Data Does Sammy

The population of the United States is 28% Roman Catholic and close to 50% male. One can assume, rightly or not, that approximatly 14% of the adult population is composed of male Roman Catholics. The overall population is 75% white. While the Roman Catholic church in the US is less white than much of the population, I'll use the simple method of applying that proportion. So by my rough estimation 10.5% of the population is composed of white Roman Catholic men.

At present 44.4% of the members of the Supreme Court are white Roman Catholic men (Kennedy, Roberts, Scalia, Thomas) . If Mr. Alito is confirmed, 55.5% of the members of the court will be white Roman Catholic men.

What's up with that? Did the evangelicals suddenly become admirers of what an ancestor called papists?

I'm not even going to rant yet. I'm sorry that he's such an ass. I'm sorry that Mr. Bush treated Ms. Miers so shabbily. He used her then tossed her aside. I'm sorry Mr. Bush is such an ass. I'm sorry that the only woman/minority he could find for the court was totally unqualified. But I'm glad that he drew the line clearly.

Someone I know today longed for vigilante crucifixions. But there may be no need. With Mr. Alito on the court, we can all have our own personal machine gun collections.

Jeffrey Rosen, TNR, quoted by Real Clear Politics: What should be far more troubling to Senate Democrats, however, is Alito's 1996 dissent from a decision upholding the constitutionality of a federal law prohibiting the possession of machine guns. Applying the logic of the Constitution in Exile for all it's worth, Alito insisted that the private possession of machine guns was not an economic activity, and there was no empirical evidence that private gun possession increased violent crime in a way that substantially affected commerce--therefore, Congress has no right to regulate it. Alito's colleagues criticized him for requiring "Congress or the Executive to play Show and Tell with the federal courts at the peril of invalidation of a Congressional statute." His lack of deference to Congress is unsettling......

An Imagined Phone Call

Person X: Patrick, Dick Cheney here. How have you been?

Person Y: Good, good, Dick. But I'm sick of this investigation. I want to get back to Chicago. Can't get a decent pizza in this town.

Person X: Well I think I can help you Pat. We've decided what to do here.

Person Y: Thank God. I was beginning to sweat the new grand jury thing.

Person X: No, it won't come to that. We've decided to let Scooter take the hit.

Person Y: Just Scooter? You know they're clamoring for Karl's ass.

Person X: Yeah, I know. But Scooter should be enough to get them off of the scent. Make the indictment long, with a lot of charges.

Person Y: Ok, I'll give it a try. I sure want to get home. Thanks Dick.

Person X: Lynn's calling. Good luck, Pat.

Sunday Reading

Between the talking heads, meander over to Orcinus and read David Neiwert's piece called Journalistic Standards wherein he examines Michelle Malkin's qualifications as a professional journalist. (And as most of you know by now, I never link to her.) Perhaps we should all think about where we stand with regard to journalistic standards.

Best Hallowe'en Costume, So Far

to The DCeiver posting at Wonkette who is going as Michael Brown, and I quote "which means I'll be coming to the party late, bringing no refreshments, offering no help, and ordering the National Guard to use lethal force if any poor people touch the toilet paper."

You Know By Now
that Irve Lewis "Scooter" Libby was indicted on five counts including obstruction of justice, perjury and making a false statement in the CIA leak investigation today. He resigned shortly thereafter

Newsday is doing some excellent coverage including a piece about Libby and his rise to power and an excellent timeline in the case that helps keep all of this in context. And me my yes, you do need to keep it in context. Because this isn't over by any means.

While you're waiting for the next shoe, read the indictment (PDF).

Try, Try Again

So yesterday when indictments were expected Our President countered with Harriet Miers' resignation. It was a good try. They rightfully assessed that the media would be obsessed with the withdrawal to the exclusion of other news. Unfortunately for the White House, they were tricked by media leaks pinpointing the time of the indictment to Thursday. So they wasted a good one.

Current thinking, and leaking for that matter, pinpoints noon today for the release of documents -- don't forget where you can find them -- followed by a press conference by Mr. Fitzgerald.
So this morning Our President feels a sudden need to make some sort of major speech about the War on Terror. In Norfolk. At a naval base. At a podium where the background is covered with American flags. He drones on, as if to scare us all over again. But this time it just isn't working. Wolf, who until about two weeks ago was a total sycophant, cut him off in mid-sentence saying that we are hearing much of what we have heard before. They replaced his live visage with a re-cap of the expected Libby indictment followed by a montage of clips of Our President talking about firing anyone who is indicted.

It is cold and dreary here at the Sasha house, but I'm feeling all warm and toasty.

I Don't Usually Insist
but you MUST get over to The Poor Man and read

Go, go. What are you waiting for?

2,000

Staff Sgt. George T. Alexander, Jr., 34, of Killeen, Texas, died Saturday at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, of wounds suffered Oct. 17, when a bomb exploded near his vehicle in the central Iraqi city of Samarra, the Defense Department said. He was the 2,000 member of the U.S. military to die in the Iraq war.

There are many things one might do to stop and remember those who have died. This video (play it where you can listen to the music) speaks to me, loudly. Cindy Sheehan says that she will tie herself to the White House fence "and refuse to leave until President Bush agrees to bring home the troops. Sheehan said she expects to be arrested. But she promised to return to the fence again as soon as she gets out. "

Yes, as an Army spokesman said it is an "artificial mark on the wall" but so is every death, needless pointless death. The LA Times today has analyzed the deaths and finds "the death toll of American troops has continued to rise inexorably, eroding support for the war and for the president who is so closely associated with it. The steady rise in deaths over the last 18 months, despite proclaimed political milestones and the strategies that U.S. military officials have employed to combat the insurgency, is among the most striking findings of a Times analysis of the fatalities." Let's hope that no more are required for us to stop the madness.

And may the 2,000 as well as the more than 100,000 Iraqui dead all rest in peace. As Tiny Tim said, God bless us every one.

Rosa Parks

on the first of December in 1955 didn't go to the back of the bus. Instead she sat in the first row of the "colored" section. When the white section filled up, blacks were supposed to move farther back to allow the whites to sit. She was tired and didn't get up to give her seat to a white man. That act began the Montgomery (Alabama) bus boycott that lasted 371 days. She lost her job.


Rosa Parks died today at the age of 92. The Detroit Free Press has a short memoir. She was a great American who deserves your respect and a little of your time.

Bernard Bernanke for Fed Chair

He is kind and decent. He is held in high regard. He is in the arms of a strong and loving family.

Oh, and he's an academic. Princeton.

The BBC has his profile.