this week in the US of A
wow. i haven't updated in a while. i get lazy; it's a way of life. but if i'm going to try to be part of the YLS blogging community i should really update more often.
evidently Mansfield Fox, who just did me the honor of linking to my blog, is very, very concerned with the Schiavo issue. okay, i admit, i don't like the thought of a woman being left to starve to death either. though i probably prefer it to leaving her in a permanent vegetative state. but let's leave the moral issue aside. the amount of energy the federal government is paying to this woman is ridiculous. is it really appropriate to have special congressional hearings to pass an emergency bill to move the case to the federal courts to hold a hearing to determine whether or not to order her feeding tube reinserted? i don't want to emphasize the indirection of the process - it's the starting point that bothers me. this is not policy making, it's a pure expression of conservative moral indignation which happens to take the procedural form of a law.
another non-original observation (the Fox makes it here , and Jon Stewart and Steve Colbert just discussed it on the Daily Show), but it's really interesting to note the reversal of traditional positions. evidently federalism/state sovereignty don't matter when the moral fiber of america is at stake.
it was funny to come back from spring break on sunday and realize how active congress was being, on a weekend and all. and on such serious matters - not just schiavo, but steroids in baseball too. it's good how congress isn't afraid to tackle the big issues.
ah, well, it's not as if i like the real legislation congress has passed lately (see here and here). maybe it's better that they accomplish as little as possible. and it's not like there's anything wrong with the world today.
Update: Check out Jack Balkin's analysis of the "fair weather federalists". It's a pretty solid post.
evidently Mansfield Fox, who just did me the honor of linking to my blog, is very, very concerned with the Schiavo issue. okay, i admit, i don't like the thought of a woman being left to starve to death either. though i probably prefer it to leaving her in a permanent vegetative state. but let's leave the moral issue aside. the amount of energy the federal government is paying to this woman is ridiculous. is it really appropriate to have special congressional hearings to pass an emergency bill to move the case to the federal courts to hold a hearing to determine whether or not to order her feeding tube reinserted? i don't want to emphasize the indirection of the process - it's the starting point that bothers me. this is not policy making, it's a pure expression of conservative moral indignation which happens to take the procedural form of a law.
another non-original observation (the Fox makes it here , and Jon Stewart and Steve Colbert just discussed it on the Daily Show), but it's really interesting to note the reversal of traditional positions. evidently federalism/state sovereignty don't matter when the moral fiber of america is at stake.
it was funny to come back from spring break on sunday and realize how active congress was being, on a weekend and all. and on such serious matters - not just schiavo, but steroids in baseball too. it's good how congress isn't afraid to tackle the big issues.
ah, well, it's not as if i like the real legislation congress has passed lately (see here and here). maybe it's better that they accomplish as little as possible. and it's not like there's anything wrong with the world today.
Update: Check out Jack Balkin's analysis of the "fair weather federalists". It's a pretty solid post.
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