Dr. Octopus?

New York Times to Charge for Most Popular Content

Today is your last day to read the New York Times' Op-Ed columns without a subscription.

Starting tomorrow, this content (along with a variety of premium stuff) will only be available through TimesSelect — a subscription service available as an online stand-alone or for free to NY Times home delivery subscribers.

Can't say I blame the NY Times for this move; however, it is a step towards confirming one of the many predictions made in the mildly distopian Epic 2014.

Matt Drudge is the Poor Man's Karl Rove

I think what Matt Drudge meant to say is California Governor to Seek Reelection Despite Low Approval Numbers.



After 10 years of online kingmaking, it amazes me that Drudge's editorial juxtaposition still has such a strong reality-mangling effect on our me-too media.

Found On The Internets: Almost Reason Enough to Name A Kid Hank

It may be true that Starbucks is hell-bent on either ubiquity or world domination or more probably both; however, its current Bleachers ad is the Best Utter Nonsense Short Form TV commercial ever.



I want this to be my life.

(Big Tip o' the Hat to Dan's Blog)

Missed the 1st Roberts Confirmation Hearing?

You missed an historical example of our tripartite government in action.

You missed the Senate acting in its Advise & Consent capacity.

You missed Senator Coburn doing the crossword puzzle during the hearing.


(parroting Atrios)

9:45 pm, September 11, 2005. 106 Blocks North of Ground Zero.

Memorial light beacon barely visible in the background.

Is President Bush Going to Fall on His Sword for FEMA Director Michael Brown?

Characterizing his most recent poll, John Zogby noted that President Bush "has managed to do early in his second term what his father did in just one term: Go from record high approval numbers in the aftermath of 9/11 to his present numbers in the low 40s."

Some poll high/lowlights:

• Bush's approval rating is 41%, a new low.


• Were it possible, Bush would lose an election versus any President since Carter.


• 60% of people disapprove Bush's handling of the Katrina disaster.

I'm no Karl Rove (as always, cross thyself at the mention of his unholy name), but Bush needs to take some steps that both sides of the aisle recognize as constructive. Barring that, this could get ugly.

Personal Responsibility is Valued and Expected

Newly-elected President George Bush
January 20, 2001

...

America, at its best, is a place where personal responsibility is valued and expected.

Encouraging responsibility is not a search for scapegoats, it is a call to conscience. And though it requires sacrifice, it brings a deeper fulfillment. We find the fullness of life not only in options, but in commitments. And we find that children and community are the commitments that set us free.

Our public interest depends on private character, on civic duty and family bonds and basic fairness, on uncounted, unhonored acts of decency which give direction to our freedom.

Sometimes in life we are called to do great things. But as a saint of our times has said, every day we are called to do small things with great love. The most important tasks of a democracy are done by everyone.

I will live and lead by these principles: to advance my convictions with civility, to pursue the public interest with courage, to speak for greater justice and compassion, to call for responsibility and try to live it as well.

In all these ways, I will bring the values of our history to the care of our times.

...

(parroting Atrios)

Law School Material Worth Reading

In the 3 weeks since I started law school, I've read a lot of material that most folks would find transcendently boring. As you probably know, a big chunk of law school consists of reading one landmark case or another, watching how legislatures, administrations, courts and circumstances turn the Ship of Law very slowly. Beyond the cases, our book editors include various color commentary intended to enrich our experience.

I'd almost never advise a non-law school student to read any of this material; however, I read something today that I'd advise all of you to read.

It embarrasses me a little bit to tell you that, until today, I'd never encountered Martin Luther King Jr's Letter from a Birmingham Jail. Dr. King wrote the letter in response to some well-meaning but appeasement-minded white clergy who urged a change in his tactics. His response is encyclopedic (the audio version takes more than an hour), moving, and rhetorically powerful.

Here's the PDF version (formatted for printing), an HTML version, and an audio version read by Dr King.

The racial wounds opened by the flubbed New Orleans evacuation are going to sting America for some time. I hope that having Letter from a Birmingham Jail on your mind will help you make better sense of the challenges that America faces today, challenges at once similar to and different than the challenges America faced as Dr. King sweltered in an Alabama jail in 1963.


Source: CNN.com

This Is What the National Guard Is For

I wish I had something insightful to say about New Orleans, but law school has kept me too busy to blog anything of substance.

All that I'll add is that this is EXACTLY what the National Guard is for, and I wish — I desparately wish — that the Guard wasn't so hopelessly overdrawn right now through our foolish and short-sighted reliance on it in Iraq.