Bull Moose Strikes Back

LucasArts is bringing a Star Wars lightsaber game to the Wii in the fall.

In related news, Bull Moose is bringing a Wii to his living room in the fall.

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Man, the Supreme Court has been on a roll lately. No matter what else can be said about the missed opportunities of Dubya’s presidency and the Republican Congress, and I could say a lot, Alito and Roberts might almost make up for it all in the end.

Yesterday, the SCOTUS showed some common sense which I hope becomes common place.

“The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race,” [Chief Justice] Roberts wrote.

One wonders how that point has been missed for years. Roberts has shown great talent for cutting through the legal mumbo-jumbo, and assessing the actual issue against the Constitution.

Meanwhile, Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama continue to demonstrate why they have no business running for President of the United States.

Clinton said the decision “turned the clock back” on history, and her competitors agreed.

No matter if you think that this ruling “turned back the clock” or moves the country forward, it is Constitutionally sound. Everyone is to be treated equally under the Constitution. Affirmative Action plans like the ones challenged in this ruling fly in the face of that proposition. This is not a case about segregated schools or de facto segregation. It is plainly giving to one person and not the other because of skin color.

Obama, the only black candidate in the eight-person field, spoke of civil rights leaders who fought for Brown v. Board of Education and other precedents curbed by the high court. “If it were not for them,” he said, “I would not be standing here.”

That may very well be, but what does that have to do with this case? The facts of the Seattle case and the facts of Brown v. Board are hardly analogous. Or rather they are inverted and perversely analogous:
“You can’t go to school there because you are black,” versus “You can come to school here because you are black and your competitor for the same seat is equally qualified but white.” I’m not sure one is worse than the other if we are trying to get beyond race as a qualification for anything. Whatever happened to “children being judged by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin”?

It is interesting to note that while Justice Kennedy concurred with the result, he did not agree that there was no compelling interest in a “racial balance” in the classroom. Translated from lawyer to human, when the Supreme Court finds (or doesn’t find in the case of state laws) a “compelling interest” it gives the federal government a free hand to violate the constitutional rights of states and individuals. It is supposed to be a tough test, but over the last three or four decades, the Court has found compelling interests in some peculiar places. (Right to Abortion? Compelling. Right to sodomy? Compelling. Right to watch porn at the library? Compelling.) Based on the swing vote’s opinion I wouldn’t consider this matter completely put to bed.

I think Kennedy may be writing opinions like that until the balance of the court shifts. “I agree with these four, but only in a tentative way. If these other four wine and dine me enough, one never knows how my vote might shift…”

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Here is post #1000. Sure the permalink says something like 1017, but that’s because I jettisoned some posts before publishing but after saving.

What’s happened in 1000 posts? In no particular order:
Bush was re-elected.
Birth of my daughter.
I started law school.
Ten-thousand people looked in on one day to see what I thought about The Indiana Boss one day.
The Republican Party imploded for the 2006 mid-term elections.
The Surge (TM).
Declaration of failure of The Surge (TM) by Democrats before it is even fully in place.
In my second longest thread, some dirty hippies challenged me when I told them to get a job and get off of the street. This was deflected by hippie into a debate on Iraq and joined by others.
Hempapotamus.
The Red Sox won a World Series.
New Harley!
Numerous copyright violations fair use examples.
That’s who Deep Throat was? Lame.
My grandfather passed away.
How many freakin’ times do I have to go to DC?
Wife is pregnant again. A son this time.
Al-Zarqawi iced.
I was Shanghaied from my comfy job that I like into a high stress position that I loathe.
Campaign for Less Bull (Moose). Down 40 pounds – but kind of stalled out at the moment.
Revenge of the Sith
Another year of law school in the books.
Massive blog redesign.
Packers in Seattle!
Roberts and Alito!

And so forth… Let’s see what happens in the next 1000 posts.

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It is almost time for me to leave and head over to Safeco Field. My boss is treating some of us to a game and some beer if we agree to cheer against the Red Sox. He’s a fan of another AL East team that isn’t the Yankees. I don’t really know or care which one. Anyway don’t have to ask me twice, especially since the time will be billed to “overhead.”

The Mariners won the first two games of the series, can they sweep? Let’s see who is pitching. Matsuzaka against Feierabend. Well, two out of three against a first place team ain’t bad. It will be fun to see Matsuzaka in any case. And maybe Feierabend can improve on the nine runs he gave up last time. And if not, we’re sitting in home run ball territory.

UPDATE: I’ll be darned, the M’s won in extra innings.

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You can’t do anything with just a bachelor’s degree anymore.

I usually hear this in response to the question “Why did you go to law school?”

What they really mean is “I can’t do anything with my bachelor’s degree because I majored in something ridiculous like sociology.” Of course you can “do something” with a bachelor’s degree. My company is filled with people making mid-five-figure up to low six-figure salaries with only a bachelor’s degree.

I am friends with several teachers who started out with “only” a B.A. or a B.S., though most of them have their masters now.

My wife has “only” a bachelor’s degree in whatever kind of engineering it is she has her degree in, and she makes more money than most of my classmates will make coming out of law school (suckers). Most of her engineer co-workers “only” have a B.S. as well and most of them aren’t doing to bad.

One of the frequent commenter here, Southeast Jerome, has “only” a bachelor’s degree in English. I would usually consider majoring in English as being ridiculous, but he has a cooler job than anyone I know with a M.S. or a Ph.D. He’s interviewed Mr. T. for his job. Show me an obstetrician that’s done anything that cool.

There are plenty of good reasons to go to graduate school, but a blanket statement that no one can do anything with a bachelor’s degree isn’t one of them.

I’m fine with an inheritance tax, as long as the level is high enough where it doesn’t impact ‘normal people.’

I again heard this meme from the professor last night. Again, you have to translate it to what people really mean when they say it: “I think there should be an inheritance tax, as long as the exemption is at least one dollar more than what I will have when I die.”

Or, if you are talking to a Baby Boomer: “I think there should be an inheritance tax, as long as the exemption is at least one dollar more than what my parents will have when they die.”

Why? Is a dollar worth less when it is sitting in a bank with 3 million others than if it was sitting in a bank with only three thousand others? Was it taxed any less when it was earned by the person the first time? In fact, wasn’t it probably taxed more when it was first earned by the rich person?

I never quite understood why people think that a portion of someone’s money above a certain amount all of a sudden belongs to everyone (the government) when they die. I think the government gets their one chance to tax the money then they have to wait until that money is earned by someone else to tax it again.

But I’m crazy that way.

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This is a classic Onion article, but I have come to appreciate it a lot more lately:

Aging Gen-Xer Doesn’t Find Bad Movies Funny Anymore

HOBOKEN, NJ—Dave Erdman, 34, no longer finds bad movies and other forms of mass-media trash culture humorous.

I used to enjoy really bad movies a lot more. Now that my movie watching time has been cut, I try to seek out only good movies.

Of course, I make some exceptions when the movie looks so tremendously bad that it may end up being a cultural reference. (See, for example, Norbit on my Netflix At Home indicator to the left.)

And of course Black Samurai is always an extraordinary viewing experience, no matter how old I’ll get. The day I stop enjoying that movie is the day I need to be put out of my misery.

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Speaking of men not to get involved with:

Hello. I’m here to pick up your daughter. Why as a matter of fact I have been shot with a 12 gauge rock salt slug. Why? Yes it did hurt. I suppose buckshot would hurt more. What do you mean you’ll give me three steps?

UPDATE:

I knew that look was familiar:

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First let me say that in what I’m about to say isn’t meant to be an exculpatory or mitigating consideration for Bobby Cutts, Jr. If he did what it looks like he did at this point, I believe that he should be executed by the state. For him to murder, or have murdered, his very pregnant girlfriend in front of her young kid is evil beyond comprehension.

But… who the hell gets mixed up with a guy like him anyway? Are you women paying attention? Don’t get mixed up with a guy who has two families already, is pretty obviously a violent, crooked cop. I understand that Jessie Davis probably didn’t have the best judgment, but doesn’t self-preservation instinct kick in at some point? It took me all of 10 seconds listening to the guy talk to realize he was probably the lowest form of scum, police badge or not.

At least Natalee Holloway was drunk when she made her fatal mistake of becoming separated from her group and culled by a Eurotrash frat boy wannabe.

I take some solace in knowing that since I’m involved in my daughter’s life, she probably won’t make mistakes like that, but if she did by the time my daughter is old enough to do so, I should be powerful enough to have the guy bought off or killed. (I’m joking. Kinda.)

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Here’s the two-word message that Little Children took 2 hours and 17 minutes to convey: Grow up.

Want it expanded to four words? Grow the frick up.

The movie is two hours and ten minutes of adults acting like spoiled, self-centered children, and four minutes of them coming to the realization that they need to grow up, and three minutes of credits.

Still, the message plus Kate Winslet naked = B+.

I’d say everyone age 25-40 who lives within the Seattle city limits should watch this movie, but even if they got it, they’d think it doesn’t apply to them.

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The Bong Hits 4 Jesus brat loses. Just as I thought he should.

How shocking that Stevens, Souter, and Ginsburg sided with the kid. Public education is whacky enough these days, I can’t imagine what vision those three have of what it should be. Should students be able to smoke a bowl at their desk, tell their teacher to go to hell, and kick back listening to whatever the cool kind of rebellious music is today?

I’ll take Clarence Thomas’s vision instead, thanks. He’s ready to even kick the Tinker decision to the curb. Of course, sitting down, shutting up, and listening may be a little hard for some students (such as my high school self) to do when some old hippie protected by the teacher’s union is telling them blatantly false and/or stupid things, but there should be a line. And “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” is on the wrong side of that line.

I was hoping Scalia would write a concurrence. I’m sure he’d have had something amusing to say about “Bong Hits 4 Jesus.”

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We need a study to tell us this?

The eldest children in families tend to develop higher I.Q.’s than their siblings, researchers are reporting today, in a large study that could settle more than a half-century of scientific debate about the relationship between I.Q. and birth order.

My wife and I have known that for years and years. And I’m sure my daughter will start realizing how true that study is in about three months.

(H/T Althouse)

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Wow. The AFI’s 100 Best American Movies list is out, and I’ve only seen 52 of them.

A few of the ones I haven’t seen, like On the Waterfront and Shane I have been meaning to see forever. Others like Singing in the Rain and West Side Story sound about as appealing as a swift kick in the nuts.

A lot of the other ones I haven’t seen are 1930’s movies. Strangely, though, conversely, I have seen most of the ones on the list from the 20’s and 40’s.

The Best Years of Our Lives at #37, is the only one that I have seen that jumps out at me as not arguably deserving to be on the list. Maybe Do The Right Thing, too. At first I thought The Sixth Sense was a stretch, but then I thought about the first time I saw it and changed my mind. And while The Sound of Music wouldn’t be anywhere near my Top 100, I understand why it is on this list.

Surprisingly, I can’t immediately think of a movie left off the list that should have been on. (Other than The Empire Strikes Back, which never had a chance.) I’m sure I will after thinking about it.

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Hey, who doesn’t celebrate made-up holidays with a good ass-whoopin’?

Some people think the violence takes away from the real meaning of Juneteenth.

And what the hell would that be? I know it’s the anniversary(ish) of the freedom of slaves in Galveston, Texas, but I’m not sure why that translates into a national celebration. Why not the day the slaves were emancipated in Wilmington, North Carolina?

Anyway, I’m sure I’ll figure it all out about the time I figure out what the hell Kwanzaa is and why it is the day after Christmas.

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Justice Scalia weighing in on “24.”

Did I dream this? Because this seems like something I’d dream. Let me check. Nope, real.

Money quote:

Jack Bauer saved Los Angeles. He saved hundreds of thousands of lives. Are you going to convict Jack Bauer? Is any jury going to convict Jack Bauer? I don’t think so.

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Yesterday: Professor lays into a few of my classmates for being a few minutes late.

Today: Professor is 25 minutes late.

Wasn’t really his fault – he left 90 minutes before class from 30 miles away, he just got snarled in the nightly I-5 disaster. But I doubt he’ll be taking out his hard day in court on a student again.

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Bloomberg was a Republican? Huh. Could’ve fooled me.

Gotta love a guy who switches parties based on the fortunes of the party. Democrats dominate NYC, he’s a Democrat. Rudy and 9-11 make the Republicans “in” in New York, he switches. (He was a Republican before 9-11, but I’m sure it didn’t hurt.) Now everyone hates both parties, presto chango, he’s an independent!

Meh. I’m pretty sure the last real Republican out of NYC was Teddy Roosevelt, anyway, and even he ended up in the Bull Moose Party.

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Step 1: Create doomsday hypothesis.
Step 2: Encourage panic by assuming worst possible scenarios of the hypothesis are true.
Step 3: ???
Step 4: Profit.

Notice that this peer reviewed paper doesn’t offer anything new in the way of evidence of anthropogenic global warming, but is a study of what will happen presupposing the worst climate changes are correct. It’s kind of like planning your retirement at age 30 presupposing you’ve made a billion dollars by age 55, not really worrying if that’s realistic or not.

Actually, “Step 3″ isn’t that big of a mystery:

Dr Hansen said we have about 10 years to put into effect the draconian measures needed to curb CO2 emissions quickly enough to avert a dangerous rise in global temperature

Oh, Dr. Hansen, tell us how we should live in order to avert your dire warnings? First turn all of my economic and property rights to over to you and the Goracle? Well… OK.

How long have we been hearing this stuff? Haven’t we been a decade away from disaster for the last couple decades?

You know how I know the man driven global warming people don’t believe their own material? If they did they’d be begging for us to tear down coal and oil power plants and replace them with nuclear plants, at least temporarily.

I ran across a pretty good (but long) video on You Tube yesterday, which presented skeptical arguments fairly well. The guy needs to learn how to make less busy PowerPoint slides, but otherwise it’s not bad.

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The Copyright Law grade finally came in. I did very well. In fact, this was easily my most successful semester in law school (not counting last summer’s Torts grade). It’s amazing what having a quiet house for most of the semester and not having to worry about Legal Writing did for my GPA last term.

Now we’ll see how long it takes them to release class rank. I’m really curious to see if and how much I jumped up. The more I jumped up, the quicker I’ll revise my resume for interviews in August. I think the registrar’s office was after my professor to get the grade in so they could calculate class rank and get that off of their plate.

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While my job wasn’t in there, I’d say most days I feel like being an elephant vasectomist might be a step up. At the very least you’d see concrete results.

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