Current Affairs

Sen. Arlen Specter is pushing for a law to allow cameras at the Supreme Court's oral-arguments sessions, and both Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan have spoken in favor of telvising court proceedings. Some say this means "momentum is building" for an end the the court's camera ban, but that may be overly optimistic:

Also reporedly under consideration: the dimwit ordinance, the dunce ordinance, the lout ordinance, the numskull ordinance, the blockhead ordinance, the dumbbell ordinance, the lunkhead ordinance and the lamebrain ordinance:

We hve a national crisis on our hands, and hardly anybody is paying attention:

U.S. packaged coffee maker J.M. Smucker Co (SJM.N) on Tuesday sharply raised prices for its well-known brands including Folgers, passing along the impact of a fund-led rally in benchmark futures markets.

The increase by an average of 9 percent was the biggest widespread rise in years . . .

I've already had my midlife crisis (actually, I've had several, starting in my 20s; why wait till the last minute?), and I don't especially want to live through someone else's. But I apparently have no choice. When the president wallows in approaching-50 angst, you sort of have to pay attention:

If I hear one more politician or commentator call the Gulf oil spill the "worst natural diaster in American history," I'll scream. Maybe I'll get lucky -- we seem to be in the "It wasn't nearly as bad as it seemed" stage: (via Instapundit)

With talk of the U.S. leaving iraq and Afghanistan, there are mounting calls for a "peace dividend." But we've been there, done that -- we made major military reductions after the Revolution, the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Cold War and the Persian Gulf War. As a result, we were ill prepared for the next conflict, and in some cases it could even be argued our downsizing even  contributed to the next conflict. Furthermore:

A win for open and vigorous debate:

SOUTH BEND — A St. Joseph County judge has dismissed a libel lawsuit against The Tribune and ordered the plaintiff to pay more than $47,000 in legal costs to the newspaper.

St. Joseph County resident Michael Sheneman filed suit against The Tribune in January 2009, alleging that a story written by reporter Jeff Parrott included false statements and libelous claims.

One step forward:

Future historians will pinpoint Democratic Sen. Harry Reid's energy legislation, released Tuesday, as the moment that the political movement of global warming entered an irreversible death spiral. It is kaput! Finito! Done!

Despicable:

Jasonville, Indiana (CNN) -- Last Christmas, Stacey Chapman hung a stocking, anxiously awaiting the homecoming of the all-American soldier she had met online and planned to marry.

First it was Casual Fridays (which I take very seriously; don't drop by here on that day if you expect to see someone who looks professional). That was followed by Lazy Fridays, the trend from Australia in which workers take off for the pubs at 3 p.m. Now we have the logical extension, Furlough Fridays: