I saw Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) on the ‘tube lying about Sonia Sotomayor. To call what he said “shading the truth” or “spin” would require sitting on the blades of a blender, that was on a turntable, inside a tornado, enveloped by a hurricane, at the bottom of a black hole. Real, whole numbers have concrete, immutable meanings and you can’t make 5 to 4 into 9 to 0 without simply lying. When only 10 of over 1200 cases involving Constitutional rights are reviewed and 8 are reversed, Sotomayer is batting .993, not .200.

Hatch is also totally clueless about Second Amendment cases. There have only been a half dozen since the nation was founded, and before the recent Heller decision, nothing since 1936. The Supreme Court specifically limited the Heller decision to Federal areas, and did not address application to the states. Of course she delved into history, because history is all there is, and the 1936 case [US v Miller], the only case in the twentieth century, dealt with Federal law, not state law.

Look, Sotomayor would not have been my choice for Supreme Court, but she has more “time in grade and time in service” and anyone currently sitting on the Court when they were appointed. Unless she discovers her “inner liberal” after appointment, I expect dull, middle-of-the-road decisions from her, which makes her the perfect replacement for Justice Souter.

IMHO, the program that Dick “DicK” Cheney ordered the CIA not to talk about had nothing to do with CIA hit squads going after al Qaeda. It had to be something that was clearly illegal under US law, because Cheney doesn’t even consider treaties and international law as applying to him. It was probably something that he wanted to do in the US, which the CIA is clearly forbidden to do under US law. Congress wouldn’t have opposed hit squads in the aftermath of 9/11 and everyone assumes that we have always done it, just like the rest of the world does.

The National Security Act of 1947 is back in the news because of this explosion. In addition to the CIA and the Air Force as a separate branch, the law combined the Department of War and the Department of the Navy into the “National Military Establishment”, which was changed to the Department of Defense in 1949. The reason for the change was “abbreviation”.

While Thierry Hupond of France was aggressive enough to wear the red numbers, it was Mark Cavendish of Great Britain who came in first at the end of stage 10. There was minor reshuffling in the top ten, but no one new, and none of the jerseys have changed hands.

1. Rinaldo Nocentini (I/AG2R) 39:11:04 [yellow jersey]
2. Alberto Contador (E/Astana) +:06
3. Lance Armstrong (US/Astana) +:08
4. Andréas Klöden (D/Astana) +:54
5. Levi Leipheimer (US/Astana) +:54
6. Tony Martin (D/Team Columbia) +01:00 [white jersey]
7. Bradley Wiggins (GB/Garmin) +01:01
8. Christian Vande Velde (US/Garmin) +01:24
9. Andy Schleck (LUX/Saxo Bank) +01:49
10. Vincenzo Nibali (I/Liquigas) +01:54

Selected Others:

17. Cadel Evans (AUS/Silence) +03:07
48. Egoi Martinez (E/Euskatel) +15:30 [polka dot jersey]
50. Nicolas Roche (IRE/AG2R) +16:45
62. David Millar (GB/Garmin) +27:33
105. Thierry Hupond (F/Skil) +53:00 [red numbers]
121. Thor Hushovd (NOR/Cervelo) +1:04:32 [green jersey]
135. Mark Cavendish (GB/Team Columbia) +1:13:54
171. Kenny Robert Van Hummel (NED/Skil) +1:59:32 [red lantern]

From the BBC Cycling results and the official results sites.

La Fête Nationale
Bastille Day

Thank you for the help with the Revolution.

Happy Birthday Александра.

Some background.

Note: Yesterday was a rest day on Le Tour de France. Today’s stage is much flatter, and the French riders should be going all out to win the stage.