As a follow-up to my post on Bruce Bartlett’s book about Bush and conservatism, Bartlett’s column on Townhall.com is worth a read.

Ok, the comments were filling up, so I thought I’d make a new post rather than ask/respond in the comment section of the original post.  I’ve heard that the big thing in D.C. is that those who wear seersucker suits do so with black shoes and belts….I’m not too sure I like the look.  Like I said earlier, I’ve worn my in the past with brown bucks or either brown Sperry’s, sans socks.

As for Jesse, who’s getting married and sporting tan seersucker suits, I would think brown loafers would be fine, absent socks.  Thoughts?

I’m going to be working six weeks this summer in D.C. and thought I’d seek out info from the SA community for advice on living, where to stay, etc. (I’ll be working on the Hill). Feel free to shoot me an email by clicking on the link beside my name.

Ok, the nice weather already has me looking forward to the day I can sport my seersucker suit. I do have a question as I’ve never stepped up to wear the white bucks with the suit, but am thinking about doing so for this coming season. Therefore, my query is 1) what color belt and 2) what about socks, i.e., color? Please advise. (Also, I think we need an “Attire” category).

I don’t recall this article being posted on this page, but if so, then forgive me. Slate has a piece from last week asking whether law clerks are staffers. I think making a deal over the fact Justice Alito hired a former Ashcroft staffer who’s 37 years old (I think) is ridiculous…but, who am I to say what matters. A taste: (more…)

I’m swamped at work today and tomorrow, so, absent a huge story, this will be my last post until Easter, as I will continue my tradition of giving up TV and the internet for lent.  I will “see” you all again, after Easter, with a house much cleaner, a body much fitter, and hopefully, and most importantly, a soul more sound. 

Few academics have done more to articulate and defend the traditional understanding of a liberal arts education and the role of the university in society than Alan Kors, a professor of history at the U. of Pennsylvania and a co-foundeer and chairman of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.  Click here to listen to his lecture on the subject indicated above, courtesy of the Foundation for Economic Education.

John Fund reports:

Never has an article made me blink with astonishment as much as when I read in yesterday’s New York Times magazine that Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi, former ambassador-at-large for the Taliban, is now studying at Yale on a U.S. student visa. This is taking the obsession that U.S. universities have with promoting diversity a bit too far.

I got nuthin’.

“Southron Pundit” by…me!  Yep, I shelled out the cash to get my own domain and hosting.  I’ll still be blogging as usual and taking care of tech things here at SA like I’ve been; I just wanted my own blog to opine on tech, personal, and other things that probably don’t quite fit here.  Plus, I just wanted by own site to use if I get into doing programming work on the side and where I could show code that I develop for fun.

Most of you have probably heard this story over the past few days, but I’m not quite sure you’ve had the privilege of seeing the video footage of autistic teen, Jason McElwain draining three-pointers like he was T-Mac instead of J-Mac.

Here’s a portion of the story:

McElwain, who’s autistic, was added to the roster by coach Jim Johnson so he could be given a jersey and get to sit on the bench in the team’s last game of the year.

Johnson hoped the situation would even enable him to get McElwain onto the floor a little playing time.

He got the chance, with Greece Athena up by double-digits with four minutes go to.

And, in his first action of the year, McElwain missed his first two shots, but then sank six three-pointers and another shot (video), for a total of 20 points in three minutes.

Me: I just finished watching it for the 3rd time and darn it, if I don’t keep getting dirt in my eyes…!

BTW, there are couple of different videos on the page that I linked to - make sure to check them both out.

The creator of one of the greatest comic characters in the history of television died yesterday in Beverly Hills, age 81.  No reaction yet on the websites of The Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers Club or TV Land, although both will likely have something soon.  The Official Don Knotts Website is here.

Quite a few of the quotes on the IMDB page for the Griffith Show involve Deputy Fife.

If the great history lesson of the 20th century is that socialism does not work then the watershed event in that tragic enlightenment was the one that took place in Moscow 50 years ago this month – the so-called “secret speech” delivered by Nikita Khrushchev to a closed session of the 20th congress of the Soviet Communist party on February 25 1956, in which he mounted a devastating attack on Joseph Stalin, then not quite three years dead.

Thus begins this op-ed in The Guardian from earlier this month, by Martin Kettle.  To read the speech, click here.  For a reminiscence from the BBC reporter who broke the story, click here.  There’s more here and here.

Come to think of it, today would be a good time to pay a visit to Bryan Caplan’s online Museum of Communism.

The Telegraph reports on the relative popularity of Stalin and Khrushchev in Russia today.  I wonder if Caplan would consider this an instance of “rational ignorance”?

The public radio program American Routes is focused on Mardi Gras this week.  It’s on right now (until 4:00) on Alabama Public Radio, which streams live online.  Otherwise, as they say, check your local listings.

Looking for something else entirely, I stumbled across this interesting collection of photos and short biographies of writers associated with the Fugitive and Agrarian movements, both centered on Vanderbilt U., in the 1920s and 30s. Here’s an amusing line from the bio of Andrew Lytle:

He contributed an essay to the ground-breaking volume I’ll Make My Stand, and was the only member of the Agrarian literary group to actually support himself by farming while he wrote his novels.

You can read the introduction to I’ll Take My Stand by clicking here.

Fans of Hutcheson, Hume, Smith, and the rest of the gang should check out Proportional Belief.

His Boston Globe op-ed is dead-on.  An excerpt:

In the minds of at least some vocal members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, expressing such politically incorrect views is the academic equivalent of provoking Islamic extremists by depicting Prophet Mohammed in a political cartoon. Radical academics do not, of course, burn down buildings, at least not since the 1970s. Instead they introduce motions of no confidence and demand resignations of those who offend their sensibilities (while insisting on complete freedom of speech for those with whom they agree — free speech for me but not for thee!).

While I’m thinking about this, I should point out that the LoC has a large archive of webcasts, here.

Huzzzzzzzzzzzzzaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh !

The NEH press release is here. Looking for that, I ran across this 26 minute video of Wolfe’s talk at the 2005 National Book Festival (Library of Congress).

Yes, there has been much debate on the Muslim world’s reaction to cartoons over the last few weeks.  I’ve seen good posts here on SA and other places.  But, the best by far must belong to Centinel.  Here is my favorite part:

I don’t want to get embroiled in a debate over Islam. Every time some nutjob over there starts talking about destroying Israel or the Great Satan, some “liberal” Muslim in NY gives a nickel quote about how the Koran doesn’t support such jargon. Whatever. All I know is that a majority of the population in these sandblasted camel pits appear to spend their days dragging their knuckles and shouting “Death to _____!”

Last week I linked to an item looking at the campaign cash on hand for the candidates in the Alabama Governor’s race.  Via a reader, in line with a comment on last week’s article, comes this report that the possibility of Roy Moore getting out of the GOP primary and going independent remains possible.

Daniel Henninger’s column is a must read for today as he looks at the events in the world of politics over the past couple of weeks, including this week’s Port fracas.

Steve posted earlier about South Dakota’s plan to ban abortions and thus try to force a SCOTUS reconsideration of Roe v. Wade.  One thing I found interesting was the comments of pro-aborts on this matter:

“This represents a monumental step backward for personal privacy for women,” Nancy Keenan, president of Naral Pro-Choice America, said.

Nancy, Nancy, silly silly Nancy.  As president of Naral your can’t stay stuck in the 1970s with a defunct version of the Living Constitution.  Every abortion advocate worth her salt knows that privacy is no longer the “constitutional right” on which current abortion jurisprudence is built.  With Casey and its progeny, the High Court has supported abortion based on the “constitutional rights” of individual autonomy and dignity.  I would cite you to a provision of the Constitution discussing the right to autonomy (if there was one), but take my word that Casey marked a shift away from the privacy rationale of Roe.

Naral needs some new leadership.

I’m just gonna have to say it: I think I’m more on the Kudlow/Goldberg side of the ports issue, than the Chuck Schumer/Ann Coulter side. I don’t think this is even close to being another “Harriet Miers incident” and I think it’s a bit silly that many, if not most, of Bush’s most ardent supporters are starting to mindlessly turn their backs on him over this issue….and side with Hillary and Chucky? I agree with Kudlow in saying that the president has made some “political marketing” mistakes here – but I can hardly see how all of a sudden he’s become weak and inept on matters of national security.

…Oh, and I also think it strange that guys like Frist (presidential hopeful) and Santorum (“re-elected Senator” hopeful) are all of a sudden righteously indignant on this issue. Seems like a pretty good time to separate yourself from a lame-duck president, don’t you think?

Various Editorials: WaPo, NYTimes, LaTimes, NYPost, etc.(via RCP)

if they refuse to provide services to the State to cause the death of a guilty defendant?  I’d say no, but I’d love to hear from those who think pharamicists who refuse to provide services to a patient to cause the death of an innocent human, should lose their license.

Yesterday, SCOTUS heard arguments on a South Carolina rule that bars a defendant in a murder trial from introducing evidence pointing to another possible suspect.  Links providing background to the case and issues can be found here. 

This type of evidence can be admitted in every state but South Carolina.

Bruce Bartlett’s new book, Impostor : How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy, will be out Feb. 28. This topic is sure to hit a beehive with a stick. You can hear Bartlett make his case to the liberal (I really, really like Al Franken) Terry Gross on National Peoples’ Radio. It makes me ponder where the conservative movement will be in 2008.

You don’t need a doctor at an execution…..just a couple of grave diggers.

Prof. Kerr points to an extremely interesting article in the WSJ involving blogging and legal scholarship. Specifically, the future of law reviews and journals in the age of the blog and other internet based publications, etc.

as some have suggested the only American firm with the capacity to run the ports, instead of the UAE, is Halliburton.  

Ankle Biting Pundits has a link to the C-SPAN video of the speech Scalia made on using foreign law in intrepreting the US Constitution. Where it gets fun is where young liberal folks start “asking questions”, that is making speeches. One fellow is even removed from the room.

More importantly, during the speech, Scalia said he was comfortable with stare decisis in a good many cases. Steve, it looks like we need to work harder in getting the message out.