Thursday
July 7 2005
EVIL STRIKES THE HEART OF BRITAIN: America feels for
Britain today. Out of a sense of sadness and grief, yes, but also
out of a sense of rage. More than any terrorist attack abroad
so far, this one is intensely personal.
As I read
news accounts of the attacks I found myself reacting with almost
the same emotion as if they had happened here in The States. I
caught myself thinking of London not as an English city but as
my city as well. And when Tony Blair spoke I felt immensely proud
of him, much like I felt about George W. Bush on September 11.
I suspect other Americans had the same reaction.
Such emotion
serves to highlight an important point, which is that the terrorists
made a serious strategic blunder today. It could very well be
that the terrorists have no strategy at all and are simply trying
to inflict damage whenever and wherever they can.
But whether
strategic or not, today's attacks will almost certainly serve
to stiffen - rather than soften - the spine of the Brits in fighting
the war on terror. That goes for the United States as well.
The reason
is that the Brits are at their core an extremely tough bunch.
Terrorists who may have sought a repeat performance of Madrid
need to read up on history: when it comes to matters of courage,
fortitude, toughness and tenacity, the British have a heck of
a lot more in common with America than they do Old Europe.
In fact,
over the course of the last century there have been only a tiny
handful of countries who have shown a consistent willingness to
do the heavy lifting for the rest of the world to fight evil;
to spend the blood and the treasure other countries were either
unwilling or unable to spend to defeat the evils of Nazism, Communism
and now radical Islamism. Along with America, Britain has always
been one of those countries - and she always will be.
"Never,
never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that
anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides
and hurricanes he will encounter." - Sir Winston Churchill
-
T. Bevan 11:05 am Link
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Wednesday
July 6 2005
HOMETOWN BLUES: For those who don't know, I live in Evanston,
Illinois. Evanston is a great town, though an exceeding liberal
one. In addition to being home to Northwestern University, Evanston
is also known for having one of the largest (and best) Fourth
of July parades in the state.
The parade
started Monday at two o'clock on what turned out to be a very
blustery afternoon. We settled in to our grassy spot on the south
side of Central Street with some neighborhood friends, and all
the kids sat lined up in a row on the curb, waving their flags,
throwing "snaps" into the street and craning their necks
to catch a glimpse of the coming attractions.
By about
two forty-five, however, all hell had broken loose. The kids had
decided a game of "chase" was more interesting than
the parade. As the owner of two of the munchkins involved, I spent
a good fifteen minutes with my back to the festivities trying
to keep the kids corralled and out of trouble.
And then
I heard a roar from the crowd and applause louder than any that
had been received throughout the entire parade. I turned to see
what had caused such commotion, expecting a fabulous float, a
crowd-pleasing performer like a sword swallower, or perhaps a
column of soldiers in full dress uniform. But instead there he
was: walking down the parade route smiling, waving, and basking
in the admiration of the crowd. It was, of course, none other
than the pride of Illinois, Senator Dick Durbin.
QUOTE
OF THE DAY: "A more popular or successful president
might be more in a position to nominate the kind of justice he
really wants. But as events deteriorate abroad and as a majority
of Americans have grown dissatisfied at home with the overall
direction of the country, there is more pressure on Bush than
there was three years ago to pick someone who will not conduct
the feared Sherman's march through abortion rights, affirmative
action, and federal protections for ordinary citizens."
-
Derrick Z. Jackson, hyperventilating in today's Boston Globe.
Constitutional
scholars everywhere should thank Mr. Jackson for articulating
a new standard heretofore undiscovered in the document: Presidents
may only appoint justices they want so long as they are deemed
"popular" or "successful" by political opponents
interpreting the latest round of public opinion polls. -
T. Bevan 9:05 am Link
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Tuesday
July 5, 2005
A PREEMPTIVE STRIKE ON THE 5TH CIRCUIT: Any hunches on
why this
article would be running in today's Houston Chronicle:
5th
Circuit Court rules in its own way
Its decisions have a history of defying the Supreme Court
By HARVEY RICE
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
Even with its reputation for being unfriendly to death penalty
appeals, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was expected
to follow directions last year when they came from the U.S.
Supreme Court.....
Could it
be that the 5th
Circuit is home to four judges on President Bush's Supreme
Court shortlist, including
three women (Edith Jones, Edith Brown Clement, and Priscilla Owen)
and a Hispanic (Emilio Garza) who are among those most often mentioned
as possible successors to Sandra Day O'Connor?
Interestingly,
while the Chronicle plays up the 5th Circuit's reputation
on death penalty cases as "aggressive," "defiant,"
and "out of step," Joan
Biskupic wrote earlier this year that beyond the issue of
the death penalty the 5th Circuit is well within the mainstream
and mirrors the Supreme Court on most other issues - including
the issue the left cares most about:
Overall,
the 5th Circuit has a conservative reputation, but it is not
conspicuous among the 12 regional appeals courts.
"It's
a conservative court, but it's a court that mirrors the conservatism
of the (Supreme) Court," says Thomas Baker, a law professor
at Florida International University who taught at Texas Tech
University law school for nearly two decades and studied the
5th.
The
5th Circuit in recent years has followed U.S. Supreme Court
precedent on abortion rights. In 2000, it struck down a Louisiana
law that banned a procedure known by its critics as "partial
birth" abortion after the Supreme Court had invalidated
a similar Nebraska law that had no exception for women who might
need the procedure for health reasons.
As always,
for more good stuff check out our Supreme
Court Nomination resource page.
GIVING
AID: Apropos Mark
Steyn's blistering column this morning, the question is why
activists who believe so deeply in the virtuousness of African
debt relief don't pony up their own money instead of insisting
the G-8 governments do it with the average working person's.
Consider
a glance at the net worth of just a few of the A-List
entertainers from Live 8:
| Person/Group |
Estimated
Net Worth (U.S.) |
| Paul
McCartney |
|
| U2 |
|
| Elton
John |
|
| Pink
Floyd |
|
| Madonna |
|
| Sting |
|
That's over
three billion in accrued net worth, which would go a long way
to erasing
Zimbabwe's $4 billion external debt. Yet somehow I don't think
Sir Paul & Co. will be eagerly lining up to transfer their
hard-earned assets over to Robert Mugabe.
- T. Bevan 10:35 am Link
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