Politics and other nightmares

Virginia Postrel, someone whose opinions are always worth considering, pinpoints exactly what's wrong with the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court:

Let's hear it for Tom Coburn, the freshman senator from Oklahoma, who had the guts to tell "the world's greatest deliberative body" how indecent its spending has become:

Never, ever thought I'd see Rush and Hillary paired this way. Do you suppose. . . ? Nah. Although, the way Cindy's mind works, she's probably considered it.

I once served on a nonprofit board with a woman who insisted that we never order Dominos pizza for our lunch meetings because its owner was a rightwing zealot whose causes she didn't want to promote, even with her digestive system. A foolish mixing of food and politics, I thought. I'm proud to say I still feel the same way, so I can enjoy my ice cream without worrying about the leftwing zealots who make it. Priceless, this:

Did anybody really expect this panel to recommend something truly radical and courageous, such as a flat tax or a national sales tax? Well, some of us did have hopes, actually. Safe prediction: Anything that actually happens under the name of "reform" will make the tax code even more complicated and destructive than it already is.

"Eminent domain" is way too civilizied a term for some of this stuff. It's just outright theft, plain and simple.

It's nice to know Bill Clinton has a second career. His CD is selling well, which means we will probably be treated to others. Notice that Bill leans toward jazz -- people like Miles Davis and John Coltrane -- while President Bush likes a lot of country music.

There's a full moon out tonight, so I'm not going to get too excited about this. But is it possible there are still some fiscal conservatives left in Congress?

House Republican leaders have moved from balking at big cuts in Medicaid and other programs to embracing them, driven by pent-up anger from fiscal conservatives concerned about runaway spending and the leadership's own weakening hold on power.

I'm not crazy about Oregon's assisted-suicide law. For one thing, it's dangerous to do anything to make suicide an easy first option instead of a desperate last one; that's the wrong thing to add to the culture, considering how many teens consider suicide and don't need that much encouragement. For another, inviting physicians to participate takes that profession where we shouldn't want it to go.

Don't laugh at this or shake your head in disgust, or you, too, may be "ordered to undergo diversity training or cultural sensitivity training." As I've said before, I love the Spanish language and make periodic stabs at learning it well enough to carry on a decent conversation in it. I hope my study of it remains a voluntary exercise, however.