A connection between abortion and abuse?

World Magazine blog is reporting that a new study published in the medical journal Acta Paediatrica found that women who have had an abortion are 2.4 times more likely to physically abuse their children than those who have had a miscarriage or stillbirth.

Ann Coulter weighs in again

Ann Coulter has let loose another barrage on the Miers nomination in her latest column:

For five years, Bush has initiated massive spending programs, obstinately refused to protect the borders and signed restrictions on political speech into law. His veto pen remains unopened and unused in its original shrink-wrapped case. Bush treats conservatives like the Democrats treat the blacks (which is to say, pretty badly).

Conservatives were unhappy, but we were confident Bush would never let us down on the two issues that mattered more than anything else: the war on terrorism and the Supreme Court.

And now, although Bush has been bold and strong against the terrorists, it is beyond question that he has betrayed conservative hopes for the Supreme Court.

Of course, some conservatives would take issue with Bush's performance on the "war on terrorism" as well.

You can read the rest of Ann's column here.

More thoughts on Miers; blog round-up

"It's too late now. At this point the only [Supreme Court] nominee I will settle for is Ann Coulter. In stilettos. With a whip."
--Poster at Shot In The Dark

------------------------------------

It's too bad we didn't get the opportunity to see how many Republicans in the Senate were willing to take a principled stand and vote against Harriet Miers despite the White House's arm-twisting, but Miers' withdrawal is the next best thing. She was obviously not qualified for a position on the Supreme Court, and was picked for the position for two reasons and two reasons alone:

1. She was a woman, and 2. She was extremely loyal to Bush (to the point of being a bootlicker, it seems).

After his re-election in 2004, President Bush boasted that he had "political capital" which he intended to spend. I think it's pretty safe to say that between the quagmire in Iraq, the New Olreans/Katrina debacle and the Miers fiasco, he has pretty much spent all his political capital. If he hadn't spent what was remaining with his nomination of Miers, he spent it with his administration's attempts to defend and justify the nomination. His wife helped spend it too: Laura Bush's comment that it was "possible" that criticism of Miers was motivated by "sexism" was about as bad a thing a person could say in that situation, and only caused more mutiny among the Republican Party base. Mrs. Bush's comment was especially nonsensical considering it's an open secret that Miers never would have been picked if she were not a woman--and is that not a form of sexism in itself?

It will be interesting to see who President Bush's next pick for the Supreme Court will be. We already know he is stubborn, as his refusal to withdraw the Miers nomination showed, and we already know his wife is very vocal about her desire for a woman to be nominated. Will Bush go with another woman; try to pick someone who is actually qualified and/or conservative; or perhaps go to the person many people think he wants to pick, Alberto Gonzales?

Bush's next selection will show exactly what he thinks of the conservative base that elected him to office in 2000 and 2004. He knows we are not happy--will he try to calm us down or will he instead thumb his nose at us?

Various thoughts from around the blogosphere:

From The American Princess:

I can't share in the glee this morning over the Miers pullout. Certainly
she was a second-class nominee, and certainly she probably was either
underqualified, or strangely qualified for the position, but whenever a nominee
pulls out of the process, the follow up cannot be a positive one . . . If we
believe that Miers was nominated through cronyism and through some sort of
momentary lapse in wavelength with the voters, then we have no choice but to
expect that the next candidate will not only be worse, but more of a compromise.
Brace yourselves, Republicans, this is going to be a bumpy ride.

From Hugh Hewitt:

I think Ms. Miers has been unfairly treated by many who have for years urged
fair treatment of judicial nominees.

She deserves great thanks for her
significant service to the country. She and the president deserved much better
from his allies.…

(Hewitt is predicting that Judge (Mitchell?) McConnell will be Bush's new choice).

From Don Surber:

Hey, was it worth killing the Bush presidency? Prediction: Democratic Congress
in 2006. That means winning 24 of 33 Senate seats. They will do it.

From Real Clear Politics:

One interpretation of the Miers withdrawal is that the President realized (or
was informed by GOP Senators) that she didn’t have a chance of being confirmed.
A more speculative interpretation of the timing of the withdrawal is that the
President knows there are indictments coming down tomorrow and needs to have his
base support consolidated. He can use news of a new appointment to deflect
attention from any possible bad news from the Fitzgerald investigation…

More updates later in the afternoon . .

White Sox sweep Astros; other sports updates

The Chicago White Sox clinched the World Series last night with a 1-0 victory over the Houston Astros. The win breaks an 88-year Series drought for the White Sox.

Chicago swept Houston in four games, so my earlier prediction of an Astros victory in seven games was just a tad bit off.
; )

In other news: Boxing legend Muhammad Ali is "losing his battle" with Parkinson's Disease:

The 63-year-old Ali, who has suffered from the disease for many years, has begun to show signs of decline, his daughter Layla told The Los Angeles Times.

"I feel like the disease is progressing," she said. "Different things start happening as you get older. I have noticed a change in him, something that goes along with Parkinson's.

"It's painful for me because I would love to sit down and talk to my dad about the way he used to be when he was my age, when he was in his prime, because we are so much alike. I can't really do that. I can't share a lot of things with him."

Layla added that Ali "doesn't talk much these days . . .It takes him too much energy to talk."

Apparently, Ali spends much of his time doing "simple things" like drawing, coloring, and clipping pictures out of magazines. He also does magic tricks.

A far cry from the Ali the world once knew.

We also found out yesterday that WNBA star Sheryl Swoopes is gay.

And finally, an update on yesterday's story about Air Force football coach Fisher DeBerry. According to this article, DeBerry has been "reprimanded, but not fired" for comments he made about the number of blacks in his football program and running ability.

Bush on Miers' withdrawal

According to President Bush, Harriet Miers withdrew due to Congress' efforts to view internal documents related to her current role as counsel to the president:

“It is clear that senators would not be satisfied until they gained access to internal documents concerning advice provided during her tenure at the White House — disclosures that would undermine a president’s ability to receive candid counsel,” Bush said. “Harriet Miers’ decision demonstrates her deep respect for this essential aspect of the constitutional separation of powers — and confirms my deep respect and admiration for her."

As Michelle Malkin said: "Whatever. We know the real reasons. Now, onto a candidate that conservatives can be proud of, okay?"

Breaking news: Miers withdraws!

This morning, it was announced that Harriet Miers has withdrawn her nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.

More details this afternoon.

Miers on abortion

The Washington Post is reporting that in speeches given a decade ago, Harriet Miers said it "makes sense" for "self-determination" to guide decisions on abortion, and also supported social activism.

"The underlying theme in most of these cases is the insistence of more self-determination," Miers said in an excerpt reported by the Post. "And the more I think about these issues, the more self-determination makes sense."

In speeches delivered when she was president of the Texas bar association, Miers also defended judges who order lawmakers to address social concerns, the newspaper said.

Miers also showed sympathy for feminist causes, referring to the "glass ceiling" faced by professional women and urged her audience to support female candidates, according to the report.

www.dictionary.com defines "self-determination" as "determination of one's own fate or course of action without compulsion; free will," and, "freedom of the people of a given area to determine their own political status; independence."

And from the Washington Post article:

Former NARAL Pro-Choice America president Kate Michelman said the right to
self-determination is at the heart of the case law granting a woman's right to
an abortion.
"If you take what she said at face value, you would conclude
that she recognizes the right of a woman to choose an abortion as a matter of
self-determination," Michelman said. "She seems to be a woman who over time is
pulled in different directions, as many of us are, as she searched for answers."

More updates will follow in the next few days.

Political correctness strikes again?

The AP is reporting that the Air Force Academy is "looking into" comments that Air Force football coach Fisher DeBerry made at a weekly luncheon and to a newspaper.

His comments?

We were looking at things, like you don't see many minority athletes in our program.

And:

"It just seems to be that way, that Afro-American kids can run very, very well. That doesn't mean that Caucasian kids and other descents can't run, but it's very obvious to me they run extremely well."

Coach DeBerry is 67 years old, and he's in his 22nd year at Air Force. He seems to have had no problems with his players or the university in the past. If he did, they weren't severe enough or public enough to warrent conclusion in the AP article mentioned above. But now that he mentions to a newspaper that, gee, you know, we really don't have many African-American players in our football program, and later mentions at a luncheon that, gee, African-American players can run really fast, he's being investigated? For what?

"We cannot comment further until we have a chance to review all the reports, the coach's actual statements and to speak with the coach personally," academy spokesman Lt. Col Laurent Fox said.

I may be missing something here, but this appears to be another example of political correctness going off the deep end. Apparantly coaches can't speak their minds on such mundane topics as the speed and number of their players without being "examin[ed]" by school officials.

The "P" word

Writing about the John Roberts confirmation hearings, conservative columnist Joe Sobran made the following insightful comment:

"Debasing yet another good old word, liberals have turned privacy into a euphemism for sodomy and abortion. Meanwhile, they want the state to violate every kind of privacy worth having."

Gas prices drop, but for how long?

The AP is reporting that gas prices have dropped an average of 25 cents per gallon in the past two weeks. The drop is being attributed to refineries in the Gulf Coast "steadily" resuming production.

Prices now range from $2.66 for regular to $2.86 for premium.

Here in southern Minnesota, gas prices are holding steady at about $2.30 to $2.35. I have never quite understood why gas prices in the midwest are almost always lower than gas prices in other areas of the country, but it's something I haven't questioned and I'm grateful for. Even immediately after Hurricane Katrina, the highest gas prices got around here was around $3.00, which lasted only for one or two days.

I somehow doubt that gas prices will ever drop below $2.00 again, though. James Howard Kunstler recently wrote an article for The American Conservative in which he seems to agree. He refers to what he calls "peak oil," and says that "peak oil" is generally misunderstood:

It’s not about running out of oil. It’s about the remorseless decline in production following the all-time worldwide peak and a desperate competition to control the remaining supplies, which happen to be inequitably distributed in a few select regions of the world. The U.S. happens to be one of them, but we are into the twilight of our own supplies. We began production back in 1859, ramped up over many decades to a peak of over 10 million barrels a day in 1970, and have now fallen off to under 5 million barrels a day of conventional crude—with the numbers headed yet more steeply down. We have 28 billion barrels of conventional crude left, and we burn through more than 20 million barrels a day or 7 billion barrels a year. Of that, we import nearly three quarters of the total. The math isn’t very reassuring.

It's a very disturbing article, especially when he writes that the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration and various global oil corporations put the peak in oil production around 2030, only 25 years away. Other authorities and Kunstler himself think we are at or very near to peak right now. One possible example of this? Despite repeated promises to do so, Saudi Arabia has failed to increase production while oil prices have skyrocketed.

According to Kunstler: "It would tend to mean there is absolutely no spare oil capacity left in the world that has been seeing stupendous industrial growth."

I think Kunstler is a bit too pessimistic, since he dismisses most alternative fuel ideas as "delusions." But here in Minnesota, ethanol (or "grain alcohol") has become a proven alternative fuel option that is growing increasingly popular and has the public support of our governor. Ethanol wouldn't completely eliminate our dependence on oil, but it would certainly cut it by a large amount.

Still, Kunstler's article is very interesting and thought-provoking. It makes us think more about the long-term future, which is something we don't always do.

George Will weighs in on Miers

Columnist George Will weighed in on the Harriet Miers nomination today, writing an excellence column in which he says that most attempts to justify Bush's choice "cannot be dignified as arguments."

Will also makes a pointed reference to people who are "masquerading as [conservatism's] defenders," and writes that people's efforts to defend Miers are "unseemly."

Sensible people cringed when one of the former Texas Supreme Court justices summoned to the White House offered this reason for putting her on the nation's highest tribunal: ``I can vouch for her ability to analyze and to strategize.'' Another said: ``When we were on the lottery commission together, a lot of the problems that we had there were legal in nature. And she was just very, very insistent that we always get all the facts together.''

In their unseemly eagerness to assure Miers' conservative detractors that she will reach the ``right'' results, her advocates betray complete incomprehension of this: Thoughtful conservatives' highest aim is not to achieve this or that particular outcome concerning this or that controversy. Rather, their aim for the Supreme Court is to replace semi-legislative reasoning with genuine constitutional reasoning about the Constitution's meaning as derived from close consideration of its text and structure. Such conservatives understand that how you get to a result is as important as the result. Indeed, in an important sense, the path the Supreme Court takes to the result often is the result.

You can read the rest of his column here.

More on Miers

From Reuters:

WASHINGTON - Leading Republican and Democratic senators said on Sunday they do not expect President George W. Bush to withdraw Harriet Miers' U.S. Supreme Court nomination despite fierce criticism of her by conservatives and liberals. "I haven't seen anything coming from the White House that says that they're going to pull this nomination," said Kansas Republican Sen. Sam Brownback, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on "Fox News Sunday."

This follows Democrat Senator Charles Schumer's recent statement that Miers does not have the votes in the Senate to be confirmed for the Supreme Court and confirmation hearings "will be make or break ... in a way they haven't been for any other nominee."

The Truth Laid Bare is running an online poll of bloggers asking if they support, oppose, or are neutral on the Miers nomination:

So let's make this simple: if you want to have your position noted, post your argument and include one of the following exact phrases . . .

I oppose the Miers nomination.

(More arguments will be coming, especially in the form of an opinion article I will be writing for the next issue of Virtue Magazine.)

So far, TLB's poll shows an overwhelming number of bloggers oppose the nomination.

Venemous snake bites schoolgirl

We know that teenagers don't always display the best judgement, but this 17-year old boy really takes the cake:

POTTSTOWN, Pa. - A 14-year-old girl may lose her arm after being bitten by a poisonous copperhead snake at school, authorities said.

The snake was caught in Valley Forge by a 17-year-old male student, who took it in a shoebox to a drama club gathering at St. Pius X High School on Friday . . . No regular classes were held that day, which was designated for staff development.

The boy was showing the reptile to other students when it bit the girl's finger . . The girl, whose name was not released by police, apparently threw the snake across the room and the boy threw it outside. The snake was not found, but authorities were able to identify it because the boy photographed it with his camera cellphone.

You can read the rest of the article here.

What kind of person catches a venemous snake, stashes it in a shoebox, and brings it to school to show to other students? Copperhead bites can be potentially fatal, and apparently this girl might have died if she had not received hospital care when she did.

Harriet Miers and affirmative action

If conservatives are looking for even more reasons why they should not support President Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, they need to look no further than this news article:

As president of the State Bar of Texas, Harriet Miers wrote that "our legal community must reflect our population as a whole," and under her leadership the organization embraced racial and gender set-asides and set numerical targets to achieve that goal. [Emphasis added]

Paul Deignan over at Info Theory has provided excellent analyses on the Miers nomination. It's definitely worth checking out.

Are you ready?

The 2005 World Series kicks off at 7:30 ET tonight as the Houston Astros take on the Chicago White Sox!

At this point, I'm not rooting for either team--I just want to see some entertaining ball games. So far the 2005 postseason has felt a bit flat to me, although that may be because a) my own Minnesota Twins never made it to the playoffs, and b) we were not lucky enough to experience another Yankees/Red Sox series. Some people were glad to see other teams in the AL Championship game for once, but I've always thought that you can't go wrong with the Yanks and Sox during the postseason.

As for the World Series, I'm picking the Astros to defeat the White Sox in seven games.

Remember, you heard it here first! ;)

Jordan says Wizards "used" him

It's been a while since we've heard from basketball legend Michael Jordan, but he's back on the sports scene with a 60 Minutes interview that will appear this Sunday.

In the interview, Jordan claims that the Washington Wizards "used" him. Jordan served as the team's president of basketball operations for nearly two years before returned as a player in 2001 at the age of 38.

[Jordan] said that his May 2003 firing by owner Abe Pollin was a particularly painful experience considering the moves he made to make the Wizards a profitable team.

"I didn't have to" come back, Jordan said. "But I did it with the benefit of trying to help an organization to get back on their feet. And the gratitude that was given? It was, 'Your service is no longer wanted or needed.' So I felt like I was used in a sense."

Obviously getting fired is not a pleasant experience, and Jordan does deserve respect as one of the greatest basketball players in the history of the sport. But Michael should stop feeling so sorry for himself. The moves that he made to make the Wizards "a profitable team" consisted of trading away Richard Hamilton--today recognized as one of the best players in the NBA after being allowed to flourish in Detroit--and selecting Kwame Brown with a No. 1 overall pick in the draft. Brown is considered to be one of the biggest busts in draft history.

And while Jordan performed at a competitive level when he returned as a player for the 2001 and 2002 seasons, he didn't really help the Wizards as a team. Washington missed the playoffs both years, which is not an easy thing to do in the Eastern conference, where sub-.500 teams routinely make the cut.

Jordan complains that the Wizards used him, but perhaps a better argument is that Jordan used the Wizards.

And even if Michael does have a legitimate gripe with Abe Pollin, it seems pretty obvious that Pollin made the right decision in the long run: last year a young Wizards team went a respectable 45-37 and, if my memory serves me correctly, made it to the second round of the playoffs.

An Imaginary Conversation Between Karl Rove & George Bush About Another Supreme Court Opening

President Bush's recent Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers has left a large segment of the conservative base unhappy, and they haven't been shy about voicing displeasure. It's an open secret that Miers was picked for two reasons and two reasons alone: she is a she, and she is a long-time friend of Bush.

It's also interesting to note that Miers once said President Bush was the most brilliant man she had ever met.

Keeping that in mind, John Hawkins over at Right Wing News had a little fun at Bush's expense with this humor piece. While it's a bit over-the-top and demeaning, my entire family enjoyed reading it and got some good laughs from it.

An Imaginary Conversation Between Karl Rove & George Bush About Another Supreme Court Opening:

Karl Rove: George, I've got some great news...

George Bush: Lay it on me . . .

Karl Rove: Ginsburg just sent us a letter telling us that she intends to retire at the end of the year! We get to appoint another Supreme Court Justice!

George Bush: That is good news!

Karl Rove: W., I know it's too early to make a final selection, but who are you thinking about? Janice Rogers Brown would probably excite the base. Michael Luttig would be great in confirmation hearings. Miguel Estrada might even be a good wild card pick. An immigrant and the first Hispanic nominee to the court? I like the sound of that!

George Bush: Well, Rovester, I will admit that I have a couple of candidates in mind. I think Smitty has the edge right now...

Karl Rove: Smitty?

George Bush: My yard man. He did gardening for dad, he has done gardening for me, and I've known him for 20 years.

Karl Rove: I, uh, I don't know about that George. He doesn't sound qualified to me...

George Bush: Qualifications, smalifications. I write down instructions about what I want done to my yard and he does it right, every time. Plus, I forgot to give him a Christmas Gift last year. After all those years of service, that's kind of embarrassing. So, I thought this might make up for it..

Karl Rove: Ok, you said there was another candidate you were considering...

George Bush: Yes, Tom the barber. He has been cutting my hair for 25 years. He told me I have some of the best looking hair he has ever seen on a President, even better than Reagan's. Well, naturally, the first thing I thought about when I heard that was: "If only we had judges this perceptive on the Supreme Court!"

Karl Rove: Mr. President...

George Bush: Uh oh, I always know something's wrong when you start out that way...

Karl Rove: Mr. President, neither of these candidates will work. The base is already ripping us to shreds over the Miers nomination and we need to make absolutely sure our next pick will work to our benefit politically instead of hurting us.

George Bush: Then, what about Alberto (Gonzales)? He has been a judge, he's qualified, and I've known him for a long time.

Karl Rove: ...

George Bush: What is it?

Karl Rove: Maybe we should consider some candidates you don't know so well...

George Bush: No way, Karl! I got liberals attacking me, I got conservatives attacking me, and so from here on out, I'm sticking with people I know and trust.

Karl Rove: You know, I would be happy to introduce you to some new people. For example, Priscilla Owen, I hear she's a very nice woman....

George Bush: No, Karl, absolutely not. Smitty, Tom the barber, & Alberto are the only three candidates I'm going to choose from.

Karl Rove: In that case, I'm leaning towards Smitty. Have the two of you ever talked about Roe v. Wade?