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February 8, 2012
Warren Richey: Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
February 6, 2012
Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
Oct. 6, 2005
/ 3 Tishrei, 5765
High Court politics
By
Tony Blankley
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Washington politics is a contrary business right at the moment.
Republicans and particularly conservatives are somewhere between
despondent and furious. While Democrats and particularly liberals are
failing to come up with the reciprocal happy sentiments that usually provide
the emotional yin and yang of a Washington political moment.
I have in mind, of course, the curious case of the unloved
spinster just launched on the rocket docket to the Supreme Court. As a
card-carrying member of the conservative conclave, I would not have made
Miss Miers my first choice, or my thousandth. In fact, I would associate
myself with Brother-in-Christ Patrick Buchanan's searing preachment at
Monday's services concerning her wane qualifications for the high bench.
Of course, we conservatives were hoping for and had
justifiable reasons to expect that President Bush would nominate any one
of the many brilliant conservative legal intellectuals who our movement has
been carefully nurturing and advancing these past 30 years. We raised them
from precocious pups. We gave them succor when they presented themselves in
the political jungle. We advanced them carefully through the training
grounds of high office. And the deepness of their thoughts and the deftness
of their words made them beloved of the tribe.
And now this president, who we with our own millions of arms
raised on high, has spurned our best and chosen one of his lackluster own.
But despite our admiration for sapience, as a species we humans
are better at biting than thinking which is understandable as we have
aspired to thought only for a few hundred thousand years, while we have been
biting and slashing since our DNA shared space in the crocodile.
And I confess I was doing a fair bit of snapping and snarling
myself on Monday. But after my reptilian aggression subsided, it dawned on
me that I needed to distinguish between the desirable and the necessary. In
politics, we are well ahead of the game if we gain 50 percent of our goals.
I have spent whole decades in politics where we accomplished almost nothing
except a hard-fought-for continued existence.
Of course I would have vastly and justifiably preferred
President Bush to have chosen a certain, proven, intellectually formidable
legal warrior (of whom he had an abundant choice). But I have to admit on
reflection that even with the dull, dutiful Dallas evangel, it is much more
likely than not, that 10 years from now she will be voting quite reliably
with Roberts, Scalia, Thomas and the one or two more generally conservative
justices who George Bush will probably have the chance to place on the court
in the remaining three and a third years of his presidency.
It could have been so much more. But it is probably enough. And
in politics, when we probably get enough we should be thankful.
Which is why the Democrats this week do not share in glee
proportionally with our despond. First, they feared to bite the seemingly
guileless, yet cunning, Adonis who Bush first sent up for confirmation. Now
they are uncertain how to get their yawning mandibles to grab and hold the
hard but slight bones of the president's meager offering the second time
around.
It is often observed that each new president seems the opposite
personality of the one he follows (Washington and Adams, Buchanan and
Lincoln, Wilson and Harding, FDR and Truman, Eisenhower and JFK, Nixon and
Carter (Ford doesn't count) Reagan and GHW Bush). And so it is with
Clinton and W.
Where Clinton had an uncontrollable need to be loved (yes, that
way as well as politically), GW Bush seems to be preternaturally a rock and
an island unto himself. He is not only comfortable in his own skin as we
used to say admiringly, he is positively ornery in it. One might go so far
as to say he enjoys infuriating both friend and foe. If Clinton's weakness
was unmanly; W's self-possession is too manly. As Barbara Walters might say:
He is not being gentle with us.
As in life, so in politics, if one seeks disappointment, one
will surely find it. And conservatives have not had to look hard this week
to find the gloom. But it is the disappointment of an unrequited ardor, of
a not yet fully consummated passion. Such youthful vigor inevitably finds
its satisfaction.
Consider, in the alternative, the deeper disappointment that
liberals contemplate in this dreary autumn of their aspirations. The last
remaining champions of their principles sit aged and infirm on the high
bench their former brilliance now brittle and susceptible to being
chiseled and crumbled by even the most modest conservative laborers.
Victory may not be heroic, but it will be ours.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Tony Blankley is editorial page editor of The Washington Times. Comment by clicking here.
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