Heck, I'm half-surprised that Oxford is getting this movie for Thursday's opening, given the town's proclivity for cinematic procrastination. Anyway, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" is showing in Oxford on Thursday at 1, 1:30, 4, 4:30, 7, 7:35, 9:40, and 10:10. Be there or be square.
All of which means, as all of you who have been paying attention know, that four of Mississippi's seven superdelegates are committed to Obama. The other three remain uncommitted, with Reps. Gene Taylor and Travis Childers unlikely to cast their superdelegate votes, if I had to guess.
And as for state vice chair Carnelia Pettis Fondren, I dunno...holding out for tickets to the Ole Miss-Samford game in September, maybe?
Now It's A Trend: Musgrove Leads Wicker By 8 Points
Uh oh, somebody find that spinning-flashing-police-siren-alarm thingie from the Drudge Report, because people are about to start freaking out. According to Democratic polling, former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove leads substitute teacher Roger Wicker by eight points in their U.S. Senate race. Maybe that's why voter ID was added to the Legislature's special session docket by Gov. Haley Barbour, who reportedly is also prepared to employ poll taxes, an electoral college, nuclear weapons, and all the extras from "Birth of a Nation" to save his precious Senate seat from the dastardly menace of democracy. Yaaay!
Former Barack Obama endorsee Travis Childers placed his hand on the Quran earlier today in Tehran, swearing fealty to Jeremiah Wright and Darth Vader just before filling out his al-Qaeda membership application.
Jeffrey Toobin On President Crazy And The Supreme Court
WillBardwell.com's Hillary Clinton-supportive friends that consider voting for John McCain in November seriously need to remind themselves of an important fact -- if McCain is elected president, then he will be president of the whole United freaking States. And in addition to making decisions about how many times per day to push the red button, President McCain would get to appoint Supreme Court justices. And in case McCain's craziness hasn't fully sunk in yet, super-nerd Jeffrey Toobin makes the case in a New Yorker article for just how bad an idea that is.
For decades now [according to McCain], some federal judges have taken it upon themselves to pronounce and rule on matters that were never intended to be heard in courts or decided by judges.” This, of course, is a view functionally identical to President Bush’s often expressed contempt for judges who “legislate from the bench.” McCain then cited what he saw as an example of such abuse. “Sometimes the expressed will of the voters is disregarded by federal judges, as in a 2005 case concerning an aggravated murder in the state of Missouri,” he said. “As you might recall, the case inspired a Supreme Court opinion that left posterity with a lengthy discourse on international law, the constitutions of other nations, the meaning of life, and ‘evolving standards of decency.’ These meditations were in the tradition of ‘penumbras,’ ‘emanations,’ and other airy constructs the Court has employed over the years as poor substitutes for clear and rigorous constitutional reasoning.”
The giveaway here was that McCain did not reveal the subject matter of this supposed judicial outrage. The case was Roper v. Simmons, in which a seventeen-year-old boy murdered a woman after breaking into her home, and was sentenced to death. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy’s opinion overturned the sentence and held that the Constitution forbids the death penalty for juvenile offenders. McCain’s reference to the Court’s “discourse” on the law of “other nations” refers to Kennedy’s observation of the “stark reality that the United States is the only country in the world that continues to give official sanction to the juvenile death penalty.” Likewise, Kennedy noted that the only other countries to execute juvenile offenders since 1990 have been China, Congo, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. According to McCain, the United States apparently belongs on this dismal list.
Just something to look forward to on January 20, 2009, when President Crazy pulls out his Maverick Gun, shoots the Constitution in the head, nukes Iran, and then lies down for the first of his 17 daily naps.
Greg Kehoe is an attorney who investigated Saddam Hussein's crimes in preparation for the former Iraq dictator's trial. Art Kehoe, as a former Ole Miss assistant football coach, is familiar with tragedies of a different sort.
This has been a quiet Supreme Court term for First Amendment geeks -- which isn't necessarily a bad thing, given how the justices treated free speech a year ago -- but the justices handed down a child porn opinion today that will tide most folks over for the time being (unless you deal in child porn, in which case bad news lies ahead).
In a 7-2 opinion written by Justice Scalia, the Court upheld the constitutionality of a federal ban on child porn distribution in the case of United States v. Williams. The opinion doesn't break much new ground; it's essentially little more than an addendum to 2002's Free Speech Coalition case. The only real dispute, voiced in dissent by Justice Souter, is over the statute's proscription on soliciting or dealing in non-child porn under the mistaken belief that the material is child porn. Souter seems to think that the majority's opinion represents a substantial departure from the Court's recent line of child porn cases, but at first glance at least, that seems like an overstatement.
The one line that rubbed me the wrong way was Scalia's definition of obscenity on page 1 of his opinion -- "sexually explicit material that violates fundamental notions of decency." That is, to say the least, a gross oversimplification. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for the moment and assume he was just glossing over the term to get to the meat of his argument.
WillBardwell.com ran into an embarrassing moment on Saturday at a friend's wedding, when a reader introduced himself as a loyalist to "one of the top five most-influential blogs in Mississippi." I quickly and humbly had to point out that, at the moment, this ridiculous operation had been overrated only to No. 6.
But not anymore! After arguably its biggest week ever, WillBardwell.com has climbed back into the top five of Mississippi's most influential blogs, meaning that only four blogs have fooled these jokers better than I have. Suckers!
WillBardwell.com enters the week in a three-way tie along with Cotton Mouth (which is sort of an honor) and Right of Mississippi (which is sort of embarrassing).
At Least One Judge Tougher On Crime Than Justice Easley
I choose to limit my comments regarding the state Supreme Court these days for reasons that are obvious to some and irrelevant to the rest, but this is impossible to pass up. In dropping out of one of the two races for which he'd registered, Justice Chuck Easley told The Clarion-Ledger that he should be re-elected in November because of his record in criminal cases. Citing his refusal to reverse even one criminal conviction during his tenure, on the Court, Justice Easley declared: "I've got the toughest record of any judge in history, not just on this court."
Bardathon, the recurring Nike Plus-based foot race competitions that keep me in my old blue jeans, is back. But this time around, the glory and burden will be shared among two-runner teams. So if someone (say, me) forgets to run for three days, but that person's teammate (say, my sister) runs 15 miles over those three days, then the team will still make progress. That aspect will be particularly helpful this summer, as recent law grads spend most of the dog days with their noses in more books than I care to imagine.
But I digress. Anyway, if you're interested, shoot me an e-mail. If you've got a teammate, let me know. If you don't, then WillBardwell.com will take your case on as a personal project and find you a worthy teammate as quickly as possible. The race, like the Bar/Bri review course, will last for six weeks, beginning on May 30.
Best Cuss-Wordsmith Democrat In Congress: Emanuel Or Biden?
Attention, WillBardwell.com D.C. insiders. Your input is needed.
I've never sat down with the guy to discuss Bush v. Gore or the gold medal basketball game from the 1972 Summer Olympics, but from all indications, Rep. Rahm Emanuel is an immaculately profane man. But Joe Biden, apparently, is no slouch, either. I mean, say what you want about the wily Delaware senator, but anyone that (a.) drops the S-bomb (b.) on the president of the United States (c.) in front of a reporter (d.) just outside the Senate chambers probably needs anger management counseling. But in a good way.
So who's the best potty mouth in Congress? Is Emanuel champion-for-life by virtue of his body of work, or is Biden a potential challenger?
If you think the U.S. Supreme Court's new conservative tilt has cramped your style already, just wait until they get a hold of your fantasy baseball team!
The Court will confer on May 29 and decide whether to hear Major League Baseball Advanced Media, et al. v. C.B.C. Distribution and Marketing, Inc., in which MLB seeks to prohibit a private fantasy baseball sponsor from using baseball players' names and statistics under a state right-of-publicity statute. The Eighth Circuit affirmed a ruling for the fantasy baseball geeks last year on First Amendment grounds, holding in pertinent part (some citations omitted):
The Supreme Court has directed that state law rights of publicity must be balanced against first amendment considerations, and here we conclude that the former must give way to the latter. First, the information used in CBC's fantasy baseball games is all readily available in the public domain, and it would be strange law that a person would not have a first amendment right to use information that is available to everyone. It is true that CBC's use of the information is meant to provide entertainment, but "[s]peech that entertains, like speech that informs, is protected by the First Amendment because '[t]he line between the informing and the entertaining is too elusive for the protection of that basic right.' " Cardtoons, L.C. v. Major League Baseball Players Ass'n, 95 F.3d 959, 969 (10th Cir. 1996) (quoting Winters v. New York, 333 U.S. 507, 510 (1948)). We also find no merit in the argument that CBC's use of players' names and information in its fantasy baseball games is not speech at all. We have held that "the pictures, graphic design, concept art, sounds, music, stories, and narrative present in video games" is speech entitled to first amendment protection. See Interactive Digital Software Ass'n v. St. Louis County, Mo., 329 F.3d 954, 957 (8th Cir. 2003). Similarly, here CBC uses the "names, nicknames, likenesses, signatures, pictures, playing records, and/or biographical data of each player" in an interactive form in connection with its fantasy baseball products. This use is no less expressive than the use that was at issue in Interactive Digital.
MLB argues in its cert petition, of course, that the whole question is confounded by differences of opinion among state and federal courts, but I'm not convinced that MLB is right. Even if it is, the split doesn't appear to be terribly dramatic.
I'm still hopeful that the justices will grant cert on the case, though, if only to hear Justice Scalia try to pronounce Kosuke Fukudome's name.
Speaking Of Movie Events Over Which To Geek Out...
Hey, now this might be worth doing -- "Lawrence of Arabia" on the big screen at the Orpheum in Memphis on July 11. That has the potential to kick huge quantities of butt.
Weird Guy I've Never Heard Of Brings Crazy Harder Than Ever
Stolen from Drudge, so I don't have anything new to add, except to say that this is my favorite part: "Thus saith the Lord to all white women in America: Boycott the Oprah Winfrey show; go to your remote control now and block her show under your parental control guide; do not purchase her products or services; and do not become a guest on her show."
Leading up to Tuesday's special election runoff in Mississippi's First Congressional District, former Gov. William Winter expressed horror at Greg Davis' race-baiting campaign style -- and rightly so. The trend was obvious enough for me to note less than a week after Davis' first match-up against Travis Childers.
The strategy was simple and far from original -- play off racial division in a heavily white district in a racially polarized state, and swing a few thousand votes along the way. As Gov. Winter told The New York Times, "I had thought we had gotten past that."
But Davis wasn't the only interested party to leave Election Day with blood on his hands. As first reported by Right of Mississippi, the DCCC stuck its stick in the hornets nest as well, launching a last-minute targeted flyer that accused the Republican of sympathizing with the Ku Klux Klan.
And maybe the DCCC's effort achieved its purpose. For example, in Panola County (48 percent African-American population) to the west, the Childers camp turned a near-dead-even tie on April 22 into a 14-point win on Tuesday night. Similarly, in Lowndes County (42 percent African-American population) on the eastern side of the district, the Democrat went from a 9-point loss in the special election to a 6-point win in the runoff. That's not to say that the DCCC's flyer was the only reason for the apparent turnout increase among black voters, but given its insertion into the campaign, it's hard to separate the legitimate from the illegitimate.
Which is exactly why Democrats must resist the urge to play these race-baiting games. The flyer tainted what may have been (and, given the final margin, probably would have been) an otherwise perfectly legitimate victory for Childers. But more importantly than that, it forced Democrats into the muck of race-baiting politics that we have so often decried -- and rightfully so.
Never mind that we've fallen victim to that tactic for a half-century. Never mind that, apparently, it's still a winning strategy. We cannot win that way, and if need be, we must accept defeat as an alternative. The goal of racial reconciliation, which Democrats rightly champion, is too important to accept the notion that the end justifies the means. In cases such as this, the means forbids the end. And Democrats, of all people, cannot allow that to happen through their own short-sighted efforts.
In fairness to Childers, he knew nothing about the flyer before the DCCC released it. It's another in a long line of decisions made by Washington D.C. desk jockeys with little to no appreciation for a political landscape a thousand miles away. But as the person on whose behalf the effort was made, he has an obligation to tell the DCCC to take the high road in November. As someone on the right side of the war, the economy, taxes, etc., Childers doesn't need racially divisive strategies to win an election.
And as a state recovering from decades of racial strife more slowly than any reasonable person would like, Mississippi can hardly afford them.
Reid Wilson, Real Clear Politics: "Still, losing heavily Republican seats in the Deep South is a big blow to the Washington GOP. 'To lose two Southern seats in two weeks, I mean, oh my God,' [an unnamed top GOP leadership aide] said. The aide told Real Clear Politics that something new is going to happen at the NRCC. 'People look at [NRCC chair Tom] Cole, and they say, 'What are you going to do to change?' And if he doesn't want to change, change is going to be forced on him.'"
Chris Matthews, MSNBC: "It's like the Democrats losing to Republicans in Brooklyn -- I mean, it's unimaginable."
Matthew Yglesias, The Atlantic: "This business of Travis Childers winning an extremely Republican district on the heels of two other Democratic special election wins drives home how infuriating the idea of even having an extended 'electability' argument about 'who can win' is at this point. The reality is that given current conditions, either Clinton or Obama is very likely to win. That, I assume, is why Clinton is fighting so hard."
Good night, one and all, and thanks for the biggest day -- and the most fun -- in WillBardwell.com's illustriously spotty history. This small-time blog pulled in nearly 2,200 visitors today, making May 13 far and away the most heavily trafficked day in the history of this Web site's ongoing efforts to make friends with Republicans -- although, admittedly, given the day's results, not everyone is feeling very friendly at the moment. I'll try again tomorrow.
Thanks to everybody for reading today. Good night.
Greg Davis' One-Trick Pony A Little Less Tricky This Time
For all its massive turnout, DeSoto County -- the crown jewel of the northeast Mississippi GOP juggernaut -- actually waned slightly in importance on Tuesday night.
Travis Childers' 8-point win over South Memphis' Greg Davis is impressive enough on its own, but take away DeSoto County, and Childers's advantage goes from 8 points to 20 points (60.3-39.7). Compare that to the April 22 special election, in which Childers captured "only" 59.8 percent of the non-DeSoto County vote.
For all the speculation to the contrary in the build-up to this race, MS-01 apparently still belongs to rural northeast Mississippi and not Southaven -- and even more so tonight than three weeks ago.
Will Bardwell is a recent law school graduate of the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Miss. He loves sports, politics, corn on the cob, Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, sushi, the First Amendment, kittens, Starbucks, meatloaf (the food, not the singer), fried green tomatoes (the food, not the movie), kilts, Sylvester Stallone, Gene Hackman, seersucker, newspapers, Food Network, Frosted Mini-Wheats, and brown ale. He hates property law, Fox News and broccoli. He no longer sports a caveman beard. E-mail at will.bardwell@gmail.com.
"It may be that it is the obnoxious thing in its mildest and least repulsive form; but illegitimate and unconstitutional practices get their first footing in that way, namely, by silent approaches and slight deviations from legal modes of procedure. This can only be obviated by adhering to the rule that constitutional provisions for the security of person and property should be liberally construed. A close and literal construction deprives them of half their efficacy, and leads to gradual depreciation of the right, as if it consisted more in sound than in substance. It is the duty of courts to be watchful for the constitutional rights of the citizen, and against any stealthy encroachments thereon."
Attention, WillBardwell.com D.C. insiders. Your input is needed.
Will Bardwell is a recent law school graduate of the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Miss. He loves sports, politics, corn on the cob, Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, sushi, the First Amendment, kittens, Starbucks, meatloaf (the food, not the singer), fried green tomatoes (the food, not the movie), kilts, Sylvester Stallone, Gene Hackman, seersucker, newspapers, Food Network, Frosted Mini-Wheats, and brown ale. He hates property law, Fox News and broccoli. He no longer sports a caveman beard. E-mail at will.bardwell@gmail.com.