bluechiplaw's blog

Posted at 9:43am on Jun. 16, 2008 Let's Play Hardball

By bluechiplaw

How long before this conversation took place?

MATTHEWS: "Hello Steve, this is Chris."

CAPUS: "Oh, hey Chris. Hold on a sec, let me turn down O'Reilly. What's up?"

MATTHEWS: "Terrible news, just terrible, I'm sure you're still feeling the pain."

CAPUS: "We're all sad here, you know that."

MATTHEWS: "Do I ever. Listen, speaking of that, I know you guys might need some help over there, and I'd be willing to, uh, you know, fill in while Tim's out."

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Posted at 3:51pm on Jun. 5, 2008 The Obama Effect: Irresistable Grace and Efficacious Redemption

Well, I must say I have new respect for CNN because their station name apparently stands for the Calvinist News Network. You see, in keeping with the Reformed tradition, CNN has proclaimed that Obama's presence and soaring rhetoric efficaciously causes all who hear to swoon.

"Some people are already calling this 'the Obama Effect,'" said a CNN anchorette this morning as I was getting ready for work. The Obama Effect is apparently this: Obama goes to a large rally, is able to somehow attract a lot of people, he then speaks, and the people---millions of people---"follow him." This is the Irresistable Grace of Obama. Something about him just causes all who listen to fall in love with him. It's really quite incredible.

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Posted at 7:59pm on Jun. 3, 2008 Just say no to Jindal

By bluechiplaw

At least for now. Please, please, please, let this not be the night when McCain names Jindal as his veep, effectively destroying the long-term political future of such a bright star, while at the same time foregoing all arguments we have about Obama's lack of foreign policy experience.

I'm going to go ahead and get mad now, so that perhaps I won't throw something at my tv later.

Who am I kidding, I'll still chunk shoe.

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Posted at 11:56am on Jun. 3, 2008 Possible Strategy Behind Tape Nonrelease

By bluechiplaw

Okay, here's some rank punditry.

Why would the Keeper of the Tape withhold its release? Two possible reasons:

1. The conventional wisdom---wait for an October Surprise.
2. The Democratic Convention wisdom---make the superdelegates look like idiots, squirm, and question their choice.

This second option is attractive. What if the tape is release sometime between Hillary's concession and the convention? Superdelagates, and even pledged delagates can change their votes (I believe) up to the convention. Therefore, the Keeper of the Tape may be waiting until we get closer to the convention in order to force the People and the Superdelagates to rethink their vote.

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Posted at 9:45am on May 21, 2008 Puritan or Separatist?

By bluechiplaw

Institutions by their very nature grow more liberal as they grow older. I was recently reading a biography of Jonathan Edwards, the great theologian of Connecticutt, and the author noted that people murmured against Harvard becoming too liberal back in Edwards' day. Of course, liberal to them meant Harvard profs were becoming more Anglican and less Massachusetts Bay Puritan. My how times have changed.

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Posted at 4:34pm on May 15, 2008 So I'm going to marry my brother. Deal with it!

By bluechiplaw

Okay, in light of the California Supreme Court's ruling today, I think I'm going to do move to California and marry my brother. Makes perfect sense, really---Just think about it.

First, I love my brother. It's in a completely non-gross kind of way, but I still love him. We've been related all his life (I'm older), and we've basically been buddies now for over 22 years.

Second, I know his family REALLY well, and we get along quite nicely. In fact, his parents have been giving me Christmas presents since before he was born. They'll think our relationship is a bit weird, but they'll understand why we're doing it.

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Posted at 9:00am on Apr. 22, 2008 Fun with Google News Quotes

By bluechiplaw

I was reading NRO's Media Blog yesterday, and saw a post by Greg Pollowitz noting that Google News now posts a quote at the top of the search page whenever you do a Google News search for a public figure. Greg speculated Google News may be part of the VRWC, as he noted the following combination of names searched for and the quotes that popped up:

"Bill Ayers":

"I don't regret setting bombs. I feel we didn't do enough"

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Posted at 1:37pm on Apr. 18, 2008 I accidentally watched Olbermann

By bluechiplaw

Is it the silver streaks in the hair? Is it the perfect dimple in the tie? Is it the parade of respected, objective journalists that he shuffles through his show? There's just something you have to love about Olbermann.

Well, not really. Nevertheless, I was watching some of the show last night as part of the initiation process into my local self-flagellation club. I'd always heard Olby was in the tank for Obama, and I had no reason to doubt. But last night Olby was postulating that Obama "won by losing." "Is it possible that Obama won by being on the defensive all night?" Eh?

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Posted at 9:50pm on Apr. 7, 2008 Beckel Blows Away Random White Guy on Hannity

By bluechiplaw

So I was just watching Hannity and Colmes, having been flipping around during the Kansas/Memphis game, and this goofball was on there getting his hat handed to him by Bob Beckel. Fortunately, Michael Steele was there to save him.

I just wish I could remember the guy's name . . . .

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Posted at 9:55pm on Mar. 31, 2008 It's Over. It's All Over.

By bluechiplaw

This morning I awoke to the sound of my phone alarm. In an effort to streamline my life, I now own neither a home phone nor an alarm clock; my mobile phone serves both purposes ably. I'm not ashamed to say that right now I wake every morning to the dulcit tones of Kool Moe Dee singing "Rapper's Delight." Okay, so I'm slightly ashamed.

Anyway, so my wife and I are be-boppin' around singing "a hip, hop, the hippie the hippie dibby hip hop hop and you don't stop

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Posted at 11:39pm on Mar. 26, 2008 Justice Stevens: Brilliant Jurist

By bluechiplaw

Just kidding. But he did add a welcome 6th vote to a textualist majority.

He did cast an admirable vote this week in Medellin v. Texas where he was faced with the most difficult choice a liberal jurist can face: slap down the president, or embosom international law? In all seriousness, though, the Court's decision in Medellin made for a strong support of the Constitution, federalism, and judicial restraint.

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Posted at 9:55pm on Mar. 19, 2008 I'm salivating for a McCain presidency

By bluechiplaw

Yup I said it. I've gone from a Ronulon (I'm reflexively libertarian) to a Thompsonite to a McCainiac. I was a Ronulon because of what I believe, a Thompsonite because of what he believed, and now a McCainiac for what I have the audacity to hope---a safe Supreme Court.

Yesterday as I sat in my office at the house, drinking a Shiner Bock and listening to oral arguments in Heller, I had the following slightly morbid thought: "Boy do Ginsburg and Stevens sound old." It's true, though, isn't it, that of the Justices currently on the Court the one most likely to resign is Stevens. Now I know he's young compared to his brother who's in his 90s and practicing law in Florida (I wonder if treats wills he's probating as living documents, the language of which change over time). But he's gotta wear down sometime, right?

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Posted at 10:56am on Mar. 19, 2008 2nd Amendment Case Reaction

By bluechiplaw

Yesterday the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Washington D.C. v. Heller. I listened to the oral arguments in its entirety yesterday, and I thought I’d pass along my observations.

First, it should be noted that the Supreme Court has never directly addressed the meaning of the language of the amendment which reads as follows: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Listening to the oral arguments was educational regarding the history of the amendment and the meaning of the words used therein at the time of its adoption. For instance, many of the amendments in the Bill of Rights are taken from an English Bill of Rights adopted in 1689. Though the English Bill of Rights was a bill of rights protecting the people against the Crown, and the “rights” could always be altered by Parliament, it provided a backdrop for its American progeny. The words “the right of the people” did not appear in the English version, nor did the word “keep.” Apparently, to “bear arms” had a distinctly military meaning, however one going to the woods and hunting a turkey with a rifle would be said to “bear a gun,” the phrase “bear arms” normally came up in a military context.

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Posted at 11:28am on Mar. 13, 2008 Hagee v. Wright

By bluechiplaw

As readers of my blog know, I'm no Hagee fan. However, Hagee is no Rev. Wright, and Hagee's anti-catholicism should be viewed differently than Wright's anti-semitism. Let me explain:

I've done a lot of reading on Hagee, and other mega-church pastors within his particular brand, and I must say that Hagee's anti-catholicism, from what I've seen, is based on a particular eschatological view, in which he reads Revelation as referring to Rome as the "whore of Babylon." This was a view shared by many Reformers, though in a different vein. Luther believed that the pope was the antichrist. (Leo X didn't do much to put that theory to rest, mind you.) Many other Protestants have believed the same thing over the years, in large part due to certain passages speaking of antichrist setting himself up in the temple of God, and the distinct metaphorical references to Rome in Revelation, etc. From this, people like Hagee extrapolate that (1) antichrist portrays himself as a christian; (2) but places himself as one infallible. It's not hard to see how some make the jump to saying the pope, speaking ex cathedra, fits the bill. (I do NOT hold to this view, so please, don't berate me.)

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Posted at 11:13am on Feb. 27, 2008 Post Debate Reaction

By bluechiplaw

Watching people self-destruct on television, continually making bonehead mistakes, is something I can't stomach. I couldn't even make it all the way through Meet the Parents because I kept yelling at Ben Stiller to not be such fool. (Who would really wear a speedo at his prospect in-laws' house?)

As difficult as it is to watch fictional meltdowns, it's infinitely worse to view it for real, yet I managed to watch with anticipation every moment of the Dem debate.

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