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Judge in Schiavo case honored. Judge Greer was honored by the local bar association for his long-time service to the law in his jurisdiction.

The event was picketed by people who felt he should have abandoned his years of commitment to the law and ruled in accordance with their beliefs.

There is a basic misunderstanding in this country as to how the system works. People don’t seem to understand that the voters approve the constitution and amendments, the legislature approves laws, and judges simply read and apply laws to specific cases.

If the picketers wanted a different outcome, all they would have had to do in the state of Florida is gather signatures and get an amendment on the ballot to alter the constitution. That’s all it took to prevent pregnant pigs from being forced to live in cages. They had years to do this, but it didn’t happen because they know they don’t have the votes.

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Rumsfeld reduces estimate of base closings required.

Rumsfeld has been saying that the military needs to close about 25% of its current bases to save money. He has been saying this for years, based on the “conventional wisdom” of cutting costs to increase profits. Of course this attitude ignores the inconvenient facts that he isn’t running a business and there isn’t supposed to be a profit.

Finally someone has reminded him that part of his cost cutting was to bring US military force back from foreign bases, and if he does that, those forces need to have places to live and work.

Rumfeld is now saying that the base closings will be in the 10-12% range. This still doesn’t deal with the reality that the current military is not large enough to accomplish its current missions, and needs to be expanded.

There are several varieties of mold with better planning skills that Rumfeld’s Pentagon.

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Student suspended over call from mom in Iraq. A 17-year-old received a 10-day suspension from his high school in Columbus, Georgia for refusing to hang up his cell phone when classes restarted after the lunch period. The student was talking to his mother who was calling from her station in Iraq.

Fort Benning, one of the largest US Army bases and the home of the 82^nd Airborne Division, is located beside Columbus, Georgia and many of the students in the school system have parents on active duty with the military.

Anyone who would order that boy to hang up on what might be the last time he ever talked to his mother because of a “school rule”, and then gave him a suspension when he refused, has no business in education of any kind.

Their claim that they went easy on him and didn’t have him arrested is several horizons beyond the pale. The kid’s mother is serving in a war zone, and any educator who lacks the humanity to deal with that needs to be removed.

Update: School authorities have decided to reduce the penalty to a three day suspension following massive protests against their original decision. I would suggest sending the people involved to Baghdad to set up a base education center.

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Susan Madrak of Suburban Guerrilla has moved to new digs: susiemadrak.com.

Adjust your links as required. Oh, she took her main graphic with her.

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[™ Kevin Drum]

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Kittens

Bast, but that’s one scary thing!

[Edit: I found these two while moving some stuff scheduled for removal. I’m fairly sure they belong to Lone Ranger.]

Friday Ark

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