The Tedder P. Schoenhopfer Policy Exchange

A contest for the Crumillers, family, and friends. First prize is a leftover Reese’s from Halloween. Who are the people in the photo? (Easy part: name 2 of 3 to win. Extra credit: name all 3.) And in which historic Princeton home are they posing?

Ineligible for the prize: Jenny, Darlyne, Jon. And Beth & Jim Healey. Due to an unfair advantage because we were all there, and we already knew anyway.

I’m the gerrymandered district.

Although there’s been some discussion of Alito already on “Breaking News,” I think he deserves his own post.

To answer Mom’s question (I think): yes, it is absolutely worth fighting Alito. Assuming we all agree that we don’t want a super-conservative, old-boys-club Supreme Court, and that Alito really is that conservative, the only reason not to fight him with everything we have is “don’t want to be seen as obstructionist.” But by whom? The American public is not the radical right. Most Americans are pro-choice, pro-civil rights, etc, and Alito is definitely not. I also think this appt is especially egregious when the White House is making such a fanfare about Rosa Parks’ death.

Also, below is a must-read article on why Bush needs to pick a woman. (There are links in the article which didn’t copy; best to go to the link directly and click through if desired.)

Pick a Chick: Why we need more women on the Supreme Court.
By Dahlia Lithwick

A few weeks ago I suggested that race and gender should not be the only—or even the primary—filter through which we consider Supreme Court nominees. I rejected the arguments that minority candidates serve as proxies for minority views (whatever those might be), or that they create the appearance of a court that “looks like America.” I was wrong. We need another woman on the Supreme Court. And while we’re at it we need a few more women on the Senate judiciary committee.

Yesterday, in a speech at Wake Forest University, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg joined her colleague Sandra Day O’Connor and first lady Laura Bush in calling for a second woman on the high court. And while she qualified her words, her message was clear: “I would not like to be the only woman on the court,” said Ginsburg. “First and foremost should be the quality of the nominee, both as a judge and as a human.” But she added: “Yes, it would be nice to have another woman on the court, but not any woman.” This is not the first time Ginsburg has made this point in recent days. She made similar comments last week in New York. She also offered to share her shortlist of qualified women with the president. It’s rather extraordinary for a sitting justice to publicly lobby for a woman colleague. Imagine Antonin Scalia demanding that the president appoint more Catholics.

[Click here to read the rest of the article]

I was watching this neat thing with Bill today, where he was talking about his book in austin, tx. he was basically just talking for a couple of hours about whatever crossed his mind, and was also taking questions. he was in top form as usual, and said some things that were really interesting. I remember one was when someone asked about when the country would accept candidates based on their education and experience instead of smear tactics. bill basically said that the democrats were being dumbas, because the smear tactics work, and they’ll stop using it when it stops working. He busted on the democrats a lot. I wish i could remember some of the other points he made. But anyway, the quote that mom and dad will definitely like is this: “The only reason I became President is because I didn’t have television as a child.”

I’m going to read the news, starting today.

Auntie Sue asked me to put up this photo of her puppy. She thinks it’s cute .. I think it will look cuter when it gets older.

Grand Jury asked to indict Libby and Rove
Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald has asked the grand jury investigating the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson to indict Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby and Bush’s Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice, lawyers close to the investigation tell RAW STORY.

Fitzgerald has also asked the jury to indict Libby on a second charge: knowingly outing a covert operative, the lawyers said.

No web-cam behind the couch? This is the winter season! Extensive research shows that in the colder months, Mr. Tedder consistently chooses the warmer, more enclosed space behind the couch. The Crumillers should have anticipated this move, and had multiple cameras in place by the time their main attraction decided to seek a more comfortable shelter. If the Crumillers are really so out of sync with what their audience wants to see, they might not get the honor of Tedder’s continued support.

Being both cool and technologically cutting edge, i assume dad discovered this long ago, but I don’t know if anyone else has.
It’s called Google Earth, and it’s awesome.

google earth

You can basically just fly around anywhere on the Globe and then zoom in. Surprisingly far in some cases. It’s really easy to use.

“Strongest storm ever.”   Where will it hit?  When will it hit?

this is a new website I learned about: The Raw Story. The investigation into the Plame thing is honing in on “senior White House Officials.” This reminds me of a question I’ve been wondering about. Why are there so many right-wing hypocrites. Is it just me or are there far fewer left-wing hypocrites. See if you can think of some of each. Not just Republicans who are bad, but people who act especially righteous. Off the top of my head:

Bill Bennett, wrote Book of Virtues and then is discovered to be a compulsive gambler (and racist, but that might conform to his view of virtue so might not qualify).
Various televangelists turn out to bilk their congregations.
Rush Limbaugh — made housekeeper get him drugs

Check out Tedder, and nominate him for the Supreme Court!

Jenny asked me to comment on the blog so this is a test. My basement is dry. How is yours?

Here’s a problem that majorly affects my enjoyment of the blog: I’ll read all the comments, and there are still comments that claim to be “Unread!” Then, when i hit “Mark all comments as read,” the same comments still claim to be unread!!!!!