{"id":278,"date":"2008-04-24T15:55:00","date_gmt":"2008-04-24T15:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stallioncornell.wordpress.com\/2008\/04\/24\/tattoo-lady-crap-politicization-whining-cars"},"modified":"2026-07-01T12:34:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T18:34:41","slug":"tattoo-lady-crap-politicization-whining-cars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/tattoo-lady-crap-politicization-whining-cars\/","title":{"rendered":"Tattoo Lady, Crap Politicization, Whining, Cars"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carly got sent home on Idol<\/span> last night. Brooke and Jason were far worse, but I can\u2019t say I was disappointed. At least we won\u2019t get any more cutaway shots to her Illustrated Man husband.
________<\/p>\n

WhiteEyebrows, who is a gentleman and a scholar, weighed in with a pertinent comment he made yesterday re: the Boston Legal<\/span> Supreme Court nonsense. He thinks Spader\u2019s character got one thing right, namely the \u201ccrap politicization that has happened to the court.\u201d He then laments \u201cWhat happened to the court that is supposed to be above the political fray?\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s an excellent question.<\/p>\n

There was one almost authentic moment in the Boston Legal <\/span>exchange that highlights the problem. The goofy Sam Alito lookalike weighs in to tell Spader\u2019s character that he is not allowed to argue for the guilt or innocence of his client and confine his comments to matters of law. This sets Spader off, who then does precisely what Alito told him not to do and excoriates Alito for being cruel and heartless in the process.<\/p>\n

But the fauxAlito got it right.<\/p>\n

By the time this thing gets to the Supreme Court, the only issue is whether the law is constitutionally sound, not whether anyone’s happy about it.<\/p>\n

Consider a less explosive example. If there were a law that designated April as National Pickle Month, the Court can\u2019t just say, \u201cHow stupid! The majority of us hate pickles! We declare this law null and void.\u201d But if there were something in the law that abrogated constitutional principles, such as a requirement that every Sunday in April, all Americans were compelled to kneel toward a jar of Vlasic pickles and sing \u201cAmazing Grace,\u201d they could \u2013 and should \u2013 strike down the law because it violates the First Amendment\u2019s establishment clause.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how it\u2019s supposed to work. They shouldn\u2019t consider the policy implications of their decisions \u2013 they should simply enforce the laws, even the ones they don\u2019t like.<\/p>\n

Spader wanted more than that. He wanted them to follow their hearts, to do the right thing, to march to the beat of a different drum, or whatever. But once you allow judges to start inflicting their personal policy preferences on the polity, no matter how high-minded they may be, you\u2019ve created an oligarchy, where elected representatives of the people don\u2019t matter, and five unelected judges can do whatever the hell they want. And that\u2019s all too often what happens \u2013 Roe v. Wade being probably the most egregious example. Show me one decision by the Roberts Court than even approaches Roe v. Wade in terms of hubris and overreaching. You want crap politicization of the Court? Roe v. Wade is the very definition of crap politicization of the Court. <\/p>\n

The Roberts Court has reversed a number of decisions in which the Court has overstepped its bounds. Liberals screech because they don\u2019t like the consequences of those decisions. Well, they have ample recourse \u2013 they can get Congress to change the law. But that\u2019s a messy and convoluted process, and it\u2019s far easier to get five judges to agree with you than it is to convince 51 Senators, 218 Congressmen, and 1 president to take the action you want.<\/p>\n

Democracy\u2019s difficult, but it beats the alternative. You want efficiency? Get a dictator.<\/p>\n

________<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve received many messages from people telling me to stop whining about my personal trainer pain. Most of them are from Mrs. Cornell, in the form of direct statements of \u201cQuit yer whinin\u2019!\u201d<\/p>\n

To all of you, I say \u2013 no. Never! Whining is one of the very few things I do well.
________<\/p>\n

So we\u2019re trying to get out of debt. We bought a big ol\u2019 Suburban for our freakishly large family, and it means I can no longer justify the expensive payment on my Camry. So we\u2019re going to sell the Camry and get a cheaper used car for me. We don\u2019t want to spend more than $8,000. But what should we get? I\u2019d appreciate any suggestions from the public at large.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Carlygot sent home on Idol<\/span> last night. Brooke and Jason were far worse, but I can\u2019t say I was disappointed. At least we won\u2019t get any more cutaway shots to her Illustrated Man husband. ________ WhiteEyebrows, who is a gentleman and a scholar, weighed in with a pertinent comment he made yesterday re: the Boston <\/span> ... Read more<\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4886,"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278\/revisions\/4886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stallioncornell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}