Look. We know that all hurricanes are bad. And we know that category 5 hurricanes are really bad. But something like this hitting New Orleans is perhaps the worst. New Orleans lies below sea level, and is protected by levees. It’s basically a large bowl, and even in normal weather, water has to be pumped out of the basin. And … Read More
Iraqis Cannot Agree On Constitution?
The Associated Press is reporting: Parliament announced it had no plans to gather Thursday night and no date for a future session, signaling Iraqi factions were failing to agree on a new constitution before a self-imposed midnight target. It’s the "no date for a future session" part that is alarming. It’s one thing if they are negotiating, haggling, horse-trading, or … Read More
Supreme Court Rules On Valerie Plame Journalists
The Supreme Court ruled today that journalists cannot avoid grand jury subpeonae asking them to reveal their sources (or, put another way, that journalists can face jail time for failing to reveal their sources in response to a grand jury subpoena). This puts the plaintiffs, Time magazine’s Matthew Cooper and The New York Times’ Judith Miller, in a precarious position. … Read More
Supreme Court Rules On Ten Commandments
BREAKING NEWS: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Ten Commandment displays are not permissible in courthouses. Well, that’s what the headlines are screaming at the moment. The devil, as they say, is in the details. For example, is the Decalogue permissible if it is part of a larger display about the origins of law? UPDATE No. 1: Decision was 5-4, … Read More
Schiavo’s Body Is Dead
RIP, finally. UPDATE: The response from the right-wing blogosphere — full of death poems and scripture, not to mention wailing and gnashing of teeth — was a little TOO predictable, don’t you think? UPDATE #2: I take that back. I was just home for lunch and caught about 20 minutes of the cable news networks. Man, do they want this … Read More
Judge Wishes He Stayed In Bed
U.S. District Judge James D. Whittemore, whom Clinton appointed in 1999, received the lawsuit filed by Terri Schiavo’s parents via email about 4:30 a.m. — about a half-hour after he was assigned the case via random computer selection.
Breaking News
Tenet resigning. You know, to spend more time with the fam. Right. Whatever. Just write your damn book.