Monthly Archives: March 2004

Scalia Won’t Recuse. No Way. No How. Got That?

Scalia takes 21 pages to explain why he will not recuse himself in the Cheney case

Some of the arguments are pretty good; others hover round the laugh test. Can anyone really believe that,

Nothing this Court says on those subjects will have any bearing upon the reputation and integrity of Richard Cheney. Moreover, even if this Court affirms the decision below and allows discovery to proceed in the District Court, the issue that would ultimately present itself still would have no bearing upon the reputation and integrity of Richard Cheney.

Can anyone believe that? I sure don't.

I'd post more, but I have a deadline. (Thanks, Dan, for the tip.)

Posted in Law: Ethics | Comments Off on Scalia Won’t Recuse. No Way. No How. Got That?

Bruce Reed, Anthropologist

Bruce ReedDLC honcho, former Clinton domestic policy guru, and once, very very long ago, the nice Presidential Scholar from Idaho whom I met on our joint trip to Washington, D.C. (as I lived in DC my 'trip' was on the Metro) — has written a lively, funny, account of the habits of two Washington tribes, the Wonks and the Hacks. In it he suggests that the currernt administration's major failing is that it has cast its lot with the hacks, and declared war on wonks.

It's a great piece and you should read it all, but here's the irrelevant throwaway line about one of my least favorite political operatives that made me glad I wasn't drinking coffee while I read it:

For all his faults, though, [Dick] Morris was often a useful spur to the bureaucracy, because he enabled the White House policy team to deploy our own Madman Theory: If the agencies wouldn't go along with our sensible proposals, we warned them that the president might just listen to Dick Morris. Agency productivity soared as a result.

Posted in Politics: US | Comments Off on Bruce Reed, Anthropologist

Subvocalization is Real!

I never, ever, was able to suspend disbelief about subvocalization when reading science fiction. I could swallow warp drives, nanotech, even telephathy on a good day, but this silent speaking stuff seemed far too good to be true.

Well, NASA says it's true.

Posted in Science/Medicine | 1 Comment

Reality Bites Back

  • A purported al Qaeda statement says al Qaeda wants Bush to be re-elected (Well, of course they do, their entire game plan requires radicalizing the Middle East into anti-Americanism. Who better for this than GWB?)
Posted in Politics: US | Comments Off on Reality Bites Back

Canada Searches for a (Very) Warm-Water Port

Canadians are agitating to annex the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean. Yes, the Canadians are seeking a warm-water port:

“In the long term, what is so absolutely vital for Canada is to expand our sphere of influence,” says Conservative MP Peter Goldring, a driving force behind the Turks and Caicos movement.

Canadians seeking Lebensraum? Wait a minute…

“We had a sphere of influence in the Caribbean 100 years ago. Canada was a major shipper and transporter to the Caribbean from the Maritime provinces. We have lost that direct Maritime link with the Caribbean.”

Goldring has organized an all-party committee of Parliamentarians as well as a group of business leaders to lay the groundwork for a possible union between Canada and the Caribbean Island.

“I'd like it to be the 11th province,” Goldring says.

“It would be a Canadian province at the gateway to the Caribbean.”

Of course, being nice Canadians, they don't call it “annexing” but use words like “union” or “merger” or “free association” and even “overseas territory,” while contemplating “400 kilometres of white beaches and 800 kilometres of virgin reef for divers and snorkellers.” Plus temperatures that stay in double digits year round. Even in Centigrade.

If this “merger” happens would it signal a reversal of the trend towards increased devolution and the creation of micro-states? Could this start a trend?

And, how would the US react to being flanked by Canada?

Posted in Politics: International | 3 Comments

Someone Needed to Look in the Mirror

The Mirror of Justice continues to be an interesting blog. Take for example, Mark Sargent, The Church's Lawyers, discussing the moral and ethical duties of the principals and the lawyers defending the Catholic church against what proved to be a plethora of justified charges of priestly abuse.

Posted in Law: Ethics | Comments Off on Someone Needed to Look in the Mirror