LAT: Some ominous political news for President Obama the day after he chose Memorial Day to name a new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: With just 15 months until the 2012 presidential election, Obama’s overall job approval among Americans has sunk back down into the 40s. But now a new poll of nearly a quarter-million Americans finds the commander-in-chief’s job approval is even worse among members of the

That idea that judges should interpret the Constitution by discovering the original intent or meaning of the text ignores the history of this country’s founding. So argues Saul Cornell, Fordham History chair and a Senior Research Scholar in Residence at Yale Law School, in a predictable piece that turns on the postmodernist’s favorite trope, unknowability, followed by their favorite erroneous conclusion, that metaphysical uncertainty for deciding which interpretation is the

The boy graduated first grade yesterday and today has scheduled a pizza and paper plane party, boys only. As a result, I am busy doing lawn work, house cleaning, and party prep. My apologies. Today you’ll have to summarize the news on your own.

Keep an eye out. If Christie starts demanding that his local Taco Bell post National Guardsmen at the doors to prevent illegals from assembling bean burritos, he’s almost certainly planning on running for President. Which is great. But for my money, I’m more excited by the prospect of Sarah Palin on a Harley Fat Boy announcing that she’s getting in to take America back, Easy Rider style. (h/t Rush Limbaugh)

No growth, an ever-expanding federal Leviathan, a diminution of individual liberty, crony capitalism, high unemployment, profligate spending, and a disjointed foreign policy that seems to favor framing events after they’ve happened? All black things, I guess. Making my pointing out that the employment rate among black men is at a record low under this administration akin to donning my hood for a kind of rhetorical lynching.

Wait, you mean states are allowed to protect themselves against criminal behavior? Who knew? The Supreme Court on Thursday gave Arizona and other states more authority to take action against illegal immigrants and the companies that hire them, ruling that employers who knowingly hire illegal workers can lose their license to do business. The 5-3 decision upholds the Legal Arizona Workers Act of 2007 and its so-called business death penalty

Washington Examiner: The Peterson Foundation’s Solutions Initiative brought together six think tanks — two conservative, two liberal and two centrist — and challenged each to present a detailed plan to solve our fiscal crisis-in-waiting, using the same uniform assumptions. Because everyone had to begin with the same set of facts, and everyone had to war-game the same budget scenario over the coming decade and beyond, the typical demagoguery that surrounds

But fuck it. I didn’t become a judge to protect the status quo. Being a liberal judge means protecting the people, and in this case, it means protecting the people — who accidentally installed a conservative into the statehouse — from themselves. Or, to put it another way, THE LAW BELONGS TO ME! Now. Bow before me, bitches!

Republican Response: Ryan plan, which doesn’t affect those currently receiving Medicare benefits, and phases in a platinum plan for seniors similar to that given to members of Congress. Democrat (and Newt Gingrich) response: We got nothing. But PAUL RYAN AND THE GOP WANT TO KILL OLD PEOPLE! LIKE, DEAD! And our side can’t win the messaging battle on this issue? From the Trustees report: In past reports, and again this

Whereas Scott Brown? Can go suck a dick.