sknd

I called it. No one believed me. And I posted this news in the last story when it broke. I gave David Lat the heads up.

So do I have the job? Elie said he'd resign.

1 - What's this you say about Cahill layoffs? Is there any confirmation / further details?

Wouldn't a strict constructionalist find Obama's presidency unconstitutional anyway since at the time the Constitution was written African-Americans could not be citizens and you have to be a citizen to be President?

It looks like Joe Biden realized his dream of becoming president:

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2009/01/20/remember-when-biden-was-president/

And Condi was our first African-American president too.

I continue to be amazed that CJR messed this up. He is, by almost all accounts, the most superb oral advocate in the country in recent memory. Speaking without notes is what he does (e.g., address to the nation hours after finding out about his nomination; senate hearings). There is not a single person in the country I would have chosen before Roberts to get the 35 words right. Simply stunning.

Obama looks like a catfish in blackface

5, see the 14th Amendment, overturning Dred Scott. You're welcome.

I just saw the picture on cnn.com. It does not appear that Obama's hand is on a Bible. Clearly, this indicates that he is not serious about the oath. I would say we should immediately move to impeach, but that is not necessary as this man is clearly not President.

10
Read the article. It clearly states that a Bible was not used on Wednesday. Obama is not President.

There is no requirement that a bible (or any book) be used for the oath. There isn't even a requirement that the president swear, he can affirm.

If I ask Kozinski about being a perv at Columbia Law, will i get thrown out?

9 -

Not according to Scalia. Anywhere the constitution used the word "man", it doesn't apply to women or blacks. The founders clearly did not intend to include them, therefore it doesn't apply to them. The 14th and 19th amendments only give them the right to vote. Sounds retarded doesn't it? So does Scalia.

14

Can you give a case cite on that?

I agree with 7. Brilliant, nice guy, but perhaps the 800,000 watching live and millions more on TV got him nervous.

9 -

Not according to Scalia. Anywhere the constitution used the word "man", it doesn't apply to women or blacks. The founders clearly did not intend to include them, therefore it doesn't apply to them. The 14th and 19th amendments only give them the right to vote. Sounds retarded doesn't it? So does Scalia.

Lat, it is not even a close question on the fault for the flub. Roberts took credit for the flub after it happened. Deal with it. No need to intimate in your post that there is any reasonable debate over it.

5 = racist against strict constructionists. they are noble and honest savages.

Wow, really? No Bible.... huh.... This is making so much more sense. He's a muslim, and he's probably not constitutionally permitted to be prez, for lack of an existing birth certificate. The Chief Justice and Scalia are well-aware that the citizenship issue is somewhat legit; they've read the petitions and have tried to bring them into the court, but the rule-of-four has not been met (yet). There's another conference on Friday.

Perhaps it's something simple -- say, bad record-keeping by the State of Hawaii -- but the rumors would be too much for the country to handle. Similarly, the CJ probably concluded that it would be too much for the country to handle if Obama was asked to step down. So they made some sort of an agreement.

Or perhaps the flub was a shot across the bow from Roberts. And now they've made an agreement.

Also A LOT was made out of the whole "Lincoln Bible" thing by the news media. Wolf Blitzer basically said, "Look! See! He's not a Muslim!" But now that Obama never actually used the Lincoln Bible to be sworn in, the question returns. We must immediately question any media personality that repeats the lie that Obama was sworn in on Lincoln's Bible.

So where's this leave us? A guy with no proof of natural born status takes an oath IN PRIVATE with no evidence of religious allegiance. Basically, we know nothing about Obama.

Please post link to Bibleless swearing in...

16 -- 800,000? Not sure where you get that number.

13--don't steal my question (asked in the Santa Clara posting): "Why are the comments disabled on the post about Kozinski?? I want to ask Lat to ask him about recusing himself for being a pervert!"

15 -

Take a look at Scalia in Heller. You MUST apply the meaning at the time the document was written.

According to the document, all men were created equal, but we know that didn't mean women or blacks. Hell, we had to amend the document just to give them the right to vote. But we didn't give them right to free speech or freedom from unlawful search and seizure. Per Scalia, they shouldn't enjoy these rights. "Strict Constructionists" are lazy cowards. Not intelligent people.

http://graphjam.com/2008/10/28/song-chart-memes-first-in-the-comments/

19 - strict constructionists are not noble. Savages, yes.

so does that mean everything he did until he took the second oath is probably ultra vires?

21 - the standing DC Police estimate is that the mall filled to the Washington Monument is 1.2M. This picture shows clusters around the video screens but a good bit of open space. http://www.fohguild.org/forums/attachments/screenshots/98459d1232512262-funny-strange-random-pics-dccm20jan2009-970.jpg

An ASU professor has also estimated the 800k number based on another satellite image. http://www.asuwebdevil.com/node/3654

PS - I don't really give a damn what the real number was, but the 2M number that was bouncing around was just ridiculous. Still, that is a shitload of people, particularly around the Monument.

I like the cut of your jib, 20, the keen insight and dogged persistence you display are the very qualities that have made our country into what it is today.

if the constitution is a living document, why do we keep it in an air tight case? Wouldnt it have to breathe?

24 - ATL just linked to that:

http://abovethelaw.com/2009/01/non-sequiturs_012109.php

It is amazing the precautions one must make when one has a permanent tan...

Oh well...

18 - No, OBAMA took the blame (and said Roberts "actually helped me out on a couple of stanzas there"):

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/obama-roberts-not-to-blame-for-oath-hiccup-2009-01-20.html

Chester Arthur took the oath of office twice, too.

There's a random fact.

I didn't even remember that we had a President Chester Arthur until I watched "Appaloosa" last week.

If JGR would have worn a jaunty cap like Scalia did to the inauguration, it would have kept all those words sealed inside his braincase and we wouldn't have had this problem.

Chief Justice John RoberTTTs.

Obama is not president because Ohio was not formally admitted into the United States and you don't have to pay any taxes either plus according to the law of intestacy the great great great grandson of William Henry Harrison is actually the ruler of North America below the 49th parallel.

32- Obama was being gracious. It was clearly, objectively, Roberts's fuckup.

Roberts is to blame, but it's idiotic that so-called "experts" think Obama needs to take the oath again. Who, exactly, has standing to challenge the legitimacy of the oath? (To name only one of a dozen ways any court could toss any challenge of the oath on its ass.)

"He is, by almost all accounts, the most superb oral advocate in the country in recent memory."

Roberts? You've got to be kidding.

Whether you agree with his politics or not, CJ Roberts really was a superb advocate. You can check out his past oral arguments on oyez.org.

Strict constructionists are simply racist/classist folks who hide behind a theory of interpretation that allows them to pretend they are simply interpreting the Constitution with intellectual integrity. No mystery here. Bush v. Gore shows clearly that the conservative members of the Court are simply results oriented political players.

why is ATL rejecting my posts!

Lat,

ATL made it on to the CNN Ticker version of the article.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/01/21/obama-re-takes-oath-of-office-at-the-white-house/

see towards the end.

"The always-playful legal Web site Above the Law asked readers to answer an online poll. About 48 percent blamed Roberts, just 17 percent blame Obama, and 35 percent said yes to the statement, "They both sucked.""

Your mom said that Roberts was a fantastic oralist.

President Catfish

Catfish are the fish with big lips, right? Or are those bass?

45-46 - not sure, but racism is so 1986....

But he didn't use a bible the second time so that didn't count either...

Stupid Drudge, stupid christians.

47 = racist with a mullet

what does ANY of this have to do with skaTTTen's bloodbath? or was that just a rumor?

Roberts is such a grammarian that he reflexively moved the adverb "faithfully" out of the verbal phrase. It's equivalent to fixing a split infinitive -- if you're such a prig think you think English should follow Latin grammar.

41-

If that were true, why don't the conservatives justices read the Constitution to actually prohibit abortion, gay rights, etc.? In 9 out of 10 cases, an originalist method will simply state the obvious that the Constitution never was meant to grant a right to sodomize, decapitate your unborn child, etc. and the justice will defer to the wishes of the people in each state. The fact that some justices might hypocritically depart from their method in some cases undermines that particular justice, not the method itself.

And 23, so I take it that perverting the Constitution to selectively create rights that happen to correspond to the Left's wish list while screwing the American people and their democratic process is an act of great "courage"? The fact that you apparently beleive that is yet another piece of evidence that liberalism is indeed a form of mental illness.

Not a single intelligent comment in this thread. I am done with ATL.

BHO didn't use a Bible the second time around. I think that speaks volumes.

54, Is he a witch?

Roberts is so much cuter than Obama.

52-

What's your name? I feel obnoxious ignorant posters like that should always include their names. Stand up and be proud!

55, I hear that Obama also floats if dunked into water. He's a witch! BURN HIM!

57, please jam a steak knife into your leg. I feel that douche bags like you should be stabbed in the leg. Fall down and convulse in pain!

52/59-

Conservative Coward.

60 - Aren't they all? From Cheney's draft dodging to W's missing years in the Air Guard...they and their's won't serve but they'll send your sons and daughters to fight in a war that shouldn't have been started.

Oh wait, I don't have to complain anymore...the losers are about to be arrested.

61, in which branch of the military did William Jefferson Clinton (born the same year as George W. Bush) serve in?
Inquiring minds want to know.

61, are you on crack? who is getting arrested? And in case you were wondering we have an all volounteer military. If you don't want to fight, don't sign up.

63-

Yup, that's pretty much what's happening. People aren't signing up because they don't want to be sent to the middle of nowhere to die for no reason. Thanks, conservatives, you've screwed us again!

61 - McCain served. When did Obama serve? Do you know if his daughters plan on enlisting when they are of age?

65- Don't brag about McCain's military service. He was arguably the worst pilot in United States history. I can actually validly make that claim because they ground most pilots after two crashes. He managed to crash far more planes because his daddy was a powerful man. An entitled daddy's boy, just like Bush and the rest of them.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/make_believe_maverick_the_real_john_mccain

66, yes I trust the Rolling Stone for unbiased reporting of anything. And I never said that McCain was a great soldier, the fact is that he served. And I'm still waiting to see if Obama's daughters will enlist. For some reason I doubt it. He is just as much of an "elite" as any republican.

-65

67 - read the article. It's sickening. Most of it is taken from excerpts from McCain's book.

No Bible? Awesome! 4 more years of wingnut claims about Barack the Magic Muslim Antichrist.

68, I read the article. It really isn't that bad once you discount all of the anti-McCain, off the cuff, rambling and look at the facts. He is no worse than any politician. And the fact remains, he served in the armed forced. Obama did not.

69, well he is a witch. I'm not sure that is the right term though. What do you call someone who practices voodoo?

70- I'm glad you're not in charge of our military.

"Borrowing" a military aircraft to personally fly yourself to another state to bang some chick and crashing the jet in in the process "isn't that bad?"

Anyone else would have been courtmarshalled for that. But he had daddy bail him out.

72, the 2008 election is over. McCain is no longer a challenger to Obama. It's time to get over the McCain-bashing now.

Democrats (i.e., posters 60/61) apparently believe that politicians who didn't serve in the military, or even those who served in the National Guard, are cowards. Are Clinton and Obama cowards then? Or did they serve in some military branch I haven't heard about?

73-

No no. We think people who post bigotted things without including their own names are cowards.

(See 52/57)

74, I feel people who make pointless accusations of bigotry should include their own names. Stand up and be proud. Or are you a coward?

74/75, see 61, which is what we've all been talking about.

TYIA

We can agree to disagree about the importance of whether the President should have (competently) served in the armed forces.

But we can all agree that America has spoken.

Conservatives proved themselves so incompetent and corrupt that they were tossed on their asses in both the Executive AND Legislative branches.

Conservatives were so incompetent that America was a hairs breath from handing the Democrats a SUPERMAJORITY--TOTAL CONTROL OF THE GOVERNMENT.

If that's not an indication that Conservatives are total failures running this country, I don't know what is.

Hang your heads in shame!

78, I can also agree that the majority of Americans are stupid animals who find it painful to entertain an intelligent thought. It is easier to jumb on the Obama bandwagon than to have an original thought. The Democrats ended up with control of the government, but remeber that Obama got 53% of the popular vote. You make it sound like he got 90%.

78, did you feel the same way about liberals after the 2004 elections?

78-

80's got you there. Whatever you say about the Republican ticket, you have to agree that thinking Africa is a country is certainly an "original thought."

Here's a more interesting question:

If you owned a corporation and I proposed that you hire a CEO that can't even name all of the continents, wouldn't you assume I hate you?

Republicans hate America.

@83 That's not a fair hypothetical.

You meant to say: "What if I secretly knew my proposed CFO was a moron, but worked really hard to conceal it from you. Then after you appointed an intelligent officer, I admitted I knew my candidate was a moron the whole time."

Then wouldn't you assume I hate you?

83, no I would assume that the guy running against your CEO must really suck if your nominee , who can't name all of the continents, still gets 47% of the vote. 47% of American's would rather have a VP that can't name all of the continents than Obama.

85-

That's not true. McCain's people only admitted they knew that about Palin's stupidity AFTER the election.

They realized if America knew she was THAT stupid, they could never have gotten 47% of the vote.

Whether you're a liberal or a conservative, you have to agree that strategically, admitting you knew your candidate was a moron after the election is an INCREDIBLY stupid move.

I understand the desire for a liberal social policy. I just don't get the point of the liberal fiscal policy. The federal government already collects enough taxes to dish out hundreds of billions of dollars in bailouts. Why then, when the current economic crisis is over, can't the money being collected in taxes just be used to drive liberal social policies rather than being used to inflate our military?
If democrats really wanted to dominate republicans they would not raise taxes, yet push the liberal social policies. I don't see why these two can't be done at the same time.
In my opinion, having to choose between a republican leadership and a democratic leadership is like having to choose between being kicked in the groin or being chopped in the throat. However, I vote for one or the other because of our two party system. I just one of them could get it right for a change.

I agree with you 87. I am socially liberal and fiscally conservative. For the past 8 years we have been ruled by people who are pretty much the opposite.

At this point the republicans have been taken over by a bunch of fucktards who think it is relevant that no Bible was used the second time around and want a united Israel so the second coming can happen while ignoring social justice issues. So for the time being I will vote Democratic. When the Repblicans go back to what their party really used to stand for maybe they can win.

Hopefully Obama is more like Clinton than Carter. We shall see.

I can't have a president named "Barack Obama". That is not a real name. I'm calling him Barry O'Conner from now on. Who's with me?

87/88-

That's all well and good, but you forget that much Republican idealogy has been driven by the teachings of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Here are examples of things we have learned from the scriptures:

1) Those Americans hit by natural disasters deserve to drown. They do not deserve competent relief efforts
2) There was not enough mercury in our water
3) Mining interests should not pay market value for public lands
4) Oil drilling interests should not pay market value for public lands
5) Medical research should not be allowed to continue in order to improve the lives of American-to do so would be against the sanctity of human life (this one is particularly obvious if you read Matthew)
6) Jesus believed in guns. Jesus believed each of us should possess a weapon capable of killing multiple other human beings in a blood bath of wanton destruction. He particularly agreed with this if, statistically, most of the people shot by these guns are family members.
7) When we are attacked by another nation (Afghanistan) it isn't important that we defeat our enemy. It's more important that we drop a few bombs on them, then devote most of our resources to invading and running another country than the one that attacked us.
8) We should spend more money building the infrastructure of a random country that we blew up instead of our own infrastructure.
9) PMS and other female medical issues do not exist. They can be healed with prayer. (http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread61589/pg1)

Don't say all of that too loudly, because we would rather have the masses worried about that and Nascar and the Super Bowl than where the money and power is going.

91, go fuck yourself. Everyone loves the Super Bowl, don't lump me in with Nascar fans.

87/88 - I agree with you, but part of the problem is that Congressional Democrats are weenies - they are afraid to vote against wars and obscene military spending and the "patriot" act and the bailout, for fear that the Republicans and Fox TV will call them names or something.

So how many of the McCain backers (who make a big deal about the fact that McCain served in the military but Obama did not) vote for Kerry instead of Bush?

94, wouldn't the same argument lead one to think that the Democrats who played up Kerry's military service should have voted for McCain?

I guess Blacks are above the law, At least in the case of Obama, McCain was forced to prove his citizenship but Obama has spent over one million dollars to keep from proving his. I need to post a Million Dollar reward for proof, Maybe that will put it to rest.

I guess Blacks are above the law, At least in the case of Obama, McCain was forced to prove his citizenship but Obama has spent over one million dollars to keep from proving his. I need to post a Million Dollar reward for proof, Maybe that will put it to rest.

I guess Blacks are above the law, At least in the case of Obama, McCain was forced to prove his citizenship but Obama has spent over one million dollars to keep from proving his. I need to post a Million Dollar reward for proof, Maybe that will put it to rest.