Tuesday Linkfest

Some great posts from around the blogosphere:

Lance Mannion writes about John Roberts in Tory:

Unless the word brilliant is being used because the words boring, cipher, empty suit, political hack, corporate lackey, timeserver, coatholder, and stooge are all considered gauche when discussing Supreme Court nominees, or it’s shorthand for “This guy thinks like I do,” which it often is, under any circumstances, in every field and profession, then Roberts’ reputation for brilliance must be based on his brilliance as an advocate.

But again nothing I’ve read points to any particular case he’s argued, either as a private attorney or as deputy solicitor general as evidence of his brilliance.

Corrente’s Lambert talks strategy in SCOTUS Watch: The Washington Generals show us how the game should not be played:

Reid has it exactly right. Call Roberts “credentialled” and leave it at that. Give the Republicans nothing.

(also check out this excerpt from the much-discussed Harper’s article on Ohio)

Thom blogs about fighting The Patriot Act and finding community in Blogging and community: Lessons from the Patriot Act push:

Words fail. But let me say this: the average American when asked about the Patriot Act believes we do need updated and improved laws to fight terrorism. This the MSM represents as “support for reauthorizing the Patriot Act.” But when the same person is asked–or rather, informed–about the specifics of Sections 215, 213 and 505, the reaction is very different. He or she passionately–almost instinctively–denounces these provisions as wrong, as un-American, as not what the Constitution guarantees us.

Damn right.

Dr. Pepper writes about the inspiring life and tragic death of Silkworm drummer Michael Dahlquist in Rest in Peace, Michael Dahlquist:

Michael had gone out with two friends on a lunch break from work. They were parked at a red light when a suicidal 23-year-old “aspiring model” named Jeanette Sliwinski rammed into the back of their Honda Civic.

She had decided to “end it all” and so sped at 70mph toward the nearest car.

All three men were killed instantaneously.

She sustained a minor leg injury.

Pro-war.com explores NYC’s subway searches in Welcome to the Police State. No, Really.:

At least as regards subways, we think this plan has a good chance of working. The chance of a terrorist exploding a bomb on a crowded subway is going down — way, way down.

Sadly, the chance of a bomb exploding where commuters are bottlenecked at security points just outside subways, well, that one’s going up.

Paul Waldman tells Jane Fonda to STFU in I’ll Second That

Hey, celebrities, here’s a clue. When you tell people which shampoo or beer or member-stiffener to buy, some of them will actually listen to you (”Hey, if it’s good enough for Ditka…”). But when you go on a political crusade, for a candidate or a cause, it does precisely the opposite. Why? Because it plays right into the argument that conservatives have been making for years, that “liberals” are primarily a group of out-of-touch elitists who want to tell reg’lar Americans what to do and what to think.

Shakespeare’s Sister spies that rarest of things in Washington — a genuinely touching gesture — in Sununu Too:

In an act of solidarity with Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), “who is completely bald because of chemotherapy treatments for his Hodgkin’s disease,” Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) “shaved his head the week before last,” Roll Call reports.

Matt at 1115org castigates Senate Democrats for being asleep at the wheel in Karen Hughes and More Senate Democratic Failure:

Karen Hughes faces what amounts to a fool’s errand. Until the United States stops acting like a slum lord by treating the rest of the world as ghetto tenants, public diplomacy is futile. Not only did Senate Democrats on the Foreign Relations Committee have an opportunity to question Hughes on many issues related to her conduct as counselor to the President and her thoughts on how to best execute her new job, they had a responsibility to do it.

All-Spin Zone says we should take Bolton to the mat in Bolton - Let’s do a Vote:

John Bolton simply can’t be appointed while there’s any hint of his possible involvement in the scandal. And if that means bringing his name up for a Senate floor vote right this moment, so be it. I hope the Democratic Party leadership decides to get in the 30 hours debate (after a cloture vote) on Bolton, and use the entire time to make him wear the Plame investigation around his neck like a brick.

The Heretik points out what’s obvious to everyone except Joe Liberman and Diane Feinstein in John Roberts in the House of Wax:

THERE ARE STILL A FEW HOT DAYS LEFT TO SUMMER where Democrats Might Like to Take Advantage of the Heat to See if the cool, calm collected John Roberts has a pulse or anything that might keep them from voting for him. Like what he actually thinks after his two years on the Federal bench. The White House continues to congratulate itself for its genius, working off the foregone conclusion that Roberts can’t be opposed because he is less of a loud nut job than anybody else they could have proposed. Beware the quiet, really, really good guy. Isn’t that always the guy who goes weird in the end of scary movies? This movie has a chance to run for thirty years. Maybe the Democrats should act like that’s something other than a foregone conclusion.

Phila picks at a New York Times Op-Ed about the Union Square Farmer’s Market in A Worsening Temper until all that is left is an unsightly pit:

What this aberrant, idiosyncratic reflex has to do with the rest of us is anybody’s guess. Most of us, I suspect, understand the desire of farmers to sell fresh produce direct to consumers, and the desire of consumers to buy fresh produce direct from farmers. But where normal people see a commonplace free-market tradition going back centuries, Powell sees a conspiracy to make good people (i.e., her own sweet self) feel bad through the promotion of organic farming.

Since she has no rational justification for treating this weird stance as relevant to anyone but herself, she’s obliged to conjure one up out of thin air. Thus, we learn that her “worsening temper” isn’t caused by (for instance) petty, carping priggishness, but by her exquisitely refined moral sense. . .

Frank sees an as-yet unnoticed problem with John Roberts’ nomination: the dude has Republican Hair:

I laughed when I saw Stepford Supreme Court Nominee John G. Roberts standing next to George Bush, not because his son, Little Lord Fauntleroy, acted like a little libertarian, but because the first words that came to me were “Republican hair.”

In Liaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar!Mac explains why she’s now worked up about the Roberts nomination:

Even though Roberts’ name appears as a member of the Federalist Society, he keeps saying he has no recollection of ever being a member.

[snip] In case you’re wondering why membership in the Federalist Society might be a negative, check this out. It would be equivalent of Bill Clinton nominating someone to the Supreme Court who was an active member of MoveOn, you know, someone who helped direct their activities. And you can’t tell me conservatives wouldn’t be completely freaked out about that.

Chris watched Santorum on The Daily Show tonight, and comes to us with a stern warning in Oh Shit:

I hope the entire Pennsylvania Democratic establishment and grassroots just watched Rick Santorum’s interview with John Stewart on the Daily Show like I did. If they did, they would have seen what they are up against, and the picture isn’t at all pretty. Make all the cream puff, man on dog, drama queen jokes you like, but Santorum is a very seriously talented politician. If we allow ourselves any underestimation of his ability to win a general election, we will have our asses handed to us in the general.

[snip] The kid is good. If you saw him tonight and really took it in, you know it. Everybody who wants to see him lose in 2006 should repeat it in the mirror every morning. The kid is good, and if we forget that, he’s already won. He makes the unpalpable seem charming, the out seem in, the harsh seem generous, the nasty seem kind, the weird seem sane. The kid is good. If you think the average voter is going to dig through the misdirections and read the play action, you are as out of your skull as he is.

However, it must be noted that Chris is also good — hell, he’s much better than good — and it looks like he’s going to be leading us on another wild ride.

Update: I meant to include an exellent interview with photoblogger Kathleen Connally that Albert conducted for Philly Future: Photoblogger Fortnight: Kathleen Connally.

That’s it for this round trip along my blogroll. I didn’t have a chance to visit every site on there, and to anyone I’ve missed, I’m sorry. Please feel free — feel encouraged — to leave other links in the comments.