tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61947892008-03-24T21:56:18.181-04:00publiusnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1412125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194789.post-65743800647177851322007-01-11T22:06:00.000-05:002007-01-11T22:10:27.283-05:00

__________ Well, I have some good news and bad news (or vice-versa, depending on your perspective I suppose). The bad news is that I’m closing up shop here at Legal Fiction. The good news is that I’ve been graciously invited to join Obsidian Wings and will join Hilzoy and the gang as of today. So for the foreseeable future, I’ll be posting over there. I’m very excited about joining Obsidian

publiusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194789.post-31773122764873883202007-01-11T09:40:00.000-05:002007-01-11T09:59:08.492-05:00

_________ I'm busy at work, but here are some very quick thoughts on the speech. First, I agree with Kevin Drum that there's nothing new here. We have, after all, been clear-and-holding, training Iraqis, and promising to build stuff for years. Second, the biggest substantive gripe with Strategy 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 is that it depends a lot on the Iraqi government, military, and police. I mean,

publiusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194789.post-91613168620630282492007-01-10T11:23:00.000-05:002007-01-10T11:37:21.754-05:00

__________ I'll have more to say about the "surge" and the constitutionality of Kennedy's bill, etc., later. But for now, I just want to draw everyone's attention to these passages in today's Post, which are just mind-boggling. In going for more troops, Bush is picking an option that seems to have little favor beyond the White House and a handful of hawks on Capitol Hill and in think tanks who

publiusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194789.post-25311930425565120332007-01-09T11:59:00.000-05:002007-01-09T12:04:29.238-05:00

__________ You know, the audacity of this line is suprising even considering it's coming from Michael "N'er Right" Ledeen ("The Surge and Its Critics"): [Another] excellent recommendation is to dramatically increase the number of embedded Coalition soldiers. . . . Note that an increase in embeds doesn’t necessarily require an increase in overall troop strength. We’ve got lots of soldiers

publiusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194789.post-84404545140431104172007-01-08T23:58:00.000-05:002007-01-09T09:30:58.682-05:00

__________ As I hope everyone knows, Memeorandum is a blog aggregator (and an excellent one). The way it works is that it displays a prominent story or blog post and then lists all the blogs that are linking to that story. Inevitably, there’s a story or post that the Pajamas Media bloggers cluster around (e.g., Malkin, Protein Wisdom, Powerline, etc.). I generally skip over the Pajamas

publiusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194789.post-20224680003142734412007-01-08T00:01:00.000-05:002007-01-07T23:46:35.368-05:00

__________ As expected, the Israel-Iran post stirred up some strong objections in the comments. So let me try to spell out my views on Iran policy in a little more detail and with a little less snark. Lots of people have their pet Iran theories. America and/or Israel should do this, or threaten that. They should discuss this, or bomb that. And so on. But before we can entertain any of

publiusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194789.post-24654122297804683892007-01-06T23:52:00.000-05:002007-01-07T00:53:32.720-05:00

__________ Hmm, I've been out of pocket for a couple of days, but this Times of London story seems potentially, um, newsworthy: Israel has drawn up secret plans to destroy Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons. Two Israeli air force squadrons are training to blow up an Iranian facility using low-yield nuclear “bunker-busters”, according to several Israeli military

publiusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194789.post-89939454774075942322007-01-04T15:02:00.000-05:002007-01-04T15:33:29.219-05:00

__________ Via LGM, I see that the Rehnquist files have been opened and it appears that the Chief enjoyed the 70s. Here's an excerpt from the Legal Times (quote slightly amended): The late Chief Justice William Rehnquist's Senate confirmation battles in 1971 and 1986 were more intense and political than previously known, according to a newly released FBI file that also offers dramatic new

publiusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194789.post-91855836918762865152007-01-04T00:59:00.000-05:002007-01-04T01:13:42.721-05:00

__________ I started two posts tonight, both of which I disagreed with by the end (one was virtually complete). Thats how de bloggin goes sometimes. So instead, I'll just direct you to Eric Martin's excellent post elaborating on Dominique Moisi's Foreign Affairs article, which discusses the role of shame in the Muslim world (cross-posted at American Footprints). Eric astutely views the

publiusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194789.post-60190926463053588972007-01-03T16:23:00.000-05:002007-01-03T23:45:39.671-05:00

__________ I just read the Decider’s op-ed today in the WSJ, and this sentence in particular caught my eye: It is also a fact that our tax cuts have fueled robust economic growth and record revenues. Note the word “record.” Given the massive tax cuts we’ve had over the years, I began wondering how exactly Bush could justify using that word. I mean, I knew it was wrong, but I was curious about

publiusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194789.post-64709386089879215422007-01-02T23:39:00.000-05:002007-01-02T23:47:49.282-05:00

__________ NRO's Andy McCarthy, 2007: I think the Iraqis can be deemed to have botched Saddam's execution only if we continue to indulge the fantasy that the popular elections the Iraqis have held signal the adoption of a modicum of Western democratic culture. When we do this, we are engaged in wishful thinking and the projection of our values. By this, I don't mean to denigrate or provoke a

publiusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194789.post-80210799830555041392007-01-01T23:22:00.000-05:002007-01-01T23:53:39.330-05:00

__________ Looking at the year in books, Claire Messud’s Emperor’s Children got a lot of hype (NYT book review here). On balance, I liked it though I had problems with it. It's definitely worth the read though, even it's ultimately unsatisfying. It was almost a really good book, so I applied tougher standards to it. For those interested, Slate has a pretty good podcast of three critics

publiusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194789.post-42454897575241211452007-01-01T13:16:00.000-05:002007-01-01T13:18:35.192-05:00

__________ Happy New Year everyone.

publiusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194789.post-6317385238611769212006-12-29T10:56:00.000-05:002006-12-29T11:14:23.681-05:00

__________ There are many reasons to dislike Joe Lieberman. Some of them are good reasons, some aren’t. But his op-ed in today’s Post illustrates the fundamental problem with the Last Honest Man — he is and always has been dishonest about Iraq. The other criticisms of Lieberman — his vanity; his gratuitous party-bashing for the benefit of Tim Russert — are all annoying, but they don’t

publiusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194789.post-38160125200743860172006-12-29T01:44:00.000-05:002006-12-29T02:03:30.287-05:00

__________ I haven’t followed the news all that closely over the past few days, but I did notice this NYT article explaining that a bipartisan immigration bill is currently being drafted. To that, I say “good.” It’s the right policy and the political stars are aligned (however briefly) in its favor. So it’s now or never on that front. But what’s interesting is that several key Republicans

publiusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194789.post-18948296741109368962006-12-28T00:09:00.000-05:002006-12-28T00:12:48.084-05:00

__________ I'm out of DC for the holidays and my Internet access has been, shall we say, less than ideal. Posting will hopefully pick up starting tomorrow, but will be sporadic until after New Year's.

publiusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194789.post-45831708429727023332006-12-24T00:25:00.000-05:002006-12-24T00:32:39.683-05:00

__________ I've been on the road for Christmas and haven't been online for a couple of days. And when I got on, I saw to my shock and horror that Feddie was packing it up. Feddie is a long-time friend of this blog and gave me one of my very first "intro" links, so I've always considered him the Dre to my Snoop Dogg. My hope is that he finds quitting as tolerable as I did and is back online in

publiusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194789.post-17887622079525120802006-12-21T01:43:00.000-05:002006-12-21T01:53:09.863-05:00

__________ In debating the wisdom of “the surge,” people should remember that real lives are at stake. These are not poker chips or blackjack wagers, but real people who will die. That’s the first point. But there is — as always — a political point here too. Putting aside the question of whether the surge is good military strategy, it’s shaping up to be disastrous political strategy for the

publiusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194789.post-64849191767448615472006-12-20T23:47:00.000-05:002006-12-20T23:56:26.239-05:00

__________ After a hiatus of a couple of years, I made a concerted effort this year to get back into music. I was at least semi-successful, but there are lots of albums I just didn't listen to either out of laziness (Built to Spill) or because they weren't on Rhapsody (Joanna Newsom). But anyway, here it is, the Legal Fiction Top 10 of 2006: 1) Yeah Yeah Yeahs Show Your Bones Because

publiusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194789.post-17089831384365364512006-12-20T01:07:00.000-05:002006-12-20T01:17:25.149-05:00

__________ NYT: The idea of sending reinforcements to Baghdad is not a new one. The United States dispatched a Stryker brigade and several Army battalions to the capital in August as part of a joint American and Iraqi operation to improve security there. Those additions brought the number of American troops involved in the Baghdad operation to 15,000. Sectarian killings initially declined,

publiusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194789.post-1663331592555495082006-12-19T11:10:00.000-05:002006-12-19T11:12:51.414-05:00

__________ For those of you interested in the Genarlow Wilson case (described below) and its appeal, here's the website that includes case information, online petitions, etc.

publiusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194789.post-86015156197768363512006-12-19T01:11:00.000-05:002006-12-19T17:54:50.663-05:00

__________ When I was in law school (circa 2000-2003 — the Pax Bushana), it had become unfashionable to embrace the Warren Court. Guilty liberals like me thought the Court’s hearts were in the right place, but we were contemptuous of its means. With forty years distance, we were embarrassed by the results-oriented jurisprudence, and more than a little convinced by some of the old Bork/Scalia

publiusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194789.post-91221618064673769082006-12-18T22:08:00.000-05:002006-12-18T22:20:38.992-05:00

__________ The Georgia statutory rape law is back in the news. This time, a 17-year old is going to jail for 10 years for consensual oral sex with a 15-year old. Eugene Volokh has an good rundown of some of the legal issues surrounding the conviction. He does leave out one important detail though. The 17-year old is black, and the prosecutor is white. And what's more, white defendants have

publiusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194789.post-31392919147273954172006-12-17T11:41:00.000-05:002006-12-17T11:48:55.425-05:00

__________ In light of everything we’ve seen over the past three-and-a-half years, I’d like to amend the Constitution so that the executive can be impeached for “high crimes, misdemeanors, and adopting war strategies from Weekly Standard writers.” Fred Barnes says: Now Bush is ready to gamble his presidency on a last-ditch effort to defeat the Sunni insurgency and establish a sustainable

publiusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6194789.post-76263782531705829722006-12-15T23:47:00.000-05:002006-12-16T00:01:54.217-05:00

__________ I’ve had a strange back and forth on Obama over the last few months. I obviously loved the 2004 keynote speech and thought he had great potential. But I was also annoyed by what I perceived as his latent Liebermanism on some issues. I’ve come back around though and now I think he’s the guy. And though I had been trending that way anyway, the New Hampshire speech — or at least one

publiusnoreply@blogger.com