Tattoo Lady, Crap Politicization, Whining, Cars
Carly got sent home on Idol last night. Brooke and Jason were far worse, but I can’t say I was disappointed. At least we won’t get any more cutaway shots to her Illustrated Man husband.
________
WhiteEyebrows, who is a gentleman and a scholar, weighed in with a pertinent comment he made yesterday re: the Boston Legal Supreme Court nonsense. He thinks Spader’s character got one thing right, namely the “crap politicization that has happened to the court.” He then laments “What happened to the court that is supposed to be above the political fray?”
That’s an excellent question.
There was one almost authentic moment in the Boston Legal exchange that highlights the problem. The goofy Sam Alito lookalike weighs in to tell Spader’s character that he is not allowed to argue for the guilt or innocence of his client and confine his comments to matters of law. This sets Spader off, who then does precisely what Alito told him not to do and excoriates Alito for being cruel and heartless in the process.
But the fauxAlito got it right.
By the time this thing gets to the Supreme Court, the only issue is whether the law is constitutionally sound, not whether anyone's happy about it.
Consider a less explosive example. If there were a law that designated April as National Pickle Month, the Court can’t just say, “How stupid! The majority of us hate pickles! We declare this law null and void.” But if there were something in the law that abrogated constitutional principles, such as a requirement that every Sunday in April, all Americans were compelled to kneel toward a jar of Vlasic pickles and sing “Amazing Grace,” they could – and should – strike down the law because it violates the First Amendment’s establishment clause.
That’s how it’s supposed to work. They shouldn’t consider the policy implications of their decisions – they should simply enforce the laws, even the ones they don’t like.
Spader wanted more than that. He wanted them to follow their hearts, to do the right thing, to march to the beat of a different drum, or whatever. But once you allow judges to start inflicting their personal policy preferences on the polity, no matter how high-minded they may be, you’ve created an oligarchy, where elected representatives of the people don’t matter, and five unelected judges can do whatever the hell they want. And that’s all too often what happens – Roe v. Wade being probably the most egregious example. Show me one decision by the Roberts Court than even approaches Roe v. Wade in terms of hubris and overreaching. You want crap politicization of the Court? Roe v. Wade is the very definition of crap politicization of the Court.
The Roberts Court has reversed a number of decisions in which the Court has overstepped its bounds. Liberals screech because they don’t like the consequences of those decisions. Well, they have ample recourse – they can get Congress to change the law. But that’s a messy and convoluted process, and it’s far easier to get five judges to agree with you than it is to convince 51 Senators, 218 Congressmen, and 1 president to take the action you want.
Democracy’s difficult, but it beats the alternative. You want efficiency? Get a dictator.
________
I’ve received many messages from people telling me to stop whining about my personal trainer pain. Most of them are from Mrs. Cornell, in the form of direct statements of “Quit yer whinin’!”
To all of you, I say – no. Never! Whining is one of very the few things I do well.
________
So we’re trying to get out of debt. We bought a big ol’ Suburban for our freakishly large family, and it means I can no longer justify the expensive payment on my Camry. So we’re going to sell the Camry and get a cheaper used car for me. We don’t want to spend more than $8,000. But what should we get? I’d appreciate any suggestions from the public at large.
________
WhiteEyebrows, who is a gentleman and a scholar, weighed in with a pertinent comment he made yesterday re: the Boston Legal Supreme Court nonsense. He thinks Spader’s character got one thing right, namely the “crap politicization that has happened to the court.” He then laments “What happened to the court that is supposed to be above the political fray?”
That’s an excellent question.
There was one almost authentic moment in the Boston Legal exchange that highlights the problem. The goofy Sam Alito lookalike weighs in to tell Spader’s character that he is not allowed to argue for the guilt or innocence of his client and confine his comments to matters of law. This sets Spader off, who then does precisely what Alito told him not to do and excoriates Alito for being cruel and heartless in the process.
But the fauxAlito got it right.
By the time this thing gets to the Supreme Court, the only issue is whether the law is constitutionally sound, not whether anyone's happy about it.
Consider a less explosive example. If there were a law that designated April as National Pickle Month, the Court can’t just say, “How stupid! The majority of us hate pickles! We declare this law null and void.” But if there were something in the law that abrogated constitutional principles, such as a requirement that every Sunday in April, all Americans were compelled to kneel toward a jar of Vlasic pickles and sing “Amazing Grace,” they could – and should – strike down the law because it violates the First Amendment’s establishment clause.
That’s how it’s supposed to work. They shouldn’t consider the policy implications of their decisions – they should simply enforce the laws, even the ones they don’t like.
Spader wanted more than that. He wanted them to follow their hearts, to do the right thing, to march to the beat of a different drum, or whatever. But once you allow judges to start inflicting their personal policy preferences on the polity, no matter how high-minded they may be, you’ve created an oligarchy, where elected representatives of the people don’t matter, and five unelected judges can do whatever the hell they want. And that’s all too often what happens – Roe v. Wade being probably the most egregious example. Show me one decision by the Roberts Court than even approaches Roe v. Wade in terms of hubris and overreaching. You want crap politicization of the Court? Roe v. Wade is the very definition of crap politicization of the Court.
The Roberts Court has reversed a number of decisions in which the Court has overstepped its bounds. Liberals screech because they don’t like the consequences of those decisions. Well, they have ample recourse – they can get Congress to change the law. But that’s a messy and convoluted process, and it’s far easier to get five judges to agree with you than it is to convince 51 Senators, 218 Congressmen, and 1 president to take the action you want.
Democracy’s difficult, but it beats the alternative. You want efficiency? Get a dictator.
________
I’ve received many messages from people telling me to stop whining about my personal trainer pain. Most of them are from Mrs. Cornell, in the form of direct statements of “Quit yer whinin’!”
To all of you, I say – no. Never! Whining is one of very the few things I do well.
________
So we’re trying to get out of debt. We bought a big ol’ Suburban for our freakishly large family, and it means I can no longer justify the expensive payment on my Camry. So we’re going to sell the Camry and get a cheaper used car for me. We don’t want to spend more than $8,000. But what should we get? I’d appreciate any suggestions from the public at large.
posted by Elder Samuel Bennett | 8:55 AM
6 Comments:
It starts at $11k but I would strongly suggest a Toyota Yaris. I believe its MPG is 29/35.
11K is really cheap money for a new car. Yes it’s somewhat girly but not as girly as a minivan.
If you can, pay cash. Then drive it for 4 years (12k/year total 50K miles) then dump it. When the tires wear out get rid of it. Change the oil a couple of times and you’re done. Then trade it in for a new one.
I'm SOOOOO glad Carly's gone. She was so buggy.
You can buy my 13 year old Subaru for $8,000. I think it's worth maybe a tenth of that, but hey, it still runs.
DH tell sme that most judges obey the law. Even when it stinks. He also said that the judge he worked for never let the clerks work on death penalty cases, because all too often they woudln't, as the judge put it, "pull the trigger". Dh also worked on a political asylum case where a woman who made some dumb mistakes and had a criminal boyfriend had to go to prison. She almost certainly didn't really deserve it, but the law was pretty clear about her participation in the crime, so off she went. It made DH pretty sad, and the judge felt icky about it too, but, like you say, the law was pretty clear. For the most part, judges obey the law. And, really, for the most part, that's a good thing. The system isn't perfect, and there is a lot of garbage that goes on, but far less than you would think, and FAR less than liberal Hollywood types would have us believe.
Buy a used Honda. Those suckers drive forever.
If you do buy used, don't forget to include the cost of new tires on the car's price. Every used car I have bought needed tires.
With gas prices hitting $4/gal soon don't forget to look at mpg.
If I was going to buy another car I would not even look at anything with less than 30 mpg. (Hence my avocation for the disposable Yaris. I just love the idea of a car that's so cheap you throw it away instead of repairing it - after the warrantee expires of course).
I second the Yaris.
I also am glad that Tattoo Face won't be seen on my television set again.
The courts are what they are, but the same liberals who whine the loudest are the ones who tend to pack the courts with legislator wannabes.
I paid $3k for a 2001 Suzuki Swift (a Geo Metro) hatchback. It has air, automatic transmission, and gets 35 mpg. And it's only slightly bigger than me. Still driver my 2001 Dodge Ram on the weekends, though. Good, cheap, used cars are out there.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home