Tuesday, October 14, 2003

Lemon Fresh Pledge?. The Supreme Court will decide whether the inclusion of the phrase "under God" in the teacher-led Pledge of Allegiance in public schools offends the First Amendment. History buffs will note that the expressly religious motivation of the 1954 law that added the phrase—Eisenhower said, upon signing the law, that it was meant to affirm "the transcendence of religious faith in America's heritage and future" as well as "strengthen" the public's "spiritual weapons"—contravenes the first and most elementary prong of the traditional Lemon Test: Laws must have a secular motive. [Hit & Run] Hopefully they'll actually enforce the First Amendment. Then maybe we can get rid of "in god we trust" from our money. 9:21:15 PM    comment () Recall War's Over, But LAT Battle Rages On. On Sunday, Los Angeles Times Editor John Carroll responded, if rather testily, to some of the heavy (and occasionally foaming) criticism levied against the paper for its Schwarzengroping coverage. The main target of his wrath, though she went unnamed, was ex-Times firebrand Jill Stewart. Today Stewart fires back, in a column that includes juicy anonymous testimony from a Times staffer. For a sensible outside perspective, start with Jay Rosen. Between the three, you get an interesting picture of an influential newspaper's inner workings. [Hit & Run] 9:16:05 PM    comment () The MTA has been shut down by a strike, so I'm stuck riding a bike to and from work until the strike ends. It's a 25 mile round trip through LA traffic, which isn't any fun. The last strike, three years ago, lasted for a month--hopefully this one will end sooner. Of course, if the MTA (a government agency) didn't have laws in place banning competition the strike wouldn't affect me. 1:00:49 PM    comment () The U.S. System of Justice. As the D.C. sniper trial gets underway, the Washington Post reminds its readers: "In the U.S. system of justice, everyone -- no matter who they are or what crime they are accused of -- gets to have a trial." Unless, of course, the accused is an "enemy combatant." Which raises the question: Why are U.S. citizens Jose Padilla and Yaser Esam Hamdi, accused of planning, but not comitting, terrorist acts, incarcerated indefinitely without trial while Malvo and Muhammad, accused of actually committing such acts, sitting in a Virginia courtroom? [LewRockwell.com Blog] Good question. 12:48:11 PM    comment () The American Empire needs a general in the White House. [OpinionJournal] It looks like the Crusaders are getting ready to dump Bush in favor of a new front man. Or maybe they're just hedging their bets. 9:48:24 AM    comment ()

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