TAM Book Series: South Park Conservatives

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the first of what I hope is a continuing series of interviews with authors and their books. We no longer have C-SPAN's Booknotes, but I hope the TAM Book Series will partially satisfy book lovers interested in non-fiction books. Publishers and publicists if you have a book you think would be great for this series leave a comment or e-mail me at sean--at--theamericanmind--dot--com.

It's cliche to consider our youth the future. But cliches, while banal, do contain meaning. Young people and politics is always ripe as a book idea. Their views change and with them future political currents. Brian Anderson, senior editor of City Journal, ran with Andrew Sullivan's term "South Park Republicans" and produced South Park Conservatives: The Revolt Against Liberal Media Bias.

South Park Conservatives better describes an "attitude or sensibility" than a political philosophy. That's what I got from my interview with Brian Anderson. The foundation of modern conservatism starting with Edmund Burke was the conservation and slow reform of presently-existing institutions. Today's SPC's are more interested in conserving "life free from the intrusion of the PC police."

The essence of the book is how new forms of communication are bypassing the newspapers, magazines, and network television talking heads past generations relied on. Books, cable channels, talk radio, weblogs, and even comedy are letting people tired of stale, liberal views express themselves. Anderson was gracious enough to take part in an e-mail interview.

What are "South Park Conservatives" trying to conserve?

Andrew Sullivan coined the phrase "South Park Republican" a couple of years ago to refer to someone who is in favor of a strong military, is fiscally conservative, and is socially liberal, at least on some matters. I use the SPC term a little more loosely to refer to an anti-liberal—someone who may not be on board with everything supported by today’s Republican Party, especially when it comes to things like censorship and popular culture, but who looks at today’s politically correct Nancy Pelosi liberals and wants nothing to do with them. What the South Park Conservative in this sense wants to conserve is life free from the intrusion of the PC police.

In the book, I find lots of evidence for this attitude—and it’s far more an attitude or sensibility than a fully developed world view—among college students, many of whom want nothing to do with campus political orthodoxies, and in a current of social comedy whose archetype is the Comedy Central cartoon South Park itself, which satirizes not just conservatives but also, mercilessly, the Left.

Do these SPCs have any historical or philosophical underpinning for their views? This doesn't feel like Buckley-style conservatism.

As I say, as I’m using the term, it represents an attitude and not a fully developed philosophy of life or politics. But there’s no question this anti liberal spirit is a bit more anarchic and, yes, vulgar, than Buckley-style conservatism. One of the comedians I write about, Nick Di Paolo, a two-time Emmy nominee for comedy writing and the co-creator of the Comedy Central cartoon Shorties Watchin’ Shorties, told me he’s a big Buckley fan, but you wouldn’t describe his humor as Buckleyesque in tone—on the contrary!

What are your favorite weblogs?

I really enjoy and look in on the following regularly (I’ll exclude your fine blog, since you’re interviewing me, and this is off the top of my head): Power Line, NRO’s Corner, Andrew Sullivan, Polipundit, OpinionJournal’s Best of the Web, Instapundit, Captain’s Quarters, Professor Bainbridge (including his wine obsessions), Right Wing News, Libertas (the conservative film blog), Dan Drezner, Kausfiles, the Conservative Philosopher, Hugh Hewitt, Michelle Malkin, Chrenkoff (whose work on Iraq and Afghanistan is brilliant), the BrothersJudd, and the RadioEqualizer (invaluable on radio ratings). I’m a big fan of RealClearPolitics, Arts & Letters Daily, Frontpage, and TechCentralStation, and like everybody else with a computer, I read Drudge all the time.

One of the most gratifying things about the publication of South Park Conservatives for me has been the interest from bloggers and websites. Of course, I’m writing about the new media revolution, so it’s perhaps understandable that some of the pioneers of new media are interested in what I’m writing. Plus, there really haven’t been many books written yet on the blogosphere; it’s still too new a phenomenon.

Do you like the term "blog?" (Me, I hate it, and use it as little as possible.)

What can one do? It’s not the most elegant of words, admittedly—it sounds like a gastro-intestinal eruption of some kind. But it’s the term that has stuck and it won’t go away now, so we might as well get used to it. And sometimes there is an eruptive, gastro-intestinal quality to blogging!

Why do Lefties like Cass Sunstein fear more media choice? Isn't more choice more liberating? Do they fear a diminishment of their status?

Sunstein’s argument can be summed up in a sentence: "People will get the news they want, not the news they need"—the news we need being that delivered by the old, liberal-dominated media. In the twenty-first century republic.com, this argument runs, we’ll all enclose ourselves in ideological bubbles, the truth be damned. Democracy will suffer from cyber-balkanization.

I find this stunningly arrogant, elitist view, though other liberals have echoed it repeatedly.

I think the logic of the Internet in particular makes this worry wildly overstated. In my book, I quote the Yale law prof and blogger Jack Balkin, who spells out that logic: "[M]ost bloggers who write about political subjects cannot avoid addressing (and more importantly, linking to) arguments made by people with different views," he explains. "The reason is that much of the blogosphere is devoted to criticizing what other people have to say. It’s hard to argue with what the folks at National Review Online or Salon are saying unless you read their articles, and, in writing a post about them, you will almost always either quote or link to the article or both." In other words, the blogosphere is much closer to an electronic agora than a world of ideological bubbles.

When liberals make this argument, I tend to hear frustration over the loss of their monopoly over the institutions of opinion and information: "Oh, if only we could go back to the days when CBS News and the New York Times handed down the news from on high, and all the not-too-bright folks out there would accept it as given." Those days—thankfully—are gone for good. I love Jeff Jarvis’s formulation: news is becoming much more of a conversation. And that’s healthy. South Park Conservatives is above all a celebration of that new reality.

Do you see a stratification forming in the blogosphere where big-name weblogs primarily link to other big-name weblogs? Is that bad or a sign of a maturing medium?

I think you will see new sites and bloggers rising to the top, even as some of the big names scale down a bit, as Sullivan has recently done. Keep in mind that 12 percent of adult Americans are now reading political blogs, which is remarkable for a medium that barely existed five years ago but is also just a beginning. I think that percentage will continue to rise in the years ahead, and who knows which blogs will capture the interest of the expanding blog readership?

With the rise of best-selling conservative books, some people still think big bookstores (Barnes & Noble, my employer, for example) are being biased. Why do you think that?

I don’t think the chains themselves are biased at all—just walk into a Barnes & Noble or a Borders and you’ll usually see conservative books piled up everywhere. And of course Amazon offers easy access to all books, conservative ones included. The chains have really helped right-of-center authors because they’re profit-driven and don’t have an institutional politics in the way many independent bookstores do, which tend to be run by left-wingers.

Chain bookstore employees are a different matter. Recall the postings on the Borders employee union website last year, in which store clerks recommended "forgetting" to stock Unfit for Command or finding the copies mysteriously damaged and sending them back to the publisher. "I don’t care if these Neanderthals in fancy suits [read: conservative book buyers] get mad at me," spluttered one Borders worker. "They aren’t regular customers anyway. Other than ‘Left Behind’ books, they don’t read. Anything you can do to make them feel unwelcome is only fair." Now that’s a perfect example of what I call "illiberal liberalism"—suppressing ideas and arguments rather than allowing an intellectual marketplace to flourish. What would John Stuart Mill think?

Is there a stereotype for a college conservative today? What is it?

I spent a lot of time talking with college kids who placed themselves on the right for this book, and it became immediately clear that no stereotype really holds any longer—certainly not that of the bowtie-wearing, clean-cut young Republican of yesteryear. They’re likely to be blasting Eminem and watching South Park, even as they work, say, to form a pro-life group on campus.

What role is religion playing in the rise of college conservatism? Doesn't that conflict with South Park vulgarity?

There has been a striking religious upsurge on college campuses over the last decade—MIT actually has more than a dozen Christian fellowship groups active on its campus, to take just one example. A recent UCLA survey found that three-quarters of college juniors helped develop their identities, and 77 percent of college juniors claim to pray. The aggressive secularism of the Left today would make it hard for a lot of these kids to get on board. But there are many factors feeding the rise of college conservatism—the political correctness prevalent on many campuses, for instance, drives many students nuts. What bright kid is going to have anything but contempt for sensitivity workshops—what mind-rot!

As for vulgarity, I think most younger Americans, religious ones included, take it in stride. They’ve grown up with HBO, hip-hop, R-rated movies, and Bill Clinton getting cheap sex in the White House and having every pundit in the country talking about it. That’s why I think it unwise to push for the extension of FCC regulations to cable and satellite media, as some GOP pols have proposed. It’s a quick way to alienate a lot of younger Americans who might otherwise like Republican ideas on social security and even the proper role of the judiciary.

How fast did it take you to write and publish the book? Are new technologies making it easier to get conservative books published?

It took me about eight months to a year to write the book—but I have a demanding job at City Journal, which slowed me down a bit. The new technologies are making it easier for conservative authors to publish books—in fact, there’s never been a better time to be a right-of-center author. Just a few weeks ago, Simon & Schuster, another powerhouse New York publisher, announced it was launching a conservative imprint, joining Penguin’s Sentinel and Crown Forum as new conservative publishing ventures. The rise of the new media has allowed right-of-center authors to find audiences for their books without relying on the New York Times Book Review, which in the past hasn’t treated conservative books very well (I remember Katha Pollitt’s sneering review of Allan Bloom’s profound Love and Friendship several years back as a particularly low moment; with Sam Tanenhaus editing the review these days, it seems to be getting more balanced.) I’ve done scores of talk radio interviews, blog interviews, and cable news appearances for this book.

What happened to Andrew Sullivan? The man who was the most eloquent proponent of President Bush's war policy ended up endorsing Sen. John Kerry.

I think Sullivan has followed his conscience, though I regret where it has taken him. His position on social issues, gay marriage in particular, made it increasingly difficult for him to support the Bush administration, and he has grown increasingly critical of how we've done things in Iraq.

His sense of what conservatism means owes much to the great British political philosopher Michael Oakeshott, but that skeptical, secular conservatism, as Irving Kristol once explained in an interesting essay, is in significant tension with America's "exceptional conservatism," which is both religious and optimistic in its main variants. Thus, it's possible to see how Sullivan gravitated toward Kerry. He's writing a book on conservatism, which will doubtless discuss these issues.

Once weblogs moved beyond spaces for tech geeks conservatives quickly dominated in numbers and readers. Why do you think that happened? Is that the case currently or has the Left risen up to the Right's challenge? Do the Left and Right treat weblogs differently? Are there any parallels to magazine publishing?

Conservatives were ahead of the curve in exploiting the new medium of blogs, and quickly established a strong and influential presence within it. The right-of-center blogs were offering perspectives-especially on September 11 and its political aftermath-that were being slighted by the mainstream media, so it's no surprise there was a significant audience for it.

Left blogs have been increasing their "marketshare" in recent months, which I think has mostly to do with the political climate in the country. The Democrats have been imploding politically, and there are a lot of angry, frustrated left-wingers out there looking to vent.

Conservative intellectuals constantly cite thinkers like F. A. Hayek, Edmund Burke, and others. You don't see the same from Liberal intellectuals. Does the average, well-informed Leftist have as well-developed an intellectual foundation as your average well-informed Rightist? Other than John Rawls--who I would argue many Leftists are not familar with--who are Leftists' big inspirations?

You're absolutely right. There is a lasting body of political reflection from conservative thinkers. Left-leaning thinkers don't seem to have as many living sources in this sense. Who reads Walter Lippmann or Harold Laski today? Even Marx is read more for historical interest than for truthful observations on the functioning of society. On the contemporary scene, an intellectually inclined Leftist might look to Richard Rorty or Antonio Negri, Habermas and Foucault maybe, but there would be little agreement on a well-developed intellectual foundation.

You told me, "A recent UCLA survey found that three-quarters of college juniors helped develop their identities." Do you mean Christianity or religion "helped develop their identities?"

The survey mentioned religion, not Christianity, but presumably most of the students in question were Christians.

Sykes' Libel Case

My fellow Wisconsin webloggers haven't let me down in talking about Robert Miranda's libel case against Charlie Sykes. James Widerson recalls Sykes contacting him to see if he remembered Robert Miranda attending a 1991 pro-war rally at UWM. Owen at Boots & Sabers reminds me Sykes only had the offending post on his weblog for a few hours. He took it down, but the post could still be accessible if you knew where to look. Sykes has retracted his original reporting. That may lead to a settlement before the trial starts Tuesday.

I'm a fan of Sykes and have been on his radio show. I have a bias. But still, what Sykes has done is commendable. He posted a story in good faith and when he discovered it was flawed he stepped back from it. Was he perfect in his retraction? No. It feels very defensive to issue a full-blown correction just before a libel trial is set to begin. I haven't heard him mention his correction on his radio show. I would hope he'd do that if he hasn't already. However, Sykes' correction is far different from one in the Journal Sentinel. With the newspaper you have to dig around to the corrections section (where is it anyway?). Sykes treated his correction just like any weblog post. As Owen writes,

The duty of any good blogger is to correct that information in a public way as soon as he or she knows that it is false. But even if the information is corrected, the original incorrect information can remain on the web forever.

"Libel Suit Against Sykes"

As an aside, Miranda originally claimed he wasn't in Milwaukee at the time of the 1991 rally. When pressed by Milwaukee Magazine he said, "I don’t know how I can prove where I was."

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Wisconsin at 12:06 PM | Comments (0)

Stripper Economics

$134,000 a year! If you got it, flaunt it.

"Did You Know"

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Economics at 02:49 AM | Comments (6)

New Bob Mould

From how much I like the single "Paralyzed" Body of Sound should be a good album and nab a TAM Music Award. It comes out tomorrow. You have a choice of plain old album or the "Deluxe Edition" filled with extras and remixes.

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Music at 02:29 AM | Comments (0)

I Wonder if They Read TAM

Project 21 jumped on the Kossites who wanted to immediately begin digging up dirt on Judge Roberts' young son.

If they got the idea from TAM, great. I'd just like the credit. Egoboo is always good.

"Liberal Internet Activists Suggest Investigating Nominee's Toddler"

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Law at 12:34 AM | Comments (0)

July 24, 2005

Cha-Ching!

Political Calculations hosts this week's Carnival of the Capitalists.

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Economics at 11:21 PM | Comments (0)

The Disneyworld of Football

No one would know anything about Green Bay, WI if it weren't for the Packers. Yes, the football team is an important part of the city's identity. But you really start to get carried away when you start naming oodles of streets after Packers. The city is getting close to turning their "small-town-takes-on-big-cities" image into hokey, tourist kitsch.

"Packers Fans want Streets Renamed"

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Sports at 07:15 PM | Comments (1)

Take That, Che. You Too Daniel Ortega

After seeing this t-shirt I immediately plunked down my $15. It will go great with my "Viva La Reagan Revolucion" t-shirt. I'd get some Contra Cafe coffee too, but I wouldn't drink enough to get through a pound before it went bad.

[via Instapundit]

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Miscellaneous at 02:48 AM | Comments (2)

Sweet Swing

This swing is one reason I've been a Ken Griffey, Jr. fan for years.

Oh, by the way, the Brewers crushed the Reds. Too bad his injuries will prevent him from snagging the all-time home run title.

"Milwaukee 11, Cincinnati 7"

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Sports at 12:19 AM | Comments (0)

Lonely Butt

Yes vs. Sir Mix-a-lot, "Owner of a Lonely Butt." It rocks!

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Music at 12:14 AM | Comments (0)

July 23, 2005

Lance Secures Victory

Lance Armstrong wins his first stage of this year's Tour de France, and with it sews up his seventh straight tour victory.

"'It was Never Going to be Enough against Lance Armstrong.'"

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Sports at 01:54 PM | Comments (0)

Windows Vista

The next version of Windows has an official name. Forget "Longhorn" and say hi to "Windows Vista." Well, it rolls off the tongue and isn't clunky. It sounds a little too pleasant since you can expect a mess of problems when it comes out. There will be security holes, bugs, compatibility issues, and annoying new ways to do things. Then there will be the problem of trying to shove Vista on machines currently running XP. Expect the new operating system to be a resource whore.

"Next Version of Windows Named 'Vista'"

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Tech at 01:05 AM | Comments (1)

Bombs Rip Through Egyptian Resort

We're all Egyptians too!

At least 49 people have died in three car bomb attacks in Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt. I have little doubt al-Qaeda or a related group is behind the attacks. This attack along with the ones in London and Baghdad show the Islamists really want to turn up the intensity. They are also demonstrating their targets are more than just those nations who liberated Afghanistan and Iraq. Egypt was a target because isn't Islamic enough or Islamist--it certainly wouldn't hurt if they were democratic. To the Islamists you're either with them or you're an infidel and deserve to die. Innocent Egyptians suffered for that evil thinking.

"49 Dead and 200 Hurt in Egyptian Blasts"

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Terrorism at 12:08 AM | Comments (0)

July 22, 2005

A Kossite at WaPo

While not digging into a 5-year-old's private life (does he even have one?) Washington Post writer Robin Givhan "givhs" into her inner Bush-basher and goes after Judge Roberts' family for looking too traditional:

It has been a long time since so much syrupy nostalgia has been in evidence at the White House. But Tuesday night, when President Bush announced his choice for the next associate justice of the Supreme Court, it was hard not to marvel at the 1950s-style tableau vivant that was John Roberts and his family.

There they were -- John, Jane, Josie and Jack -- standing with the president and before the entire country. The nominee was in a sober suit with the expected white shirt and red tie. His wife and children stood before the cameras, groomed and glossy in pastel hues -- like a trio of Easter eggs, a handful of Jelly Bellies, three little Necco wafers.

...

Separate the child from the clothes, which do not acknowledge trends, popular culture or the passing of time. They are not classic; they are old-fashioned. These clothes are Old World, old money and a cut above the light-up/shoe-buying hoi polloi.

...

In announcing John Roberts as his Supreme Court nominee, the president inextricably linked the individual -- and his family -- to the sweep of tradition. In their attire, there was nothing too informal; there was nothing immodest. There was only the feeling that, in the desire to be appropriate and respectful of history, the children had been costumed in it.

Too traditional? "Costumed" by history? Yeesh! To Lefties like Givhan everything personal is political. As Michele Malkin points out "a mother and her children just wanted to look nice for the most historic moment in her husband and their daddy's life."

"An Image A Little Too Carefully Coordinated"

"Patent-Leather Hegemony"

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Law at 02:20 PM | Comments (1)

The Islamist Enemy

Chad Evans writes that the war we face is indeed a religious war. It's just not against Islam.

"The Enemy We Face"

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Terrorism at 02:03 PM | Comments (0)

Coburn Supports Roberts

About Judge Roberts Sen. Tom Coburn said, "My litmus test is, do they believe in the limited role of the court in terms of following and interpreting the constitution and not making policy, and I'm convinced right now that he is interested in limiting their decisions to what constitutionally they're supposed to do."

But here's the kicker:

Coburn said after his meeting with Roberts that he would have preferred a nominee who would reverse Roe v. Wade, but said it was "more critical to get someone "who's on the side of the Constitution and its strict interpretation."

What was said behind closed doors? Did Coburn ask Roberts about abortion? I and much of the American public want to know his stance.

Coburn may be resigned to accept legalized abortion until the American culture more strongly rejects it. It doesn't hurt knowing abortions are at 30-year lows in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Roberts needs to explain if Roe was the court making policy. If he doesn't think so then he needs to explain where in the constitution abortion is mentioned. What authority did the court have to yank that decision away from individual states?

Or Coburn might be convinced Roberts takes a "neutral" stance on abortion, the same stance as Rehnquist, Scalia, and Thomas. That would be make this pro-lifer and anti-judicial activist quite happy.

"Roberts Wins Another Endorsement From GOP"

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Law at 01:25 PM | Comments (3)

Not a Federalist

Judge John Roberts has never been a member of the Federalist Society, that group of conservative lawyers--a "gigantic networking club" to use one description. I don't care how many conservatives are praising his nomination--they don't know as much about him as they want you to believe--I worry this guy is another David Souter.

Why is President Bush so scared to nominate an easy-to-see conservative? Maybe Bush isn't as conservative as many of his supporters think he is.

"Roberts NOT a Federalist Society Member!" [via ACSBlog]

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Law at 12:34 AM | Comments (9)

July 21, 2005

Roberts Not a Confident Choice

Judge John Roberts may turn out to be even more conservative than Justice Scalia. However, we don't know his judicial philosophy very well. He's only been a judge on the D.C. appelate court for two years. Even though he helped write an anti-Roe legal brief during the Reagan administration he said that landmark case settled law in a Senate nomination hearing.

Dennis York steps into the wayback machine and finds some eerie parallels between Roberts' nomination and Justice Souter's. Just replace Souter's name with Roberts' and it sounds like President Bush 41 was talking like his son.

Augustine at Redstate.org takes a positive but not a gushing "pop the champagne corks" view.

Even if Roberts is willing to trash Roe v. Wade Wisconsin Right to Life points out [PDF] there would only be four justices opposed to keeping Roe the law of the land.

President Bush was afraid to nominate someone who everone knew would be an originalist or strict constructionist. Daniel Flynn writes, "What's the point of Bush taking such a risk when he holds all the cards?" Roberts may be as conservative as Robert Bork, but no one knows. This is a sign of Republican political weakness. Odd since Bush won two Presidential elections and helped his party solidify their majorities in the Congress. You'd think with this string of victories he and other Republicans wouldn't be afraid of choosing a polarizing candidate.

Does Bush, Rove, Cheney, Frist, and Dole think the American electorate could quickly swing to the Democrats and cost the GOP political offices? Maybe. They may be looking at the poor reaction to their party's championing of the Terri Schiavo case and wonder if voters are worried about a party getting too big for its britches.

"Coulter Splits on Court Pick"

"Don't Assume Roberts Is Another Souter Just Because He Doesn't Have A Long Paper Trail"

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Law at 11:01 AM | Comments (0)

July 20, 2005

Missing Wisconsin Woman

I post this e-mail alert as a favor to my sometimes-weblogging partner Shawn:

Tracey Marie Breure, age 16, was last seen on Saturday, July 16th, 2005 after leaving work at the Super-Valu in Osceola, WI.

She was driving a white, 1996 Ford Taurus, WI plates 124-JHN.

She is believed to be in the company of Ryan Anthony Hall, age 20 of 124 Main St. Luck, WI.

It is not known if she left of her own free will or not.

Any help you can provide in getting the word out would be greatly appreciated.

http://www.tacticstc.com/tracey/

Anyone with information should contact the St. Croix County Sheriff's Department at 715-386-4701 and us at 715-497-5731.

Don't worry. TAM won't become Natalie Holloway North.

UPDATE: Tracey is safe. The U.S. Border Patrol stopped her when she tried to cross into Canada. Shawn and I would both agree, "Praise God."

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Wisconsin at 01:35 PM | Comments (0)

Another Case to Tar Roberts

Look for a recent case on the treatment of Gitmo prisoners, Hamdan v Rumsfeld, to be used by Democrats and Leftists to make Judge Roberts look like a wild-eyed crazy man. This will go along side the "french fry case" [and here].

"The Largest Battle Of The Roberts Confirmation War"

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Law at 01:24 PM | Comments (0)

Fools

When Kossites decide to go after judicial nominee's kids they should first figure out if they're old enough to have done something damaging to their parents. Jack Roberts looks a little young to care about his sexuality and to be an addict.

UPDATE: Some sensible commenters have properly bashed the idea of trying to smear a little kid. Bravo to them. Obviously not all Kossites are wacked out.

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Law at 01:12 AM | Comments (9)

July 19, 2005

Defending Roberts' Opinion on Hedgepeth

Beldar looked at Roberts' Hedgepeth opinion and is pleased with what he saw. Roberts wasn't happy with police arresting a girl for eating a french fry in a Washington, D.C. metro station but the question was whether any constitutional rights were violated.

John Hinderocker adds:

Roberts' opinion is a good example of conservative jurisprudence. He begins by noting that "No one is very happy about the events that led to this litigation," and pointing out that the policies under which the girl was "apprehended" have since been changed. Nevertheless, the controlling law was clear, and the court was not authorized to second-guess the wisdom of the District's policies: "The question before us," Roberts wrote, "is not whether these policies were a bad idea, but whether they violated the Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution." One basic difference between liberals and conservatives is that conservatives understand that there are any number of ideas that may be stupid, but are not unconstitutional. As Roberts wrote: "Rational basis review does not authorize the judiciary to sit as a superlegislature."

The Hedgepeth case may tug at certain heartstrings, but it plainly was decided correctly. Roberts wrote for a 3-0 panel affirming a district court decision, so the conclusion was unanimous. It's hard to paint a judge who is part of a unanimous consensus as "out of the mainstream."

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Law at 10:38 PM | Comments (0)

Roberts Watch

TTLB has a Roberts tracking page, and NRO's Bench Memos has plenty of running commentary.

UPDATE: Kossites watching Bush's announcement noticed this:

When Roberts thanked his family, he mentioned his son, Jack...Roberts' wife's face fell. It was like a poker tell. I think we should research Jack.

Another commenter wondered if Jack Roberts is gay. That's pretty low immediately wanting to go after a nominee's kid.

UPDATE II: This from Power Line:

Pop the champagne corks, conservatives. Roberts is a fantastic choice, a brilliant and bulletproof conservative. And it was fun to see Pat Leahy and Chuck Schumer on television tonight; they looked just awful. After President Bush's terrific, upbeat presentation of Roberts, and Roberts' graceful, brief talk, Leahy and Schumer sounded like they had just dropped in from another planet. They were dour, hateful, and came across as sad and pathetic minions who have been sent on a hopeless mission by their bosses at "People for the American Way."

Ann Althouse quotes Sen. Leahy: "No one's entitled to a free pass to the Supreme Court." Sounds like the Vermont Democrat wants Roberts to run through a gauntlet.

Leon H at Redstate.org has a bunch of quotes from Lefties blasting Roberts. Sounds good to me. He also points out that Roberts' wife runs Feminists for Life. This is good stuff. With David Souter conservatives had the word of John Sununu. With Roberts we have solid conservative credentials. But this is the first nomination of the weblog era. Anything could happen.

UPDATE III: Jib makes me wonder about Roberts and Roe v. Wade. One interpretation could be that as an appellate judge he couldn't overturn Roe. That's what I hope he meant in his 2001 statement.

UPDATE IV: Progress for America already has JudgeRoberts.com up and running. These guys have at least $18 million ready to defend him. Yikes! [via Patrick Ruffini]

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Law at 07:56 PM | Comments (1)

Supreme Court Announcement in Prime Time

[To all Instapundit readers I have plenty of more links on Roberts in the post above.]

President Bush will announce his first Supreme Court nominee during prime time tonight. That's the first time I've ever heard a President do that. This from a guy who rarely does prime time press conferences. It sounds like it will be a woman. An Edith somebody, but no one really knows. Drudge reports it will be John C. Roberts, Jr. We'll soon find out. Bryon York has been doing his geeky best and found out what domain names some anti-Bush groups have bought in preparation for the judicial battle.

Let's assume it's Roberts. Who is this man? He's spent about two years on the D.C. Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals, he's argued 39 cases before the Supreme Court, and he has good conservative credentials:

clerking for Rehnquist, membership in the Federalist Society, laboring in the Ronald Reagan White House counsel's office and at the Justice Department into the Bush years, working with Kenneth Starr among others

Conservative legal eagle Mark Levin thinks Roberts is "excellent."

The problem is Roberts has only two years of legal opinions from which to gleen his judicial philosophy. That's Souter-like in that the Democrats will have little to attack him with on that front. There is one case that will probably be used to tar Roberts as "extreme."

In the unanimous ruling last October in Hedgepeth v. WMATA, Roberts upheld the arrest, handcuffing and detention of a 12-year-old girl for eating a single french fry inside a D.C. Metrorail station. "No one is very happy about the events that led to this litigation," Roberts acknowledged in the decision, but he ruled that nothing the police did violated the girl's Fourth Amendment or Fifth Amendment rights.

The conservative Rutherford Institute was working on that case. And the Heritage Foundation used the "french fry case" as an example of overzealous police zero-tolerance policies. Not since "freedom fries" were served in the House cafeteria will the fried food play such a large role on Capitol Hill.

"Bush Goes Prime Time to Announce Nominee"

"D.C. Circuit Judge Gets on Supreme Court Short List"

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Law at 07:10 PM | Comments (2)

The Speed of Justice

January 9, 2006. That's when Democratic operatives accused of vandalizing Republican vans on Election Day 2004 will stand trial. That's fourteen months. My what a break-neck pace E. Michael McCann's office takes on cases embarassing to the Democratic Party.

"5 to be Tried Early Next Year in Election Day Tire-Slashing" [via Boots & Sabers]

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Wisconsin at 06:11 PM | Comments (1)

No More Needs to Be Said

President Bush lowered his standard for firing someone involved with Valarie Plame's outing? Kevin Whited knows otherwise. Those darn facts get in the way.

"What Pledge Did The President Qualify?"

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Politics at 04:45 PM | Comments (0)

Getting Torched

Practical Penumbra hosts this week's Bonfire of the Vanities.

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Weblogging at 01:23 AM | Comments (0)

Nature's Absudity

Here's an interesting passage from an Eric Cohen essay on embryonic research:

In the age of modern science, therefore, we must confront the fact that nature is both orderly and absurd: Nature is orderly, in the sense that we can understand how many biological systems work and how they fail, and we can often use this rational knowledge to fix them. But nature is absurd, in the sense that sickness strikes some individuals and not others for no apparent reason—a fact made dramatically clear by the young faces in the cancer ward.

I think this dovetails with my evolution/creationism post from last week. I hold dearly to the idea of God's mystery in the universe. I wrote,

I take the story of Genesis on faith. The Lord works in mysterious ways. Being able scientifically to "prove" God's existence or His ability to mold the world robs faith of its importance.

With reason Man can grasp a portion of nature's order. It's the absurdity that throws us off. All of us seek to understand the world around us. But reason has its limits. As F.A. Hayek writes,

[T]he liberal is very much aware that we do not know all the answers and that he is not sure that the answers he has are certainly the rights ones or even that we can find all the answers.

Many of us just need to accept the fact that we won't find what we're looking for.

"The Tragedy of Equality"

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Politics at 01:09 AM | Comments (2)

Where Does Rowling Stand?

Is J.K. Rowling an anti-American? Stephen Bainbridge puts together some circumstantial evidence.

"Is JK Anti-American?"

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Books at 12:52 AM | Comments (0)

Connecting the Dots

Four administrators at UW-Milwaukee resigned and are or will be paid over $600,000. And UW System president Kevin Reilly has the gall to claim the system can't take any more budget cuts. Reilly better get his costs under control before he asks taxpayers for more money.

"UWM Grants Leaves after Resignations" [via Charlie Sykes]

"UW System Can't Take More Cuts, Chief Says"

UPDATE: State Representative Rob Kreibich is working on legislation that would end paid leave and backup jobs for university administrators. He told the Journal Sentinel, "Because of backup jobs, you end up paying six-figure salaries for administrators who don't work out."

"Lawmaker Seeks Ban on UW Resignation Payoffs"

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Wisconsin at 12:28 AM | Comments (0)

Westmoreland Dies

I'm not sure what's more surprising: that General William Westmoreland was still alive or that someone finally died from my dead pool.

"Vietnam-Era Commander Westmoreland Dies"

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Miscellaneous at 12:13 AM | Comments (0)

July 18, 2005

Harry Potter Links

• Brian J. turns Harry Potter into a 70s sitcom.

• On Saturday, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was selling at a rate of 250,000 books/hour. Based on my own calculations from extrapolating from my Barnes & Nobles' sales CEO Steve Riggio guessed correctly that B&N would sell 50,000/hour. So roughly 1/5 of all Harry Potter sales were from B&N. That's a monster performance.

• J.K. Rowling is already thinking of her post-Harry world. She's considering using a pseudonym:
  

  A fake name is very attractive. I'll have less pressure and I can write any old thing I want and people won't be clamoring for it and that might be nice.

  
  Maybe Rowling will start a series of sleazy black romance novels and challenge Zane as the queen of that genre. Some innocent Rowling fans' eyes would pop.

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Books at 11:17 PM | Comments (0)

Rib Advice

Marcus Aurelius offered up his rib-making method. It's deserving of its own post:

Here is what I have found in trying to make ribs.

1.) Marinade! Go to Third Old World Street to the Asian store across from Usingers. Ask the kindly Filipino gentlmen for "Momma Sita's Barbecue Marinade Mix". We cut our ribs up into pieces about 3 bones per. Soak the ribs in the marinade mix for a night or two. Apply a rub if you want (before the soak).

2.) Before you cook prepare a "mop sauce" to baste the ribs. Usually this is something along the lines of lemon juice (or lime juice), some spices (garlic, salt, black pepper, cayenne etc) and an oil. Search for mop sauce on the I'net and choose an appealing recipe.

3.) Fire up your grill, put the ribs on when ready. Now, this is the trick, you want to barbecue the ribs slowly over indirect fire. I have heard it said if you can keep the cooking temperature under the boiling point and yet bring the ribs up to tempeature you will have very tender ribs. However you may not have that kind of time. Baste the ribs with the mop sauce. If you have smoking material toss that on as directions dictate.

4.) Be sure you have beer on hand. This time of year weiss beer is best! This is for the pit crew!

5.) When the ribs are done, then get out your finish sauce. This is the tomato based sauce. Apply to one side and turn, apply to other side. Make sure to paint both sides and do not leave the painted ribs on the heat for too long. Tomato based and sugary sauces will burn quickly on the grill.

Who says America has no culture!

I didn't get that lavish. I simply put some baby-back ribs in a baking dish, covered them with 1/2 cup of BBQ sauce, wrapped foil over the dish, and baked them in a 350-degree oven for one hour. I then let them cool to room temperature. Next, I fired up my gas grill and grilled the ribs for about 10 minutes while basting them with more bbq sauce. They came out pretty well. They weren't fall-off-the-bone tender and had no smoky flavor (other than from the BBQ sauce), but they were meaty and delicious. My method is based on the technique from Dave Leiberman's recipe. It's no where near authentic BBQ but I have no desire to get a smoker and do it right. I'll leave that to the professionals.

My potato salad turned out well too. I boiled some red potatoes until they were fork tender. In the meantime, I chopped up some green onion, yellow onion, and carrots (no celery was in the fridge) and tossed them with some Miracle Whip, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, dill, salt, and pepper. When the potatoes cooled, I cut them into bite-size pieces and tossed everything together. It turned out well. It just needed some mustard.

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Miscellaneous at 09:53 PM | Comments (0)

Relaxing at TAM HQ

I'm savoring my post-Harry Potter psuedo-vacation. Thus the lack of posts today. Instead, I'm trying my first attempt at bbq ribs and homemade potato salad. It's hot in my neck of the woods, and summer meal like this should hit the spot.

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Miscellaneous at 06:37 PM | Comments (1)

Carnival of the Capitalists

The Club for Growth Blog hosts this week's Carnival of the Capitalists. Andrew Roth has lots of good links and some good commentary too.

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Economics at 04:59 PM | Comments (1)

July 17, 2005

Super Fast Plame Game Update

First it was Scooter Libby, then Karl Rove, then the media, now back to Scooter Libby.

"Reporter: Top Cheney Aide Among Sources"

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Politics at 03:12 PM | Comments (0)

Soaring into the Heavens

Stephen Bainbridge in is Australia and has some pictures of some wonderful cathedrals. Not European greatness but neat nevertheless.

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Miscellaneous at 01:37 AM | Comments (0)

July 16, 2005

Harry Potter Aftermath

The Harry Potter midnight sale went far better than I planned. My store had more cash registers and people working than in 2003, an organized system using numbered wristbands kept people from sitting in lines for hours, and customers were in good spirits. In 1003 for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, we handled the initial sales in 1 1/2 hours. This year, it took only one hour and I think we had more people in the store.

Our box count went from this:

To this:

This is misleading because hundreds of unsold books were still up on the bookfloor. There will be plenty of books for those who didn't pre-order.

For some more pics Acciobrain has some from some Barnes & Noble somewhere. Buzznet has a few too.

"Harry Potter Fans Happy, for Now"

UPDATE: Betsy Newmark is waiting for the post office to get her copy. This could be a while.

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Books at 02:01 PM | Comments (6)

July 15, 2005

Have Pity on Me

Soon I leave for my bookstore on this hot Black Friday. It's bleak because I'll be toiling until the wee hours of the night satisfying Harry Potter fans' immediate cravings. To those of you who are worried they didn't pre-order the book: don't fret. there will be plenty of copies. Publisher Scholastic got retailers loaded up and are ready to start up the printers again.

If I have my way J.K. Rowling will never finish her series. I hate her, I hate Harry, and I hate the hoopla. And the "fun" hasn't even started yet.

Here's my post from 2003 with the release of the previous Harry Potter book. I hope to have some pictures from this year's madness.

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Books at 04:54 PM | Comments (1)

Coach Has Player Wacked

There's a cold ring of hell for this man:

A T-ball coach allegedly paid one of his players $25 to hurt an 8-year-old mentally disabled teammate so he wouldn't have to put the boy in the game, police said Friday.

Mark R. Downs Jr., 27, of Dunbar, is accused of offering one of his players the money to hit the boy in the head with a baseball, police said. Witnesses told police Downs didn't want the boy to play in the game because of his disability.

Police said the boy was hit in the head and in the groin with a baseball just before a game, and did not play, police said.

Organized sports has gone wacko. I remember coaching basketball for grade school kids when I was a freshman in high school. Sure I wanted to win, but everyone was learning--including me. Never did I think of hurting a player--especially one of my own--in order to win. Someone call Tony Soprano to show Downs how a person really gets wacked.

"Coach Allegedly Paid Player to Hit Boy"

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Culture at 04:42 PM | Comments (2)

Pick an Album

In London this fall, bands like Dinosaur, Jr. and the Lemonheads will perform a complete album live. Cool idea. Here are some bands and albums I'd love to see/hear:

• Operation: Mindcrime by Queensryche--I saw them in Green Bay in 1991 when they played this concept album classic. I'd love to see them do it again.

• De-Loused in the Comatorium by The Mars Volta--The album is Rush-on-speed. There would be no letup.

• Faith, Hope, Love by King's X--Metal riffs and Beatlesque harmonies. Gimme, gimme, gimme!

• Pornograffitti by Extreme--Seeing Nuno Bettencourt play would blow me away. And speaking of Nuno, his band Population 1 performed last January on the Late Late Show.

• Led Zeppelin IV--"Rock and Roll," "Black Dog," "When the Levee Breaks," and--yes--"Stairway to Heaven." That would put me in heaven.
  

What album would you want to hear live?

"Don’t Look Back"

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Music at 11:50 AM | Comments (5)

July 14, 2005

Rehnquist is Staying

You'd almost think a war wasn't going on with all the speculation about William Rehnquist's "impending" retirement. Well, he just squashed all that talk:

I want to put to rest the speculation and unfounded rumors of my imminent retirement. I will continue to perform my duties as chief justice as long as my health permits.

It looks like Rehnquist his life term seriously.

"Rehnquist Won’t Resign"

Posted by Sean Hackbarth in Law at 10:31 PM |