Waaaaay Too Much Info Joe

I'm sure his kids, who must be fully grown by now, can't be too happy to have this vision in their heads:

Because he was the first Democrat to step up and say publicly last year that he’s exploring running for president, we can assume that Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) is plenty interested in the office.

But like most other men, apparently there are things that interest him more.

Speaking to a group of 130 twenty- and thirty-something supporters of his leadership PAC last Thursday, Biden indicated that while he thinks he could be an effective chief executive, as far as the job itself goes, he could take it or leave it.

“I’d rather be at home making love to my wife while my children are asleep,” he said.

What are the odds Biden picked this line up from somewhere and failed to attribute the source?

Slimy Lawyers

I'm currently going against some from a big law firm here in the OC. The jerks had the nerve late last Thursday to serve me, or my client, with an ex parte motion to dismiss. A "motion" is basically a request that is made to the court. There are usually a set of procedures for making a motion, and they cannot normally be bypassed without special permission. When you ask for special permission to bypass these procedures, you're making an ex parte application.

The basic problem with ex parte motions, which the courts generally recognize, is that they can be made at the drop of dime, and the opposing party has almost no time to make a well thought out or reasoned response. Add to this the fact that the opposing party has to literally drop everything he is doing to address the application, and you can understand why the courts require a party to have a pretty darn good reason for making an ex parte motion.

Well, as far as I'm concerned, the attorneys I am going up against don't have a good reason to make an ex parte motion, and I think they know it but are just trying to throw whatever they can against the wall to see if it will stick. Hopefully, what I've filed in opposition to this ex parte motion will be seriously considered by the judge and he will deny the other side's application to bypass the normal motion procedures. Then again, you never know what a judge is going to do. Blech!

Discussion Forums

Just created one here. Check it out and post something. I'm still tweaking the look of it, and at some point, I'll put a permanent link to the forums on the side panel.

Don't Get Married Until After Age 45

Your chances of divorcing seem to decrease then. That's at least my take on the Census Bureau stats referenced in this advice article on prenuptial agreements.

According to the Census Bureau, 50% of first marriages for men under the age of 45 may end in divorce; and between 44% and 52% of first marriages for women in the same age group may end in divorce. As a result of more and more marriages ending in divorce, the number of people who marry for a second and third time is also rising.

Well That's Weird

I don't know why, but for some reason the font size and style for the com-box links aren't entirely consistent. Ah well. If it doesn't baddah you, it doesn't baddah me.

Update: OK, it seems to depend on the browser I'm using. It's all consistent with Explorer but not Firefox.

The Devil Won't Let Me Do It!

That's the excuse put forth by one congressional hopeful in Utah. I'm gonna go out on a limb and predict that this guy isn't going to win.

Kelo Be Damned!

President Bush issues an Executive Order to prevent the Federal Government from taking private property through eminent domain and giving it to a private developer under the pretext that doing so will increase tax revenues.

Coming to You in 2007

No, not Brokeback Mountain II. Wyoming Catholic College.

How to Get Banned from Catholic Match

Yes, I have been a member of this singles site for a while, which is why I haven't really been posting anything on here on a consistent basis. And actually, the title to this post is a little inaccurate in that it should be "How to Get Banned from the Discussion Forums on Catholic Match." But since that title is a little too long, I went with the above.

Anyhow, there's a discussion forum on Catholic Match devoted to politics, and I naturally posted comments on there quite frequently. Once in a while when I would see a really idiotic or inflammatory post that someone wrote, I'd respond accordingly. Well, that didn't always sit well with the Gestapo administrators at Catholic Match, so I would occasionally get these warnings about being "mean" to people and to cut it out.

I suppose I got enough of these warnings to where I was in someone's sh!t house at Catholic Match, because I was recently banned for life from its discussion forums for using the following two sentences in response to two separate posted comments by the same person:

1. Well, that certainly explains a lot.

2. Spare me your faux indignation and self-righteousness.

That's it. Talk about your hyper-punitive 3-strikes law that results in someone getting 25 years to life for stealing a pizza!!

In any event, my paid membership with Catholic Match is just about up, and this hanging judge decision by the administrators to forever prevent me from having full access to the site has pretty much convinced me not to renew.

Update(6/26): Well, after making an appeal, it seems as though my permanent ban has been lifted. Thanks Dan, and pay no attention to that Gestapo remark above.

Don't Call It a Comeback!

Well, I sort of guess it is. Anyway, expect more consistent updates. Or so I say...

So Where the Heck Have You Been?

Well, nowhere really. I just haven't been much motivated to blog anything for the past month or so. I blame it all on work.

Troubles at St. Mary's by the Sea

This is a church in Huntington Beach, CA, which happens to be my former parish and where I was baptized and confirmed. Before its longtime pastor, Fr. Daniel Johnson, retired a couple of years ago, St. Mary's was probably the most traditional and "conservative" parish in the entire diocese of Orange. But now with Fr. Johnson gone, the Bishop of Orange, Tod Brown (a Cardinal Mahoney clone if there ever was one) has eliminated the indult Tridentine Latin Mass at St. Mary's and has forced the parish to institute changes to the way it normally conducted the Novus Ordo Mass (e.g., no more kneeling during, and apparently after, the Agnus Dei).

Well, as one would expect, there were a lot of unhappy people at St. Mary's, and they weren't afraid to express this unhappiness to Bishop Brown. What do these people get in return? An "invitation" to leave both St. Mary's and the Diocese of Orange.

My reaction in 3 words: What the Hell?!

Google Hypocrisy

The web search giant, which owns Blogger, resists a DOJ subpoena for data on right to privacy grounds. Meanwhile, the agreement Google made with China to censor certain searches on its site moves forward.

If You're a Lawyer

You should find this caption, which really appeared on a pleading by an in pro per litigant my office is doing some scrivener work for, to be dang funny:

FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT TO REPLACE THE FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT FILED ON...

The OC is On Fire!!

Literally. Lots of smoke and ashes in my neck of the suburban woods behind the Orange Curtain.

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

'Tis the Year of the Dawg.

Mel Gibson: Something Other Than Catholic

The world famous actor buys his, uh, eccentric father, Hutton, his very own Rad Trad church.

Anna Benson: Duh

The former stripper and wife of Major League Baseball pitcher Kris Benson reveals how being liberal does not equate with being very, well, informed.


Brazen baseball wife Anna Benson blasted the Mets last night for tossing her pitcher hubby a curve via a trade to Baltimore.

The buxom Benson feels she was "misled" by management — which insists she's not why Kris was shipped south.

"If he was traded because of any potential talks with . . . Playboy or anything like this, that's a dirty, nasty, rotten trick — and I think that's really freedom-of-speech infringement," she charged.

Is it a Mortal Sin to Torture Captured Terrorists?

Maybe there's some other provision I missed, but this is the closest thing I could find on the subject from the Catechism:

Paragraph 2297: Torture which uses physical or moral violence to extract confessions, punish the guilty, frighten opponents, or satisfy hatred is contrary to respect for the person and for human dignity.

I don't know about you, and I'm certainly no theologian, but it just isn't clear to me from this language that the Church regards torture as being intrinsically evil. Indeed, it could even be argued that the Church perceives the commission of torture as being the equivalent of intentionally hurting someone's feelings. It' not nice, but it's hardly a mortal sin. Muddling the picture even more is the fact that this Catechism provision is written within the context of kidnapping, hostage taking, and terrorism, which are all expressly said to be either immoral and gravely unjust. So even if one were to assume that torture is gravely immoral, it appears to only be so in limited circumstances.

Any thoughts?

Update: From Paragraph 80 of Veritatis Splendor:

The Second Vatican Council itself, in discussing the respect due to the human person, gives a number of examples of such [intrinsically evil] acts: "Whatever is hostile to life itself, such as any kind of homicide, genocide, abortion, euthanasia and voluntary suicide; whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, physical and mental torture and attempts to coerce the spirit; whatever is offensive to human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution and trafficking in women and children; degrading conditions of work which treat labourers as mere instruments of profit, and not as free responsible persons: all these and the like are a disgrace, and so long as they infect human civilization they contaminate those who inflict them more than those who suffer injustice, and they are a negation of the honour due to the Creator".

Now, it should be noted that the Second Vatican Council never actually called torture intrinsically evil. I also wonder whether John Paul II correctly used the above quote from Guadiam et Spes given that deportation is among the items listed. Surely, there are circumstances when deporting someone is justified.

Jimmy Carter: American Embrassment

The Great Terrorist Enabler strikes again.

Speaking of the devil, I just started reading Steven Hayward's fairly recent political biographyof America's worst ex-President.

Triumph of Catholicism, but not the Catholic Church, in America

An insightful analysis by Joseph Bottum at The Weekly Standard on the significance of Sam Alito's ascendency to the SCOTUS. (link via Amy Welborn)

This may be the best time in American history to be a Catholic, and it may also be the worst: a moment of triumph after 200 years of outsiderness, and an occasion of mockery and shame. It is an era in which a surprisingly large portion of the nation's serious moral analysis seems to derive from Catholic sources. But it is also a day in which Monsignor Eugene Clark--an influential activist and Fulton J. Sheen's successor as rector of New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral--can be named an adulterer in a divorce petition and photographed checking into a hotel with his hot-panted secretary, to the weeks-long titillation of New York's tabloids: "Beauty and the Priest," ran the headline in the Daily News. Catholicism is the most visible public philosophy in America, and the Catholic Church is a national joke.

That's not necessarily a contradiction. Indeed, there might even be a connection between the rising rhetorical influence of Catholicism and the declining political influence of the Church. Since its founding, the United States has always had a source of moral vocabulary and feeling that stands at least a little apart from the marketplace and the polling booth--from both the economics of capitalism and the politics of democracy that otherwise dominate the nation. For much of American history, that source was the moral sense shared by the various Protestant denominations, and it influenced everything from the Revolution to the civil-rights movement.

Somewhere in the last 50 years, however, the mainline Protestant churches went into catastrophic decline. The reasons are complex, but the result is clear. By the 1970s, a hole had opened at the center of American public life, and into that vacuum were pulled two groups that had always before stood on the outside, looking in: Catholics and evangelicals.

Their meeting produced one of the least likely alliances in the nation's history, and it can be parsed in dozens of different ways. "Evangelicals supply the political energy, Catholics the intellectual heft," the New Republic claimed this month as it attempted to explain the Catholic ascendancy on the Supreme Court. That explanation is, as Christianity Today replied, mostly just a condescending update of the Washington Post's old insistence that evangelicals are "poor, uneducated, and easy to command." But the New Republic was at least right that the rhetorical resources of Catholicism--its ability to take a moral impulse born from religion and channel it into a more general public vocabulary and philosophical analysis--have come to dominate conservative discussions of everything from natural-law accounts of abortion to just-war theory.

Waaaaa....!

Kathy Shaidle remembers and reviews the all-time kung-fu classic Enter the Dragon. (I still don't get why there were bunch of Chinese drunks locked up in a cell in the basement).

Weren't Stalin and Mao Atheists?

Atheist Mullah Richard Dawkins issues a fatwa against religion, Christianity in particular.


In "The God Delusion," the first film in the series, Dawkins targets Catholicism at the pilgrimage site in Lourdes. "If you want to experience the medieval rituals of faith, the candle light, the incense, music, important-sounding dead languages, nobody does it better than the Catholics," he says.

Dawkins, using his visit to Colorado Springs' New Life Church, criticizes conservative U.S. evangelicals and warns his audience of the influence of "Christian fascism" and "an American Taliban."

(..)

In part two, "The Virus of Faith," Dawkins attacks the teaching of religion to children, calling it child abuse.

"Innocent children are being saddled with demonstrable falsehoods," he says. "It's time to question the abuse of childhood innocence with superstitious ideas of hellfire and damnation. Isn't it weird the way we automatically label a tiny child with its parents' religion?"

"Sectarian religious schools," Dawkins asserts, have been "deeply damaging" to generations of children.

Dawkins, who makes no effort to disguise his atheism and contempt for religion, focuses on the Bible, too.

"The God of the Old Testament has got to be the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous, and proud of it, petty, vindictive, unjust, unforgiving, racist," he says. Dawkins then criticizes Abraham, compares Moses to Hitler and Saddam Hussein, and calls the New Testament "St Paul's nasty, sado-masochistic doctrine of atonement for original sin."

Not on University Time You're Not

Cohabiting professors at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota are shocked over being told they work for an institution that believes there is such a thing as sin and therefore must get separate rooms when traveling with university students.

Ellen Kennedy and Leigh Lawton never thought their sleeping arrangement was an issue, but the university insists it goes against Catholic values.

Kennedy has been living with fellow professor, Leigh Lawton for twelve years. They are not married and both teach at the University of Saint Thomas which is a Catholic school.

"I'm not Catholic," says Kennedy, "Leigh is not Catholic and there has never been anything that's been forthcoming, that says these are the tenets of the Catholic Church."

Because Kennedy and Lawton aren't married, school officials say, they must book separate hotel rooms when on the road. But Kennedy says the real issue stems from a newspaper article in the November 11 edition of the campus newspaper about a former choir director at the school, who is gay. She canceled plans to travel with students to France after being told that having her partner travel with the choir presented a moral dilemma for students.

I Need to be an Anti-American Jew Hater

So that I can get a nice and cushy teaching job at a public university and/or college.


A U.S.-based Saudi professor and former U.N. fellow says he agrees with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the Holocaust is a "myth" and says America eventually will collapse like the Soviet Union.

Abdullah Mohammad Sindi, who has taught at four American schools, told Iran's Mehr News Agency Dec. 26, "I agree wholeheartedly with President Ahmadinejad."

"There was no such a thing as the 'Holocaust,'" Sindi said, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute. "The so-called 'Holocaust' is nothing but Jewish-Zionist propaganda. There is no proof whatsoever that any living Jew was ever gassed or burned in Nazi Germany or in any of the territories that Nazi Germany occupied during World War II."

Sindi, who maintains a website, has taught at the University of California at Irvine, California State University at Pomona, Cerritos College and Fullerton College – all in the Los Angeles area. He also taught political science at King Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia.

Eh, Well. Maybe Next Year

USC lost. *sigh* On a totally unrelated note, I'm almost done reading Michelle Malkin's In Defense of Internment. Pretty insightful and informative, and it has really changed my mind on the justification for interning and evacuating people of Japanese descent from the U.S. West Coast during WWII. Like most people who have been fed half-truths on this matter, I used to think it was unjustified, but not anymore.

Even the Mighty Fail

This is a few weeks old, but I just ran across this item about the former dean of Stanford Law School, Kathleen Sullivan, not passing the California Bar Exam. Also noted in this report is the fact that it took former California Governor Pete Wilson four times to pass the Bar, and current mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaragosa, never did pass.

Happy New Year!

And go 'SC! Beat the Cows!

Hey There

Been kind of ill the past couple of weeks, and well, I just haven't been much inspired to blog about anything. Hopefully, things will change after the new year.

Remember, Remember, the 5th of November

While surfing around The Matrix website, I discovered that the Wachowski brothers are coming out with a new movie next year called V for Vendetta.

At first, when I saw some information about who Guy Fawkes was, I thought this movie was about the Gunpowder Plot. Turns out, it's a fictional story about a masked freedom fighter, played by Hugo Weaver (aka Agent Smith in The Matrix movies) who resists the forces of totalitarianism in futuristic Britain. The mask this freedom fighter wears is apparently the face of Guy Fawkes.

V for Vendetta looks like an entertaining movie, but I'd personally be more intrigued if it was about the failed plan to free persecuted Catholics in Protestant Britain.

From the Heart of Mormonism to the Heart of Hedonism

The new Archbishop of San Francisco is George Niederauer. I hope I'm wrong, but I have a feeling he's a Cardinal Mahoney clone.

Father Niederauer’s first priestly assignment was as assistant pastor at Our Lady of the Assumption Parish, Claremont. In 1966, he completed a Doctor of Philosophy degree in English Literature from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

From 1972-1994, he served as spiritual director at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo. During those years he was also an instructor in Spiritual Theology. From 1987-1992, he served as rector of the seminary. From 1992-1994, he co-directed the Cardinal Manning House of Prayer for priests in Los Angeles.

Not Just for "Old" Guys

After a few years of "thinking about it," I finally got around to joining the Knights of Columbus. Since it seems as though I'm the only attorney in my local Council, I'm sort of curious to know whether there are very many lawyers who are Knights.

Initial Impression: Not Good

Ahnuld taps Carol Corrigan, an apparent RINO and CINO, to replace Janice Rogers Brown on the California Supreme Court.

Corrigan has long been active in the Roman Catholic Church and in Catholic charities. In response to questions, she said the church's views on such issues as abortion and homosexuality may not necessarily reflect her beliefs, nor would she ever permit her religion to influence her legal decisions.

"I was raised to believe that everybody has an obligation to inform their own conscience, and that is my understanding of the Catholic tradition as well," she said.

"Judges," she added, "should not impose their privately held views on the body politic."

If Only They Were Allowed to Marry

Another school teacher is criminally charged for sexually molesting students.

Totus Tuus

Today is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. Did you remember to go to Mass?

How About Narnia?

You know the part of the Mass where intercessory prayers are requested of the congregation and the response "Lord, hear our prayer" is said? Over the past couple of weeks at the parish I have been attending since permanently moving to the OC, prayers have been requested for the peoples of war ravaged countries around the world. Specifically pointed out were Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel and...Palestine.

Palestine?!

Either someone at this parish is in dire need of a geography lesson, or worse, he or she is politicizing the Mass.

Back in the Blogging Saddle

I just finished my first real trial and we won. The case involved the dissolution of a business partnership in a small restaurant that never made any money, and I was part of counsel for defendants.

Although I didn't try the case alone, I think I probably could have and still won given that plaintiff's counsel did just about everything you shouldn't do in a case that has gone to trial. First and foremost, call the court if you think you're going to be late. In an age where cell phones are as common as traffic jams in Southern California, there really is no excuse for not informing the court that you aren't going to make the designated trial time.

Second, don't list a witness and call that person to the stand if you've never talked to him or her before, and have no idea what he or she is going to say. On two separate occasions, with the same witness, plaintiff's counsel was chewed out by the presiding judge for conducting an examination that was really a deposition. (Depositions are conducted during the discovery phase of litigation, not trial).

Last, if you're arguing that your client is entitled to money, give a specific dollar amount. If you don't, and you have a winning argument (which wasn't the case here), the judge or jury just may give you what you're asking for: nothing.

Heading to Trial

Unless the party who is suing my client has a miraculous change of heart and drops her case, it looks like I'm going to have my first court trial in about 2 weeks. So blogging will be lighter than normal (heh).

I read somewhere (probably from PS Bradley) that there basically two reasons why a civil lawsuit makes it to trial: one side either doesn't know the facts of the case or they have miscalculated. The latter seems to be the situation in the matter I'm involved in to the extent that opposing counsel just doesn't seem to know what the applicable law is.

Pass the Kool-Aid

In the course of chronicling the brewing controversy over the possible moving of Ave Maria Law School from Michigan to Florida, Naomi Schaefer Riley proceeds to not so subtly insult "conservative" Catholics. She, as well as her headline writer at the Wall Street Journal, does this by describing, via an unnamed Ave Maria faculty member, Tom Monaghan's planned Ave Maria Town as a "Catholic Jonestown." So much for substantive debate, I guess.

Initiative Voting

Here's how I'm voting in tomorrow's special election here in California:

Props. 73 to 77 - Yes
Props. 78 to 80 - No

"Happy" 400

If you're a Protestant Brit, today is Guy Fawkes Day a.k.a. lame excuse to express hatred toward Catholicism.

My New Hobby

Tracking down where every member of the North Torrance High School Class of 1987 is today (or as of the end of 2007). It'll be tough, if not impossible, but I'm gonna try to do this without spending any money.

Birth Choice

More information about them here. A worthwhile organization that I personally hope to be more involved with.

It Was 25 Years Ago Yesterday

That Ronald Reagan was first elected President of the United States. Even though I was only 11 at the time, I can recall rooting real hard for him to beat the peanut farmer who had fat brother who always seemed to be drunk.

Time After Time

I really hate it when I arrive someplace at the wrong time because I didn't realize we were supposed to change our clocks the night before. Today, I had intended to go to the 9:30 a.m. Mass, but when I got to the church, I found myself in the middle of the homily of the 8:00 a.m. Mass. D'oh!

Mr. Sulu Comes Out

And get this, he likens the desire to have intercourse with a member of the same sex with race. What a shocker!

In other earth shattering news today, scientists have determined that water is wet.

What the..?!

I had a motion hearing today where the judge basically advised opposing counsel to request sanctions. The amount of money imposed on me (or my firm) doesn't justify taking the judge up on appeal, but geez!!

Hittin' Below the Mendoza Line

I don't know what it is, but I've been on a bit of losing streak lately on motions before the court. The frustrating part is that on at least two occasions, the opposing side seemed pretty resigned to not winning. I thought my boss was exagerating at the time, but his consistent complaint about judges being unpredictable, capricious and arbitrary is starting to ring truer with me every day.

It's Not a "Witch Hunt" if There are "Witches"

Michael Rose on the Lavender Mafia, the upcoming seminary visits by the Vatican, and the yet to be released document that supposedly bars men with homosexual tendencies from the priesthood.

Several years ago, Father Donald Cozzens, then rector of a Cleveland seminary, wrote that many seminary faculties included a disproportionate number of homosexuals. In his book, The Changing Face of the Priesthood, he commented that "straight men in a predominantly or significantly gay environment commonly experience self doubt."

In my own study of seminary life over the past three decades, I have found that many heterosexual men give up their seminary studies precisely for this reason, leaving behind a student body gradually swollen with homosexuals. I'm not talking about the presence of a few gay-oriented men who want to live chastely, but rather the institutionalization of a gay subculture that has earned some seminaries nicknames such as the Pink Palace, Notre Flame, and Theological Closet.

One aspect of this gay subculture of both priests and seminarians is that too many men who want to be chaste, whether gay or straight, are propositioned, harassed or even molested – occurrences that are more common than one might think. This doesn't aid the moral and spiritual development of the church's future clergy. Rather, it fosters a pathological pattern of living.

This is not simply about homosexuality or homosexual acts. It's about an agenda and subculture that systematically undermine celibacy, a state to which the Roman Catholic priest is called. This gay subculture is also in direct conflict with the teachings of the church. Those involved are promoting this conflict and escalating the problem.

Another Year, Same Result

USC 34 Notre Dame 31. I love it when 'SC sticks it to the Domers.

If You Say It Isn't Prohibited, That Means You're For it?

As far as I'm aware, there is no formal prohibition in the Church against people holding hands during the "Our Father" section of the Mass. Does that then mean the Church endorses, or even encourages, hand holding during the "Our Father?" I'd like to think that most rational thinkig people would say no.

Extending the application of this reasoning to, say, torture, does coming to and making the legal conclusion that the Geneva Human Rights Accords do not protect members of al Qaeda mean that you endorse, or even encourage, torturing captured terrorists? You'd think most rational thinking people would say no, but even they have their spots of complete insanity. For someone like the normally sober Mark Shea, said spot of insanity has caused him to start recklessly accusing certain Republicans of advocating torture simply because they voted against attaching what is clearly a self-serving/showboating "anti-torture" amendment to a military appropiations bill.

Someone needs to get a grip, and it sure 'aint me.

OC Red Mass

When: October 19, 2005 @ 6pm
Where: Holy Family Cathedral - 566 South Glassell in the City of Orange

Limited or Unlimited?

Never thought I'd ever see the day where I'd get all emotionally worked up about a motion to reclassify a case from Limited to Unlimited Jurisdiction. In lawyerese speak, the former are cases allegedly valued at less than $25,000 while the latter are in excess of $25,000.

Law School Daze

I'm no fan of the Harriet Miers nomination, but dismissing her qualifications to serve as a SCOTUS Justice simply because she didn't graduate from an elite (i.e., "Top 20") law school is just, I don't know, weak. In fact, some prominent conservative commentators who have been making an issue out of where Ms. Miers got her Juris Doctor from are looking downright foolish. Take, for example, Ann Coulter, who in her most recent article takes a thinly veiled swipe at the intellectual prowess of Ms. Miers by pointing out that she graduated from Southern Methodist University School of Law, "which is not ranked at all by the serious law school reports and ranked No. 52 by US News and World Report."

Coulter goes on to write that "if we're looking for lawyers with giant brains to memorize obscure legal cases and to compose clearly reasoned opinions about ERISA pre-emption, the doctrine of equivalents in patent law, limitation of liability in admiralty, and supplemental jurisdiction under Section 1367 — I think we want the nerd from an elite law school."

Compare Coulter's not so subtle put-down of "undistinguished" (her word) schools like SMU Law with the following excerpt she wrote a whole month and a half ago about the nomination of John Roberts to the SCOTUS.

Like John Roberts, Souter attended church regularly. Souter was also touted for his great intellect. He went to Harvard! And Harvard Law! (Since when does that impress right-wingers? So did Larry Tribe. It is one of the eternal mysteries of the world that liberals are good test-takers.)

Kind of makes your head spin, doesn't it? I mean, talk about your double standards! Who cares where John Roberts went to law school, but can you believe where Harriet Miers' law school is ranked? (BTW, SMU Law is tied for number 52 with the school that Priscilla Owens, a conservative favorite who had been rumored to be on Bush's list of SCOTUS nominees, graduated from: Baylor University Law).

There are a lot of reasons for why the nomination of Harriet Miers to the SCOTUS is bad; primary of which is the fact that she has no discernable judicial record from which to guage how she will rule once confirmed. We don't need another David Souter, much less another Sandra Day O'Connor. However, questioning Miers' qualifications for the SCOTUS because she didn't graduate from an elite school is, well, elitist. It's also not very credible when you consider that quite a few of the other folks that conservatives would have been perfectly happy to see nominated (e.g., Owens, Karen Williams, Alice Batchelder, William Pryor, and even Sen. Sam Brownback [I think Feddie at Southern Appeal once threw his name out there]) didn't graduate from any of the so-called cream of the crop law schools.

Addendum: Although she's been all over the map on whether the law school a SCOTUS nominees graduates from makes a difference, Ann Coulter has at least been consistent in opposing the confirmation of both John Roberts and Harriet Miers.

Trust Me?

With regard to the selection of Harriet Miers to the SCOTUS, Mr. President, that just isn't going to work with me. I trusted you to select a known judicial conservative, not someone who we have to hope is one and will remain so once she gets confirmed to the Court -- for life.

Like what Monica Lewinsky did to Bill Clinton, Dubya blew this selection big time.

Wonder if the Responsorials Were Sung by a Wannabe Burt Bacharach

Via Amy Welborn, some pics of very important people who attended the annual Red Mass in DC today.

By coincidence, today I went to Mass at a parish in Irvine that is named after St. Thomas More, the patron saint of attorneys and politicians. It was my first time at this parish, and although there wasn't any mention of the DC Red Mass, I did get to hear, uh, an interesting piano rendition of the Gloria. I swear, at times I thought I was at a nightclub or piano bar. And the chatter that was going on just before Mass...UGH!!

Crisis Averted...For Now

The Governator vetoes the California Legislature's attempt to thwart the will of the people and create a monster called "gay marriage."

Schwarzenegger said the bill by Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, contradicted Proposition 22 (search), which was approved by voters in 2000 and said only a marriage between a man and woman is valid.

The governor said the state Constitution barred the Legislature from enacting a law allowing gay marriage without another vote of the people and Leno's bill wouldn't provide for that vote.

Schwarzenegger noted that a state appeals court was considering whether the state's ban on gay marriage was constitutional and that the issue would likely be decided by the California Supreme Court.

A "ban" on "gay marriage?" C'mon AP, get it right! People of the same sex can "marry" one another. The state just won't recognize it. And as long as it's to a person of the opposite sex, gays can legally marry.

Is Hillary Toast?

The decision by Hillary Clinton to vote against the confirmation of John Roberts as Chief Justice reflects a belief on her part that any nominee to the Federal Judiciary, and the Supreme Court in particular, must first pass a political litmus test, e.g., abortion must remain a constitutional right. With such enthrallment to judicial activism, I think Hillary has just kissed whatever shot she had at becoming the next President goodbye.

Good to Know, Tyra

I knew there was a reason why she and Chris "I thought we had one more time out" Webber made a great couple. (Are they still dating?) link via Stuck on Stupid

Gutless

The decision by the California Medical Association to pull its legal brief in support of two doctors who, on religious grounds, refused to provide artificial insemination treatment to a self-identified lesbian is sheer cowardice. When I worked for the Pacific Justice Institute a couple of years ago, I believe this is the case that I once drafted an amicus brief for at the request of the attorney for the doctors. If I'm not mistaken, the clinic that these doctors are with actually went out of its way to find a doctor to perform the treatment the woman wanted at no additional cost. In view of this, it seems pretty clear that this lawsuit was brought primarily for purposes of spiting people of religious faith and judicially establishing homosexuality as a legally protected class of persons.

It's Bush's Fault!

No, not really, but you know some unhinged Bush-hater out there is gonna blast the President for this. Thanks be to God that nobody was injured.*

A JetBlue (search) airliner with faulty landing gear touched down safely Wednesday at Los Angeles International Airport (search) after circling the region for three hours with its front wheels turned sideways, unable to be retracted into the plane.

The pilot landed by balancing on the back wheels, then eased onto the front tires, which shot flames along the runway before tearing off. The metal landing gear scraped for the final yards.

*Posted while sitting in my home, which is under the flight path of planes heading into John Wayne Airport.

Aiya, Mon!

If you've ever wondered what a (presumably) first generation Chinese-Jamaican person sounds like, check out Fr. Richard Ho Lung, founder of the Missionaries of the Poor.

Specter Silliness

At today's confirmation hearing of SCOTUS nominee John Roberts, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) asked Mr. Roberts the following: "Would you think that Roe [v. Wade] might be a super-duper precedent?" (emphasis added)

I must have been absent the day that this judicial standard was reviewed in law school.

Fave Songs from '87

PS Bradley has tagged me with the following meme regarding favorite and hated songs out of the top 100 list from the year you graduated. Never one to back down from a challenge, unless, you know, I can't do it, here goes.

Text Key:

Bold - Very much like
Stricken - Blech!
Plain - Agnostic

1. Walk Like An Egyptian, Bangles
2. Alone, Heart
3. Shake You Down, Gregory Abbott
4. I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me), Whitney Houston
5. Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now, Starship
6. C'est La Vie, Robbie Nevil
7. Here I Go Again, Whitesnake
8. The Way It Is, Bruce Hornsby and the Range
9. Shakedown, Bob Seger
10. Livin' On A Prayer, Bon Jovi
11. La Bamba, Los Lobos
12. Everybody Have Fun Tonight, Wang Chung
13. Don't Dream It's Over, Crowded House
14. Always, Atlantic Starr
15. With Or Without You, U2
16. Looking For A New Love, Jody Watley
17. Head To Toe, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam
18. I Think We're Alone Now, Tiffany
19. Mony Mony, Billy Idol
20. At This Moment, Billy Vera and The Beaters
21. Lady In Red, Chris De Burgh
22. Didn't We Almost Have It All, Whitney Houston
23. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, U2
24. I Want Your Sex, George Michael
25. Notorious, Duran Duran
26. Only In My Dreams, Debbie Gibson
27. (I've Had) The Time Of My Life, Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes
28. The Next Time I Fall, Peter Cetera and Amy Grant
29. Lean On Me, Club Nouveau
30. Open Your Heart, Madonna
31. Lost In Emotion, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam
32. (I Just) Died In Your Arms, Cutting Crew
33. Heart And Soul, T'pau
34. You Keep Me Hangin' On, Kim Wilde
35. Keep Your Hands To Yourself, Georgia Satellites
36. I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me), Aretha Franklin and George Michael
37. Control, Janet Jackson
38. Somewhere Out There, Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram
39. U Got The Look, Prince
40. Land Of Confusion, Genesis
41. Jacob's Ladder, Huey Lewis and The News
42. Who's That Girl, Madonna
43. You Got It All, Jets
44. Touch Me (I Want Your Body), Samantha Fox
45. I Just Can't Stop Loving You, Michael Jackson and Siedah Garrett
46. Causing A Commotion, Madonna
47. In Too Deep, Genesis
48. Let's Wait Awhile, Janet Jackson
49. Hip To Be Square, Huey Lewis and the News
50. Will You Still Love Me?, Chicago
51. Little Lies, Fleetwood Mac
52. Luka, Suzanne Vega
53. I Heard A Rumour, Bananarama
54. Don't Mean Nothing, Richard Marx
55. Songbird, Kenny G
56. Carrie, Europe
57. Don't Disturb This Groove, System
58. La Isla Bonita, Madonna
59. Bad, Michael Jackson
60. Sign 'O' The Times, Prince
61. Change Of Heart, Cyndi Lauper
62. Come Go With Me, Expose
63. Can't We Try, Dan Hill
64. To Be A Lover, Billy Idol
65. Mandolin Rain, Bruce Hornsby and the Range
66. Breakout, Swing Out Sister
67. Stand By Me, Ben E. King
68. Tonight, Tonight, Tonight, Genesis
69. Someday, Glass Tiger
70. When Smokey Sings, ABC
71. Casanova, Levert
72. Rhythm Is Gonna Get You, Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine
73. Rock Steady, Whispers
74. Wanted Dead Or Alive, Bon Jovi
75. Big Time, Peter Gabriel
76. The Finer Things, Steve Winwood
77. Let Me Be The One, Expose
78. Is This Love, Survivor
79. Diamonds, Herb Alpert
80. Point Of No Return, Expose
81. Big Love, Fleetwood Mac
82. Midnight Blue, Lou Gramm
83. Something So Strong, Crowded House
84. Heat Of The Night, Bryan Adams
85. Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You, Glenn Medeiros
86. Brilliant Disguise, Bruce Springsteen
87. Just To See Her, Smokey Robinson
88. Who Will You Run Too, Heart
89. Respect Yourself, Bruce Willis
90. Cross My Broken Heart, Jets
91. Victory, Kool and The Gang
92. Don't Get Me Wrong, Pretenders
93. Doing It All For My Baby, Huey Lewis and The News
94. Right On Track, Breakfast Club
95. Ballerina Girl, Lionel Richie
96. Meet Me Half Way, Kenny Loggins
97. I've Been In Love Before, Cutting Crew
98. (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right To Party, Beastie Boys
99. Funkytown, Pseudo Echo
100. Love You Down, Ready For The World

In going through this list, I gotta say that there was a lot of crappy music in 1987. I think the only redeeming thing about this year in pop/rock music was that U2's The Joshua Tree was released.

Oh, and with regard to my bolding Debbie Gibson, it's a guilty pleasure because I had kind of thing for her back then. Not anymore, though.

Breakin' the Law, Breakin' the Law

Senator Mary Landrieu to President Bush: "I might likely have to punch him - literally." (via Relapsed Catholic)

18 U.S.C. Section 871

(a) Whoever knowingly and willfully deposits for conveyance in the mail or for a delivery from any post office or by any letter carrier any letter, paper, writing, print, missive, or document containing any threat to take the life of, to kidnap, or to inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States, the President-elect, the Vice President or other officer next in the order of succession to the office of President of the United States, or the Vice President-elect, or knowingly and willfully otherwise makes any such threat against the President, President-elect, Vice President or other officer next in the order of succession to the office of President, or Vice President-elect, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

Bonus points if you can name the "arteest" who sang the above titled song.

William H. Rhenquist - Requiescat in Pace

With another SCOTUS opening for President Bush to fill, Hurricane Left-Wing Screaming Attack has just been upgraded to Level 5 and is fast approaching land.

Long Gaps of Silence

Sorry about it, but combined with work and my obsession with setting people right on the bulletin boards at a certain singles website that I actually to paid to join, I just haven't had an opportunity to post anything here. Fear not, though, my faithful 2 or 3 readers, I'm not going anywhere, and this blog will remain "active" for the indefinite future.

Underground Bishop in China Dies

The fact that Monsignor Xie was ordained in 1949 really says something about his level of commitment to the Church love of Christ. That is the year, of course, that China became a Communist state.

The bishop of Mingdong was 88 when he succumbed to leukaemia on Thursday.

Vatican Radio said that Monsignor Xie was first arrested in 1955 because of his loyalty and obedience to the Pope.

(...)

Monsignor Xie served four separate prison terms and according to the Vatican was kept under surveillance by the authorities until his death.

The Vatican praised him as a "courageous witness to Christ".

Monsignor Xie was ordained in 1949 and became a bishop 1984.

Newsweek Profiles Fanciscan U. Students

And, not surprisingly, describes them as "ultradevout" (i.e., fanatics) and some as "unapologetically judgmental" (i.e., "holier than thou" types). I especially like this "we of the elite secular media think you're a bunch of religious kooks" line:

Even under John Paul II's conservative successor, it is a stretch to say that young Catholics like these—whose numbers nationally are impossible to determine—represent the future of the church.

Is Assassination Morally Justifiable?

Amidst all the flak -- from both the Left and Right -- that Pat Robertson has been getting for suggesting that Hugo Chavez ought to be assassinated, I don't think I've actually heard or seen anyone wonder whether the assassination of a tyrant could ever be morally justified. There seems to be an almost automatic acceptance, especially among a Catholics, that assassination is always wrong. But is it?

Well, I did a little searching on the 'net and I found this illuminating article from 2001 by a priest in the Arlington Diocese who expounds a bit on what St. Thomas Aquinas once wrote about eliminating tyrants.

St. Thomas Aquinas gave the most substantial argument for tyrannicide. He based his position on his arguments for just war and capital punishment. St. Thomas concluded, "He who kills a tyrant (i.e. an usurper) to free his country is praised and rewarded" (In 2 Sentences, 44.2.2).

A tyrant by usurpation has illegitimately seized power and, therefore, is a criminal. When there are no other means available of ridding the community of the tyrant, the community may kill him. According to St. Thomas, the legitimate authority may condemn him to death using the normal course of law. However, if the normal course of law is not available (due to the actions of the tyrant), then the legitimate authority can proceed "informally" to condemn the tyrant and even grant individuals a mandate to execute the tyrant. A private citizen who takes the life of a tyrant acts with public authority in the same way that a soldier does in war.

The key conditions for a justifiable act of tyrannicide in this case include that the killing be necessary to end the usurpation and restore legitimate authority; that there is no higher authority available that is able and willing to depose the usurper; and that there is no probability that the tyrannicide will result in even greater evil than allowing the usurper to remain in power.

A tyrant by oppression is one who has come to power legitimately, but rules unjustly, oppressively, and arbitrarily. Here the community must confront the tyrant, and if necessary, depose him, formally or informally, according to the course of law available. In most circumstances, a private citizen morally cannot kill a tyrant by oppression, because the tyrant came to power through a legitimate means and thereby the community must depose him. If the community does depose the tyrant, according to St. Thomas, he becomes now a tyrant by usurpation and thereby may be eliminated by an act of justifiable tyrannicide in accord with the above norms.

However, if the tyrant by oppression attacks the citizen, jeopardizes the welfare of the community with the intent leading it to destruction or killing the citizens, or commits other evils, then a private citizen can morally commit an act of justifiable tyrannicide. Moreover, if because of the tyrant’s rule, a nation cannot defend itself, is on the course of destruction, and has no lawful means to depose or to condemn the tyrant, then a citizen may commit an act of justifiable tyrannicide. Interestingly, many modern political philosophers would posit that a leader who abuses power and has become tyrannical ipso facto loses legitimacy and becomes an usurper.

Whether the proper conditions actually exist for legitimately killing Hugo Chavez by way of assassination, I don't know. But given what one of the great philosophers, theologians and Doctors of the Church has apparently said about tyranicide, maybe it's worth some analysis.

Jurisprudential Maxim of the Day

California Civil Code Section 3537: "Superfluity does not vitiate."

This was pointed out to me by my boss the other day after he reviewed a rather lengthy worded complaint (i.e., lawsuit) I drafted for a client.

Religious Conflict in Ukraine

Ukraine's Eastern Rite Catholics on Sunday moved their church headquarters to Kiev amid protests from nationalists and objections from Orthodox believers whose leaders warn the move will further stoke inter-church tensions.

Cardinal Lubomur Husar conducted a ceremony for more than 1,000 believers and priests of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church after he was declared Metropolitan of Kiev and after a priest announced the church's move from the western city of Lviv.

While priests and believers sang hymns against the backdrop of a new church being built, several hundred nationalists and Orthodox believers gathered under red flags, carrying Orthodox icons, chanting through loudspeakers and partially drowning out Husar's words.

``Orthodox or death!'' some yelled as others jostled believers trying to attend the service. ``You can kill us but you cannot take our faith from us!'' others yelled.

Wow. This level of hostility toward the Catholic Church easily exceeds a lot of the stuff that I've seen coming out of some quarters of American Protestantism. Then again, since the conflict between the Orthodox and Catholic Church has been around for over a thousand years, I suppose it really shouldn't be too surprising.

Payne & Fears, LLP

Believe it or not, that's the name of an actual law firm here in the OC. My firm is going up against them in a wage claim/employment discrimination case.

This is Your Brain on Paganism

With World Youth Day in full force in Germany, a small bunch of yahoos called the Committee for Pagan Fun turns out to protest the "invasion." I was going to provide some commentary to the following excerpts, but the stupidity contained therein is pretty self evident.

The Committee, made up of artists, psychologists, philosophers, pacifists, atheists and people who do not identify with any religion, has organised marches against World Youth Day, whose events stretch through Sunday.

The Committee also complains that one denomination has temporarily taken over this city on the banks of the Rhine, and to a lesser extent the nearby Düsseldorf and Bonn.

"Cologne has been invaded by an army of sanctimonious people," said theologian Michael Schmidt Salomón, spokesman for the Committee.

"With our religion-free zones, we want to offer asylum to all of those who feel persecuted by this state-sponsored 'holiness'," he told IPS.

(...)

"The Church is an old, wrinkled, obsolete dinosaur," said sculptor Jacques Tilly, who created a float of a dinosaur wearing a crown and watching over a flock of sheep.

"I don't want to insult any Christians, but I want to show that we are also still here," he added.

(...)

"I already did the paperwork for dropping out of the Church. I'm not going to continue backing causes that I don't believe in," Sven, a young history teacher, told IPS.

Stumped

Is a check a type of contract for purposes of CCP Section 337?

Pro-Abortion Logic

As captured by Captain Ed in a picture that was taken of protesters outside of the Justice Sunday II event.

The "It's a Calling from God" Trump Card

Guaranteed to be used by those Catholics trying to put a religious spin into their otherwise self-centered and political-based dissent.

Susan Ringler believes she faithfully lived out the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church during her first five decades of life. She manifested it in Paz de Cristo social ministry to the East Valley poor, as a liturgy coordinator at St. Timothy’s parish in Mesa and through ecumenical work.

Until a couple of years ago, she held out hope that lay Catholics and women would gain roles of importance, but the church, she says, has turned hard-line and any dream of eking out more change from Vatican Council II of 40 years ago long faded.

So Ringler joined the independent United Catholic Church, which last Sunday ordained her as a deacon and put her in line to become a priest if she chooses. As a woman, she could hold neither role in the Roman Catholic Church.

"As a Roman Catholic woman, to think that you have a calling to a deeper ministry from God is almost blasphemy, and the guilt associated with that is huge," says the mother of three grown children who trained as a registered nurse. "It took me a long time to realize that my calling was from God." She says the affirmation she received from family, friends and others redoubled her desire to serve more deeply in ministry and assuaged "guilt that comes naturally to Catholics."

Yes, I Was A Member

With all the MSM handwringing over whether SCOTUS nominee John Roberts was ever a member of the Federalist Society I just wanted to make it perfectly clear to the world that not only was I a Federalist Society member, I was the founder of a student chapter at my law school. With that being said, I await the President's call informing me that I will be nominated to replace Justice William Rehnquist on the SCOTUS.

Hey, even in a one in a million chance, there's still a chance.

"Legitimacy"

As pretty much expected, the thoroughly Catholic Ave Maria School of Law received full accreditation from the American Bar Association. (link via Southern Appeal) Insofar as the secular legal profession is concerned, this gives the school a general sense of legitimacy that "non-ABA" schools (like the one yours truly graduated from)lack. Whether this perception is warranted is up for debate, but I did have to laugh at this comment that Ave Maria reportedly made upon receiving the ABA seal of approval: "Achieving ABA accreditation signifies that a particular law school provides a sound legal education of high quality..." Why is this laughable? Because it presumes that the ABA, a profoundly politicized organization that supports the constitutional right to abortion and a host of other left-wing causes, is a credible judge of a sound legal education.

An Out of Whack Culture

I don't know how it is where you live, but you pretty much can't get around the Los Angeles area these days without seeing a billboard advertising a new movie called The 40 Year Old Virgin. As you can probably guess from the "clever" title, the premise of the movie is about a socially awkward 40 year old single guy who has never had sex. The movie is supposed to be a comedy, of course, because in our post-modern culture where men like Hugh Hefner are revered as heroes for making it ok for us to treat each other as self-gratifying objects, guys who haven't "done it" by the time they're out of high school are just, you know, freaky.

Sigh.

On a somwhat related note, Terry Mattingly speculates that the New York Times reporters who made inappropriate inquiries into the sealed adoption records of John Roberts' kids were trying to dig for more than just possible shady dealings. Anti-Catholic stereotypes, anybody?

The "Hung" Sucks

That, at least, is the opinion of the Angry Twins with regard to William Hung, the popular American Idol reject who lacks any discernable level of singing talent, but who has nevertheless been cashing in quite nicely on it.

Certainly, the fact that William Hung the singer has any level of widespread affirmative popularity is an indictment on what we collectively think is entertainment. As an individual, though, I can't really find fault with the Hung for doing what he's doing. After all, someone is willing to pay to hear his crappy voice, and he gets to meet hot chicks.

Congats to Me!

Assuming all the financial stuff goes off without a hitch, I have just become the proud new owner of a 25 year old two bedroom/two and a half bathroom townhome that I can barely afford. (Believe it or not, not all lawyers are wealthy).

There was a little haggling over the location of an existing water heater, but a fairly reasonable compromise was reached. However, I'm still going to look into whether the water heater might be regarded, from a property value standpoint, as a defect due to the very fact that it is not in a location that compiles with local building code regulations. (The placement of the water heater was probably done several years before the enactment of the regulation in question, therefore making it exempt from enforcement). I doubt I'll find anything helpful, but at least I will have the satisfaction of knowing that I've exhausted all possible options in getting out of having to pay for something that, in my opinion, I really shouldn't have to pay (i.e., the cost of moving the water heater).

Ideology Above Professionalism and Decency

Is there nothing The New Yuck Times won't do to prevent the high profile appointment or election of a person it politically disagrees with?

The NEW YORK TIMES is looking into the adoption records of the children of Supreme Court Nominee John G. Roberts, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

The TIMES has investigative reporter Glen Justice hot on the case to investigate the status of adoption records of Judge Roberts’ two young children, Josie age 5 and Jack age 4, a top source reveals.

Judge Roberts and his wife Jane adopted the children when they each were infants.

Both children were adopted from Latin America.

A TIMES insider claims the look into the adoption papers are part of the paper's "standard background check."

I Went to Catholic School, Therefore I'm an Expert on the Catholic Faith

For most rational people, that makes about as much sense as saying you can perform brain surgery because you stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night. As pointed out at the Roman Catholic Blog, though, senselessness never stopped folks like Margaret Carlson from spewing ignorance out of their word processing pie-holes because it neatly fits into their secular political agenda.

My Firm Has Designated Me As Its' Family Law Attorney

That kind of thing happens when you work for a small firm that does just about everything. Lord help me. Anyone know where I can get a print of St. Thomas More to hang in my office?

Still Not Convinced

Ann Coulter is sticking to her guns with regard to her belief that John Roberts could be another David Souter.

Like John Roberts, Souter attended church regularly. Souter was also touted for his great intellect. He went to Harvard! And Harvard Law! (Since when does that impress right-wingers? So did Larry Tribe. It is one of the eternal mysteries of the world that liberals are good test-takers.)

At least when Souter was nominated, we needed a stealth nominee. The Senate was majority Democrat back then. The Judiciary Committee consisted of eight Democrats and six Republicans — two of whom were aggressively pro-abortion. A year later, faced with the same Democratic Senate, the current president's father nominated Clarence Thomas. Who would have thought the current Bush would be less macho than his father?

Roberts would have been a fine candidate for a Senate in Democratic hands. But now we have 55 Republican seats in the Senate and the vice president to cast a deciding vote — and Son of Read-My-Lips gives us another ideological blind date.

(...)

Republicans are desperately trying to convince themselves that Roberts will be different because they want to believe Bush wouldn't let us down on the Supreme Court. Somewhere in America a woman is desperately trying to convince herself that her husband won't hit her again because he told her "things are going to be different this time." (And yes, that woman's name is Whitney Houston.)

I Hate In Pro Pers

They just delay things longer than they need to be, and they can just be downright unreasonable to their own detriment. As much as you may dislike us folks, if you ever find yourself in a lawsuit (whether as a defendant or plaintiff)and it's possible for you to hire a lawyer, hire one.

Madame Seems to be More Appropriate

A 40 year old woman who held sex parties for teen-aged boys pleads guilty to charges of sexual assault and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. (via Drudge)

My guess is that if it was possible for this woman to be a priest, there'd be more coverage of this horrific story in the MSM. Of course, as this report clearly shows, not being able to be a Catholic priest doesn't mean you can't delusionally proclaim yourself as one.

Does Anyone Really Care?

Except for small market Canada, which for some stupid reason doesn't like beauty pageant winners, I can't imagine that there are a whole of people in this country who really care that the NHL lock out has ended. Even before the lockout, hockey in the US was already in a spiral downturn, and unless the league enacts some drastic rule changes to speed the game up, contracts the number of teams and gets another Wayne Gretzky playing in a big market city, I don't see the NHL surviving for much longer in this country.

Homage to DC's Papist History?

Hugh Hewitt points to this weird commentary by Howard Fineman wherein Mr. Fineman essentially asserts that President Bush nominated John Roberts to the SCOTUS because he is Catholic. Right.

SCOTUS Nominee, John Roberts, is Catholic

I wonder if there's ever been more than three on the SCOTUS at one time? I'm guessing probably not. Looks like some possible, though relatively minor, history is in the making.

Update:Some media outlets take note of the potential of four Catholics (yes, this includes Justice Kennedy) on the SCOTUS at one time.

Stalin Was Bad, But...

GetReligion has posted this ditty on Pete Seeger, a commie folk singer from the '60's who apparently has a soft spot for evangelical praise music. From a constitutional law standpoint, Seeger may be best remembered for expanding our jurisprudential understanding of the term "religious belief."


Question: But didn’t Stalin turn out to be one of the worst despots of the 20th century?

Answer: Well, when it comes to big ones. But there’s bad ones all over. And, you know, for 50 years, the United States has helped control the politics of Latin America. And they have the School of the Americas, they call it, in Fort Benning, Ga. Training military — Latin American military men — how to torture, how to massacre, how to assassinate.

Question: But the U.S.S.R. really was an enemy of the U.S.A., yes?

Answer: Not necessarily. The communists claimed, I won’t say they all believed it, that they would encourage revolutions all around the world. But the people of each country had to make their own revolution. It wasn’t Soviet soldiers helping Mao Zedong take over China. They could applaud them and perhaps even help them. But they didn’t likewise in Vietnam or Cuba.

Chronology of a Liar

Did the former prime minister of Niger meet with and tell Joe Wilson that Iraqi officials were interested in buying uranium yellowcake? Depends when Joe was asked.

In brief:

1. Wilson says “yes” during his private CIA debrief in March, 2002.

2. Wilson fails to mention the meeting in his NYT op/ed and his first “Meet the Press” in July, 2003.

3. Wilson lies and says “no” during a “Frontline” PBS Interview in August, 2003.

4. Wilson lies and says “no” twice during his second “Meet the Press” interview in October, 2003.

5. Wilson says “yes” during his third “Meet the Press” interview in May, 2004.

6. Wilson says “yes” to SSCI committee staff --report released in July, 2004.

I Am the King of the English Commonwealth!!

One of the major drawbacks of democracy is that you have the freedom to proclaim yourself anything you want, even if it isn't objectively true. Here's the most recent case in support of this observation from, surprise, Canada:

An English literature instructor from Vancouver Island says she will be ordained as Canada's first woman Roman Catholic priest in a ceremony conducted on the waters of the St. Lawrence River.

Michele Birch-Conery of Parksville said yesterday she expects the church to threaten her with excommunication but she believes she is fighting a human rights issue.

Welcome to the Party

San Francisco's version of Riverside gets its first Catholic high school.

Church in Canada Mulls Possible Exclusion of Baptism for Children of Same-Sex Couples

The possibility of doing this arises from that country's move toward the legal recognition of same-sex "marriages."

Ouellet told reporters after his presentation that supporters of same-sex marriage had created an "insane atmosphere" in Canada.

"It is not good for religious freedom if you cannot express your views and you cannot teach your beliefs," he said.

However, it is "false, wrong and offensive" to equate gay marriage with the unions of married opposite-sex couples who have "produced children to society," Ouellet said.

"This is something a homosexual union cannot offer to society, and you would like Canadian society to accept that as justice itself? I have to say I find that completely irrational."

Random Rant

I think I'd enjoy practicing law more if dealing with uncooperative wingnut clients wasn't part of the job.

::California civil litigator lingo alert::

Take the 998 already!!

Just Shoot Me!

Hey, guess what Sen. Arlen Specter thinks President Bush should do if or when the position of Chief Jusice of the SCOTUS opens up.

Yeah, So What?

John Hinderaker of Powerline demurs to the anticipated MSM/Moonbat frenzy over Karl Rove being the White House source who "outed" Joe Wilson's wife as a CIA agent.

It is hard to see how Rove could be indicted for violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, and it is very unlikely that he would have been foolish enough to testify falsely before the grand jury about his conversations with journalists. None of this will matter much, though, when it is publicly acknowledged that Rove was one of the sources of the Plame "leak." (This isn't, by the way, the sort of communication that is ordinarily referred to as a "leak.") We can expect a media feeding frenzy or potentially unprecedented proportions.

CA Dems Keep Pushing Gay "Marriage" in the Legislature

So we've gotta push back. The current status of AB 849 can be seen here, and the language of the bill can be seen here.