The rule of law is to be preferred to the rule of man. We do not permit a man to rule but the law because a man rules in his own interest, and becomes a tyrant but the function of a rule is to be the guardian of the justice and, if justice then of equality. --Aristotle

The Rule of Law protects against man's tendency to bask in the light of his own shining intellect--to imagine himself superior to all decision makers who have gone before, to have such confidence in his own judgment as to no longer require the collected wisdom of precedent, and to feel so magnificent about himself as to believe his individual decision making powers are greater than the combined judgment of the voting public and representative legislative bodies. more...

Posted by: rdbrewer at 12:28 PM | Comments (85)
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Something to mull over from Nathan Wurtzel on Twitter (a good follow despite the very occasional soccer tweet. Not sure what's up with that).

Being GOP feels like Dems in 91. We know we want Obama (Bush) out; current field less than thrilling. Who will emerge as our Clinton?

My reply was a bit more pessimistic.

That's the optimistic version. It kind of feels like 96 to me. We want Clinton out but know we're going to nominate Dole.

For those of you who don't remember '92 (damn Malor kid)...George H. W. Bush was riding high in the polls following the Gulf War and a number of star Democrats like Mario Cuomo and Al Gore took a pass on challenging a popular incumbent in what looked like a suicide run. Despite the long odds of getting the nomination, let alone winning the general election, a young Governor from Arkansas took a flyer on the race and the rest is, well, you know the rest.

In other words...it ain't always as hopeless as it seems and you gotta be in it to win it.

In '96, well, the less said about that year the better.

Neither of those analogies is a perfect analogy to 2012 because it's far from clear that Obama will be as popular as Bush looked in 91 or as Clinton was in 96.

But the current field of 2012 Republican challengers from both sort of feels the same...not quite enough to get the job the done unless someone else turns up. I'm not sure who that would be (hence the out of the blue nature of the mystery candidate).

In the end, I think we're in a Rumsfeld type situation...you fight and election with the candidates you have, not the ones you might like.

A few other stray thoughts.... more...

Posted by: DrewM at 10:26 AM | Comments (282)
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I'm going to see The Green Hornet. I'll let you know.

Posted by: Ace at 08:10 AM | Comments (297)
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This has been slowly bubbling into the major media, though it's been coming for a long time. Hospira, the sole U.S. company that makes sodium thiopental, one of the drugs used for lethal injections, has announced that it will produce no more. Hospira has objected in the past to use of the drug for capital punishment, but claims to regret having to end production because the anesthetic has legitimate medical uses in hospitals.

Hospira said it decided in recent months to switch manufacturing from its North Carolina plant to a more modern Hospira factory in Liscate, Italy. But Italian authorities demanded a guarantee the drug would not be used to put inmates to death - an assurance the company said it was not willing to give.

"We cannot take the risk that we will be held liable by the Italian authorities if the product is diverted for use in capital punishment," Hospira spokesman Dan Rosenberg said. "Exposing our employees or facilities to liability is not a risk we are prepared to take."

Italian Health Ministry officials were not immediately available for comment.

All but one of the 35 states that employ lethal injection use sodium thiopental. In nearly every case, they use it as part of a three-drug combination that sedates and paralyzes the inmate and stops the heart.

. . .

In the fall, states including Arizona, Arkansas, California and Tennessee turned to sodium thiopental made in Britain. That supply dried up after the British government in November banned its export for use in executions.

Arizona, California, Kentucky, Ohio, and Oklahoma have had delays because of shortages, which will no doubt become worse when the small existing supply expires this year. Switching to a new drug will certainly provoke another round of legal challenges, despite the Supreme Court's recent rejection of the "cruel and unusual" argument.

Long-time readers of the blog know that I oppose capital punishment in most cases, though not on any bogus constitutional "cruel and unusual punishment" grounds. Drug shortages seem to me to be another contrived roadblock to lethal injection.

There is an elaborate legal dance to execution in this country. Carrying out a sentence of death has become a secular ritual, with exacting requirements for timing, procedure, and participants. Even judges who uphold the death penalty seem to add to these requirements, making it in fact harder to complete executions. That's really what the shortage worries are about. Hospira has upset the ritual.

I never understood the hand-wringing over whether a drug or a procedure could be found to kill that is relatively quick and painless because it seems to me that thousands of veterinarians employ such a drug every day. Unless you're now going to tell me that they've actually been torturing our elderly animals to death, the drug problem seems to have a pretty common-sense solution.

Indeed my home state still has some common sense:

Oklahoma has gone a different route, switching to pentobarbital, an anesthetic commonly used to put cats and dogs to sleep. The state has conducted two executions with that drug.

Pentobarbital is also used in Oregon's physician-assisted suicides, as well as legal suicides in the Netherlands and (until it was banned) Australia.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 07:10 AM | Comments (292)
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I put this in the sidebar, but it probably warrants some commentary and piling on from the Moron Nation™: Obama to Push New Spending: State of Union Speech to Call for Boosting 'Competitiveness' While Nodding to Need for Budget Cuts

President Barack Obama will call for new government spending on infrastructure, education and research in his State of the Union address Tuesday, sharpening his response to Republicans in Congress who are demanding deep budget cuts, people familiar with the speech said.

Mr. Obama will argue that the U.S., even while trying to reduce its budget deficit, must make targeted investments to foster job growth and boost U.S. competitiveness in the world economy. The new spending could include initiatives aimed at building the renewable-energy sector—which received billions of dollars in stimulus funding—and rebuilding roads to improve transportation, people familiar with the matter said. (emphasis added)

He's kidding, right? Didn't we just piss away $862 billion we don't have on the Exact. Same. Thing? Or are these different green jobs and infrastructure projects than those other ones?

President Obama apparently continues to labor under the illusion that the Keynesian multiplier will produce a magical recovery on the back of "shovel-ready" projects. Right tool; wrong metaphor - he should acquaint himself instead with the First Law of Holes: When you find yourself in one, stop digging. more...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 06:30 AM | Comments (103)
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The Swiss didn't want to give him the money he looted from Haiti while dictator until he could show Haitian authorities weren't interested in prosecuting him.

...Duvalier, 59, made the trip just before a Swiss law that could entitle him to at least $4.6 million takes effect on Feb. 1. To collect the funds, he would have to show Haitian authorities aren't interested in prosecuting him...

Unfortunately, for Baby Doc, Haitian authorities ARE interested in prosecuting him. Of course, Haiti being Haiti, chances are he can buy himself out of that by agreeing to transfer the a big chunk of the stolen Swiss loot to the people bringing the charges, so it can become their stolen loot.

I think the laws of physics and thermodynamics apply to loot. Loot is conserved, but its entropy is always increasing proportional to the "deep shit" you need to buy yourself out of.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 04:52 AM | Comments (47)
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Hey, did anybody hear about this Olbermann thing?

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 04:50 AM | Comments (105)
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Running a little late tonight. The real world tends to intrude sometimes.

The Ballad of Beaker:

Posted by: Genghis at 06:44 PM | Comments (552)
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Above the Post Update:
Like Felix Unger, he was asked to leave and never return.

Thanks to DaveInTexas for the video.

Turns out there was a bit more to the farewell address.

“MSNBC and Keith Olbermann have ended their contract. The last broadcast of “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” will be this evening. MSNBC thanks Keith for his integral role in MSNBC’s success and we wish him well in his future endeavors.”

Buh--bye.

The great Ace of Spades HQ-Keith Olbermann throw-down. First me, then Jack, then Dave, then Ace. We just beat him like a drum. Thanks Keith for all the new Twitter followers I got that that. Good times, good times.

Didn't the Comcast takeover of NBC just get approved? Did he jump before he was pushed? Or was he pushed?

From the Slublog Collection

more...

Posted by: DrewM at 04:59 PM | Comments (511)
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Keith has to start updating his resume.

SKILLS:

* MSWord
* Light Excel
* Good At Comparing Random Things to Nazi Germany
* Snorts Like a Crazed Bull
* Can Use Finger To Type Special Comments and/or Bring a Woman Halfway To Climax
* Will Fight Death For Food

Posted by: Ace at 04:45 PM | Comments (320)
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