On the party-line Alito Senate Judiciary Committee vote, here’s John Podhoretz, writing at the Corner: Though it’s certainly true that there’s too much partisanship now and that it’s terrible we can’t come to agreement on judges blah blah blah, there’s something nicely austere about Samuel Alito winning approval from the Senate Judiciary Committee without a single Democratic vote. I mean, who would want a grubby yea vote from Ted Kennedy?

1.  Thanks so much to Jeff Paxson for the My Name is Nobody and Midnight Run DVDs.  Midnight Run is one of my favorite comedies—and I’m ecstatic to finally have it on Region 1 DVD (I had the British version).  And any film with Terrence Hill and Henry Fonda is bound to be superb. 2.  The Jewish Israeli Awards, sponsered by The Jerusalem Post and Israellycool.com begin in earnest today

From Joel Stein in the LAT: I DON’T SUPPORT our troops. This is a particularly difficult opinion to have, especially if you are the kind of person who likes to put bumper stickers on his car. Supporting the troops is a position that even Calvin is unwilling to urinate on. I’m sure I’d like the troops. They seem gutsy, young and up for anything. If you’re wandering into a recruiter’s

new rimless glasses: “So.  How have you been?  Because you look great!  Really.  I mean that!” me: “Thanks.  But all the credit should go to my new special friend, Klonopin—who, in addition to being sexy as all green get out, likes to do a lot more than have me lie back and hum the theme to “The Flying Nun” while she sits there on my face watching Leno, dry and

If gender or sexual orientation are, as some theorists hold, “socially constructed” (rather than genetically determined), than an identity politics position that affords me the opportunity to attend the Golden Globes for the express purpose of publicly fondling the breasts of Scarlett Johansson—without fear of professional (or even cultural) reprisal—ain’t such a bad deal. Provided, of course, that I don’t have to, y’now, get with any men in order to

A couple of folks have passed along this WSJ article from Hoover Institute Scholar Shelby Steele, which hits on quite a few of the topics I discuss here.  From “Hillary’s Plantation”: Of course Hillary Clinton’s recent claim that Republicans run the House of Representatives like a “plantation” was old-fashioned political and racial pandering. After all, she uttered this remark at what certainly would have been a prime venue for her

From the Boston Globe: Sen. John Kerry said Sunday he will vote against Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. because he fears Alito would take the country “backwards.” Kerry, the failed Democratic nominee for president in 2004, also voted against now-Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. But Alito, Kerry said Sunday, goes even farther than Roberts in undermining established legal precedents. A flash point during Alito’s confirmation hearings

Even though I’ve long felt myself agnostic, I’m pretty sure the Devil does exist.  Only. instead of having horns or carrying a trident or hobbling around like some bowlegged dock whore on a pair of ungraceful goat legs, he’s actually more of a temporal phenomenon—a moment that hides in plain sight between other moments while taking on some completely pedestrian form.  Like for instance, the refrigerator you’re almost certain held

I still think the Broncos are the better team, but when your defense is unable to stop the opposing offense on third and long for an entire half—the Steelers were something like 8 of 9 on 3rd and 8 or longer in the first half—you simply can’t expect to win.  Saddest about this was that the Broncos were able to run very effectively against the Pittsburgh defense, which would have

Via DEBKAfile: Tehran plans a nuclear weapons test before March 20, 2006 – the Iranian New Year, moves Shahab-3 missiles within striking range of Israel […] Reporting this, the dissident Foundation for Democracy in Iran, a US-based watch group, cites sources in the US and Iran. The FDI adds from Iran: on June 16, the high command of the Revolutionary Guards Air Force ordered Shahab-3 missile units to move mobile