III. An Emily Litella Moment

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"Even if he [Carswell] is mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers," Hruska declared. "They are entitled to a little representation, aren’t they, and a little chance? We can’t have all Brandeises and Cardozos and Frankfurters and stuff like that there."

Personally, my own opinion is that with Shrub and Dick Cheney in the White House, the federal government already has all the mediocre people it can use — and then some.

II. Where’s Roman Hruska When We Need Him?

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I. A Crony on the Court

So why Harriet Miers and other issues …

Of course, being a bunch of centrist weenies — like the dominant eurocrats within the Olive Tree coalition — the Dems in power almost certainly would do no such thing. In fact power doesn’t really seem to interest them much any more. They are, as a friend of mine puts it, much more comfortable whining about the way others use power than actually getting any for themselves.

Clean Hands

Two Australian doctors, Marshall and Warren, today were awarded the Nobel prize for medicine.

Up to the mid 1980’s stomach diseases like peptic ulcers were associated with stress and lifestyle. A lot of medication was developed and marketed to cope with the symptoms. Behaviour courses trained managers to avoid the illness inducing stress. Many specialists made real money off this disease with doubtful therapies.

Cont. reading: Challenge Prevailing Dogmas

Battle Cry of the Republicans

The picture that emerges is of an occupation force that has its hands full trying to keep the roads open to its forward operating bases, while leaving the rest of the province to Iraqi police or military units, or to the insurgents — who, of course, are often the same people.

What a "Secure" Province Looks Like

But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. As VandeHei and Pincus note, Fitzgerald is playing his cards very close to his vest, and it’s possible there won’t be any indictments at all — or even a report, although considering the time and effort the special prosecutor has put into this investigation, I wouldn’t bet the ranch on that one.

Conspiracy Theory

They’re forgetting, or ignoring, the visceral impact his idiotic hypothetical could have on a community that suspects, even at the best of times, that most white Americans wouldn’t be sad to wake up one day and find they’ve vanished into thin air.

Bill Bennett’s Modest Proposal

News, views, opinions …

Root and Branch

Who would have guessed that two-and-a-half years into this war, U.S. troops would be playing the role of street muscle for a bunch of Iranian-backed fundamentalist parties trying to rig an election.

Catch-22