Thursday, 23 June 2005

Boner Madness

I can’t believe I’m watching Game 7 of the NBA Finals instead of this cautionary morality tale that some are calling the Reefer Madness of this generation. Maybe Lifetime will rerun it overnight so I can see what I missed; this review suggests it’s off the charts on the unintentional hilarity index:

We get 8/10 for the hilariousness alone, it would be a full ten had Justin been killed by the internet porn.

Yep, it definitely beats watching sweaty guys in knee-length shorts run left and right across your TV screen for three hours.

Formula Zero

Most of the Formula One discussion this past week has focused on F1 head Bernie Ecclestone’s idiotic comments about Indy car driver Danica Patrick; perhaps somewhat helpfully for F1’s future in the United States, the debacle that the actual U.S. Grand Prix turned out to be hasn’t gotten quite as much publicity. Jerry Palm and BigJim, however, were paying attention to the race, and neither liked what they saw.

The predictions of Formula One’s demise on this side of the pond seem a bit overblown, though, as F1 was pretty much stillborn here to begin with—notwithstanding Indy’s involvement—and open-wheel racing in America basically is (and has been, for the longest time) the Indy 500 and nothing else.

Kelo inconvenience

I don’t have any particular expertise to offer on the Court’s completely and thoroughly icky decision in Kelo v. New London handed down today—for that, see folks like Orin Kerr and the Crescat gang for the legal nuances—but I will note that I’ve finally learned my lesson: never teach a constitutional law course during a semester while the Court is handing down decisions.

I am somewhat reminded of the Nissan plant case here in Mississippi (discussed here); the prevailing feeling at the time was that the Mississippi Supreme Court probably would have found that taking to be unconstitutional. Mind you, the Mississippi Constitution is rather more explicit in stating that “public use” is a justicible question than the Fifth Amendment of the federal constitution.

Also, my armchair psychoanalysis of Justice Kennedy’s recent “leftward” shift is that he really doesn’t want to be nominated for chief justice when (if?) Rehnquist retires. Not that there was much risk of that happening, mind you, but it’s as good an explanation as any.

Survey This

For all you bloggers out there: here’s a link to a survey being conducted by researchers at MIT.

Take the MIT Weblog Survey

þ: Amber Taylor.

Killen gets the book thrown at him

Although I can’t find a link yet, the top of the New York TImes home page is reporting that Edgar Ray Killen was just sentenced to 60 years in prison for his role in the Neshoba County killings. Enjoy rotting in Parchman, Eddie.

Update: C-L story here.

SN gets results, crappy supermarkets edition

Ok, I probably can’t personally take credit for this one, but nonetheless Winn-Dixie is exiting the Jackson market just months after I revealed to the world that they sell crappy frozen pizzas in their stores. It is possible that other grocery chains will acquire at least some of the shuttered locations, including the venerable Fortification Street store that I avoid like the plague.

Update: More here.

Quote of the Day

“I haven’t been avoiding you. I’ve been helping you avoid me.”—Odo (to Kira) in DS9’s “Tears of the Prophets”