Miranda v. Arizona Turns 40!
Wed Jun 14, 2006 at 07:41:57 PM PDT
Quick show of hands: how many of you celebrated Miranda v. Arizona's 40th birthday? Okay, you can put your hands down.
This week marked the 40th anniversary of one of the most famous Supreme Court decisions ever handed down. It's the only decision I know of that has worked its way into American popular culture. I've heard that two billion people worldwide know about Miranda and that even small children are able to recite the Miranda warnings from memory.
As luck may have it, I'm writing a book about Miranda rights, which is aimed at encouraging high school students to look at both sides of an issue and to hone their debate skills. As a result, I've learned way too much about that case. And in an effort to clear my head--and to fend off writer's block--I'm sharing with you "Dump's Notes" on Miranda.
Why George W. Bush Thinks He's Baseball Commissioner
Sat Jun 03, 2006 at 04:19:25 PM PDT
I misspent part of the Memorial Day weekend reading "In The Best Interests of Baseball? by Andrew Zimbalist, an economics professor at Smith College whose specialty is the economics of professional sports.
Before getting to the current commissioner--whom the author, believe it or not, praises--Zimbalist recalls past lords of baseball: the imperious Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the miscast Happy Chandler, the overmatched Ford Frick, the clueless Spike Eckert, the starch-ass Bowie Kuhn, the tragic Bart Giamatti, the glad-handing Peter Ueberroth, the ill-starred Fay Vincent, and the interim-commissioner-for-life, Mr. Selig. Somehow, the national pastime has survived all of them.
Speaking of commissioners, it occurred to me that George W. Bush, the former managing partner of the Texas Rangers, thinks he's really the Commissioner of Baseball and not the President of the United States. That isn't as far-fetched as you think. Plenty of precedents from baseball history explain Bush's behavior in the Oval Office. I've got some illustrations, in Zimbalist's own words, beneath the fold Mendoza Line...
WSJ Columnist: Global Warming? What Global Warming?
Wed May 31, 2006 at 05:23:17 PM PDT
Holman Jenkins, Jr., who's currently in the Wall Street Journal's starting rotation of columnists, unleashed a wild pitch in today's issue: a column entitled "Warmed Over: Why Al Gore's Movie is the Feel-Good Hit of the Summer--But Not Much More."
Donning the movie critic's hat for a moment (I prefer Joe Morgenstern in that role, but never mind), Jenkins remains less than convinced by Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth. He responds to the film with the following "what if":
What if science showed conclusively that global warming is produced by natural forces, with all the same theorized ill effects for humanity, but that human action could forestall natural change? Or what if man-made warming were real, but offsetting the arrival of a natural ice age? Would Mr. Gore tell us meekly to submit to whatever nature metes out because it's "natural"?
National Review's Top 50 Conservative Rock Songs
Sat May 27, 2006 at 01:10:50 PM PDT
While looking for ways to misspend a warm, lazy Saturday, I ran across "Rocking the Right" a list of the top 50 "conservative rock songs" selected by John J. Miller of the National Review with the help of NR readers.
What makes a great conservative rock song? According to Miller:
The lyrics must convey a conservative idea or sentiment, such as skepticism of government or support for traditional values. And, to be sure, it must be a great rock song.
Which, of course explains why a song by the certifiably mediocre Paul Revere and the Raiders made the cut.
NSA Spying: Law Profs Give Bush a Failing Grade
Mon May 22, 2006 at 04:23:47 PM PDT
Now that General Michael (Fourth Amendment? What Fourth Amendment?) Hayden has been nominated to head the Central Intelligence Agency, it's time to go back to take another look at an open letter to Congress written by 14 constitutional law scholars in the February 9, 2006, New York Review of Books.
The law professors' letter rejects the Bush administration's assertion that the National Security Agency "doesn't need no steenkin' warrant" in order to spy on Americans. In fact, they give Hayden and the rest of Team Bush a flying "F" in constitutional law.
If You Liked Gitmo, You'll Love NSA Spying
Mon May 15, 2006 at 03:05:02 PM PDT
One of the most persistent lies of the Bush administration is that the heavy hand of executive power is directed only at "terrorists." The mantra goes like this: we're in a war with fanatical people who want to kill us by the millions, so why are you against giving us the tools to fight it?
Just one problem. This administration hasn't narrowly focused its efforts on terrorism. Remember the post-9/11 roundup of Arab and Muslim men? That netted the feds only a handful of terrorism charges--for offenses such as providing "material support--and garden-variety felonies such as credit-card fraud.
Then there was Guantanamo...
CT-Sen: Today's WSJ Editorial Page Profiles Ned Lamont
Sat May 13, 2006 at 12:23:27 PM PDT
I just opened up today's Wall Street Journal and lo and behold, there's a profile of Ned Lamont on the editorial page. Better yet, its headline reads, "Kos Celeb." Ironically, it was written by James Taranto, who regularly lambastes dKos, referring to it as "the fever swamp of the Angry Left" and similar choice phrasses.
Since Taranto's prose is in a forum seen by millions, he's brought his "A" game today. There's more below the Mendoza Line...
Huh? Eleanor Clift Compares HRC to Reagan
Sat May 06, 2006 at 08:37:42 AM PDT
Newsweek's Eleanor Clift has often been accused of being a cheerleader for Hillary Rodham Clinton. Her latest web-exclusive column for that magazine does nothing to dispel that accusation.
In a stretch that Willie McCovey wouldn't have tried in his prime, Clift analogizes Senator Clinton to, of all people, Ronald Reagan. She writes:
When was the last time we had such a dominant front runner this early who raises such anxiety about electability? The answer is Ronald Reagan. It took a leap of imagination to believe an aging grade-B movie actor with orange hair could win the presidency.
Whoa! Stop right there. Obvious differences between Ronald Reagan and Hillary Clinton make it ludicrous to compare them. Below the fold, a look at those differences.
Why Americans Won't Ever Care About Plamegate
Thu May 04, 2006 at 05:20:47 PM PDT
Outside of "Countdown" and sites like this, there has been little to no public interest in Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation of Plamegate. Unfortunately, Mr. and Mrs. Joe Four-Pack (they've been trying to cut down for health reasons) aren't interested in Plamegate and never will be. That they aren't is, however, predictable.
The reason? Plamegate is crappy entertainment compared to your average celebrity trial. And in our branded, Disneyfied, entertainment-driven, shut-up-and-dance crap culture, "not entertaining" means "not newsworthy."
To show how non-newsworthy Plamegate is, I've rated it using the Dumpster Index, a four-pronged measure of the likely entertainment value--ahem, I mean newsworthiness--of a criminal case. (I couldn't help using "four-pronged." It's a consequence of going to law school where, by osmosis, you learn awful phrases like that. But if you catch me using "inextricably intertwined" on this site, you have every right to recommend that I be banned. Forever.)
Iraq Resolution: Blank Check Then, Still a Blank Check
Mon May 01, 2006 at 04:46:06 PM PDT
Three years after George W. Bush's infamous "Top Gun" publicity stunt aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, it's time to revisit the Senate "debate" leading up to the debacle in Iraq. And, more specifically, the frequently-made assertion that the Iraq Resolution was not a blank check.
Let's go back to October 8, 2002, when Senator Robert Byrd mounted a last-ditch effort to stop the stampede into war. Like tens of thousands of Americans, my wife and I faxed Senator Byrd's office and implored him to keep fighting. He lost, but it wasn't for lack of effort.
Below the fold are some excerpts from Byrd's remarks that day on the Senate floor:
Nixon's Impeachment: Why it Matters Today
Sun Apr 30, 2006 at 09:08:07 AM PDT
Until recently, I was deeply skeptical about the idea of impeaching George W. Bush. First of all, what was the point of impeaching a lame-duck president with two years and change left in his term? Furthermore, what would be the long-term impact of two consecutive presidential impeachments? Finally, there is the Cheney problem: if Bush is kicked out of office, Richard the Stent-Hearted is next in line.
Despite the problems associated with impeaching Mr. Bush, I've changed my mind. The final straw came today when I read that he has either disobeyed or reserved the right to disobey 750 acts of Congress. Why? Because he entertains a radical notion of the reach of his executive powers. Right-wing legal eagles has a term for the King George version of the Constitution--namely, the Unitary Executive. You know what? The Divine Right of Kings sounds better--and is more accurate.
John Dean is right: the actions of this administation are worse than Watergate. Speaking of which, it's a good time to look back into history and review the abusive conduct that led to Richard Nixon's resignation.
MI-11: LitPAC Endorses Challenger Tony Trupiano
Sat Apr 22, 2006 at 02:35:25 PM PDT
A couple of weeks ago, my interest was piqued by a news story I'd stumbled across in the blogs. A new political action committee, called LitPAC, has been formed to advance progressive values.
Being a writer myself, it intrigued me that literary figures were the founders of LitPAC. Its executive director is Stephen Elliott, the author of four novels, the political memoir "Looking Forward To It," and the editor of two anthologies of political fiction.
The Board of Advisors consists of authors Tobias Wolff, Daniel Handler, whom you may recognize under his nom de plume Lemony Snicket, Aimee Bender, and Rick Moody; and publishing company CEO David Poindexter.
And there's a local connection, too: LitPAC has endorsed radio talk show host Tony Trupiano (you might have heard him subbing for Ed Schultz last Christmas week), who's challenging my congressman, Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI).
