First,  let me say that the USSC’s recent (non-)decision was the correct and logical one, if the only issue was the law and the wording within the Constitution. The choice, you see,  was made the moment government made being married a legal matter, hundreds of years ago. That said, however, there are larger things at work, here.

One of the advantages of having a huge library of previous writings on file, is the ability to refer back to those writings and those positions. Saves much in the way of repetitive writing and also, gives you a checkpoint on your own consistency. Back in 2004, I wrote a comment over at Dan Drezner’s place, which addresses some of the issues aside from the law, …

Arthur Brooks, at  The Wall Street Journal suggests that there’s a bit of a culture war going on about the future of capitalism.  The headline suggests that “The Real Culture War Is Over Capitalism “

There is a major cultural schism developing in America. But it’s not over abortion, same-sex marriage or home schooling, as important as these issues are. The new divide centers on free enterprise — the principle at the core of American culture.

I dare suggest Brooks in this quote, has this exactly backward.  He’s pointing at a symptom and labeling at the root cause. Not that I blame him, really.  It’s been so long since we’ve dealt with things on the level of principle that even the more learned among …

To begin with, let’s get a snip of this morning’s op-ed up on National Review:

Arlen Specter belongs to a type familiar to Congress: the time-serving hack devoid of any principle save arrogance. He has spent three decades in the Senate but is associated with no great cause, no prescient warning, no landmark legislation. Yet he imagines that the Senate needs his wisdom and judgment for a sixth term. He joined the Republican party out of expediency in the 1960s, and leaves it out of expediency this week.

Indeed. At the end of the day,what we have here is the second in a line of what will be many ‘victims’ of what are now being called the Tea Party protests. The first, I think, was …

So, how much credit does Barrack Obama deserve for the rescue of Captain Phillips? The efforts of Obama and his supporters to claim Obama was the reason behind this rescue,  Black Five says… Not so fast.

The AP is reporting that President Obama gave the order to use military force to rescue the hostage, that is misleading.

WASHINGTON (AP)—Administration officials say President Barack Obama approved the military operation that rescued a U.S. captain held hostage by Somali pirates.

The officials say Obama ordered the Defense Department to use military resources to rescue Richard Phillips from a lifeboat off the Somali coast.

He did affirm the military’s authorization to use force if the captain’s life was in danger, but they already would have

James Joyner at OTB, this morning brings news abot the latest action of Eric Holder’s Justice Dept:

Attorney General Eric Holder has dropped the case against Ted Stevens, NPR’s Nina Toalatenberg reports.

A jury convicted Stevens last fall of seven counts of lying on his Senate disclosure form in order to conceal $250,000 in gifts from an oil industry executive and other friends. Stevens was the longest-serving Republican in the Senate, however, he lost his bid for an eighth full term in office just days after he was convicted. Since then, charges of prosecutorial misconduct have delayed his sentencing and prompted defense motions for a new trial.

According to Justice Department officials, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has decided to drop the case against

That’s what Ben Smith is reporting, yesterday morning:

Andrea Mitchell reported this evening that Obama is considering Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, something that’s been buzzed about as a possibility for a few days.

I haven’t been able to confirm it, and neither Obama nor Clinton camps would comment, though NBC apparently has confirmation that she went to Chicago today.

One interesting item: Clinton aides are not knocking the report down, which they might.

Since Ben wrote that, apparently, there are confirmations are coming from a number of sources, including the Washington Post:

There’s increasing chatter in political circles that the Obama camp is not overly happy with the usual suspects for secretary of state these days and that the field might be expanding

The Wall Street Journal states the bloody obvious:

According to recent Gallup polls, the president’s average approval rating is below 30% — down from his 90% approval in the wake of 9/11. Mr. Bush has endured relentless attacks from the left while facing abandonment from the right.

This is the price Mr. Bush is paying for trying to work with both Democrats and Republicans. During his 2004 victory speech, the president reached out to voters who supported his opponent, John Kerry, and said, “Today, I want to speak to every person who voted for my opponent. To make this nation stronger and better, I will need your support, and I will work to earn it. I will do all I can do

(Cross-posted from Bitsblog)

Fox News:

John McCain’s campaign prepared to accuse Democrats on Saturday of leaving behind 12,000 miniature American flags after Barack Obama’s nomination acceptance speech last Thursday in Denver.

Boy Scouts have arrived with 84 trash bags full of bundles of flags at the site of a McCain rally scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m. local time in Colorado Springs.

The campaign says the flags were recovered from Invesco Field after the Democrats concluded their convention there, and they are going to be used as part of the warm-up ceremonies before McCain takes the stage for the rally.

FOX News has been told a vendor at Invesco Field found the flags, which were going to be thrown out, and turned them

I had a couple of interesting ideas from people I met this week while working at the Republican Party of Iowa booth at the Iowa State Fair.  I think it’s great that people are willing to step out and share ideas like this, and even act on them if possible.

TV Ad

The first was an idea for a political ad to leverage the current situation in Washington… you know, the one where the Democrats shut down Congress without any action on Energy… without so much as a vote.

The basic idea here is to show the lights being shut off (I’d use a huge switching sound “ssshhhunk!”), microphones being turned off (silence).  And then either spoken or written: “Brought to you by the Democratic …

From the GateWay Pundit:

New information reveals that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was indirectly sending messages to the FARC. The Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) is designated as a terrorist group by the US government. Speaker Pelosi was doing this while at the same time she refused to bring a free trade agreement with Colombia up for a vote in the US House. In fact, Pelosi took extraordinary steps to block this trade agreement with America’s closest ally in South America.

So, here we have Pelosi …