John Mortimer, creator of Rumpole of the Bailey, embodiment of the presumption of innocence as the Golden Thread of British Justice, passed away yesterday.  I plan to raise a glass of Chateau Thames Embankment in his memory.

Tributes pour in as writer, wit and barrister John Mortimer dies at 85 (Guardian)

Rumpole Creator Infused Whodunits With Levity (NY Times)

Wit, flirt, genius: John Mortimer dies aged 85 (The Independent)

The city of San Francisco began issuing identification cards today to illegal immigrants who are city residents.  The SF City ID Card provides holders with access to services and other benefits available to city residents.  The cards are modeled after a similar program in New Haven, Conn.

Each card is valid for two years and contains the holder’s name, address, photograph, and emergency medical information.  The card is accepted as valid identification at city agencies.  Cardholders can check out books free at public libraries and receive services at city health clinics, cultural attractions, and parks.  Eight banks and credit unions will accept the card as primary identification to open a checking account, and so far nearly three dozen San Francisco shops, restaurants, and other merchants have signed up to offer discounts to cardholders.

Bear in mind that with the city facing a $576 million budget deficit, Mayor Gavin Newsom has directed that department heads slash 12.5% and possibly as much as 25% of the city budget for 2009.  Proposed cuts, on top of a 6% cut already instituted last year, include layoffs of firefighters and cancellation of two police academy classes.  The health department has already made sharp cuts in programs that provide care for drug addicts and the mentally ill.

In a column entitled “Howled down by closed minds“, Peter Hitchens asks a anti-Israel protester where she was in February 1982, a time in which two war crimes occurred, one in Lebanon under the auspices of the Israeli occupation, and the other in Hama, Syria, and ruminates on the problem of false moral equivalence and how some people just don’t want to know.

Hitchens writes,

Was I, they inquired, arguing about the numbers?

No, I replied, certainly not. It wasn’t a question of numbers. The question was about the nature and intention of the events. Explaining ( repeatedly) that I opposed the Israeli bombing of Gaza, I asked if it wasn’t important to use powerful words such as ‘Holocaust’ only when they were justified. A systematic industrialised extermination of an ethnic group on the basis of homicidal hatred was different from a bombing attack on a city, however bad.

How can you possibly run an obituary of Ricardo Montalban and not mention his role as Star Trek’s ‘Khan’ even once?

For shame!  

Rest in peace Ricardo… 

- Justin Levine

Today, apparently, the House will be holding a vote on SCHiP with little to no debate.

Oh, these next two years are going to be awesome…

How many of you remember Roy Pearson, the (now former) DC judge who sued for $54 million over a pair of pants?

Well, it appears he’s way, WAY too stupid to know when to go away.

Roy Pearson has filed a petition with the D.C. Court of Appeals, requesting the case be reheard — this time by a nine-judge panel.

The guy lost his job because he pounded away at a lawsuit that would have made for great small-claims court fodder if not for the fact that ol’ Roy is apparently completely freaking insane.

Didn’t the Chung’s end up closing their place because of this judge?

And now a nine-judge panel will have to take the time to tell this guy to screw off.

There are days I hate the legal system…

Other posts on this subject from way-back (and on that “other” blog), can be found here and here.

[by Justin Levine]

Attended an entertaining lunch this afternoon which featured a discussion between the great Justice Alex Kozinski and legal blogger David Lat.

I thought one of the most notable items to come from the discussion was Kozinski’s confession that he hates it when attorneys cite one of his past cases in their arguments and then points out the fact that he wrote the previous opinion in trying to score points in the argument for their current case.  

In other words, when you come into court and argue, “Well Justice Kozinski, as you yourself pointed out in the brilliantly written 1998  [case of Y], legal precedent clearly favors my client in this [case of X] situation.”

Kozinski pointed out that you really aren’t trying to ‘butter up’ a judge in that instance. What you are really telling the judge is “You better agree with me in this instance, otherwise you are going to be contradicting yourself and will seem like a total doofus.”  

Kozinski said he doesn’t know of any other federal appellate judge who likes it when attorneys do this either.  

Appelate attorneys have been duly warned!

In the New York Times, Benny Morris writes:

Demography, if not Arab victory in battle, offers the recipe for such a dissolution [of the Jewish state]. The birth rates for Israeli Arabs are among the highest in the world, with 4 or 5 children per family (as opposed to the 2 or 3 children per family among Israeli Jews).

If present trends persist, Arabs could constitute the majority of Israel’s citizens by 2040 or 2050.

I know Benny Morris is controversial, but I don’t think this particular demographic assertion is — I think I’ve read it more than once elsewhere. (And even if this assertion is disputed, assume it’s true for the sake of discussion.)

It seems to me that in the best-case scenario — a cessation of fighting, and probably a two-state solution — this fundamental threat to Israel’s existence qua Israel remains. Even if — maybe especially if — peace breaks out tomorrow, how does Israel remain a democratic, Jewish state?

In other words, as the Times’ profile of the also-controversial Avraham Burg asks: What kind of future is there for Israeli Arabs?

The undead photo-journalist entity known as Zombie that regularly haunts the hallways of LGF was at Saturday’s anti-Israel rally in San Francisco, and — as always — provides a comprehensive report of the (grammatically-challenged) protestors.

I don’t know what is most depressing — that I am no longer shocked that scenes like these are routine in the United States in the 21 century … that useful idiots like A Jewish Voice for Peace and increasingly the mainstream left are perfectly comfortable marching alongside them … or that they teach their children to hate Jews.

One of President Bush 43′s last acts was to commission a Nimitz-class carrier named after President Bush 41.

Which makes one wonder:  Will there ever be a carrier named after George W Bush?  I think the answer is “yes” assuming that Iraq works out, and the Middle East moves towards democracy as the neo-cons hoped.  If not, not.

One thing I’m sure of though:  there will never be an aircraft carrier named after Jimmy Carter.  No, not even a helicopter carrier.  Even something small is unlikely — too much terrorist competition to take it hostage.

Corrections:  It appears there is a sub named Jimmy Carter.   And USS not USN.  Oh, well, a waste of perfectly fine snark.

According the the LA Times banner headline article today:

“The reason why employers are letting people go is not the traditional reason that employees are costing more than they are bringing in,” said Lee Ohanian, an economist at UCLA.

“It’s the fear factor. The crisis of confidence is having a big impact on employer decisions to hire and invest, and on consumer decisions to purchase. This is the first recession I’ve seen that has that characteristic.”

Where is this fear coming from?  We need look no further than the headline on the same article:

Job losses at highest level since 1945

and it isn’t until well past the jump that we are told that this is in absolute numbers in a country with double the population that it had in 1945.

Bogus statistics in scare headlines are pure and simple fear-mongering.  If, as the Times says, this recession is driven by fear, what the f— do they think they are doing at the Times?  Wake up!  Obama won.  You can stop now.

Illinois Supreme Court says Burris appointment valid even without Sec. of State White’s signature.

Quotes and commentary (maybe) when I get some more time here at work.