John Roberts FTW

I'd like to declare my endorsement for John Roberts. His credentials are impeccable. The Washington Post has his profile neatly compiled for your viewing pleasure, so I won't go into details about his impressive history.

I liked the way he held his own during the confirmation hearing and handled some heated questioning from Democrat senators Ted Kennedy and Joe Biden. He successfully upheld his judicial impartiality, as the following transcript demonstrates (pardon the length):

"Now, the only point I was going to make earlier, because I do think it's an important one -- you (Joe Biden) make the point that, "We stand for election and we wouldn't be elected if we didn't tell people what we stand for."

Judges don't stand for election. I'm not standing for election. And it is contrary to the role of judges in our society to say that, "This judge should go on the bench because these are his or her positions and those are the positions they're going to apply."

Judges go on the bench and they apply and decide cases according to the judicial process, not on the basis of promises made earlier to get elected or promises made earlier to get confirmed.

That's inconsistent with the independence and integrity of the Supreme Court."

The NY Times wrote an editorial yesterday urging senators to vote against confirming Roberts while the Washington Post's editorial called Roberts "overwhelmingly qualified." The Post goes further to say that the only problem with Roberts is that he sets the standard for future nominees too high. I agree.

I think we need a conservative voice in the Supreme Court to address the latest federal district court ruling that the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional because of the "Under God" phrase. Let's celebrate our similarities for once -- We are all Americans. We ought to be able to pay tribute to our country, without having to deny its Christian roots. Go get 'em John!

Matt Changes Jobs, Diapers

I discovered yesterday that Matt Wood is… a preschool teacher?

“I’m changing diapers,” Wood said. “It’s horrible. I don’t know what they feed these kids.”

This was not Wood’s original plan. He said he spoke to several local politicians when he first moved to Bellevue to gain insight about the best path he should take to become a politician.

“They all told me to skip going to law school, get rich and then come back to politics later,” Wood said. “That sort of soured it for me. I don’t like the idea that you have to be rich to be in power.”

Based on these conversations, Wood decided that law school and politics no longer appealed to him. He said he has seriously thought about teaching history and eventually becoming a principal. Wood cites WWU history professor Peter Diehl as an inspiration.

Wood plans on enrolling in Teach For America and becoming a certified teacher through its program. As of now, 4-year-olds reportedly don’t have much patience for Wood’s lectures about the Middle Ages.

Some of you may know that Wood was my roommate my sophomore year at WWU. He came to Western a self-proclaimed “radical right” and refused to party. With my help, he blossomed (correction amended) into a party machine. He became famous for the “Woody Wiggle” and became close friends with Jack Daniel’s. Wood stayed true to his conservative roots, holding various executive positions in Western’s College Republicans club. He was the Associated Students VP for Activities his senior year and single-handedly tried to destroy the ROP branch of the Associated Students -- an over-funded, unutilized campus clique.

Wood graduated from WWU this summer with a history major. He is applying his degree to learn more about his own history. While he has learned much by observing the preschoolers, he has yet to learn where babies come from.

I Am Freelancer, Here Me Roar

I’m enjoying my mornings this week. Normally I work 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and Saturdays, but this week I’m covering shifts for someone and am working noon to 9 p.m. Today I’m at the Bagelry enjoying a blueberry bagel with a cinnamon-walnut spread. What a delight. I am reminded why I really want to move downtown this winter. I am a city slicker.

I am finishing up a proposal letter to the Bellingham Herald asking if I could write a story about Mallard Ice Cream & Café for its features section.

Mallard is (1) the greatest ice cream parlor ever and (2) moving around the corner to Railroad Avenue.

I’m hoping to land the story to (1) eat free ice cream and (2) get writing again and gain confidence as a freelancer. A little extra income doesn’t hurt either.

Hopefully more people, especially patrons of the old Web site, have been able to find my new online location. I successfully rerouted the paolospics.rocks.it address to this URL yesterday. If you are looking for pictures, look right and open “Click here to see my latest photos.” I’m going out Thursday and Friday nights, so I should have some good stuff posted this weekend.

Ciao.

Faceplant Reunion?

I received an invitation in the mail for Chris Watson's wedding yesterday. I'm stoked about it because it's on Anderson Island and Faceplant (my high school band fronted by Chris, with Danny "Bigheaded Boy" on drums and myself on bass) is reuniting to play at the wedding. Playing in the band is one my best high school memories and I regret that our paths split a few years back and we haven't spoken much since. The brotherhood remains intact though. You can't change that. I'm hoping that we will play a kick ass show for Chris's wedding. I need to start practicing!

Tomorrow Mom is moving Nina up to Bellingham. There's a lot of heavy lifting going on these days. Dad was supposed to help too, but he threw out his back today. He always says he'll be in a wheelchair by the time he's 50. He over-exaggerates. He'll be 51.

Recommended reading:

• Barbara Bush calls New Orleans evacuees better off because they were "were underprivileged anyway."
• Here's the reason why we should play the blame game about Hurricane Katrina: It can't happen again.

Justice Rehnquist Died :(

While I was out at dinner with Mom Saturday, Scott, ever-concerned with our nation's political landscape, called to inform me that Chief Justice Rehnquist died. This came to no surprise as Rehnquist's health had been in visible decline for the last year.

Although his approval rating is at an all-time low, our most-vacationed president will take advantage of this powerful opportunity to keep the Supreme Court in the conservative realm for years to come. W. has the uncommon responsibility to nominate two justices at the same time; Sandra Day O'Connor announced her unexpected retirement in June.

W. announced today his nomination of the relatively young John Roberts, 50, to fill the chief justice position. Roberts will be the youngest member of the court, just as Rehnquist was when he was nominated to be an associate justice by Nixon in 1973.

This maintenance of conservativism in the most powerful position of the courts cannot be understated. While the chief justice has an equal vote to associate justices for deciding cases, his (I know making a masculine reference to this position is politically incorrect but all chief justices have been men) influence greatly affects court dynamics.

According to the Boston Globe: "The chief justice leads the Supreme Court's private deliberations, influencing the personal interactions and coalition-making that defines the court's operations. And once a case is decided by the court, the chief justice plays a sometimes overlooked role that often has huge import: When he is in the majority, he assigns the writing of the court's deciding opinion to either himself or one of his colleagues."

Roberts had already been nominated to replace O'Connor, and his elevated nomination came to no surprise. The relative youth of 50-year-old Roberts will prolong W.'s influence in the court's most powerful position and W. will likely nominate another young conservative suitor to replace O'Connor, who broke ground as the first-ever female justice.

O'Connor stood for women's rights and voted moderately, which made her powerful. She had the deciding vote in more cases than any other justice since 1994, according to the New York Times, and her conservative replacement will solidify conservative decisions.

Roe v. Wade review, here we come.