Alito Nominated

I don't know anything yet about the new Supreme Court nominee, Samuel Alito, but I have two quick comments.

First, I was surprised that the nominee wasn't a woman. I can't believe Harriet Miers was the only qualified female for the bench.

That said, my second comment is this: Unless the person's name is "Cuomo", I don't believe you can have too many Italian-Americans from the Northeast on the bench.

Friday Quickies

....These past two months may have been the most hectic I've ever had. Thanks to all for the notes about my whereabouts.

....So Scooter Libby has been indicted. Two quick thoughts: First, in my whole life I never met anyone named Scooter, and other than Phil Rizzuto I never heard an adult refered to by that name. That an adult calls himself "Scooter" may have been grounds for an indictment in and of itself.

Second, OK, if he lied, he should have been fired before he had the chance to resign, and he should be prosecuted. But who leaked the name of the CIA agent? We're years into this investigation and we still don't know who did it? At least Ken Starr (or rather the blue dress) got results.

.....The Red Sox finally won last year, and the White Sox have won this year.

There has been a marked increase in weather related disasters-- hurricanes, floods, etc. (Here on Long Island we had 10 or so consecutive days of rain, leading to almost universal basement and street flooding).

Coincidence?

All I know is this-- if the Cubs make the playoffs next year and look like serious contenders, I'm building an Ark.

.....So this CEO goes into Scores, the famous New York strip club, and buys $241,000 of drinks and lap dances for himself and his buddies. On the corporate Amex card.

Oops.

The bill comes, he objects (his defense being the bill should only have been $20,000, which, by the way, wouldn't have been my first explanation to my wife!), but Scores had enough proof that he knew what he was doing to convince Amex to pay the charge, and now sue the CEO and presumably his company.

Now comes the bad part.

He's suspended from his job, so he can't go there.

The photographers are camped out in front of his house, so he can't go out.

All he can do is sit home. With his wife. Trying to explain the loss of his $600,000 job. And the lap dances.

That can't be fun.

.... "Men who get circumcised reduce their risk of acquiring HIV, the AIDS virus, by more than half, a clinical trial in South Africa shows."

Uh, yeah! That kind of pain is the anti-Viagra, I imagine.

....The recent passage of special legislation to protect gun manufacturers from lawsuits is extremely troubling to me on two counts. And both are steeped, I believe, in firmly conservative dogma.

First, I believe a manufacturer is responsible for the all of the costs associated with its product-- economically it should stand, more or less, on its own. I don't want the government, or the manufacturer's neighbors bearing the costs associated with the product.

Example? A business should pay for its own garbage disposal. It provides an incentive to produce efficiently. So just as we do not allow a restaurant to throw their trash in the street, I believe environmental restrictions that prevent people or businesses from polluting are generally appropriate.

If a manufacturer is producing a dangerous item, it should be responsible for the distribution chain, as well as defects. Gun manufacturers have been notoriously reckless in controlling the distribution of their product. If that can be proved, they should be subject to suit--if for no other reason that the economic incentive will be there to help prevent the flood of weapons to our criminals.

Second, how in the world can allegedly conservative legislators, and W, justify demanding strict constructionist judges in one breath, then intervene so cavalierly into what is clearly a State prerogotive-- tort law?

I just don't get it.

....And finally, a quote from the great Theodore Roosevelt:

"It is no use to preach to [children] if you do not act decently yourself."

-Speech to Holy Name Society, Oyster Bay, August 16, 1903

Harriet Miers Withdraws

So Harriet Miers has withdrawn her nomination.

Good.

I think.

I haven't been comfortable with this nomination, not even a little. The wreckage that has been wrought by Republican appointees who make a hard left turn on the bench is substantial:

Earl Warren (Eisenhower) The ultimate liberal activist judge
William Brennan (Eisenhower) The penultimate liberal activist judge
Harry Blackmun (Nixon)-- Roe v. Wade--need I say more?
Lewis Powell (Nixon) -- the deciding vote on abortion and affirmative action
John Paul Stevens (Ford)-- a reliably liberal vote
David Souter (G.H.W. Bush)-- maintained Poppy's almost unblemished record of appointing mediocrity--see Quayle-- and a liberal through and through.

So would I feel more comfortable with a person who at least has an established record of conservatism? Yes. Yes, I would.

Rove, Libby and Daniel Ellsberg

Let me be clear at the outset: If you leak classified information, or out a CIA undercover operative, you should go to jail.

End of story.

If you lie to a grand jury there should be legal consequences, be you Bill Clinton, Martha Stewart, or Vinnie-the Bookmaker.

End of story.

We on the Right usually are unanimous on these points. Our values shouldn't change because it's one (or two) of our own.

Those on the Left have traditionally held themselves to a more flexible code, one based on their inherent belief that they are right and everyone else is wrong, that they are good and everyone else is evil. Thus it's OK, the Left has said time and again, to leak information if it serves a higher purpose.

Thus Daniel Ellsburg is a liberal hero/icon.

Thus it was OK for Clinton to lie under oath.

Thus it was OK for Democratic Senators and Congressman to reveal secret military information (a la the revelation last year by two Dem. Senators of a secret satellite program).

Why? Because they had good reasons to leak or lie. Vietnam. Marital infidelity. Weapons-free space.

Nonsense.

Wrong is wrong.

If Rove and Libby (and Cheney) improperly outed this woman, or lied under oath, they should go- just like Ellsberg, just like Clinton, just like Rockefeller and Wyden.

We live under the rule of law, or we undermine the basis for our freedoms, and the freedoms of our children and grandchildren. I refuse to make exceptions simply because of partisan beliefs or political expediency. Hopefully neither will W.

Quick Flight of Fancy

If Dick Cheney is really mixed up in this CIA leak, and does in fact resign-- is Colin Powell the logical replacement VP?

Or Condi Rice?