The last Supreme Court term, which ended in June, was the stormiest in recent memory, with more 5-to-4 decisions split along ideological lines than at any time in the court’s history. In a series of controversial cases about abortion, racial integration in schools, faith-based programs and the death penalty, the court’s four more conservative justices prevailed, with Justice Anthony M. Kennedy providing the crucial fifth vote. The four more liberal justices were often moved to dissent in unusually personal and vehement terms. “It is my firm conviction,” Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in the case striking down race-based enrollment policies in public schools, “that no Member of the Court that I joined in 1975 would have agreed with today’s decision.” According to the gossip among Supreme Court law clerks, the level of tension among the justices is higher than at any point since Bush v. Gore in 2000.


Not long after beginning his tenure as chief justice in 2005, John G. Roberts Jr. announced publicly that he would try to promote unanimity and collegiality on the court. During his first months on the job, the court managed to achieve his goal, issuing a series of 9-to-0 opinions. But this past term, the court’s first full one with Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., the brief period of harmony abruptly ended: the percentage of 5-to-4 decisions in which the four liberals were together in dissent rose to 80 percent, up from 55 percent in the 2004 term. For the foreseeable future, the court seems likely to be polarized, with the conservative bloc ascendant and the liberal bloc embattled.

Kustom Kar Kommando

Another solar breakthrough due real soon now.

a moment of silence

the faint praise gambit, well played

Here's another fun detail from Vicente Fox's upcoming autobiography: He says that despite President Bush's cowboy image, the man is actually scared of horses.

Fox tells the story of the two men meeting in Mexico in early 2001, in which he invited Bush to ride a large horse. Bush nervously backed away. "A horse lover can always tell when others don't share our passion," Fox wrote.

Fun fact: Bush's Crawford ranch, purchased in 1999 in order to help create a down-home image for his presidential campaign, does not have any horses.

http://www.goodgrape.com/index.php/articles/comments/2007_dictionary_new_word_entries/

help nominate spoofulated

President Bush, who was asked about the Jena case during a Thursday news conference, said he understood the emotions and that the FBI is monitoring the legal proceedings. "The events in Louisiana have saddened me," he said. "All of us in America want there to be, you know, fairness when it comes to justice."

Mysterious crater in Peru.

OpenCongress.org

email blog from NOLA -- with a biting title for one post ... Nation-building over there so we don't have to do it over here

Don't tase me, bro!

The New York Times will stop charging for access to parts of its Web site, effective at midnight tonight

The move comes two years to the day after The Times began the subscription program, TimesSelect, which has charged $49.95 a year, or $7.95 a month, for online access to the work of its columnists and to the newspaper’s archives. TimesSelect has been free to print subscribers to The Times and to some students and educators.

In addition to opening the entire site to all readers, The Times will also make available its archives from 1987 to the present without charge, as well as those from 1851 to 1922, which are in the public domain. There will be charges for some material from the period 1923 to 1986, and some will be free.

concrete tv

I have one leg that was chewed on, shaved and sewed up. And one that got popped out of it's socket, popped back in and taped to my side for the next 2 weeks. At least I'm on pain killers.

who am i?

With the moderating, centrist voice of Sandra Day O'Connor now gone from the Supreme Court, a conservative counterrevolution that had been stymied for 20 years has now begun.

So says Jeffrey Toobin in his new book The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court. His book is about how this counterrevolution developed. It's also a behind-the-scenes look at the court, its recent decisions and the personalities of the justices behind them.

The Nine is based on interviews with justices and their law clerks that were given on a not-for-attribution basis — meaning, in plain language, that Toobin heard stories, opinions and analyses directly from the horses' mouths, but isn't allowed to reveal who said what.

Toobin is senior legal analyst for CNN, staff writer at The New Yorker and a former Assistant U.S. Attorney.

this is a heavy listen!

spicy meatball

Liver Flush #3

Started the apple juice and vegan food diet Sunday, I am looking forward to #3 as I feel that I am ready to really purge the toxin's......
#1 was better than #2 to me, but my body feels ready to get let go....

Liver Flush #4 will be 4 weeks after followed by 2 Master Clease's #3/4 (as my last one failed so I will not count that) in Nov/Dec....

So 8 programs in 2007, maybe I will meet my grandkids.....

The Flexitarian Table @ 171 East Broadway

Ron Castellano and Joel Barkley’s new restaurant inspired from chef Peter Berley’s “The Flexitarian Table” cookbook. The dishes from the book appeal to a sophisticated palate that may or may not want a meat free dinner (think mix and match meat). Slated to open October 2007

Just returned from a picnic gathering of friends to watch the Vaux Swifts enter the chimney of Chapman School tonight

The Audobon Society of Portland claims that Chapman School houses the largest known roost of migrating swifts in the world.

brewpubs and pa

the rains and flloods of august 2007 will impact wisconsin and minnesota organic produce farmers for quite some time.

via adman

linda is prob rite but i hope not.....
can woman play in MLB, or is mens only?

McCain in South Carolina: I'm a B-word!

Perpetual State of Emergency

Notice: Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to Certain Terrorist Attacks

Consistent with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)), I am continuing for 1 year the national emergency I declared on September 14, 2001, in Proclamation 7463, with respect to the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center, New York, New York, the Pentagon, and aboard United Airlines flight 93, and the continuing and immediate threat of further attacks on the United States.

Because the terrorist threat continues, the national emergency declared on September 14, 2001, last extended on September 5, 2006, and the powers and authorities adopted to deal with that emergency, must continue in effect beyond September 14, 2007. Therefore, I am continuing in effect for an additional year the national emergency I declared on September 14, 2001, with respect to the terrorist threat.

This notice shall be published in the Federal Register and transmitted to the Congress.

GEORGE W. BUSH

via daai tou lam