In late 2003, the Colorado Supreme Court struck down the partisan redistricting passed by the Republican legislature, as this redistricting plainly violated the state constitution’s mandate that redistricting be performed only once per decade. This case–a state court interpreting the state constitution–did not raise the slightest federal issue, and on Tuesday the Supreme Court refused to […]
Category: General
Jesse Taylor on Christopher Snitchens: Chris Hitchens isn’t a useful idiot – he’s a useful asshole. He fills a slightly brainier niche than Dennis Miller does, although he’s f
One strange thing about Stoller’s argument about centrist bloggers is that it strikes me as no longer true. Drum, Yglesias, and Marshall have all become much more aggressive and partisan over th
I’m making my weekly check of Senate race wagers over at tradesports, and I make an odd discovery–David Vitter (R)’s chances of taking Breaux’s seat have gone from 35 to 70% in the last week. I’m searching around for any news that might justify this huge leap in the GOP’s chances, but I’m not finding it. […]
Through See the Forest, I find a link to Matt Stoller’s excellent post on different forms of partisanship. I don’t think he’s entirely fair in his critique of league of wonkish ce
Needless to say, Michael Massing’s NYRB response to the New York Times’s pre-war “journalism” is a (depressing) must-read. It’s doubly depressing that this opinion wo
A friend once noted that the most unnecessary liner note in history was Lou Reed writing on The Blue Mask that “my guitar is on the right stereo channel.” The one on the left belonged to the incomparableRobert Quine, who passed away this weekend. He was an incredibly gifted player. Many won’t have heard of him, but you […]
Roger Ailes has a great post about Andrew Sullivan declaring that he no longer supports the GOP, because they have the same position on gay rights that they’ve always had. If you scroll up a bi
Speaking of nonsense and Texas, I recall some time ago hearing about some impending legal trouble for Tom Delay. The story appears to be a bit complicated, involving a misbehaving PAC run by the bug m
Now that there’s a fairly broad consensus that The Phantom Menace was godawful, it’s often forgotten how well the movie was initially received not only by many fans but by much of the media as well. The likes of Roger Ebert gave the movie good reviews and taped fawning interviews with the hacktacular Mr. Lucas. The […]
To me, the question of nuclear power, as with conscription, becomes easier when removed from the abstract level to the context of American politics. Discussing the merits of nuclear power on its own m
My post below on oil and alternative energy sources made no comment on nuclear power. There is a good reason for that–I’m not at all sure what I should think about nuclear power. I’v