Maybe the world is spinning toward a wider acceptance of homosexual rights, and here’s Scalia, standing athwart it.Some might hear "standing athwart" homosexual rights and get an amusingly unintentionally sexual picture of Scalia straddling gay men. But I assume it's an allusion to William F. Buckley's famous 1955 mission statement for The National Review: "It stands athwart history, yelling Stop, at a time when no one is inclined to do so, or to have much patience with those who so urge it." The topic was history, you know. And who else says "standing athwart"?
October 7, 2013
What Justice Scalia really means when he says he believes in the Devil.
About halfway her wonderful interview with Justice Scalia, after some discussion of homosexuality in legal and in Catholic doctrine, Jennifer Senior pushes the old judge to worry about how history will look back on his era of the Court. The first prompt — "Justice Kennedy is now the Thurgood Marshall of gay rights" — gets merely a nod. She tries again, with another non-question: "I don’t know how, by your lights, that’s going to be regarded in 50 years." He says doesn't know and he doesn't care:
Which state attorneys general "were throwing away important points of law, not just for their state, but for the other 49"?
In his New York Magazine interview, Justice Scalia says that these days, when the states have cases in the Supreme Court, they send in "people who know how to conduct appellate argument." But:
In the old days, it would be the attorney general—usually an elected attorney general. And if he gets a case into the Supreme Court [pumps his fist], he’s going to argue it himself! Get the press and whatnot. Some of them were just disasters. They were throwing away important points of law, not just for their state, but for the other 49.Who, specifically, do you think he might have been talking about there? I'll tell you who I thought of when I read that: Roger A. Tellinghuisen, the Attorney General for the state of South Dakota, whose argument in South Dakota v. Dole — the key case about Congress's power to attach conditions to spending — threw away an important point of law that could have limited the spending power. For years, when I teach that case, I've urged students to listen to that argument as a lesson in what not to do.
"Learn to Love our Natural World." [UPDATED with a list of 9 annoying things.]
Seen yesterday:
Meade points to the signage — orders from The State:
Meade points to the signage — orders from The State:
"While it is impossible to genetically modify humans..."
... humans will envy the results achieved in mice.
Maybe something like this can be done with diet or dietary supplements, but what if it can't and what if the results in the mice really do overcome obesity and produce an increased capacity to exercise without tiring and to be relatively muscular even if sedentary?
At what point do you think humans would reconsider the ethics of genetic modification?
Maybe something like this can be done with diet or dietary supplements, but what if it can't and what if the results in the mice really do overcome obesity and produce an increased capacity to exercise without tiring and to be relatively muscular even if sedentary?
At what point do you think humans would reconsider the ethics of genetic modification?
I was going to make a list titled 9 Things Justice Scalia said in his New York Magazine interview.
Most interviews with Supreme Court Justices are not even worth that. The Justices say such predictable things that I might pull out the most interesting thing or, not finding one, I skip blogging it altogether. But this interview by Jennifer Senior is so good (and long) that as I read it (before getting out of bed just now) I decided I'd pull out 9 items (the number 9 pops into my head when I'm thinking about Supreme Court Justices) and do something like:
1. He calls DVDs "CDs" (and the "CDs" in question are episodes of "Seinfeld").
2. He thinks "blurbing" on the internet is narcissistic and interferes with the process of becoming a good writer.
3. He's most proud of his opinion in Morrison v. Olson (where he's the lone dissenter in the decision that found the Independent Counsel law constitutional).
4. He thinks Congress is truly dangerous — if only it would actually use the powers it has.
5. He's not "a fan of different levels of scrutiny" in constitutional interpretation.
6. He believes in the Devil, because it's Catholic doctrine, but maybe because it's a helpful metaphor.
7. He plays poker, claims to be good at poker, but is unfamiliar with the term "tell."
8. He has friends that he knows or "very much suspect[s]" are homosexual, and doesn't like the interviewer's suggestion that — re homosexuality — he's "softened."
9. To imitate Rehnquist, he "turns his nose up theatrically, flutters his hand in dismissal."
There are more than 9 things worth treating that way...
10. You have to be very careful picking law clerks because "one dud will ruin your year."
11. His dissents have the tone they do — "breezy" and with "some thrust" — because they're written for law students and law students will read that sort of thing.
12. Back in the 80s, Supreme Court opinions were loaded with the "garbage" of legislative history (and they're not anymore, and he takes credit for that).
13. He wants the Catholic Church to be more evangelistic.
14. He blames "The Gipper" for turning the State of the Union Address into the "childish spectacle" it's become.
15. He likes Bill Bennett's radio show.
16. He won't read The Washington Post anymore because it became so "shrilly, shrilly liberal" that he can't "handle it."
17. The worst thing about the Constitution, he thinks, is that it's way too hard to amend it.
18. He "repudiate[s]" his old statement that his originalism is "fainthearted."
But I decided (at the point of finally getting out of bed) that I wanted to do a series of posts on a number of topics, taking them on individually and blogging — or blurbing — my way through and going somewhere with the idea. It's the Devil topic in particular that made me want to do that. I know there are people who are linking to this interview just to say Scalia believes in the Devil, but — is the Devil making me do this? — I feel there's a lot in his discussion of the Devil that needs to be taken apart and examined. The blog will blurb and burble.
ADDED: Here's the promised Devil post. And here's a post about a topic that isn't represented on that list of 18 things.
1. He calls DVDs "CDs" (and the "CDs" in question are episodes of "Seinfeld").
2. He thinks "blurbing" on the internet is narcissistic and interferes with the process of becoming a good writer.
3. He's most proud of his opinion in Morrison v. Olson (where he's the lone dissenter in the decision that found the Independent Counsel law constitutional).
4. He thinks Congress is truly dangerous — if only it would actually use the powers it has.
5. He's not "a fan of different levels of scrutiny" in constitutional interpretation.
6. He believes in the Devil, because it's Catholic doctrine, but maybe because it's a helpful metaphor.
7. He plays poker, claims to be good at poker, but is unfamiliar with the term "tell."
8. He has friends that he knows or "very much suspect[s]" are homosexual, and doesn't like the interviewer's suggestion that — re homosexuality — he's "softened."
9. To imitate Rehnquist, he "turns his nose up theatrically, flutters his hand in dismissal."
There are more than 9 things worth treating that way...
10. You have to be very careful picking law clerks because "one dud will ruin your year."
11. His dissents have the tone they do — "breezy" and with "some thrust" — because they're written for law students and law students will read that sort of thing.
12. Back in the 80s, Supreme Court opinions were loaded with the "garbage" of legislative history (and they're not anymore, and he takes credit for that).
13. He wants the Catholic Church to be more evangelistic.
14. He blames "The Gipper" for turning the State of the Union Address into the "childish spectacle" it's become.
15. He likes Bill Bennett's radio show.
16. He won't read The Washington Post anymore because it became so "shrilly, shrilly liberal" that he can't "handle it."
17. The worst thing about the Constitution, he thinks, is that it's way too hard to amend it.
18. He "repudiate[s]" his old statement that his originalism is "fainthearted."
But I decided (at the point of finally getting out of bed) that I wanted to do a series of posts on a number of topics, taking them on individually and blogging — or blurbing — my way through and going somewhere with the idea. It's the Devil topic in particular that made me want to do that. I know there are people who are linking to this interview just to say Scalia believes in the Devil, but — is the Devil making me do this? — I feel there's a lot in his discussion of the Devil that needs to be taken apart and examined. The blog will blurb and burble.
ADDED: Here's the promised Devil post. And here's a post about a topic that isn't represented on that list of 18 things.
October 6, 2013
Disturbing black and yellow things.
1. Hornets on an apple (in Horicon Marsh today):
2. On the federal side of Horicon Marsh, a makeshift sign:
2. On the federal side of Horicon Marsh, a makeshift sign:
Yes, they have Ikea in China, but it "is gripped by a kind of anarchy that would rarely be seen, or tolerated, in its country of origin."
"There are picnickers everywhere - their tea flasks and plastic bags of snacks lining the showroom tables."
Young lovers pose for "selfies" in mock-up apartments they do not live in. Toddlers in split pants play on model furniture with their naked parts coming in contact with all surfaces.Read the whole thing. Ikea has accommodated Chinese ways, and it's now the largest foreign commercial landowner in the country.
On a king-size bed in the middle of the largest showroom, a little boy wakes from a nap next to his (also sleeping) grandmother. When the old woman casually helps the boy urinate into an empty water bottle, dripping liquid liberally on the grey mattress under his feet, most passers-by seem not to mind or even notice....
Virtually every surface [in the bedroom and living room sections] is occupied by visitors appearing very much at home. Older people read newspapers or drink tea; younger visitors cuddle or play with their phones. Most, however, are sound asleep...
Basking on the Wisconsin River beach.
I walked all the way around to the other side to show you this alternate perspective on this river beachscape:
Click to enlarge to see the hearty beach lovers. And feel free to talk about anything you want in the comments.
"The National Park Service placed cones along highway viewing areas outside Mount Rushmore this week, barring visitors from pulling over and taking pictures..."
Cones! The dreaded cones!
After I read that, this song verse played in my head:
AND: If the giant head of the President has blocked your sight line to the giant heads of the Presidents, here's another sculpture for you:
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ALSO: The government doesn't seem to know that a lot of those visitors to South Dakota ride motorcycles. A motorcycle can get right in there between the cones.
IN THE COMMENTS: TosaGuy said:
After I read that, this song verse played in my head:
If you drive a car, I'll tax the street,ADDED: Meade reads this post and asks: "Was it even a federal highway?" Yeah, was it the interstate? Why don't they close down the whole interstate highway system? Obviously, they're not doing everything they can, they're just choosing particular things, trying to be annoying in just the right way to sculpt public opinion. They're poking at us. With orange cones. And we are annoyed. But which way are we annoyed?
If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat.
If you get too cold I'll tax the heat,
If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet.
AND: If the giant head of the President has blocked your sight line to the giant heads of the Presidents, here's another sculpture for you:
.jpg)
ALSO: The government doesn't seem to know that a lot of those visitors to South Dakota ride motorcycles. A motorcycle can get right in there between the cones.
IN THE COMMENTS: TosaGuy said:
I lived in South Dakota for five years. Orange comes don't stop anyone from doing anything in the land where every sign on a rural road has a shotgun blast in it.Hagar said:
Mr Obama, tear down your Barrycades!
This has to be State Highway 244 that goes by Mt. Rushmore. U.S. Route 16A is farther away, and, of course, neither has anything to do with the interstate system. However, South Dakota, like every other state, receives Federal money for their highway systems through the FHWA, and per Murphy's Golden Rule, whoever controls the gold gets to rule.That's not true in Wisconsin! Scott Walker resisted the pressure to shut down state parks.
No Federal money comes without strings, but in this case I think the FHWA would have to side with the Park Service, and I think it is not like they have any actual jurisdiction; all they could do would be to threaten to be difficult and withhold future funding for this road (and other projects?), I think.Yeah, that too happened in Wisconsin, after Scott Walker rejected the federal money for a "high speed" train. But let's remember that at some point, conditions on spending count as coercion and the federal government cannot force state government to do its work.
"I understand people think there is a dilemma presented by a Web site where you can pay to have a mug shot removed."
"I understand that people don’t like to have their mug shots posted online. But it can’t be extortion as a matter of law because republishing something that has already been published is not extortion."
Said the lawyer for BustedMugshots and MugshotsOnline, 2 companies that are the target of a lawsuit brought on behalf of individuals displeased by the results of Google searches on their names.
Said the lawyer for BustedMugshots and MugshotsOnline, 2 companies that are the target of a lawsuit brought on behalf of individuals displeased by the results of Google searches on their names.
"In any compromise between food and poison, it is only death that can win. In any compromise between good and evil..."
"... it is only evil that can profit. In that transfusion of blood which drains the good to feed the evil, the compromise is the transmitting rubber tube."
That's the quote from "Atlas Shrugged" that Ted Cruz read on the Senate floor during his (it's not a) filibuster. We talked about it here, and it sprang to mind this morning as I was reading Rich Lowry's column "Stubborn democrats escaping all the blame in shutdown":
That's the quote from "Atlas Shrugged" that Ted Cruz read on the Senate floor during his (it's not a) filibuster. We talked about it here, and it sprang to mind this morning as I was reading Rich Lowry's column "Stubborn democrats escaping all the blame in shutdown":
NYC Human Right Commission is suing Hasidic-owned stores for signs that say "No Shorts, No Barefoot, No Sleeveless, No Low Cut Necklines Allowed."
"In an interview, agency general counsel Cliff Mulqueen claimed the signs imposed 'certain rules of the Jewish faith,' which 'crosses the line.'"
Despicable and stupid.
Mulqueen also asserts that the signs discriminated against women, non-Jews and non-religious Jews by making them feel uncomfortable, even though the signs apply to all potential customers....Which means the city is targeting the Hasidic stores because of religion!
We’ve never... seen the city sue a pizza parlor that might post a sign reading “No shirt, no shoes, no service” — let alone fancy eateries like the Four Seasons, which require business attire.
Despicable and stupid.
"With less than a year left in his final term, President Hamid Karzai insists that he is eager to leave the presidential palace and lead a quieter life."
"It turns out, though, he may just be moving next door, to a lavish new home yards from the complex that has been the seat of his power for more than a decade."
It could work. It's a little like Pope Benedict and Pope Francis. Listening in on one of the new Pope's famous phone calls to ordinary people:
It could work. It's a little like Pope Benedict and Pope Francis. Listening in on one of the new Pope's famous phone calls to ordinary people:
“Hi, it’s me again. I know I’m being Pope Pushy, but I’d like your advice. I’m having problems with Pope Benedict. Well, he’s not really the Pope anymore, but he sits there, in that mother-in-law apartment, and he criticizes. He’s always, like, ‘When I was the Pope . . . ,’ and, ‘I’m fine, don’t listen to me, just go Skype with all your new gay buddies. . . .’ So I just need to hear you say that I’m doing O.K.”
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