Justice Stevens, the Supreme Court

The recently announced retirement of Justice Stevens highlights the primary reason I will not be able to abide another Republican President until either the balance of the court changes of the philosophy of the party does. I mentioned the other day that one of my fears after Bush v Gore was the inevitable hard-right shift of the court. Bush replaced the hard-right Chief Justice Rehnquist was the even more hard-right, yet much, MUCH younger Chief Justice John Roberts. But that was only insurance, it didn't created a shift it just prolonged the status quo. The real shift came when regular swing-vote, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor retired, we get the hard-right Samuel Alito. (Or Justice "Scalito," as I think you can safety call him.) THAT was HUGE.

Prior to that, the vast majority of non-unanimous case lined up with Rehnquist, Thomas and Scalia on one side, Breyer, Souter, Stevens and Ginsberg on the other and both O'Connor and Kennedy as swing votes. And O'Connor sided with the liberal wing more often than Kennedy did. By the time Bush was done The Right had Roberts, Thomas, Scalia and ALITO voting reliably in one four-vote block, Breyer, Souter, Stevens and Ginsberg reliably voting in the other... and suddenly Justice Anthony Kennedy was the most powerful man in the world. (Honestly? Looking at how things worked out? At this point, I'd have strongly preferred Harriet Myers! File that under, "Be careful what you wish for!")

So Obama has now replaced the retiring Justice Souter with Justice Sotomayor, and will soon have to nominate a replacement for Stevens. And not to be morbid, but givien Justice Ginsberg's health issues, I'll give you even odds that he'll be facing a third vacancy within this term, and I'll guarantee you he'll be filling her seat if he wins reelection! Now just imagine for a moment what the prospect for our civil liberties going forward would look like if JOHN McCAIN (with Sarah Palin whispering in his ear ala Greema Wormtounge) had the opportunity to replace 3/4 of the court’s liberal wing! The ACLU might as well close up shop right now!  And I have to tell you, knowing that the three of the four memebers of the "liberal wing" were also the three oldest members of the court made another conservtaive presidency a truly terrifying prospect for me.  How this wouldn't scare the crap out of ANY freedom loving American, I'll just never understand.

Anyway, that's all I really wanted to say.  As for who Obama chooses?  I'm not all that concerned.  I'm sure it will be someone, like the other three members of the Liberal Block that reliable VOTE liberally.  But that's not really the problem.  The problem is that whomever he chooses will probably not have the charisma and influence that Stevens had, and thus will almost certainly not have the level of skill in persuading Justice Kennedy that Justice Stevens had.  So while we'll still have our FOUR reliable votes, we'll inevitably be less able and likely to get that fifth vote.  Can't be helped, but if McCain had won, it wouldn't even be a issue.

Friday Fun: The DEATH NOTE

OK, First things last...

For those of you who aren't familiar with it, DEATH NOTE is the name of an Anime Series. It is arguably the greatest Anime ever produced. That's not just my opinion BTW: it held the #1 or #2 spot on Anime News Network for several years at one point. It currently resides at #6 all-time (that's out of the roughly 3200 titles that garnered enough votes to be ranked) and I can tell you that's better that either Cowboy Bebop (at #5) or Spirited Away (at #4) and both of those are abosolute masterpieces. So I HIGHLY recomend you check it out. It's very accessible for both a western audience and for non-anime fans. (It's been dubbed in english.) You can get the series from Netflix, so CHECK IT OUT! You won't be disappointed! (Just make sure yo get the ANIME version, NOT the live action version!)

The series is about a soon-to-be-college student who finds (or is granted, depending on your POV regardng fate) a DEATH NOTE. A Death Note is a note book. It looke like this:

























On the inside of the cover, are written Da Rulz:


























In case you can't read them, the first five (the most imporatant ones) are:

1) The human whose name is written in this note shall die.

2) This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.

3) If the cuase of death is written within 40 seconds of writiing the person's name, it will happen.

4) If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack.

5) After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.

Now the series does not have a hero and villain in the traditional sense. It deals primarily with the student (Light Yagami) who finds the Note, and his initial intention to use it to make the world a better place. (He starts out by killing unrepetent criminals that esaped legal punnishment.) Over the course of the series he is corrupted by it, and taken over by his paranoia and lust for power. The antagonist of the seires, are the detectives who try to stop him, led initially by the enigmatic "L." They are the "heroes" but the series challenges your philosphy to the point that you find yourself routing against them at certain times, and routing aginst the villain, Light, at others, as they play thier little cat-and-mouse chess game.

A big question to ask yourself, as you watch what goes on, is, "What would I do if I had a Death Note?" "Would I risk using it?" "Could I keep it from corrupting me?" Well... I think most people wouldn't think of using it. At least at first. Their first instict would be to destroy it. BUT, if they didn't destroy it right away, and instead kept is in a safe place, there is no doubt in my mind that EVERYONE would end up using it.

For my part? Yeah, sadly I'd have to say that I WOULD use it. Just a few times. Just to make the world... a better place. I'd just jot down a FEW names...

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Roger Eugene Ailes, Ayman Muhammad Rabaie al-Zawahiri, Samuel Anthony Alito Jr., Alan Wayne Allard, Michele Marie Amble Bachmann, Robert R. Barefoot, Glenn Lee Beck, William John Bennett, Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden, John Andrew Boehner, Christopher Samuel "Kit" Bond, Neal A. Boortz, Leo Brent Bozell III, Patrick Joseph Buchanan, Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson, Clarence Saxby Chambliss, Richard Bruce Cheney, Jack Thomas Chick, Thomas Allen Coburn, John Cornyn III, Jerome Robert Corsi, Ann Hart Coulter, Michael Dean Crapo, Bill Cunningham, Thomas Dale DeLay, James Warren DeMint, Louis Dobbs, James Clayton Dobson Jr., William A. Donohue, Stephen James Doocy, James Robert Duggar, Michelle Duggar, David Ernest Duke, Newton Leroy Gingrich, Bernard Richard Goldberg, Jonah Jacob Goldberg, William Philip Gramm, Charles Ernest Grassley, Sean Patrick Hannity, Hugh Hewitt, Kent E. Hovind, Michael Dale Huckabee, Alexander Britton Hume Sr., Laura Anne Ingraham, James Mountain Inhofe, John Hardy Isakson, Kim Jong-Il, Ali Hoseyni Khāmene’i , Brian Kilmeade, David Kirby, William Kristol, Howard Alan Kurtz, Jon Llewellyn Kyl, Mark Reed Levin, George Gordon Battle Liddy, Rush Hudson Limbaugh III, Chester Trent Lott Sr., Bernard Lawrence Madoff, Michelle Malkin, Jennifer Ann McCarthy, Addison Mitchell McConnell Jr., Michael Medved, Dana Timothy Milbank, Melanie Morgan, Dick Morris, Robert Gabriel Karigamombe Mugabe, Keith Rupert Murdoch, Mohammed Omar, William James O'Reilly Jr., Sarah Louise Palin, Fred Waldron Phelps Sr., Jim Quinn, John Glover Roberts Jr, Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson, Scott Roeder, Karl Christian Rove, Eric Robert Rudolph, Antonin Gregory Scalia, Andrew Schlafly, Phyllis Schlafly, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, Jeffrey Keith Skilling, Laura Catherine Schlessinger, Thomas Sowell, Michael Stephen Steele, Benjamin Jeremy Stein, Mark Steyn, Orly Taitz, Rose Somma Tennent, Clarence Thomas, John Randolph Thune, David Bruce Vitter, James Wenneker von Brunn, Andrew Wakefield, Christopher Wallace, Joel D. Wallach, Michael Alan Weiner, Juan Williams, Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher

...and then put it in a safe place for a good 4,8 or 12 years and see what happens. With all of the propagandists, corporate criminals, professional liars, corrupt obstructionist politicians, magical thinkers, religious bigots, religious fanatics, terrorists, dictators, thieves, liars and hypocrites out of the way... or at least these hundered (count 'em)... it's hard to imagine how the world could not be a much better place for everyone. (And yet, no one would even thank me for it!) :(

Oh well.

(Yes, this is satirical. And YES, I still recommend you see "Death Note.")















Shut up, Ryuk!