Yeah, you heard me. More lawyers. Congress needs 'em. Or maybe Nancy Pelosi simply needs to consult one. You see, my friends, Speaker Pelosi wants to sue President Bush over the latest Iraq bill if he issues a signing statement. Sue.
Ok, I'm but a mere second-year law student, a veritable neophyte, if you will. That said, even I know that despite the litigiousness of our society, you can't just sue the President of the United States, or anyone else for that matter, without jumping through a few hoops. First and foremost, you need to have standing to litigate. Simply put, in order to show standing you need to show that you have personally suffered some actual or threatened injury (an invasion of a legally-protected interest) as the result of the supposedly illegal conduct of the defendant. One wonders what sort of injury Nancy Pelosi might suffer if George Bush tells her to pound sand in a signing statement.
Of course, a lawyer would also tell Speaker Pelosi that federal courts are "prudentially barred" from answering political questions. Federal courts stay out of political pissing contests, so unless there has been some violation of law, the courts don't go there. Thing is, not only has no law been broken, but the US Supreme Court said in Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837 (1984), that it defers to the Executive's interpretation of law if Congress has not directly spoken to the precise issue in question. That means if Bush wants to add a signing statement--something presidents have done ever since Monroe--he can damn well add a signing statement.
I know this is pretty esoteric and not on anyone's radar. I just find it amazing that a lawmaker doesn't know the law.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Saturday, May 5, 2007
"France is a dog-hole...
...and it no more merits the tread of a man's foot."
- William Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well
It should come as no surprise that I'm a Francophobe, which is not to say that I fear all things French. Rather, I simply loathe French attitudes and French collectivist culture. Take your average Frenchman; he manages to work only 35 hours a week and take off the entire month of August, yet apparently can't seem to spare a moment to check on grand-mère, who has since died of heat stroke. You would think 15,000 people dying of heat stroke in a month might make a bit of a stink (pun intended). Then again, who can tell. As Frances Trollope once wrote:
I remember being much amused last year when landing at Calais, at the answer made by an old traveler to a novice who was making his first voyage. 'What a dreadful smell,' said the uninitiated stranger, enveloping his nose in his pocket hankerchief. 'It is the smell of the continent, sir,' said the man of experience. And so it was.
Ok, all French-bashing aside, I've taken a slight interest in the French presidential race. On the left, as in the blithering "useful idiot" Left known as France's Socialist Party, you have Ségolène Royal (ironic name, huh?), while on the "right" (a term to be used loosely when describing a European politician) you have Gaullist Nicolas Sarkozy. What interested me about this race was the similarity of tactics employed by Royal to those employed by those on the Left here in the states; it's as if they've been issued the same playbook. Instead of addressing, you know... hard things, like issues, Royal and her supporters have focused on demonizing Sarkozy, running on a platform with a central plank of "tout sauf Sarkozy"--anyone but Sarkozy. Sound familiar? In fact, Royal's supporters have gone so far as to describe Sarkozy as a "French George W. Bush." I find that good for a chuckle because the cheese-eating surrender monkeys are wholly incapable of producing anything or anyone that is remotely Texan in character.
Maybe a politician is a politician regardless of nationality. Maybe the Euro Lefties and the American Lefties trade notes. I dunno, but the similarities are worth noting. Another page out of the common playbook is the threat of violence if the other side wins. I seem to recall Elizabeth Edwards saying the same thing just before the 2004 election. While such threats are largely ineffectual here in the US (particularly down south, where they're always eager to pop open a can of whup-ass at the mere whiff of provocation), I can see how this might be an effective tactic in a country known for its tendency to run up the white flag... or just run. Sarkozy has a 10-point lead, so it'll be interesting to see if things go to hell. Of course, as Frank Zappa said, "there is no hell. There is only France."
- William Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well
It should come as no surprise that I'm a Francophobe, which is not to say that I fear all things French. Rather, I simply loathe French attitudes and French collectivist culture. Take your average Frenchman; he manages to work only 35 hours a week and take off the entire month of August, yet apparently can't seem to spare a moment to check on grand-mère, who has since died of heat stroke. You would think 15,000 people dying of heat stroke in a month might make a bit of a stink (pun intended). Then again, who can tell. As Frances Trollope once wrote:
I remember being much amused last year when landing at Calais, at the answer made by an old traveler to a novice who was making his first voyage. 'What a dreadful smell,' said the uninitiated stranger, enveloping his nose in his pocket hankerchief. 'It is the smell of the continent, sir,' said the man of experience. And so it was.
Ok, all French-bashing aside, I've taken a slight interest in the French presidential race. On the left, as in the blithering "useful idiot" Left known as France's Socialist Party, you have Ségolène Royal (ironic name, huh?), while on the "right" (a term to be used loosely when describing a European politician) you have Gaullist Nicolas Sarkozy. What interested me about this race was the similarity of tactics employed by Royal to those employed by those on the Left here in the states; it's as if they've been issued the same playbook. Instead of addressing, you know... hard things, like issues, Royal and her supporters have focused on demonizing Sarkozy, running on a platform with a central plank of "tout sauf Sarkozy"--anyone but Sarkozy. Sound familiar? In fact, Royal's supporters have gone so far as to describe Sarkozy as a "French George W. Bush." I find that good for a chuckle because the cheese-eating surrender monkeys are wholly incapable of producing anything or anyone that is remotely Texan in character.
Maybe a politician is a politician regardless of nationality. Maybe the Euro Lefties and the American Lefties trade notes. I dunno, but the similarities are worth noting. Another page out of the common playbook is the threat of violence if the other side wins. I seem to recall Elizabeth Edwards saying the same thing just before the 2004 election. While such threats are largely ineffectual here in the US (particularly down south, where they're always eager to pop open a can of whup-ass at the mere whiff of provocation), I can see how this might be an effective tactic in a country known for its tendency to run up the white flag... or just run. Sarkozy has a 10-point lead, so it'll be interesting to see if things go to hell. Of course, as Frank Zappa said, "there is no hell. There is only France."
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
"Sadly, there are no integers on this scale...
...so your gangly adolescent attempt to be clever has proved futile."
Dieter's words echoed in my head as I googled Captain's [B]log, only to find my attempt at a clever title was, in fact, trite and derivative. There are countless blogs and blog-like pages using this very title. I am emotionally obliterated.
In case you're interested, here's a sample of other captains' blogs.
http://www.enterprisemission.com/weblog/weblog.htm (notice the similarity of appearance?)
http://shavlik.typepad.com/
http://www.earthrace.net/index.php?section=41
http://www.captainsblogcayman.blogspot.com/ (another dark, foreboding black & blue blog, but pretty pictures!)
http://blogs.msdn.com/kdrage/default.aspx
http://ifcblog.ifctv.com/evan/2005/12/this_film_is_no_1.html
http://captnsaj.blogspot.com/
http://whatspocksawintheloo.blogspot.com/ (hmmmm...)
http://www.captainsblog.se/?language=en
http://bugscaptainsblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.parrotbayvillage.com/captainsblog/
http://www.englishbrain.blogspot.com/ (more black & blue.)
http://firefightersworkout.blogspot.com/
http://captaincapitalism.com/blog/blog.html (stop with the black & blue already!)
http://www.stu-wilson.blogspot.com/
http://captainsblog.tumblr.com/
http://tobyvstheworld.blogspot.com/
http://captainhumphreys.blogspot.com/
http://geekswithblogs.net/skibum/Default.aspx
http://jonashoffmann.blogspot.com/
http://captainslog.bloog.pl/?ticaid=63ac3 (pretty, but me no speakski Polish.)
http://nikolez.blogspot.com/ (damn, she ripped off my brackets AND it's black & blue!)
Well, you get the idea. Actually, I opted to go black & green because it tied in nicely with my mature geekiness, meaning I've been a geek since the days of the "green screen." That, and most of my time as a captain was spent staring at little black & green screens inside a big gray airplane. So, black, gray, green... it all makes sense now, huh?
Oh, I should note I only ranked an obscure 16th in Google when I searched for my wee lil' blog. It made me think vhy is it that the truly brilliant are doomed to a life of obscurity, surrounded by a sea of mediocrity, only to end up covered in sores in a pool of their own filth? Oh vell, the beat goes on.
Dieter's words echoed in my head as I googled Captain's [B]log, only to find my attempt at a clever title was, in fact, trite and derivative. There are countless blogs and blog-like pages using this very title. I am emotionally obliterated.
In case you're interested, here's a sample of other captains' blogs.
http://www.enterprisemission.com/weblog/weblog.htm (notice the similarity of appearance?)
http://shavlik.typepad.com/
http://www.earthrace.net/index.php?section=41
http://www.captainsblogcayman.blogspot.com/ (another dark, foreboding black & blue blog, but pretty pictures!)
http://blogs.msdn.com/kdrage/default.aspx
http://ifcblog.ifctv.com/evan/2005/12/this_film_is_no_1.html
http://captnsaj.blogspot.com/
http://whatspocksawintheloo.blogspot.com/ (hmmmm...)
http://www.captainsblog.se/?language=en
http://bugscaptainsblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.parrotbayvillage.com/captainsblog/
http://www.englishbrain.blogspot.com/ (more black & blue.)
http://firefightersworkout.blogspot.com/
http://captaincapitalism.com/blog/blog.html (stop with the black & blue already!)
http://www.stu-wilson.blogspot.com/
http://captainsblog.tumblr.com/
http://tobyvstheworld.blogspot.com/
http://captainhumphreys.blogspot.com/
http://geekswithblogs.net/skibum/Default.aspx
http://jonashoffmann.blogspot.com/
http://captainslog.bloog.pl/?ticaid=63ac3 (pretty, but me no speakski Polish.)
http://nikolez.blogspot.com/ (damn, she ripped off my brackets AND it's black & blue!)
Well, you get the idea. Actually, I opted to go black & green because it tied in nicely with my mature geekiness, meaning I've been a geek since the days of the "green screen." That, and most of my time as a captain was spent staring at little black & green screens inside a big gray airplane. So, black, gray, green... it all makes sense now, huh?
Oh, I should note I only ranked an obscure 16th in Google when I searched for my wee lil' blog. It made me think vhy is it that the truly brilliant are doomed to a life of obscurity, surrounded by a sea of mediocrity, only to end up covered in sores in a pool of their own filth? Oh vell, the beat goes on.
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