New Justice Scalia Biography- American Original. The Life and Constitution of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, by Joan Biskupic

Check it out on  Amazon. It will be released on November 10, 2009!

I just pre-ordered my copy.

Note to Conservatives: If ObamaCare is Unconstitutional, so are most Federal Drug Laws

It really irks me that Conservatives have suddenly discovered the doctrine of enumerated powers, now that the Federal Government is about to impose a huge Liberal agenda.

The same powers Congress will use to justify Obamacare authorize all federal drug laws.

If you think that health care is not interstate commerce, then growing marijuana plants in your backyard is certainly not interstate commerce. See Gonzales v. Raich.

With the exception of drugs that are actually transported interstate, banning the possession of narcotics is no less “interstate commerce” than mandating health care. State drug laws are constitutionally fine.

Conservatives like drug laws, but are opposed to health care mandates. I would like consistency from the Right, but I doubt it is possible.

What does G-Mail know about you? Check the Google Dashboard

Now Google allows you to figure out all of the pieces of information they know about you through your Google Dashboard.

I predicted about 2 years ago that Google would be a driving force in aggregating all information about a  person’s Internet persona. This is exhibit A.

While it is currently private, I’m sure some Web 2.0 Exhibitionists would not mind making some of their social prowess public.

I had also predicted that Google could search through its Street View application, and by using simple facial recognition technology ,locate a user in their maps database. Though Google ultimately blurred faces, I can imagine this technology could easily be used to accomplish this end.

Check out this YouTube video explaining it.

Podcast: Posner and Breyer on Shakespeare

From the University of  Chicago:

The University of Chicago Law School’s “Shakespeare and the Law” conference brought together thinkers from law, literature, and philosophy to investigate the legal dimensions of Shakespeare’s plays. Participants explored the ways in which the plays show awareness of law and legal regimes and comment on a variety of legal topics, ranging from general themes, such as mercy and the rule of law, to highly concrete legal issues of his time. Other papers investigated the subsequent influence of his plays on the law and explored more general issues concerning the relationship between law and literature.

The keynote session of the conference featured Justice Stephen Breyer, Judge Richard Posner, Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics Martha Nussbaum, and Frank L. Sulzberger Distinguished Service Professor Richard Strier (English, University of Chicago). It was recorded May 15th, 2009.

Download the podcast here.

Reason.TV Ayn Rand’s Radicals for Capitalism, next Video

Check this out

Topeka Man Held in Prison for 3 Months Due to Unauthorized Practice of Law

Most bar associations are state-imposed cartels. Undisputed fact. In order to practice law in the courts of a state, you must play by the cartel’s rules. Go to the right school, pass their entrance exam, pay fees, partake in continuing education, maintain good moral character, and other costs.

But what if you practice law without the Cartel’s permission? In Kansas, you go to jail, indefinitely. From the Topeka Capital Journal (H/T @KULawSchool):

Shawnee County Jail inmate David Price claims he has been unjustly locked away by the Kansas judicial system, but the state’s highest court insists he holds the key to his freedom.

“They are holding me here as hostage until I sign my paperwork,” Price, 48, of Topeka, said during an interview at the jail.

Nearly three months after being sent to jail for contempt of court, Price continues to spend his days and nights behind bars. He will stay there until he agrees he won’t offer legal advice and signs a Kansas Supreme Court consent order enjoining him of the unauthorized practice of law.

Mr. Price is being held in indefinite captivity unless he signs a waiver that he will never practice law again without a license.

The crux of the case hinges over whether the services Mr. Price provided, were in fact “legal.”

“What (the Supreme Court) is saying, what I do in helping people draft documents the way the court requires so it don’t get thrown out on technicality, then putting case law behind it to back it up — they’re saying I’m practicing law without a license,” Price said. “I’m saying it doesn’t.”

And the members of this Cartel certainly protect themselves. Why would they assist someone who can take away their monopoly:

Yet, no attorney in Kansas will touch the case, Rosemary Price said. Two federal courts have rejected Price’s motions to consider hearing or dismissing his contempt case.

I’m not really so much interested in whether he was providing legal services. What troubles me more, is how the Supreme Court, as king of the Cartel, can imprison a man indefinitely for engaging in an occupation of his choice.

America’s Funniest Justice: Scalia gets 19 Laughs this Week!

From DC Dicta, here are the standings of the Justices and how many laughs they got this past week:

Justice Antonin Scalia: 19

Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.: 10

Justice Stephen Breyer: 6 (Handicapped by laryngitis)

Justice Anthony Kennedy: 3

Justice John Paul Stevens: 2

Justice Samuel Alito: 1

Justice Clarence Thomas (Thomas has remained silent during oral arguments since Feb. 22, 2006): 0

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: 0

Justice Sonia Sotomayor: 0

Check out the running tally in the Funniest Justice Contest here.

For someone who asks a lot of questions, Justice Sotomayor does not get many laughs.

What Could Top the Yanks Winning? A Dislike Feature for Facebook!

Check this article out. When using Firefox, now, you can actually “DISLIKE” a facebook post. H/T @TweetMeme.

So everyone, stop carping about wanting a DISLIKE feature and download this!

 

Amherst, MA welcomes cleared Guantánamo Detainees; though rooting for Red Sox may be torture

From NoMoreGitmos.org, H/T @NanAron:

Location:

Amherst, MA

And BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this Resolution be sent to the President and Attorney General of the United States, the United States Senators for Massachusetts, and the United States Representative for Massachusetts’ First District.

WHEREAS, President Obama has vowed to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay Naval Base by January 2010; and

WHEREAS, many detainees at Guantánamo have been cleared by our government of wrongdoing and have been determined to pose no threat to the United States; and

WHEREAS, many of these detainees cannot be repatriated because they are either stateless or fear the harm awaiting them if returned to their home country; and

WHEREAS, our government has asked other countries to accept cleared detainees but has banned their settlement in the United States; and

WHEREAS, these detainees have suffered unjust imprisonment for many years; and

WHEREAS, the Pioneer Valley has many resources to help such detainees with trauma from their imprisonment;and

WHEREAS, the Pioneer Valley has welcomed in the past many refugees from a variety of traumatic experiences in other countries,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Amherst Special Town Meeting 2009:

1) Urges Congress to repeal the ban on releasing cleared detainees into the United States and
2) Welcomes such cleared detainees into our community as soon as the ban is lifted.

Let’s just hope the Detainees know better, and root for the greatest team in the world, and not some inferior Boston team. Rooting for the Red Sox, even according to John Yoo, may be considered torture.

If Global Warming is a Religion, Would Al Gore be the Savior?

From the UK Telegraph, H/T Freakanomic:

Climate change belief given same legal status as religion. An executive has won the right to sue his employer on the basis that he was unfairly dismissed for his green views after a judge ruled that environmentalism had the same weight in law as religious and philosophical beliefs.

Any Court assessing whether a series of beliefs is actually a “Religion” has always troubled me, so I am not sure if I find this ruling totally implausible. After all, millions of people in Red Sox Nation worship at the feet of a Huge Green Idol, and reject the Pelagian heresy that any BoSox players took steroids.  By the way, congratulations to the greatest sports franchise ever, the New York Yankees, on their 27th World Series. Let’s go for #28!