I'm watching some great games tonight, including an overtime game the UNC-Wilmington just let slip from its grasp at the end; a highly rated Gonzaga team pushed right to the final minute by 14 seed Xavier; and not Air Force giving Illinois fits early in the second half. As long as the TV is on and the Syracusee game is yet to start I thought I'd have a look around the blogosphere.
- Blog Fraud?: (hat tip: Ace) Arianna Huffington's HuffingtonPost blog is apparently publishing compilations of comments by celebrity 'writers' as opposed to the actual writing of those celebrites. The fraud is that these compilations are not being presented that way. The one who spilled the beans is George Clooney, seemingly miffed at Huffington for the way a recent post was manufactured. I'll make it simple for you Arianna, so you can, you know, understand it. If the author actually does author the post, fine. If not, it ain't his or hers, so don't attribute it that way. How many other fraudulent entries have shown up in your blog collective?
- Right Wing Nut House and Power Line rightly take Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg to task for comments overseas chastising those who believe American law and precedents ought to be cited by the SCOTUS, rather than international precedents. From Power Line:
The real issue here is: what is the Constitution? Justice Scalia has famously noted that the Constitution is a legal document which, like all legal documents, says some things and does not say others. In Justice Ginsburg's view the Constitution is, on the contrary, a roving charter for nine individuals to decide what "basic fairness" requires. It should hardly be necessary to point out that the former understanding, which was universal until quite recently, is a charter of freedom, inasmuch as the people's representatives can vote on amendments. Conversely, the "basic fairness" approach is a form of tyranny in which a small elite can impose its policy preferences on the rest of us.
It is also utterly unworkable. There is a reason why people reduce legal documents to writing: it's the only way to know what the deal is. Under Justice Ginsburg's approach, the "law" is ineffable. There is no way to know from one day to the next what it might be.
From Mr. Moran:
What I do know is that Ruth Bader Ginsburg should not be deciding cases on our Supreme Court. She, and her fellow Justices who think as she does, must be prevented from allowing foreign law or precedent to influence their decisions in any way. By doing so, they drive a stake through the heart of the concept of American exceptionalism – that we consciously do things differently here because of who we are and what kind of people we see ourselves as.
Read them both. Rick Moran's 36th Carnival of the Clueless is up. I've been remiss in not pointing out several recent editions. Mr. Right compares George W. Bush and Adolf Hitler (what, again?) at The Right Place and finds them, strangely, not all that dissimilar. Thought provoking, to be sure.
HITLER...Hated the Jews. BUSH...Not all that fond of Barbra Streisand.Charlottesvillain, blogging at Tigerhawk, notes some fascinating medical information. It seems that the prime mover in hot peppers may kill prostate cancer cells. Now, don't go downing a bottle of habanero pepper thinking you're curing cancer. Eat them for the fun of it. And feel good about yourself.
I like the look of the 'new and improved' Real Clear Politics. Neat.
Great comment from the Baseball Crank about a week ago on the Barry Bonds/steroid question:
Next time you wonder if Mark McGwire was a bad role model for kids, remember that he turned out to be a bad role model for a 35-year-old with a first-ballot Hall of Fame career already behind him.Oh, and the Nike ad that offended me, and which I thought had been pulled, was apparently on the air last week on at least one occasion, in the Philadelphia area, but I haven't seen it at all today. Have no fear. I'm willing to watch more basketball to see if it shows up.
