Advise and Consent, III. If there were a Stevens resignation, President Bush could pick a nominee from the staff of Harvard Law School. The person I am thinking of joined up with Law Professor Lawrence Tribe to oppose the U.S. Navy's bombardment of Vieques and signed on to the Harvard Living Wage Campaign along with John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Jesse Jackson, Julian Bond, Noam Chomsky, Ralph Nader, and Michael Moore. She has written approvingly of Eleanor Roosevelt and the United Nations.

According to the Boston Globe,

Alan Dershowitz, [her] Harvard Law School colleague and a supporter of abortion rights and gay marriage, described her as "one of the most brilliant and effective and moderate voices at the law school."

"If a woman could be made pope, she'd be my candidate," Dershowitz said.

Yet, Pope John Paul II has selected her on a number of occasions to serve the Roman Catholic Church. In 1995, she led a delegation of the Holy See, at the United Nations Women's Conference in Beijing. [Article on her experiences.] This year, she was asked to head the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.

She serves on the President's Bioethics council and writes frequently for First Things magazine.

So what are her drawbacks? Well, she's 65, therefore would not have a long career (as has Justice Stevens who is in his 29th year). Oh, yeah, she's a real Catholic, which means she would put people like Kennedy and Kerry in a real pickle. She's eminently qualified and no right-winger, but, she's pro-life.

Her name is Mary Ann Glendon and she'd be my first choice for the Court.

Advise and Consent, Part II. First, I think Judge Hinojosa, whom I mentioned below, would be a good choice -- especially, if President Bush wants to appoint an Hispanic Justice (I think the case for Benjamin Cardozo as the first Hispanic Justice is a good one. Can we settle for "the first Latino Supreme Court Justice?"). Another alternative would be Emilio M. Garza, a retired Marine.

Nevertheless, I think President Bush could walk in to John Kerry and Ted Kennedy's back yard and come out with a nominee who would have the endorsements of liberals like Larry Tribe and Allen Dershowitz, not to mention the support of folks like Rick Santorum and Sam Brownback.

Oh, and Pope John Paul II...

Tomorrow I'll tell you who.

Advise and Consent, Part I. I believe that Justice John Paul Stevens will announce his retirement from the Supreme Court soon -- by the end of the term in June. Stevens is 84 and has served on the Court for 29 years. He is the most liberal member of the current court, but nevertheless, a Republican from a strong Democrat party town, Chicago. See, Manaster, Illinois Justice: The Scandal of 1969 and the Rise of John Paul Stevens [review] (on the other hand, many bios note, as does this one, "he had never been active in party politics.")

Part of my thinking is shaped by Steven's Republican ties and part are shaped by the knowledge of his abilities as a strategist (namely, he is a world-class bridge player). If you put yourself in Steven's shoes, when would be a good time to turn over the reins?

I believe it would be this summer. This would allow a Republican president to name a successor, yet force him to go "left" to get a "moderate" through. The thinking being, if Bush nominates a Robert Bork-style conservative, it might galvanize the opposition and tie up the Senate in a heated, distracting debate before the elections. Moreover, if the first candidate is rejected, it could give Kerry a chance to name a successor. Applying a "game theory," this might force Bush to choose someone more moderate, say, Ricardo Hinojosa [interview], thinking it would minimize the opposition and guarantee a less objectionable nomininee not be chosen.

Yet, is this what Bush would choose to do? Is this what he should do?

More later...

Breathtaking. I got up early and drove down to the WWII Memorial – it is very impressive. The word that kept coming to mind was “breathtaking.” (Yes, that’s not a word normally associated with a monument or memorial, but it is fitting for this one.) The Memorial conveys strength, commitment, sacrifice, compassion, liberty, and victory, even without reading the words. [picture]

I was there before sunrise and there were already at least 50 people there. Many joggers pausing to reflect, but also some families were there.

There is a memorial pillar for each state and territory which sent men to fight; interestingly, they are not in alphabetic order or any apparent order which I could discern. I sought out the Iowa pillar to remember my Mother’s brothers, William and Robert, it is right next to the Pacific archway (on the left as you are facing out) and next to the California pillar.

Beneath it is a fountain reflecting the names of some of the great battles of the Pacific, Midway, Guadalcanal and the Solomons, Saipan, Leyte Gulf, Okinawa. I touched the word “Tarawa” and thought of the men hung up on the reefs with the freak hundred-year tide.

So many battles, so many men.

This memorial is truly a worthy monument to the men who gave their lives, to those who fought with them, and to the citizens of this nation who all came together to fight against tyranny. Moreover, it’s placement on the Mall is precisely correct, between monuments to the Father of our Nation and the President who led the nation through its greatest conflict and gave birth to the idea conceived in the Declaration of Independence: that all are created equal. Those who gave of themselves; this Nation in the 20th century, came together to bring that ideal to the world at large.

This is a special place.

More.

On the other hand, Ben hated it -- calling it a "dog park"

It is clumsy and bureaucratic. It has no classic line or form. It is as graceless and hollow as the lobby of a modern governmental building.

I strongly disagree.

Bloggie Heaven. No I haven't been sent to Bloggie Heaven, nor even Bloggie purgatory -- maybe limbo. Actually, I can't believe I haven't been back here for 3 weeks. This was unintended.

Three weeks ago, work was a bear -- I was putting in 15+ hours a day -- except those days I took off to bring down some trees and put up a back fence. Altogether, I took down 24 trees (most small) and will be splitting wood all summer long.

Two weeks ago, I had another trip to New Mexico -- Albuquerque, Santa Ana, Santa Fe, and Las Vegas. Best food in NM can be found at Sadie's -- the carne adovada is incredible.

This past week has been a period of just plain catching up.

I should be back up to speed by next week.

Books of Influence: The Comic Book Years. Now, I don't want to mislead you into into thinking that I was an intellectual child -- far from it. My favorite reading was comic books. Yet there are some stories that really stood out and I still think about from time-to-time. For example:

In Green Lantern #61, the story "Thoroughly Modern Mayhem" is about the evil in us all. Golden Age Green Lantern Alan Scott returns home to find his house ransacked -- it's the final straw, so he uses his powers as the Green Lantern to wipe all evil from the face of the earth. Every single person on the Earth vanishes, including Scott. Hal Jordan, the "main" Green Lantern goes looking for his buddy Scott and finds Scott's Earth depopulated. He has his ring take him to Alan Scott and he finds Scott on an alternate world, along with everyone from earth, in a state of suspended animation. Jordan wakes Scott and they realize what a mistake they've made and send everyone back.

In Superman # 236, "Planet of the Angels" Superman is given a challenge by 3 angels to cross the gates of hell and rescue Batman, Jimmy Olson, and Lois Lane. Ultimately, he realizes that the three angels are intergalactic thugs and the three devils are intergalactic police. Moral -- appearances are deceiving. Or, for the biblically literate, Satan comes disguised as an angel of light.

Books of Influence I, Childhood. Thanks to Cap'n Yip, I've been thinking back to those books from childhood which have had an influence on me. First and foremost, a book I still own and look at from time-to-time, was the Time-Life book on Mathematics by David Bergamini. This book introduced me to Zeno's paradox, the Klein bottle, Fermat's Last Theorem, probability, perspective, calculus, numbers and showed that mathematics is more than just accounting.

Heads Should Roll. Seeing the pictures of the US torture and reading the quotes ("We had no training whatsoever" -- Sergeant Chip Frederick - a reservist whose full-time job is as a prison officer in the US state of Virginia) leaves me extremely angry. If true, these men and women should face extreme penalties. Not only those directly involved, but I say take it up the chain of command. Brigadier General Janice Karpinski should be subject to a full court martial and I'm not sure I would stop there.

I'm thinking that the chairman of the military Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, should resign.

Answer. On April 16, 1962, Archbishop Joseph F. Rummel of New Orleans excommunicated Leander Perez, Jackson G. Ricau, and Mrs. B.J. Gaillot, Jr. for continuing "to hinder his orders or provoke the devoted people of this venerable archdiocese to disobedience or rebellion in the matter of opening our schools to all Catholic children." In other words, these three public officials disagreed with the Archbishop over the desegregation of schools and each was publicly excommunicated and forbidden access to the Roman Catholic sacraments.

More here and here.

[Thanks to Paladin for the tip]

Who are Leander Perez, Jackson G. Ricau, and Mrs. B.J. Gaillot, Jr. and why does John Kerry have reason to fear them?

Ethical Bootlegging. I've written before about the ethics of bootlegging. Doug LeBlanc looks at the issue of music swapping here (although can we be sure it's not a sneaky way to dwell on "righteous fox" Jaci Velasquez? [vbg]).

I'm pretty clear on the notion that file swapping to avoid buying a disc is stealing. I don't buy the notion that it's okay to rip off Christian artists and their music companies for evangelistic purposes is somehow okay. Yet, what about my particular vice -- trading (not selling) bootleg concert discs?

What about those, like I have done, who post low-quality .mp3s to get exposure for an artist? A 96kb .mp3 isn't good enough to burn to a disc and listen to, but it's good enough to get the flavor of a musician.

Some other notes -- there have been artists in the past who have encouraged this practice -- evangelistic copying -- Keith Green comes to mind, along with Steve Taylor and Larry Norman (at times). So I'd say check with the artists to see.

Also, what about out-of-print records?

Here are a couple of other stories on the issue:
Praise God and pass the music files - NYTimes
Gospel Pirates - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

If you don't have qualms about bootlegging and are interested in this Recycled Sounds is a good place to look for folks who trade bootleg discs of Christian artists.

Raiders pick. I'm still hoping the Raiders will trade down (swap with Browns plus William Green), if it doesn't I can't figure out whether they'll go for the trophy (Larry Fitzgerald ) or speed (Roy Williams).

"Freestyle Evangelicals". The American Prospect on left-leaning evangelicals.

Off the Rez. Sorry for being gone for so long -- I've spent the last week in the central part of the Navajo Nation, from Window Rock, AZ to Mexican Hat, UT and places in between. Now I'm in Albuquerque, NM, for the Gathering of Nations, the world's largest pow-wow. I'll be home tomorrow afternoon.

Gorelick Must Resign. I don't have a problem with the partisanship of the bipartisan 9-11 commission. I think that sharp questioning from people who obviously have an axe to grind can be beneficial. I disagree with tactics like Ben-
asking two questions and then telling the witness to only answer one or Kerrey's disingenuous "speechifying." For the most part, Jamie S. Gorelick, former Deputy Attorney General in the Clinton administration has not resorted to these obnoxious tactics.

Nevertheless, as has been made clear, Gorelick was the architect of the policy that neutered the proactive policy of preventing terrorism and should be sitting on the other side of the table. [See here for the Gorelick memo (.pdf) implementing this bizzare wall of blindness.]

The NYTimes was all over Scalia about a potential possible conflict-of-interest, I wonder when they will start questioning Gorelick about this very real conflict-of-interest.

If Gorelick has any integrity remaining, she will step down now.

National Pastime. The NFL schedules are out. My Raiders had an easy schedule last year and proved pathetic. The 2004 schedule is more difficult with winter games in Denver and KC (two games against the Chefs 20 days apart -- the last being at 5:00 pm on Christmas day -- you're a mean one, Mr. Grinch). The highlight will be the return of Chucky and gang on Sept. 26.

Baseball can not be considered the national pastime until the national capital has a team. [BTW, nice article on team names.]

Different. Here's an article on the home of a co-worker and good friend of mine. As you can probably tell, David and I are so different that we make Oscar and Felix look like identical twins. Nevertheless, we are good friends and David is someone I admire.

Phinally! What a great win by Mickelson in the Masters.

"Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!"

--Luke 24:5-6

The New Christmas? Good article by Charlotte Allen in the WaTi today on the impact of the Passion on American Christianity.