August 2005 – Richard Bennett

Dahlia Lithwick’s relevance problem

Cathy Young points out how low the left has gone in its assault on John Roberts. Slate’s affirmative action legal columnist, Dahlia Lithwick, has taken to combing over essays Roberts wrote while a junior in high school: Score one for Bruce Reed. He picked up on what I completely missed this week: that the most … Continue reading “Dahlia Lithwick’s relevance problem”

Score one for Bruce Reed. He picked up on what I completely missed this week: that the most telling aspect of Supreme Court nominee John Roberts’ adolescence was not his staunch refusal to get high in the woods, but his contempt for all things female. Closely reading an essay Roberts penned in 1972 for his high-school newspaper, Reed notes that the 17-year-old went beyond arguing for keeping girls out of his Catholic all-boys school. He evinced a horror of “giggling and blushing blondes” that seems to have been airlifted right out of the 1950s: poor beleaguered Roberts and a gaggle of giggling Gidgets.

By “contempt for all things female” Lithwick means “dislike for the crazed agenda of the most extreme man-hating feminists.”

Cindy Sheehan explains hurricanes

Some people think Cindy Sheehan is America’s Mom, and some think she’s daffy as a duck. She lays it all out here: Well, George and I are leaving Crawford today. George is finished playing golf and telling his fables in San Diego, so he will be heading to Louisiana to see the devastation that his … Continue reading “Cindy Sheehan explains hurricanes”

Some people think Cindy Sheehan is America’s Mom, and some think she’s daffy as a duck. She lays it all out here:

Well, George and I are leaving Crawford today. George is finished playing golf and telling his fables in San Diego, so he will be heading to Louisiana to see the devastation that his environmental policies and his killing policies have caused. Recovery would be easier and much quicker if almost ½ of the three states involved National Guard were not in Iraq. All of the National Guard’s equipment is in Iraq, also. Plus, with the 2 billion dollars a week that the private contractors are siphoning from our treasury, how are we going to pay for helping our own citizens in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama? And, should I dare say “global warming?” and be branded as a “conspiracy theorist” on top of everything else the right-wingers say about me.

Sheehan’s not alone in politicizing this tragedy: it’s almost a cottage industry by now.

Blowing Smoke out your ass

What would happen if somebody made a really, really bad movie and instead of showing it in theaters before selling it on DVD, they just skipped the movie house phase completely and sold it direct to consumers with a blog as a marketing tool? I suppose some people would buy it just to support the … Continue reading “Blowing Smoke out your ass”

Blowing Smoke totally sucks. It features cliched dialog, wooden acting, a plot that’s so predictable you can see the climax at the first sign of life, feeble man-hating, and a breast count of zero. Joe Bob says save your money.

If you’re inclined to purchase just because you like Jim Treacher’s blog, then cut out the middle-man and give your money to him direct. You’ll add 90 minutes to your life.

(PS: The last five minutes was excellent.)

Federalism defined

Speaking of federalism, I was reminded again yesterday that this term isn’t well understood, especially by foreigners. So here’s a little federalism tutorial for the masses: In what has become known as The Federalist Papers, James Madison (1751-1836), Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804) and John Jay (1745-1829) argued vigorously for the suggested model of interlocking federal arrangements … Continue reading “Federalism defined”

Speaking of federalism, I was reminded again yesterday that this term isn’t well understood, especially by foreigners. So here’s a little federalism tutorial for the masses:

In what has become known as The Federalist Papers, James Madison (1751-1836), Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804) and John Jay (1745-1829) argued vigorously for the suggested model of interlocking federal arrangements (Federalist 10, 45, 51, 62)..Splitting sovereignty between sub-unit and center would also protect individuals’ rights against abuse by authorities at either level, or so believed Hamilton, quoting Montesquieu at length to this effect (Federalist 9).
Continue reading “Federalism defined”

Iraq’s Constitution

It seems to me that the story of Iraq’s constitution pretty well trumps everything else that’s going on the world these days as a new story, with all respect to the heroic Cindy Sheehan and to snake-oil peddler Deepak Chopra. Unfortunately, there’s not as much intelligent commentary as I’d like to see. The Left’s Iraq … Continue reading “Iraq’s Constitution”

The Left’s Iraq whiz, Juan Cole, is pretty mealy-mouthed about it, relying on the New York Times to analyze it for him:

I don’t know how this very loose federal system will work, and the granting of the right to form provincial federations seems to me dangerous. And I have a sinking feeling that rigid interpretations of Islamic canon law may end up trumping some of the beautiful human rights otherwise promised.

Back in the real world, all of Iraq’s petroleum production was knocked out on Monday.

…and changing the subject as quickly as possible.

Michael Barone links opinion pieces from reliable sources, David Brooks and the WSJ, which wouldn’t be too persuasive to our dovish brethren on account of their reliance on ad hominem reasoning.

The Brooks piece extensively quotes Bush critic Peter Galbraith, who’s unmistakably enthusiastic about the constitution:

“The Bush administration finally did something right in brokering this constitution,” Galbraith exclaimed, then added: “This is the only possible deal that can bring stability. … I do believe it might save the country.”

…Galbraith says he is frustrated with all the American critics who argue that the constitution divides the country. The country is already divided, he says, and drawing up a constitution that would artificially bind three divergent societies together would create only friction, violence and civil war. “It’s not a problem if a country breaks up, only if it breaks up violently,” Galbraith says. “Iraq wasn’t created by God. It was created by Winston Churchill.”

It looks like a good deal to me, but I’m a crazy tin-foil hat wearing Bush-backer, so what do I know?

My thought experiement goes something like this: suppose you had to write a new constitutiuon for the US today, which of course had to be acceptable to Red-state America (AKA “Jesusland”), Blue-state America (AKA “Air America Land”), and to the masses of moderates who live purple and free. Would it be much different from the document the Iraqis are developing?

My guess is that it wouldn’t be.

Long live the evil empire

So now Google is the evil empire that Silicon Valley loves to hate: SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 23 – For years, Silicon Valley hungered for a company mighty enough to best Microsoft. Now it has one such contender: the phenomenally successful Google. But instead of embracing Google as one of their own, many in Silicon Valley … Continue reading “Long live the evil empire”

So now Google is the evil empire that Silicon Valley loves to hate:

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 23 – For years, Silicon Valley hungered for a company mighty enough to best Microsoft. Now it has one such contender: the phenomenally successful Google.

But instead of embracing Google as one of their own, many in Silicon Valley are skittish about its size and power. They fret that the very strengths that made Google a search-engine phenomenon are distancing it from the entrepreneurial culture that produced it – and even transforming it into a threat.

A year after the company went public, those inside Google are learning the hard way what it means to be the top dog inside a culture accustomed to pulling for the underdog. And they are facing a hometown crowd that generally rebels against anything that smacks of corporate behavior.

So once again, Bill Gates is Mr. Good Guy, like he was before the IBM PC, and Google can plan on rolling out a whole series of things that totally suck.

Chavez to US: Bring it on!

Lest we forget, Castro’s good buddy Hugo Chavez has essentially dared the US to invade his sorry country: The U.S. government has strongly denied Chavez’s claims that it is considering military action against Cuba’s closest ally in the Americas. But Chavez said late Monday that the U.S. government, which “won’t stop caressing the idea of … Continue reading “Chavez to US: Bring it on!”

Lest we forget, Castro’s good buddy Hugo Chavez has essentially dared the US to invade his sorry country:

The U.S. government has strongly denied Chavez’s claims that it is considering military action against Cuba’s closest ally in the Americas.

But Chavez said late Monday that the U.S. government, which “won’t stop caressing the idea of invading Cuba or invading Venezuela,” should be warned of the consequences.

“If someday they get the crazy idea of coming to invade us, we’ll make them bite the dust defending the freedom of our land,” Chavez said to applause.

Perhaps assassination really is the best option, especially now that Pat Robertson has wussed out.

More about ID from the Times

The New York Times is apparently doing a three-part series on evolution and intelligent design. The second part, by Kenneth Chang, is a pretty decent treatment of the issues the ID’ers raise and the standard rebuttals, but it doesn’t meet the exacting standards of the always-shrill Dr. P. Z. Myers. Myers doesn’t appear to realize … Continue reading “More about ID from the Times”

The New York Times is apparently doing a three-part series on evolution and intelligent design. The second part, by Kenneth Chang, is a pretty decent treatment of the issues the ID’ers raise and the standard rebuttals, but it doesn’t meet the exacting standards of the always-shrill Dr. P. Z. Myers. Myers doesn’t appear to realize that the audience for this piece is mainly liberal arts majors, not graduate students in evolutionary biology.

Chang defends the piece from Myers’ criticism here.

Stupid Design

I thought I’d read some idiocy about evolution, but this piece of moronic Deepak Chopra drivel takes the cake and bakes a new one. It’s breath-takingly stupid. Among other things, Chopra is concerned that the fossil record didn’t preserve maladaptive mutations or the transition from interesting chemicals to self-replicating life. Jesus. Meanwhile back in reality, … Continue reading “Stupid Design”

Meanwhile back in reality, the New York Times ran a nice expose on the Discovery Institute Sunday. More on these things later.

UPDATE: Dr. Myers has some fun with Chopra, but cuts him way too much slack.

It’s not just biology any more

California’s Supreme Court has ruled that lesbian partners who cooperate to bear children are obligated to pay child support and share custody when they break up just like regular parents: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Same-sex couples who raise children are lawful parents, and just like heterosexual couples, they must provide for their children if they … Continue reading “It’s not just biology any more”

California’s Supreme Court has ruled that lesbian partners who cooperate to bear children are obligated to pay child support and share custody when they break up just like regular parents:

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Same-sex couples who raise children are lawful parents, and just like heterosexual couples, they must provide for their children if they break up, the California Supreme Court ruled Monday.

The justices ruled for the first time that custody and child support laws that hold absent fathers accountable also apply to estranged gay and lesbian couples who used reproductive science to conceive.

Ruling in three different lesbian parenting cases, the court continued to recognize the rights of same-sex couples.

Gay rights advocates see this as a major victory for the recognition of same-sex partnerships, but it’s not going to met with widespread joy and happiness by actual lesbians. Each of the tree cases the justices took on featured two contending (lesbian) parties, in both combinations. One case featured a bio-mom who wanted child support from the non-bio-mom, and another case featured a non-bio-mom who wanted custody rights, which means she’s on the hook for child support.

Conservative groups are upset, but their anger is probably misguided:

“You’ve essentially begun to undermine and unravel the family,” said Mathew D. Staver of Liberty Counsel, which submitted supporting briefs arguing against recognition of two same-sex parents.

This is misguided because the courts are simply dealing with situations that happen in the real world, and they’re not in a position to force lesbians to go straight or to turn back the clock on reproductive technologies.

These cases establish a parental right that the legislature has been unable to establish in statute, despite many attempts at passing a “de-facto parent” law that would have assigned parental rights on a behavioral basis. The “de-facto parent” bill carried by John Vasconcellos several times in the past had problems with the rights of a biological father who may or may not have been in the picture, but this ruling appears to be much more narrow, focused on sperm donation cases where the biological father is without parental rights as a matter of law.

The effect of the these rulings is simply to invite more people in the world of child support and custody disputes, a wonderful place for Californians.

As a veteran of that world, let me be among the first to welcome these lesbian moms to the fold and to encourage them to lobby for a bit of justice. Bio-moms are still going to be considered more equal than others, but it’s up to you to change that and see to it that the law provides for full equality, not just standing to support your ex-partner’s preferred lifestyle while you struggle with token bits of visitation. I hope the fathers’ rights people welcome you, because if I were still active in that struggle I certainly would.

UPDATE: Rough and Tumble has a google of links on this subject, just scroll down.