chimpus Maximus from stacking the court with authoritarian judges really was the key issue in that election.

Sigh.

So other than no-knock entries, the destruction of habeus corpus, imprisonment without trial, rendition of suspects for overseas torture, rigged elections, "signing statements," and massive illegal domestic spying, this whole freedom and democracy thing is all working out just swell.

[singing quietly to myself, as if to give myself a little hope:] "… we’ve golden soil and wealth for toil; our home is girt by sea…"

Just a reminder… so far the score is 13 Senators good, 5 bad.  But most are positionless or unaccounted for.

If you’re not sure why it’s a big deal, read up.  Then call your Senator, bug them, and send whatever you learn on to Josh to share with the rest of the class.

The Internet you save could be your own.

Just a reminder… so far the score is 13 Senators good, 5 bad.  But most are positionless or unaccounted for.

If you’re not sure why it’s a big deal, read up.  Then call your Senator, bug them, and send whatever you learn on to Josh to share with the rest of the class.

The Internet you save could be your own.

Feodosia?!?!

When the hell did we send Marines into Feodosia?

I didn’t even know there was a Feodosia.  And I’m trivia boy, remember.

Oh.  Wow.  Well, then.

We gots Marines in places that most Americans don’t even know are places.  Wow.

I just heard a “conservative” on the radio saying that adapting the way we live to deal with global warming will be inherently harmful to everyone’s economic welfare.

Guess he really doesn’t believe in the power of the free market, then.  Apparently he doesn’t think that massive public awareness of the need for, say, renewable energy supplies would create a profitable global demand for clean energy.

These guys couldn’t really believe in the free market one bit, or they wouldn’t be so freaked out.

Seems worth mentioning.