Saturday Shuffle

Itch - Ani Difranco
Cocaine Blues (live) - Johnny Cash
I Don't Want It - Ween
Everybody Knows (live) - Concrete Blonde
I Love It Loud - Kiss
Lonesome Town - Ricky Nelson
Overture - Bad Religion
Funky Boss - Beastie Boys
Jelly Roll - Charles Mingus
Warsaw - Joy Division

King of Pop

1958 - 2009

Profiles in creep-age

Via the WaPo:

Student Strip Search Illegal
By Robert Barnes

Arizona school officials violated the constitutional rights of a 13-year-old girl when they strip-searched her on the suspicion she might be hiding ibuprofen in her underwear, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday. The decision put school districts on notice that such searches are "categorically distinct" from other efforts to combat illegal drugs.

In a case that had drawn attention from educators, parents and civil libertarians across the country, the court ruled 8 to 1 that such an intrusive search without the threat of a clear danger to other students violated the Constitution's protections against unreasonable search or seizure.

Justice David H. Souter, writing perhaps his final opinion for the court, said that in the search of Savana Redding, now a 19-year-old college student, school officials overreacted to vague accusations that Redding was violating school policy by possessing the ibuprofen, equivalent to two tablets of Advil.

What was missing, Souter wrote, "was any indication of danger to the students from the power of the drugs or their quantity, and any reason to suppose that Savana was carrying pills in her underwear."

It was reasonable to search the girl's backpack and outer clothes, but Safford Middle School administrators made a "quantum leap" in taking the next step, the opinion said. "The meaning of such a search, and the degradation its subject may reasonably feel, place a search that intrusive in a category of its own demanding its own specific suspicions," Souter wrote.

Makes sense to me, as it did to most of the court.

But not all. Remember: 8-1 against the school. Wait for it...

Justice Clarence Thomas was the lone dissenter. "Judges are not qualified to second-guess the best manner for maintaining quiet and order in the school environment," he wrote.

Last I checked, judges are uniquely qualified to determine what is and is not appropriate regarding issues of search and seizure.

I'd love for Coke Can Clarence to let us know exactly what "quiet and order" is being jeopardized by the possible existence of two pills that any student could acquire about 500 of at any corner drugstore.

And yet we still have to listen to people drone on about how the president has to make sure Souter's replacement is sufficiently conservative enough. Do we really need another person on the big bench with this sophisticated a perspective:

Saturday Shuffle

My Little Underground - The Jesus and Mary Chain
The Man Comes Around (early take) - Johnny Cash
Motor City Madhouse (live) - Ted Nugent
Lover, You Should've Come Over (live) - Jeff Buckley
Legalize It - Cypress Hill
Lullaby - The Cure
Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me - Morrissey
So What - Ministry
Billie Jean - Chris Cornell
Cold Wind - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Putting the 'D' in "Duh"

Pittsburgh Steelers LB, James Harrison, on why he's declining the invitation to the White House for the customary congratulatory visit with the President:

 

"This is how I feel -- if you want to see the Pittsburgh Steelers, invite us when we don't win the Super Bowl. As far as I'm concerned, he [Obama] would've invited Arizona if they had won," said Harrison.

 

Yes, James; yes, he would have.  I have the sneaking suspicion the NFL would've given them the Lombardi trophy, too...

Walking the walk

Courtesy John A. at Americablog:

 

An American service member, about to be discharged for being gay, penned an open letter to his commander-in-chief on CNN's Web site. Here is an excerpt:

 

 "As an infantry officer, I am not accustomed to begging. But I beg you today: Do not fire me. Do not fire me because my soldiers are more than a unit or a fighting force – we are a family and we support each other. We should not learn that honesty and courage leads to punishment and insult. Their professionalism should not be rewarded with losing their leader. I understand if you must fire me, but please do not discredit and insult my soldiers for their professionalism.

 

When I was commissioned I was told that I serve at the pleasure of the President. I hope I have not displeased anyone by my honesty. I love my job. I want to deploy and continue to serve with the unit I respect and admire. I want to continue to serve our country because of everything it stands for.

 

Please do not wait to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Please do not fire me."

 

I cannot imagine a starker contrast than that which exists between Lt. Choi and the chickenhawk Keyboard Kommandoes who not only continually offer their full-throated support for putting (other) people in harm's way, but view him as a second-class citizen--if not an outright subhuman--his commitment and sacrifice be damned.

They should be ashamed of themselves and, given their truly bizarre need to attack others while declaring their patriotic--not to mention, heterosexual--bonafides so loudly, I imagine that, deep down, they are...

Saturday Shuffle

Honeybear - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Our Secret - Beat Happening
A Hazy Shade of Winter - The Bangles
Guilty of Being White - Minor Threat
Junkhead (live) - Alice In Chains
The Last Day On Earth (live) - Marilyn Manson
Hand in Glove - The Smiths
The One I Love (live) - R.E.M.
Butterfly (live) - Tori Amos
Faaip de Oiad - Tool

Graham (Twit-S.C.) tilts at blogmills

Via ThinkProgress:

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Republicans would fight back hard if Democrats or liberal groups try to make the Supreme Court confirmation process about Sessions’ record, rather than about Obama’s nominee to replace Justice David Souter.

“If people try to go down that road, it’ll blow up in their face, because Jeff is a good guy,” Graham said. “My hope is that our Democratic colleagues — if you start listening to the bloggers — if we’re going to let the bloggers run the country, then the country’s best days are behind us.”

And your thoughts on, oh say, listening to admitted drug addict radio entertainers?

It's raining irony

Or that could be the remnants of the glass house after all the stone throwing:

"Two Americans banned from entering the United Kingdom because the government feels they have been "stirring up hatred" responded by slamming the country's home secretary, and one of them threatened to sue her.

Radio talk show host Michael Savage and the anti-gay Rev. Fred Phelps were listed Tuesday among white supremacists and radical Islamic clerics who will not be allowed into the country.

Savage, whose conservative daily show can be heard on radio stations across America, lashed out in an audio clip on his Web site and devoted seven stories on his main page to the ban. He is listed under his real name, Michael Alan Weiner.

..."She has painted a target on my back, linking me with people who are in prison for killing people," Savage said. "How could they put Michael Savage in the same league as mass murderers when I have never avowed violence?"

Absolutely right. How could they? It's unconscionable to ban someone who has never committed a crime. Who would say such a thing?

So sayeth the Savage Weiner, himself:

"Only a devastating military blow against the hearts of Islamic terror coupled with an outright ban on Muslim immigration, laws making the dissemination of enemy propaganda illegal, and the uncoupling of the liberal ACLU can save the United States. I would also make the construction of mosques illegal in America and the speaking of English only in the streets of the United States the law." -- 11/27/2006

"What kind of religion is this? What kind of world are you living in when you let them in here with that throwback document in their hand, which is a book of hate. Don't tell me I need re-education. They need deportation. I don't need re-education. Deportation, not re-education. You can take C-A-I-R and throw 'em out of my country" -- 10/29/2007

Frankly, I don't care what bile he spews. It's his right, and he exercises it, extensively. He's even got the right to affect the gag-inducing overwrought "talking about yourself in the third person" martyr pose that he did here, all while exhorting "liberals" to remember the purpose of the First Amendment.

Just don't mistake the right to say something with the right to say it and not be roundly ridiculed as the shameless hypocrite you are...

Pass the Stupid Flakes

Jim Inhofe (R-OK) is hungry:

(Gracias to Wonkette)

"There is no evidence more visible that the American people are already rebelling against the far-left agenda than Senator Arlen Specter switching parties to become a Democrat. He did this for one reason, and that is his advisers told him he couldn’t retain his Senate seat as a Republican. In other words, the same people who supported Senator Specter six years ago have soundly rejected him today.

That, my friends, sounds like 1994. The extreme liberal agenda is not sellable to the American people. Just wait and see."

Make sense?

Didn't think so.

To put it another way, in Inhofe-land--in addition to there being no global warming--forcing a trade from the Detroit Lions to the Pittsburgh Steelers is a sign that the Leos are about to reach the promised land.

Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy.

Snarlin' Arlen couldn't retain his seat as a Republican because he couldn't *make it* to the general, not because he couldn't *win* the general:

I am unwilling to have my twenty-nine year Senate record judged by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate. I have not represented the Republican Party. I have represented the people of Pennsylvania.

The agenda is perfectly sellable to the people, Jimmy...just not the mere 23% who identify as "Republican."

Guess I missed the "waterboarding" part of the Sermon on the Mount...

Survey: Support for terror suspect torture differs among the faithful

Well, that stands to reason, wouldn't you think?

Just not the *way* that you'd think:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The more often Americans go to church, the more likely they are to support the torture of suspected terrorists, according to a new survey.

More than half of people who attend services at least once a week -- 54 percent -- said the use of torture against suspected terrorists is "often" or "sometimes" justified. Only 42 percent of people who "seldom or never" go to services agreed, according to the analysis released Wednesday by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

"Differs?" That's what comes to mind with those numbers?

Someone needs a refresher on headline writing.

Really curious as to the sort of circumstances where you apply the ol' "WWJD" test and the answer comes up beatings, sleep deprivation, and "simulated" drowning...

Elections...still having consequences

This is a prime example of what we donated, canvassed, and voted for:

Obama Announces Souter's Retirement

In a surprising move, President Obama personally announced the retirement of Justice David H. Souter from the Supreme Court shortly after 3 p.m. on Friday, arriving unannounced into the White House briefing room. He praised the tenure of Mr. Souter, saying that he served with integrity and “consistently defied labels.”

“I will seek someone with a sharp, independent mind and a record of excellence and integrity,” Mr. Obama said in brief remarks at the podium. He added that he would “seek somebody who shares my respect for constitutional values.”

The 22 percent party's "the President's judicial nominees deserve an up-or-down vote" rhetoric goes back in the drawer in 5...4...3...2...

Saturday Shuffle

3000 - Dr. Octagon
Under the Milky Way - The Church
Catholic Block - Sonic Youth
Rest of Our Lives - Mike Ness
Uh, Zoom Zip (live) - Soul Coughing
Hotel California - Pennywise
11 Ghosts II - Nine Inch Nails
Power Trip - Soundgarden
Rodeo In Joliet - The Jesus Lizard
Bleeder - Hot Water Music

20%

Maybe it's just too many medical drama reruns, but the phrase "bleeding out" comes to mind:

Earlier this week a Washington Post poll made a big splash because it found that only 21 percent self-identify as Republicans. The abysmally low number got pundits and reporters talking about whether the GOP is shrinking to the point of irrelevance.

Now we have another poll that finds that the number of self-identified Republicans has dropped even lower: 20 percent.

My handy Plum Line calculator informs me that this means exactly one-fifth of adults identify themselves as Republican.

And thus, with a spring in my step and a warm fuzzy in my heart, I leave for a well-deserved weekend out of town...

Irrelephants

Numbers make me smile. Via The Hill:

Less than one in four identify as Republican
By Reid Wilson

Less than a quarter of all voters call themselves Republicans, a number that has dropped precipitously over the past six years, according to a new analysis.

In more than 7,000 interviews conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2009, just 23 percent of voters self-identify as members of the Grand Old Party. That's down from 30 percent as recently as 2004, and the trend shows no signs of slowing.

In the first four months of the year, Pew researchers found the number of self-identified Republicans dropping from 25 percent in January to just 22 percent in April.

Alienation and isolation: the keys to winning *any* election.

Mitchy, Mitchy, Mitchy...

You need to make up your mind. Is this a local issue

"Obviously, we are not happy that Senator Specter has decided to become a Democrat," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters, attempting to minimize the blow. "This is not a national story. This is a Pennsylvania story," McConnell said.

or a sign of the apocalypse?

"I think the threat to the country presented by this defection really relates to the issue of whether or not in the United States of America our people want the majority to have whatever it wants without restraint, without a check or a balance," McConnell said during a Tuesday afternoon press availability.

The question is, Mitchy, do our people see one party managing to so marginalizing itself that it slips below the magic filibuster number of 41 as "a threat to the country?"

My guess is "no."

Someone needs to clue ol' Mitch into the fact that but what threatens his directionless, ever more extremist party does not necessarily threaten the nation.

And like that--[poof]--he was gone...

Ruh-Roh:

Specter Leaves GOP, Shifting Senate Balance
Democrats Are Poised to Hold A Powerful 60-Seat Majority

By Paul Kane, Chris Cillizza and Shailagh Murray

Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania provided a boost to President Obama's ambitious legislative agenda yesterday by abandoning the Republican Party in the face of shifting political realities at home and an aggressive courtship by the White House and party leaders.

In an announcement that shocked colleagues on both sides of the aisle, Specter said he had become increasingly uncomfortable as a moderate in a party dominated by conservatives and would join the Democrats. He bluntly admitted that his decision was tied to his belief that he could not win reelection as a Republican next year.

I love the smell of a sinking ship in the morning...

Saturday Shuffle

Guilty of Being White - Minor Threat
Sunday Bloody Sunday (live) - U2
1,000,000 - R.E.M.
Ups and Downs - Saves The Day
Don't Cry - Guns N' Roses
Blowing It - Dinosaur Jr.
Let's Get It Started - Richard Cheese
I Won't Be Left - Teagan and Sarah
Prove Yourself - Radiohead
Purple [Sasha v The Light] - Paul Oakenfold

Comedy

i thinks ur dooin it wrong:

Leno: "Now, are they going to put a basketball -- I imagine the bowling alley has been just burned and closed down."

Obama: "No, no. I've been practicing bowling."

Leno: "Really? Really?"

Obama: "I bowled a 129 -- "

(Laughter.)

Leno: "Oh, no, that's very good. Yeah. No, that's very good for a -- "

Obama: "It was like Special Olympics or something."

Jay doesn't show up at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with tips on how to save the economy, so let's not roll into his studio and try to make teh funny, OK, Mr. President?

Apology or not, you cannot make that joke in that venue.

Ever.

Ask Axelrod, he'll tell you the same thing. Once the doctors surgically remove his hand from his forehead after the atomic facepalm that probably followed your late night mirth-storm, that is.

People are inspired by you as a leader, we don't NEED you as an entertainer, too. We've got plenty of people to take care of that. You want to entertain me, let's start with getting Michigan's unemployment back into single digits. If you want applause, that's the way to get it.

I ♥ McCain

Meghan, that is:

"...certain individuals continue to perpetuate negative stereotypes about Republicans. Especially Republican women. Who do I feel is the biggest culprit? Ann Coulter. I straight up don’t understand this woman or her popularity. I find her offensive, radical, insulting, and confusing all at the same time. But no matter how much you or I disagree with her, the cult that follows Coulter cannot be denied. She is a New York Times best-selling author and one of the most notable female members of the Republican Party. She was one of the headliners at the recent CPAC conference (but when your competition is a teenager who has a dream about the Republican Party and Stephen Baldwin, it’s not really saying that much).

...Everything about her is extreme: her voice, her interview tactics, and especially the public statements she makes about liberals. Maybe her popularity stems from the fact that watching her is sometimes like watching a train wreck."

Looks like Meg just jumped, headlong, into the pot at the Republican cannibalism convention...