Judges are supposed to have absolutely no place in creating laws. The way its supposed to work is that the Legislature makes laws, the Executive (Pres) enforces laws and the Judiciary makes sure that the laws are legal. That's worked really well for a very long time.

Judicial activism is what happens when rulings from the bench create de facto laws. By blatant abuse of their powers, judges take on the properties of the Executive and the Legislature. This is bad. What you have here is the body that is supposed to be a check against the creation of bad laws acting AS a body creating laws. You also get the beginnings of an oligarchy as the 9 unelected members of the Supreme Court (appointed for life, remember) become the first word on laws as well as the last word.

So judicial activism is a very bad thing and it must be stopped. The Legislature has a plan that nominally addresses the problem on the way to doubling it. The Congressional Accountability for Judicial Activism Act of 2004 would let them overturn Judicial decisions.

Let's review - the problem is that the Judiciary is using assumed powers to create laws. Congress' answer is to grant themselves veto power over the Judiciary. Put another way, in order to stop the Judiciary from creating as well as judging laws, Congress wants to give themselves the exact same set of powers.

Fucking morons.

(Hat tip to Dopple-G)

Posted by: Jim at 01:40 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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The 25th Bestofme Symphony is up at WOLves. Join our host Trudy for a tour of the best in the Blogosphere.

Hosting: Would you like to host the Symphony? Send me a note and I'll get you on the schedule.

Submit to the Symphony: Want to be a part of next week's edition? Check out this post for submission help. Entries should always be sent to bestofme@jpeacock.net regardless of who the Symphony host is.

Spread the word: Webloggers, how about some linky love? Trudy would appreciate it and just think of how happy your readers would be if you gave them such a treat. Plus, there's a nice leg shot in the post just prior to the Symphony - you know your readers are going to be mad if they miss that.

Email Reminders: If you'd like to be sent a reminder about the Symphony, join the mailing list. There's one email sent on Thursday or Friday to remind you to submit for the next Symphony and one on Monday with the location of the newly posted Symphony.

Posted by: Jim at 01:15 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I came across a bumper crop of excellent posts this weekend. Normally I appreciate these and then get distracted by something shiny but this time I maintained focus long enough to note down the links. Woo hoo!

So here are my favorites from the weekend:

Trey gives us a rule to live by:

There are a few occasions when I strongly recommend following the crowd, going with the flow, doing what everyone else does and this is one of those times. If you follow a guy in a silver Passat on the interstate and heÂ’s going 90+ miles an hour, singing and dancing to Latin pop music, and then suddenly he slows to a frustrating pace of 60ish, you should guess that something is afoot, especially if you look around and everyone else is doing the same thing. (Slowing down, I mean. Not the dancing part.)

Posted by: Jim at 01:07 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Ilyka says:

If you leave me an insulting comment and don't have the balls to post your real email address, obviously I'm going to edit it to amuse myself.

Obviously.

Same here.

Posted by: Jim at 05:19 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1 You're too tightfisted to gimme a link now?

Posted by: ilyka at May 24, 2004 09:37 AM (xNLFN)

2 Dang, how'd that happen? All fixed now!

Posted by: Jim at May 24, 2004 10:16 AM (IOwam)

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Get your submissions in for the next Bestofme Symphony. Send them to bestofme@jpeacock.net and they'll be in Monday's edition at WOLves.

Please note that the autoresponse you are used to receiving isnÂ’t working. The emails themselves are getting through, itÂ’s just not sending out the confirmations.

The only requirements are that you think the post is good and that it be at least 2 months old. It doesn't even have to be from your own blog. It just can't get any simpler!

The basics of the Bestofme Symphony.
Want to host a Symphony?
Get reminder emails.

Posted by: Jim at 11:56 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Warning: This post is

It wasn't intentional but every post so far today has held a dig on France's favorite so I might as well go with the flow.

Here's one from Rachel Lucas that tickles me. She's designed the Orca (tm) Michael Moore range target (full size version available at her place).

What Moorisms do you have? Trackback or link it in the comments here. Or just spout off in the comments here. Openly vitriolic comments encouraged. I'll start you off with some humor:

Q: How many Michael Moores does it take to change a lightbulb?

A: None. That fat fuck wouldn't have a clue how to do something constructive that would actually reveal things that are in darkness. And what's with suggesting that there could be more than one Michael Moore? You sick bastard.

UPDATE: Claire has the scoop on Mikey's eveningwear. Monitor/liquids warning for this one.

* Title corrected. As LeeAnn notes in the comments, nobody in their right mind would fuck Michael Moore.

Posted by: Jim at 08:18 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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My PC died right after opening the day for Michael Moore bashing. That greaseball somehow sabotaged me.

Anyway, I'm going to be generally incommunicado as far as email goes as the computer I'm on now is (besides being in the middle of the training room as part of the class that I am currently attending) lacking in any communications capabilities. On the plus side I can now fake a phone outage and completely ignore everybody in the building when I get back to my desk.

Can anybody explain to me why it is that you can get a warning from SmartDisk that your drive is failing but Dell still won't replace it until it actually dies? And why is it that corporate admins refuse to just buy another damned hard drive when the customer service contract that they have with Dell proves to be foolishly lacking in common sense? I just happen to be in class today but I can guarantee that Dell won't have a replacement hard drive in my machine by Monday morning. Maybe sometime on Monday it'll get here and the machine will be loaded with software by the end of business. I'll spend the entirety of Tuesday setting it up for me.

That's two days of lost me. How much does a new hard drive cost compared to two days of my salary? How about losing two days from an already compressed production schedule? I really hate stupidity.

Posted by: Jim at 10:41 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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...as if tens of voices suddenly cried out in stupidity.

Oh, right! Trey's home and he's cutting through the inanity like Michael Moore through an Ewok buffet line.

Posted by: Jim at 09:36 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I've finally found the perfect gift for him. And under $20 too!

The “Mind Molester” produces a one-second electronic chirp about once every 4 minutes. Due to the chirp’s duration, frequency, and sound characteristics, it’s a very, very difficult, time-consuming, frustrating and maddening task to locate the unit. And even if they find it, they’ll have no idea what it is. The number of effective locations to plant the “Mind Molester” is limited only by your imagination. Of course, this device is for use on deserving subjects only.

I wonder if there's a discount for bulk purchases...

(Hat tip to Dopple-G)

Posted by: Jim at 07:59 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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...to get Jim to clench the flow mid-stream and abandon the urinal?

One guy shuffling to the crapper like Eddie Murphy doing his tight-assed white guy impersonation followed by two explosive gaseous anal exhalations. You know the ones with that curiously soft echo that you can only get while seated on the throne. Poof! Poof!. The ones that always precede a torrent of semi-liquid gelatinous feces spraying forth from a burning anus like a garden hose when you hold your thumb over the end that will remain stuck to the back of the bowl regardless of how many times you try to flush.

Yeah, that's what it takes.

Posted by: Jim at 02:35 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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1 Damn! That was you?!

Posted by: dave at May 20, 2004 10:23 PM (EXbsn)

2 Too much sharing.

Posted by: Simon at May 21, 2004 12:55 AM (UKqGy)

3 Too much sharing. Simon, I think you just came up with the ultimate subtitle for this blog.

Posted by: ilyka at May 21, 2004 04:42 AM (CjcOh)

4 Jim, you promised you would issue a Poo alert when you would discuss...ahem...bodily functions. Some of us are delicate flowers, after all.

Posted by: Helen at May 21, 2004 07:11 AM (+Qiat)

5 Sorry, Helen. When you gotta go, you gotta go. ;-)

Posted by: Jim at May 21, 2004 07:51 AM (IOwam)

6 Have you ever eaten at Bertha's? I did and that dude couldhave been me... ("Eat Bertha's Mussel's" bumperstickers are common around Baltimore.)

Posted by: Clancy at May 21, 2004 08:08 AM (EGVPL)

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El Nino is spanish. It is the spanish word for child. Like all things spanish, it is dangerous. It kills people and burns down trees. This child is more than a child. It really isn't a child at all. It is a storm. A deadly storm that kills people and burns down trees.

That's just an exceprt from one of four essays that should do more for homeschooling than a dozen abusive principals.

(Tip credit to Dopple-G)

Posted by: Jim at 01:44 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Thanks to new FTC rules, porno spam now has to have "SEXUALLY EXPLICIT" in the subject line.

Now instead of "Hungry teen wants your hot cock in her cornhole"
you'll get "Hungry teen wants your hot cock in her cornhole (SEXUALLY EXPLICIT)".

(Hat tip to Lovely Wife)

Posted by: Jim at 01:17 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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This image is of cracks found during routine inspections of the Kaman Aerospace SH-2 Seasprite helicopter. Pilots and crew of these helicopters were seriously alarmed (and rightly so) when this information was released.

They were especially concerned because the cracks weren't found in just one location - they were all over the craft. There was no real uniformity to it. Click on the hyperlink to view:

Cracks on military aircraft.

(Hat tip to Steve)

Posted by: Jim at 01:04 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Homer gets the 411 on the media and Iraq over at Ryan's place. And if that doesn't float your boat you can always fall back on the dirty mushroom.

Damn, I can't believe I linked that. The second one that is. The first one is good - go read that. Stay away from that second one.

Posted by: Jim at 12:28 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I subscribe to a lot of news alerts in order to keep up on scholastic lunacy for my Zero Intelligence site. Imagine my surprise when this Ted Rall screed arrived under a "zero tolerance" flag. I read the piece and was incensed by it but I knew that I wasn't the right person to rip Rall's ass open for it.

The correct person was Michele and she knocked this one out of the ballpark*:

...I see Ted in a whole new light now. He's the kid in the back of the class, the one with snot stains on his sleeve and a crust of saliva around his mouth, the one who talks to himself on the playground and whose personality is a guaranteed friend repellant.



Is there anyone who wants to touch this guy now? Even most lefties I talk to - and I mean leaning towards moonbat lefties - hold up garlic cloves and crosses when I mention his name.

* Note that the ballpark will no longer be serving Cracker Jack.

Posted by: Jim at 08:43 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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What do you call it when a blogger leads off a series with a targeted attack on another blogger and then closes the comments on the post? I call it bullshit. This particular pile of bullshit was birthed by Mrs. du Toit. She leads off a multi-post essay with this gem:

In a comment thread regarding domestic violence I was taken to task for referring to myself as "Mrs du Toit" by (what I would refer to as) a Femi-Nazi. She made some comment that she had a name and was proud to use it, and she'd never refer to herself the way I do.

The comment thread in question was at my place. Mrs. du Toit had commented that there is no such thing as Stockholm Syndrome and that women in abusive relationships are there solely because they want to be. Helen took her to task, this being the "some comment" referred to above:

And Dean? Yeah, I don't read you, and I really don't feel the need to, either. You've been there on the man's side? Well, I've been there on the woman's side. And you and Mrs. Du Toit (again, let me state thus: I find it revolting to be referred to by my spouse's name. I have my own name, thank you) should understand this: if you haven't walked the woman's side, then you just don't understand.

So what is it, Mrs. du Toit? Any woman who has been abused is a feminazi? Any woman who disagrees with you? Any woman who wants to be known by her own name instead of her husband's? What exactly is your label of "feminazi" a result of? One thing we can be sure of is that it is in no way related to any knowledge of Helen that you might have because if you had taken even a few moments to get to know her before spitting out your vitriol you would know that she's quite the opposite.

Frankly the moral equivalence necessary to use a term like "feminazi" in the first place is disgusting. Your casual attack on somebody you know nothing about simply because they disagree with you is reprehensible.

Bullshit, Connie. Absolute bullshit.

Incidentally, this is for you:

Posted by: Jim at 06:52 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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drew at logic2@hotmail.com (though that's probably a fake address) is the latest person to sign my guest map. He's a Brit but is for some ungodly reason living in France. After reading the comment that he left I wonder if that is such a coincidence. Here's what drew (that's the french spelling, using no capitals - less chance of giving offense using only lower case letters you know) said:

Jim is so clever that he has invented a new word to replace "causation" - "causality"! LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL ps get a clue moron.

If I'm reading this correctly drew is upset because I used the word "causality". He apparently doesn't know that it is a real word so he is trying to make fun of me for using it. He even gives me credit for creating the word itself! LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

ps get a dictionary fucknob.

Posted by: Jim at 08:03 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Look no further for Memeblog has arrived. Memeblog strives to serve as a central clearing house for meme info (memeinfo?). Want to remind the world to submit a post for Meme X? Want to let people know that Meme Y just got posted? Want to introduce Meme Z to the Blogosphere? Memeblog is the place to go.

The secret of Memeblog's success (we hope) is its simplicity. Meme hosts just need to send an email to the submission address at submit-at-memeblog.mu.nu and the crack Memeblog staff will add it to the daily summary post. With both Simon and I hosting we've got pretty decent coverage around the clock (he's in Hong Kong and I'm in the USA).

It's lean and mean at the moment. It'll be getting a facelift in the next little bit and we'll add additional options as time warrants (mailing list, perhaps a tagboard for submits, etc).

How can you help? Well, send in your memes for one. For another, get the word out that Memeblog is here and what it's here for.

Note that if your meme has a dedicated site or page you can get a permalink for it. Submit that through the same email address.

Posted by: Jim at 09:28 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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A googol is a number followed by one hundred zeros. The word was created by Professor Edward Kasner in the 1930s and used in a book of his in 1940. Kasner's descendants are getting set to battle Google, saying that the US-based company profited at their expense.

Personally I think that Google does incorporate the theory of googol in their site. When you get a search return you get a "Gooooooooooogle" at the bottom of the page where each "o" is a link to a results page. It seems pretty obvious that these are in tribute to the many zeros in a googol. But does this constitute financial gain at the expense of the family? Intellectual property experts don't seem to think so.

"It would be an uphill struggle to try to assert any legitimate claim," said David Gourlay, a senior associate at the Dundas and Wilson Technology Group.



Gillian Cameron, a partner in the intellectual property and technology department at Maclay, Murray & Spens, said: "They would have to show the family had used the word as a trademark and it had somehow been misappropriated, which doesnÂ’t appear to be the case.



"Or they could argue that Google were piggy-backing on the goodwill of the mathematician, and somehow people associated googol with Mr Kasner," he added. "Again, this would be doubtful.

Kasner was an intelligent and middlingly successful mathematician who's single claim to fame is the description of a number that is never used except as an example of a really big number. The only problem being, of course, that he didn't get famous for it. Could anybody have named Kasner as the creator of "googol" before reading this?

I think the Kasner clan needs to sit down and stifle.

Posted by: Jim at 06:16 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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It may be found (where I found it) at LeeAnn's place. Whoo boyo! I'm still recovering from it.

Posted by: Jim at 04:56 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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