Bull Moose

New things to read are always fun.

I should be doing work right now. Why am I so lazy? Oh yeah, four hours of sleep. Sweet.

This is mildly nauseating to me:

"The panel, in that same ruling, struck down a single provision in the law requiring women to notify their husband's before they obtained an abortion. Alito dissented from that part of the decision.

Citing previous opinions of O'Connor, Alito wrote that an abortion regulation is unconstitutional only if it imposes an undue burden on a woman's access to the procedure. The spousal notification provision, he wrote, does not constitute such a burden and must therefore only meet the requirement that it be rationally related to some legitimate government purpose.

'Even assuming that the rational relationship test is more demanding in the present context than in most equal protection cases, that test is satisfied here,' he wrote.

'The Pennsylvania legislature could have rationally believed that some married women are initially inclined to obtain an abortion without their husbands' knowledge because of perceived problems -- such as economic constraints, future plans, or the husbands' previously expressed opposition -- that may be obviated by discussion prior to the abortion.

'In addition,' he wrote, 'the legislature could have reasonably concluded that Section 3209 [the spousal provision] would lead to such discussion and thereby properly further a husband's interests in the fetus in a sufficient percentage of the affected cases to justify enactment of this measure. . . . The Pennsylvania legislature presumably decided that the law on balance would be beneficial. We have no authority to overrule that legislative judgment even if we deem it 'unwise' or worse. '"

Or more than mildly nauseating.

Bush Selects Alito for Supreme Court (WP)

Good stuff...

Reflections on this period of DCeption - Wonkette

This is a transcript of a public conversation between Scott Ritter, former UN weapons inspector, and Seymour Hersh. Pretty interesting background on Iraq, and Ritter argues that we need to look beyond the Bush administration, back to Clinton, back to the first Bush administration to uncover the totality of the situation. Lots of interesting stuff here I'd never been aware of it. And lots of brutally honest finger pointing:

"Congress has abrogated its responsibilities under the Constitution, and they've abrogated it for years. Then there's the media, and, yes, we can turn this into a media-bashing event. But you know what? The media only feeds the American people the poison they're willing to swallow. And we the people of the United States of America seem to want our news in no more than three-minute chunks with sound bites of thirty seconds or less, and it can't be too complicated. So what we did is allowed ourselves during the decade of the 1990s to be pre-programmed into accepting at face value without question anything that was negative about Saddam Hussein's regime, and this made selling the war on Iraq on the basis of a lie the easiest task ever faced by the Bush Administration."

Scott Ritter and Seymour Hersh: Iraq Confidential (The Nation)

I just started a mailing list for Boston indie-type musical stuffs. Wanna join? Send an email to

bostonindiepop-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Sweet.

Zombie Infection Simulation

Ok, this thing is weirdly entertaining. I can't figure out why.

Someone on the indiepop list just posted the last 20 songs played on his iPod, in the midst of a conversation about musical diversity. I love stuff like this, but can't imagine everyone in the i-pop list would really be interested in knowing the last 20 songs I listened to. But here, I can do whatever I want, and not have to worry about bothering anyone (largely because no one reads this). So here ya go, the last 20 pieces of musical goodness that have floated through my machine and into my head:

20. Here Comes Your Man, Pixies
19. (I Want You) More Than Ever, The Clientele
18. No. 13 baby, Pixies
17. Good Man, Archer Prewitt
16. Amphibian, Bjork
15. What a Day That Was, Talking Heads
14. Who Named the Days, Arab Strap
13. I Was Meant for the Stage, The Decemberists
12. No Name No. 5, Elliott Smith
11. I Want to Vanish, Elvis Costello
10. The Stars of Track and Field, Belle & Sebastian
9. Suzanne, Leonard Cohen
8. Two-headed Boy, Neutral Milk Hotel
7. Everything Hits at Once, Spoon
6. Punchbag, Punchbag
5. The Tallest Man, The Broadest Shoulders, Sufjan Stevens
4. Breaking Lines, The Pastels
3. Sleepwalking, Modest Mouse
2. HWY A, The Rock*A*Teens
1. Man Out of Time, Elvis Costello

You'd be amazed how many people are interested in separating interests with commas. At least on Friendster. It's apparently quite the kick these days. I thought finding people who were similarly interested in commas and semicolons might be curious, but alas, all these people are instead into this weird new trend. It's almost...cultlike.

"'It is clear that Senators would not be satisfied until they gained access to internal documents concerning advice provided during her tenure at the White House -- disclosures that would undermine a President's ability to receive candid counsel," says President Bush.

No, it is clear that Senators would not be satisfied until someone qualified was nominated.

And now the speculation can begin anew. Who will it be this time?

Harriet Miers Withdraws Nomination

More nefariousness from my favorite company.

Wal-Mart Memo Suggests Ways to Cut Employee Benefit Costs - New York Times

Flowery prose alert! Flowery prose alert! Gross, dude:

"For thousands of years, something in the eternally lustrous metal has driven people to the outer edges of desire - to have it and hoard it, to kill or conquer for it, to possess it like a lover."

Behind Gold's Glitter: Torn Lands and Pointed Questions (NYTimes)

"Mehlman, who was White House political director before becoming chairman of the Republican National Committee, has been a key adviser, although some colleagues worry that bringing in the party chief [to replace Rove as deputy chief of staff] might send too political a message."

Right. Because Rove's not a stauchly Republican, party-oriented political figure at all. Who comes up with this crap?

A Palpable Silence at the White House (WP)

"Meanwhile, several constitutional law scholars said they were surprised and puzzled by Miers's response to the committee's request for information on cases she has handled dealing with constitutional issues. In describing one matter on the Dallas City Council, Miers referred to 'the proportional representation requirement of the Equal Protection Clause' as it relates to the Voting Rights Act.
'There is no proportional representation requirement in the Equal Protection Clause,' said Cass R. Sunstein, a constitutional law professor at the University of Chicago. He and several other scholars said it appeared that Miers was confusing proportional representation -- which typically deals with ethnic groups having members on elected bodies -- with the one-man, one-vote Supreme Court ruling that requires, for example, legislative districts to have equal populations."

Um, can we say totally unqualified? I am increasibly baffled by this nomination. Stop making such a big deal about how she feels about abortion and start making a big deal about her incompetence.

Senators Assail Miers's Replies, Ask for Details (WP)

I still can't for the life of me figure out why this woman could be considered qualified for the Supreme Court. Anyone? Anyone?

Miers Once Vowed to Support Ban on Abortion

Thought-provoking bit of wisdom of the day:

“If I express a feeling with a word, let us say, if I say “I love you,” the word is meant to be an indication of the reality which exists within myself, the power of my loving. The word “love” is meant to be a symbol of the fact of love, but as soon as it is spoken it tends to assume a life of its own, it becomes a reality. I am under the illusion that the saying of the word is the equivalent of the experience, and soon I say the word and feel nothing, except the thought of love which the word expresses. The alienation of language shows the whole complexity of alienation. Language is one of the most precious human achievements; to avoid alienation by not speaking would be fooling—yet one must be always aware of the danger of the spoken word, that it threatens to substitute itself for the living experience.” - Erich Fromm, Marx’s Concept of Man

I love my job. Yeah.......

A Deep Dedication to the President, and to Her Work: "David Frum, a conservative commentator and former White House staffer, wrote on his blog that Miers once told him the president was the most brilliant man she knows. "

Immediate disqualification for bad judgment and stupidity?

An interesting analysis of the Miers choice:

Supreme Court Choice Shows Bush Is Not Spoiling for a Fight - New York Times