The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by Alex R:

Patrick, I'm curious what your opinion is about your Mayor.

Bloomberg has struck me as a pretty decent guy, and seems to have been a pretty good Mayor. If I lived in New York City, he's the sort of person I would ordinarily vote for. Stephen G's comment above says that Alabama Governor Riley is another decent Republican, and I have no reason to disagree.

In these times, though, if either of these gentlemen were on my ballot (and I know Bloomberg is not currently up for reelection), I would not even consider voting for him, just because of the "R" next to his name.

You say that there are no decent Republican candidates -- I don't exactly agree. But it doesn't matter, because even a vote for a *decent* Republican candidate lends support to the party of the President. As you say, "Their candidates, for every office, need to be defeated wherever they run" -- no matter how wonderful that individual candidate is. If a decent Republican wants my vote, he or she can hope to get it in only one way: by renouncing the Republican party and running off the Republican ticket, preferably as a Democrat.

(A corollary to the "Always Weaken Republicans" axiom is "Support Nearly Every Democrat", as the Democratic Party is the strongest countervailing force to the Republican Party. Only if a Democrat is so bad that supporting them would actually weaken the Democrats and strengthen the Republicans should alternatives be considered.)

Dylan -- In a similar note to your last post, see this comment by Marty Lederman to the post you referenced... He says that Congress can only override a treaty by doing so explicitly, not simply by specifying how to interpret it. What's more, he gives internal evidence that Congress understood this:

That's why section 6(b) of the bill -- this is the key -- would simply cut off any judicial power to adjudicate the meaning and enforcement of the Geneva Conventions. If the "congressional interpretation" of CA3 trumped the Court's, there would be no need to prohibit any party from invoking Geneva in court. But it doesn't trump the Court's interpretation, which is why the bill will try to silence the Court.

Sad, but, I couldn't help noting:

A videotape was found nearby by police called to the scene on Sunday.

Any bets on how long it will be before one can download this tape from the internet?

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