Much Ado

President Bush has named his first appointee to the U.S. Supreme Court, The Hon. John G. Roberts, of Washington, D.C. Widely hailed as a thoughtful, intelligent man, with a distinguished pedigree in Law and a record of exemplary practice both before and above the Bar, Mr. Roberts would appear to be a shoo-in for confirmation in the current climate.

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Felons Rn’t Us

President Bush assured the nation yesterday if anyone in his administration committed a crime in connection with the public leak of the identity of an undercover CIA operative, that person will “no longer work in my administration.”

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Show’s Over, Move Along Now

During the slow-motion unfolding of Karl Rove’s connection to the original smear campaign against former Ambassador Joseph Wilson –that he got his assignment because of his wife– I’ve wondered why it never seemed to matter.

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Gimme 12 Steps

One of the greatest things about the Universe is that, often, just about the time I am feeling good and satisfied with my progress in it, it reveals to me just how little I do know, and how much further advanced are others around me.

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In Other News…

Lewis H. Lapham, the Editor in Chief of one of America’s smartest, most engaging monthlies, thoroughly explicates in his July editorial the futility of blaming George W. Bush for everything. Mr. Bush is, of course, doing his level best to do what he’s been told to do –project for the country, and the world, the “powers of the American imagination [and] the strength of the American spirit.”

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Contempt of a Nation

Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Judith Miller left a Federal Courthouse today in handcuffs, bound for a stint in a minimum security institution for the crime of contempt of court. Weeks ago, she’d been ordered to testify before a Grand Jury investigating the Summer of ’03’s outing of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame by anonymous officials of the Bush administration, and was finally jailed for refusing to identify her confidential sources in a story she never even wrote about.

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It’s Showtime Now

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor resigned today after 24 years of service adjudicating the Law of the Land for the United States Supreme Court. Appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1981, she cast the deciding vote in 13 of 15 decisions handed down by 5-4 majorities during her term, and is seen by many to have been the crucial centerweight between the uber-reactionary Scalia/Thomas wing of the court, and the activist, secular liberalism of John Paul Stevens, Anthony Kennedy, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

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