Monday, February 14, 2011

Grouchy V-Day Roundup

Jill and I typically don't really celebrate Valentine's Day (coming so soon after my birthday, we're all celebrated out). But I'm feeling a little bit grumpy this week, so I think snuggling up with some candy and a movie might be just what the doctor ordered.

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Bill Russell gets the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Justice Thomas' silence on the bench reaches 5 years. While my feeling going into the article was that I didn't really care whether Justice Thomas felt compelled to speak or not (viewing much of oral argument as a bit of a charade), I did think one attorney had a point when he noted the unfairness of Thomas deciding cases on grounds not briefed or argued, yet not giving lawyers the opportunity to at least respond to his concerns.

Two posts at TNC's place on Black people getting away with things.

Maryland Democrat joins the state legislative Tea Party caucus, chaos ensues.

Scott Lemieux on the individual mandate and federal power.

Dutch parliament voices opposition to unilateral Palestinian statehood, urges Palestine to recognize Israel as a Jewish state as part of a final peace agreement.

Jordan's Justice Minister calls for a pardon of a Jordanian soldier who murdered 7 visiting Israeli schoolchildren. The Minister previously served as the convicted criminal's defense attorney.

The Iranian government is vigorously suppressing Egypt-inspired protests cropping up in Tehran, Hillary Clinton remarks that Iranians and Egyptians deserve the same rights.

CPAC in a nutshell: "I witnessed someone calling Ron Paul people a 'cult' while eating a cake shaped like Reagan's face."

1 comment:

PG said...

The second TNC post's conclusion ignores that conservative ideology deems taxation -- especially the progressive income tax -- to be legalized theft. Therefore, comparisons between tax-dodgers and welfare recipients don't work, because the tax-dodger is just trying to avoid theft, while the welfare recipient is a co-conspirator in it.

(TNC has something of a habit of these conclusions, when he seems to believe he's found some great inconsistency or hypocrisy in conservatives, but in actuality he's just evidenced his own lack of understanding of them.)