I Miss Divine

Because Everybody Has Days Like This

I Don't Have Words

for how much I miss this woman.

We're Really Really Teeny and the Sky is Really Really Big

Watch this using HD and full screen.  


Plains Milky Way from Randy Halverson .

Autumn is Sneaking Up On Us

It is getting dark earlier, dark when I get up.  Joined my first fantasy foodball league this week.  And then there is this: 

Term Limits for the Supreme Court

Mr. Yglesias points out that every time there is a Supreme Court vacancy he argues against lifetime appointments. I usually ignore him but it is time to point out that I profoundly disagree.

He argues about alternative strategies, term lengths, and the like but outside of pointing to age and other minor flaws, fails to provide a solid, cogent argument favoring the change. He ultimately says "fixed-term system would create a predictable relationship between winning presidential elections and appointing justices, and it could also contain a sensible process for replacing a sick or dead justice." That doesn't seem like much of a reason to create such a profound change.

Let me address what I think are minor points first. He argues that there is "undue weight on throwing up young appointees." I think that there is a lot of value in having appointees of all ages. "Throwing up" young appointees on a court with a system of lifetime appointment helps create a mix of ages on the court. It think it is a positive rather than negative thing.

I don't share his concern about the current system generating a lot of randomness. Life is filled with randomness. Our political system is filled with randomness. Efforts to control that will, of necessity, fail. Meteors fall into buildings. Young people die.

As for the current model, I think that people grow in the job. They learn. Then gradually change their perspectives. They apply law to new people and situations. They learn to work with one another in spite of themselves. Over time they don't always end up like they started. And some of that means that they become more wise. A look at the career of Earl Warren will give you an idea of what I mean. This wouldn't happen with a finite appointment.

The fixed-term model that Mr. Yglesias proposes -- a single non-renewable term -- is already in place for the Comptroller General who has a single 15 year term and retires at full salary. However it doesn't remove the political or financial considerations. In fact it may amplify them. The most recent Comptroller General removed himself after about a decade to take a position as President of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. They were able to trade on his previous job title. And all of the contacts made during his term provided him with a fine rolodex. In other words that fixed-term model just provides a foundation for a more powerful lobbyist.

Think of a lifetime court appointment as tenure. As the formation of a group of knowledgeable people we hope will become wise. Folks who can learn to base their personal self-worth on their ability to be fair, to work for everyone, to maintain integrity. That isn't worth giving up.

A Returning To School Gift

for my friends who teach high school English -- five worst required reading books. So you have advanced warning, two of my least favorite are on the list. The Old Man and the Sea and something -- anything -- by Dickens.

The Middle East Problem Requires Thought

instead of knee-jerk political responses. One of the most lovely changes that we see these days is the return of some intelligence, the banishment of superficial political responses to difficult problems. Today we have Zbigniew Brzezinski telling Joe Scarborough (who inexplicably still has a three hour show daily on MSNBC) that his understanding of the problem is "stunningly superficial."

Joe, instead of inserting some actual thought, whines and whines about being called what he is.



Let’s all support the return of thought, intelligence, and reading to the public square.

Shocking Sporting News

Hard to believe but the Lions fired Marinelli.

(For those of you who don't follow this sport where grown men put on plastic padding and hard hats and play a metaphor for war by moving an oddly shaped ball up and down a playing field, the Lions are the local Detroit team. Marinelli was their coach. Their 'season' -- that is to say the period of time during the year wherein they play their games -- is over. And for the first time in the history of the sport their local team lost sixteen games and didn't win one.)

And since I am mentioning sporting news, I must note what was so well said in this post titled "An Epic Day For Schadenfreude."

The Cowboys are in the process of being, to quote Emmitt Smiff, “blowed out.” Ben Roethlisberger was hurt (grrrr), the Patriots are on the verge of being eliminated with an 11-5 record. The Bucs lost to the Raiders. Detroit is 0-16. And the era of Favre is drawing to a close.

(If you don't follow the sport I can't explain. It is too esoteric.

(Photo from KSK post noted above.)

Les MisBarack

h/t tristero at Hullabaloo

Headlines, The Best and The Worst
The Worst: This month's Vogue. "DIY Dermatology" Makes you just want to grab that article, buy it, and run home to try something new, doesn't it?

The Best: Wonkette today. A piece about Bill Kristol and Charles Krauthammer being fired from Time magazine. "Time Fires Major Neocon Douches." Be tough to top that one for combined accuracy and panache.

Ok, ok. The Second Best: On the presidential race's Favorite Xenophobe Tom Tancredo's rumored withdrawal from the race tomorrow. "Vaya Con Dios, Tom Tancredo?" It's at the National Review. I'm ashamed enough, but I won't link there.