Best Headline Ever on ABC News

First President in US History to Have Voted to Filibuster a Supreme Court Nominee Now Hopes For a Clean Process. Hat tip to Instapundit for the find.

Well, if it's the first, I guess that counts as change.

Not Change, but Reason

After campaigning vigorously against the practice, it seems that the administration will continue to use military tribunals to try foreign terror suspects picked up abroad. Some well-intentioned yahoos will surely howl at this, but it is really the only logical thing that can be done. Has anyone really thought through the process of trying a Saudi funded by Iran trained at a Syrian Hezbollah camp in US federal courts?

1. Would defense lawyers really get access to all evidence and the methods/sources that were used to gather it, and be able to confront witnesses?
2. After a firefight, if a US soldier chooses to capture rather than kill, will he be expected to put on a Team America World Police badge and Mirandize the terror suspect?
3. Do we want to store these people here in federal prisons, until their trial dates, relying on providence to ensure that nothing could possibly go wrong there?
4. Military Commisions are governed by the UCMJ, which is the system of justice used to try our own troops. Given that historically, not all service has been voluntary, many US citizens have been subject to similar guidelines.
5. Is the use of civilan courts on those not arrested domestically not arrogant? If a female soldier was picked up, and shipped off to Iran, would we not howl wildly if she was tried under Sharia instead of facing military jurisprudence?

So, short version, Obama gets this one right. As it is Obama, not Bush, there will be less wailing and gnashing of teeth. On these policies, I will continue to hope for little change.

Hope. Change. Bespin.

"Burden of Proof
Obama’s plan also would shift the burden of proof to individuals when the IRS alleges assets are being hidden in certain offshore bank accounts, the White House said in a statement "

There is the money quote from the linked AP news article. it's already challenging at best to defend oneself from IRS action, and there are apparently civil rights that have not been shredded sufficiently enough, so let's put the burden of proof on the accused.

I had a herculean task trying to reconcile the fact that the President used to teach constitutional law with his policies before. Now, in Orwellian fashion, everything that was bad is now good. Executive overreach has already far exceeded a Bushian wet dream. Campaign promises, rendition, transparency, tax cuts for 95% of working Americans, here's hoping no one is surprised. The deal has been altered. Pray he does not alter it further.

Hey Bub

I got a chance to see the new Wolverine flick today. Before getting to that, allow me to say that the next beverage I spend five bucks on better have some booze in it. My anger shot up to near Hulk-like levels, but there would have been no way to explain to the police or my wife what I was doing on the other side of the counter cramming a 55 gallon drum sized bucket of popcorn up some nametag wearing tween's ass. Anywhoo...

The effects were well done, and the ancillary characters were fairly well executed. Sabertooth in particular was much more three dimensional than the grunting feral Luca Brasi that they made him in the first X Men movie. It was also good to see the effects of hitting someone with metal laced bones, which has been previously absent.

Here's my beef. I don't think it was necessary at all to so dramatically change the scene at the Weapon X lab. The critics and the masses may want a kinder, gentler, Wolverine. But most of the box office receipts, and the lion's share of DVD sales will come from fanboys. I think they would have made a lot more money if Logan was a lot more feral, and much less of a stoic warrior.

Good DVD movie, but it's not a $30 including snacks for 2 movie.