It's A Shame

On this day in 1803, Marbury v. Madison was decided by a unanimous (only because two of them had no part of the proceedings) vote of the Supreme Court. Why is this important? A little something called Judicial Review.

Section 13 of the Judiciary Act of 1789 is unconstitutional to the extent it purports to enlarge the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court beyond that permitted by the Constitution. Congress cannot pass laws that are contrary to the Constitution, and it is the role of the Federal courts to interpret what the Constitution permits.

Not being a lawyer, I'm left wondering about habeas corpus and the determination to eliminate it for those at Guantanomo and any other illegal combatant. We're definitely on a slippery slope and it looks like we're headed downhill. And the brakes are giving out.

Here in America we supposedly honor and cherish our children. We have people who want to protect them from everything from spanking to preventing them from seeing the appropriate word for a female dog or an external sac of skin (and a type of dinosaur!) in the private area. Hoohah monologues? Get a grip. It's too bad we don't have the same attitudes of respect and compassion towards the children of the other countries.

Iraqi children are playing their version of cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians, police and terrorists or Shiite vs Sunni insurgents with the biggest toy guns they can find. They even use uniforms and imitation rocket launchers. Somehow I think this is going to have repercussions that will come back to haunt us since it is only a matter of time before they start playing insurgents vs soldiers.

I almost feel sorry for Boston, but it's difficult. I agree that this most recent advertising stunt was stupid and not well thought out, but the city does have a history of overreacting.

Well, at least someone is looking for Osama been Forgotten. Probably have the same rate of success as the spy agencies. Nada.

Oh great, so Americans overall knowledge of science is higher than the Japanese and the Europeans. Sounds good until you realize that 20 percent of Americans think that the sun revolves around the earth. Not good.

18,000 people made the same mistake. In the same district. On the same day. For the same candidate. Okey dokey, smokey.

The judicial bloodbath continues. This administration really believes that politics is the most important thing, not doing a job correctly with decency, honor and competence. Protecting their buddies who have harmed more people than any criminal that they want put to death is their top priority. So much for the oath to serve the Constitution. Or the people.

Benefit of the doubt should apply to all wounded veterans. They shouldn't have to prove that they were injured in Iraq and then have the government decide that it was a preexisting condition. Repairing the buildings at Walter Reed is a good start, ensuring that injured troops don't have to negotiate mountains of paperwork and declaring them injured right away, would be extremely helpful.