supreme pizza

So, i see in USA Today a small list of potential Supreme Court judge nominees that are "mentioned most often" (and, the bit that pissed me off the most: “Specter said on Fox News Sunday that he would like Bush to pick "somebody who's had more experience, somebody who's been out in the world and has a more varied background." He said someone who has been in politics might be a good choice.” [emphasis mine]).  And, being a curious fellow, i want to investigate their history a bit, but being a lazy fellow as well, i decide to just go with what i find at Wikipedia.

Samuel A. Alito Jr. is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. His ideological likeness to United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia has earned him the nickname "Scalito."

NEXT!

In 2003, [James Harvie] Wilkinson [III] wrote the majority opinion upholding the right of the United States government to detain Yaser Esam Hamdi indefinitely without access to counsel or a court. Hamdi was a U.S. citizen captured during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.  The decision was overturned by the Supreme Court of the United States.

I wonder how often the current batch of Supremes had their decisions overturned from above.  NEXT!

[J. Michael] Luttig is seen as fiercely independent, and has criticised other judges in the past for being swayed on ideological grounds rather than judicial argument.

The odds of Bush nominating someone who can be described as "fiercely independent" are minuscule.  NEXT!

There isn't a lot of info about Roberts (who was a clerk for Rehnquist) or Garza.  That leaves only:

[Michael W. McConnell] does believe that the Supreme Court has gone too far in reading the total separation of church and state into the Constitution, and because he... understands that Roe v. Wade has no firm constitutional foundation. He might be acceptable to the left not only because so many liberal professors support him, but also because he has been public in his criticism of Bush v. Gore and the impeachment of President Clinton.  However, Democrats may object to McConnell because of his public support for a constitutional amendment banning abortion.

Sounds like the perfect compromise: a candidate that will piss both sides off.  While Dubya could continue to reach into his pants, feel his mandate, and nominate Scalito or one of his recent controversial appointees like Brown, Owen or Pryor, he could instead opt to throw the Democrats a bone and go with the compromise candidate.  His own Souter, so to speak.

I'll hold out hope, though, for Frank "Official Brother of TMQ" Easterbrook.

supreme pizza

So, i see in USA Today a small list of potential Supreme Court judge nominees that are "mentioned most often" (and, the bit that pissed me off the most: “Specter said on Fox News Sunday that he would like Bush to pick "somebody who's had more experience, somebody who's been out in the world and has a more varied background." He said someone who has been in politics might be a good choice.” [emphasis mine]).  And, being a curious fellow, i want to investigate their history a bit, but being a lazy fellow as well, i decide to just go with what i find at Wikipedia.

Samuel A. Alito Jr. is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. His ideological likeness to United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia has earned him the nickname "Scalito."

NEXT!

In 2003, [James Harvie] Wilkinson [III] wrote the majority opinion upholding the right of the United States government to detain Yaser Esam Hamdi indefinitely without access to counsel or a court. Hamdi was a U.S. citizen captured during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.  The decision was overturned by the Supreme Court of the United States.

I wonder how often the current batch of Supremes had their decisions overturned from above.  NEXT!

[J. Michael] Luttig is seen as fiercely independent, and has criticised other judges in the past for being swayed on ideological grounds rather than judicial argument.

The odds of Bush nominating someone who can be described as "fiercely independent" are minuscule.  NEXT!

There isn't a lot of info about Roberts (who was a clerk for Rehnquist) or Garza.  That leaves only:

[Michael W. McConnell] does believe that the Supreme Court has gone too far in reading the total separation of church and state into the Constitution, and because he... understands that Roe v. Wade has no firm constitutional foundation. He might be acceptable to the left not only because so many liberal professors support him, but also because he has been public in his criticism of Bush v. Gore and the impeachment of President Clinton.  However, Democrats may object to McConnell because of his public support for a constitutional amendment banning abortion.

Sounds like the perfect compromise: a candidate that will piss both sides off.  While Dubya could continue to reach into his pants, feel his mandate, and nominate Scalito or one of his recent controversial appointees like Brown, Owen or Pryor, he could instead opt to throw the Democrats a bone and go with the compromise candidate.  His own Souter, so to speak.

I'll hold out hope, though, for Frank "Official Brother of TMQ" Easterbrook.

he did it to me again!

Neal Stephenson tricked me again... he wound me up with a good book and then STOPPED. WRITING.  Cryptonomicon is a good, if highly nerdy, romp, until he decides, "OK, i'm tired of writing about protagonist A, so i'll just kill him off.  Hmm, and protagonist B was going to get married, but i have these loose ends, so i'll have him tie them up.  That frees me up to use protagonist C to... oh, fuck it.  Explosions.  Sex.  More explosions.  Exeunt."  That bit about the psychopath with the bow and arrows was so random and gratuitous, i still don't get the point.  FUCK YOU NEAL STEPHENSON AND YOUR BROKE CYCLE SEE IF I READ IT `CAUSE I WON'T.  JERK.

Maybe that's the thing... LucasArts, in a hurry to put out KOTOR 2, hired Neal Stephenson to write its ending.

more salvatoresque crap — avert your eyes while you still can (part 2)

I hadn't gotten very far, though, when i heard a large screech off to my right.  As i vacillated about my next course of action, a large beast with the wings, claws, tail and head of an eagle, and the back and legs of a lion, burst out of the woods in my direction and screeched at me.  It was, no doubt, one of Teraad's gryphons; one of the first things we did after sneaking into his keep was find the gryphon riders' rooms and lock them in (Ti!la wanted to kill them, but we reminded her that this wasn't a per-head job).  "Great," i mumbled to myself, "i survived all that and now i'm going to get eaten by a fucking gryphon."  I grabbed my axe, planted it on the ground and leaned on it so i wouldn't fall over.  I stared at the beast, trying to react to it.

It didn't come after me.  It screeched again and started pecking on its left rear leg.  There was a large piece of timber stuck through it, probably a result of the keep's explosive immolation.  It turned back at me and screeched again.

I laughed once.  "As if," i told it.

It limped towards me.  I held up my axe like a child trying to hold up a ham hock.  It swiped with its claw and knocked my weapon out of my hands.  "Thanks," i told it, "i was getting a little tired of it."  I waited for the end, but all i got was a face full of gryphon breath.  It went back to pecking at its leg for a few seconds and looked at me again.

"Fine."  I held my hands up.  "Fine.  Why don't i pull that sliver out of your toe?"  I walked around and grabbed the timber and pulled.  The gryphon gave what sounded like a pain-tinged screech and pulled its leg back, yanking the timber out of my hands.

I yelled at it, "Hey!  This is gonna hurt, so buck up and quit being such a damn baby!"  It growled and hunkered down, then looked at me and squawked.  I exhaled and grabbed the timber with both hands and put a foot to its leg.  I heaved and pulled the thing out, then quickly dropped it in a vain attempt to shield my ears from the beast's screaming.

I opened my eyes and saw it somewhat ineffectively licking its leg.  "Now what?" i wondered.  I didn't have any healing potions left, but i had a first aid kit in my pack.  I did what i could, but it was human-sized and it barely had enough bandages for a gryphon-sized thigh.  I looked at the gryphon and told it, "Maybe there's some dreamgrass around here.  Stay here."  I made a staying motion with my hands.  "Staaaay."  It gave me an indescribable look.  I turned around and started looking through the forest.

more salvatoresque crap — avert your eyes while you still can (part 2)

I hadn't gotten very far, though, when i heard a large screech off to my right.  As i vacillated about my next course of action, a large beast with the wings, claws, tail and head of an eagle, and the back and legs of a lion, burst out of the woods in my direction and screeched at me.  It was, no doubt, one of Teraad's gryphons; one of the first things we did after sneaking into his keep was find the gryphon riders' rooms and lock them in (Ti!la wanted to kill them, but we reminded her that this wasn't a per-head job).  "Great," i mumbled to myself, "i survived all that and now i'm going to get eaten by a fucking gryphon."  I grabbed my axe, planted it on the ground and leaned on it so i wouldn't fall over.  I stared at the beast, trying to react to it.

It didn't come after me.  It screeched again and started pecking on its left rear leg.  There was a large piece of timber stuck through it, probably a result of the keep's explosive immolation.  It turned back at me and screeched again.

I laughed once.  "As if," i told it.

It limped towards me.  I held up my axe like a child trying to hold up a ham hock.  It swiped with its claw and knocked my weapon out of my hands.  "Thanks," i told it, "i was getting a little tired of it."  I waited for the end, but all i got was a face full of gryphon breath.  It went back to pecking at its leg for a few seconds and looked at me again.

"Fine."  I held my hands up.  "Fine.  Why don't i pull that sliver out of your toe?"  I walked around and grabbed the timber and pulled.  The gryphon gave what sounded like a pain-tinged screech and pulled its leg back, yanking the timber out of my hands.

I yelled at it, "Hey!  This is gonna hurt, so buck up and quit being such a damn baby!"  It growled and hunkered down, then looked at me and squawked.  I exhaled and grabbed the timber with both hands and put a foot to its leg.  I heaved and pulled the thing out, then quickly dropped it in a vain attempt to shield my ears from the beast's screaming.

I opened my eyes and saw it somewhat ineffectively licking its leg.  "Now what?" i wondered.  I didn't have any healing potions left, but i had a first aid kit in my pack.  I did what i could, but it was human-sized and it barely had enough bandages for a gryphon-sized thigh.  I looked at the gryphon and told it, "Maybe there's some dreamgrass around here.  Stay here."  I made a staying motion with my hands.  "Staaaay."  It gave me an indescribable look.  I turned around and started looking through the forest.