The Roberts court just took a big steaming poop on Dead William Rehnquists’s youthful hijinks in his home state:

The decision in the case of Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona (docket 12-71) had major potential for sorting out the dual roles of Congress and the states in deciding eligibility to vote, and that was even more vital in the midst of a new national controversy over efforts among some states to narrow eligibility.  The end result will give both sides in that controversy encouragement, but perhaps rather confusing legal guidance.

For those who would look to Congress to keep open, and expand, the right to vote for the presidency and for members of Congress, Justice Antonin Scalia’s opinion for a majority (seven to two on several points, six to three on one other very key point) promised that Congress could pass its own laws on the voter registration process, and states would have to yield to those.   In this case, a federal voter registration form only requires would-be voters to declare that they are citizens, but Arizona would also require them to show hard proof that they are.   On that point, apparently, Arizona must yield to the federal form, and sign up those who present it.

The part of the Scalia opinion that went the furthest in Congress’s favor — and on which the majority was only six to three, because Justice Anthony M. Kennedy would not join on this point — laid down a seemingly very broad rule on when state election law requirements must yield to those enacted by Congress.

There is a customary rule that courts are to operate on the basic premise that, when Congress and the states act in the same field, state laws won’t be displaced unless Congress explicitly says they must yield.  That “presumption against preemption,” in technical terms, does not even apply to the joint enterprise of Congress and the states in regulating elections, according to the new decision.   Thus, in this one field, states do not get the benefit of the doubt when they pass election laws that appear to be, or are, different from what Congress has mandated.

You may remember that Robert’s predecessor in the Big Corner Office With the Really Nice View, William Rehnquist, was not down with the browns:

When partisan hirelings show up at polling places next week to challenge the registrations of minority voters, they will be reenacting scenes from Phoenix in the early ’60s, where Rehnquist and other supporters of Goldwater sought to block voting by dark-skinned people suspected of being Democrats. The name of the game — “ballot security” — was the same then as now, as was the pretense of seeking to prevent “vote fraud.”

Testifying before the Senate against Rehnquist’s elevation to chief justice in 1986, former Assistant United States Attorney James Brosnahan described an earlier encounter with him, circa 1962. As a Justice Department lawyer, Brosnahan visited Phoenix polling places to investigate alleged civil rights violations:

“The complaints we received alleged in various forms that the Republican challengers were aggressively challenging many voters without having a basis for that challenge …

“Based on my interviews with others, polling officials, and my fellow assistant U.S. attorneys, it was my opinion in 1962 that the challenging effort was designed to reduce the number of black and Hispanic voters by confrontation and intimidation …

“When we arrived, the situation was tense. At that precinct I saw William Rehnquist, who was serving as the only Republican challenger. The FBI agent and I both showed our identifications to those concerned, including Mr. Rehnquist … The complaints did involve Mr. Rehnquist’s conduct. Our arrival and the showing of our identifications had a quieting effect on the situation and after interviewing several witnesses, we left. Criminal prosecution was declined as a matter of prosecutorial discretion.”

Under oath, Rehnquist denied Brosnahan’s charges, and based on conflicting testimony from other witnesses, the issue was left sufficiently murky for the Republican-dominated Senate to confirm him. But in his 2001 account of that nomination battle, “The Rehnquist Choice,” former Nixon White House counsel John W. Dean concluded that Rehnquist — who said he didn’t “remember” engaging in voter challenges — had almost certainly lied to the Senate.

It’s likely that Rehnquist would have given Judge Edith Jones a slap on the ass for a job well done rather than a potential slap on the wrist.

Hey kids, remember this?

President Obama had a run-in with a heckler on Thursday, when a founder of the anti-war group Code Pink interrupted his speech on drone policy and other national security issues.

Toward the end of Obama’s address, a woman identified in the White House pool report as Medea Benjamin, the co-founder of the anti-war organization Code Pink, implored the president to close the Guantanamo Bay prison and otherwise criticized his foreign policy.

Through three separate episodes, the president traded words with the woman, asking her to let him finish and succeeding — at least momentarily — twice.

“Why don’t you sit down, and I will tell you exactly what I’m going to do,” Obama said, ending their first exchange. “Thank you, ma’am.”

But soon, Benjamin was back, apparently not happy with Obama’s comments about sending detainees to other countries, pleading with him to “release them today.” She was again quieted, and Obama even acknowledged her opinion was valid.ii

[...]

Shortly thereafter, though, she spoke up again.

“You are commander in chief! You can close Guantanamo today!” Benjamin shouted. “You can release those 86 prisoners!”

“It’s been 11 years!” she said.

“Let me finish,” Obama pleaded with her.

“I love my country. I love the rule of law!” she said as she was finally removed by security. “Abide by the rule of law. You’re a constitutional lawyer!”

Yeah, well this happened:

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a massive defense bill on Friday that includes measures to block President Barack Obama’s plans to close the Guantanamo Bay prison, underscoring the tough fight ahead for the White House as it seeks to shutter the controversial detention camp.

The Republican-controlled House voted, 315-108, for the $638 billion National Defense Authorization Act, which authorizes money for weapons, troops and the war in Afghanistan. But it also addresses a range of policy matters, including this year’s efforts to combat sexual assault in the military and provisions intended to prevent the closure of the prison camp at the base in Cuba.

Despite a hunger strike by at least 104 of the 166 prisoners and appeals from Obama that the prison is too expensive to maintain and a recruiting tool for anti-American militants, the House voted, 249-174, to defeat an amendment calling for its shutdown by the end of 2014.

Lawmakers also voted to prevent the transfer to Yemen or the United States of any of the prisoners, captured in counterterrorism operations after the September 11, 2001, attacks, although more than half have been cleared for release during U.S. military and intelligence reviews.

Obviously when Obama said “The voice of that woman is worth paying attention to.” he was actually just teasing Medea Benjamin which is why he then cast his vote in the House against closing Gitmo…

Life On Mars? – David Bowie
Hotwax – Beck
Start Again – Teenage Fanclub
Kitty Litter – Placebo
What’s She Done To Your Mind – Rain Parade
Losing Streak – Eels
Pictures of Me – Elliott Smith
Stupefaction – Graham Parker & The Rumour
Jesus & Tequila – Minutemen
Free – Mazzy Star
and: Everyday Should Be A Holiday – The Dandy Warhols

Also, too, sorry about the lack of posting this week. However, after reviewing what has gone down (as the kids say) this week, it’s probably best that I didn’t throw more fuel on the fire between the the completely clear-thinking progressives who are untainted by authoritarianism or tribalism or paternalism and the rest of you running dog lackey apologists for the incipient fascist surveillance state.

Also, you are either for Glenn Greenwald or you are against him.

So, yeah, I’m glad I stayed out of that argument….

It has been a very busy hectic week for me.

For Fenway? Not so much.

To stem the onslaught of Tebow emails I’m receiving:

God is sending his huskier and more sanctimonious son to Godless (except for the Catholics) Boston where he will be coached by HoodySatan:

Quarterback Tim Tebow will be signing with the New England Patriots and joining their minicamp Tuesday, a person familiar with the situation tells The Associated Press.

The person, speaking on condition of anonymity because no official announcement had been made, told the AP on Monday that Tebow was headed for Foxborough.

ESPN first reported that Tebow would sign with New England.

Tebow will need to pass a physical before a contract becomes official. Even when Tebow signs with the team, there is no guarantee he will make the Patriots.

Needless to say;: QUARTERBACK CONTROVERSY!

I think Juicebox Jesus had a revelation on the road to Arena Football that told him that, if he was going to play in the bigs, it was not going to be as a quarterback and now he will finally accept his destiny as an h-back/gimmick player.

Bless his heart. Or “haut” as they say in up north ways….

You probably don’t need me to recap all of The Shit That We Knew The Government Was Doing But Are Now Surprised About and, besides, further revelations are coming faster than Rich Lowry watching Sarah Palin’s Alaska so everything that was said before is either no longer operational, debunked, or just the tip-of-the-iceberg-andnow-we’re-all-gonna-die depending how your shock meter is calibrated.

Back in my day (by which I mean: ‘last tuesday’) our journalistic scoops started small – Five Held in Plot to Bug Democratic Offices Here  – and grew from there over a period of weeks because we didn’t have bloggytwittertumblrbookfacetsy to crank up the volume to eleven at the first sighting. Nowadays, the deeper we get into out “scandals” the smaller they seem (“I am big, it’s your patience for quality investigative journalism that’s gotten small“).  Taken all together – Benghazigate, IRSgate, APgate, Rosengate, NSAgate, Metadatagate, PRISMgate – there is not a government sanctioned crime to be found, which means that the conversation must inevitably turn to “well, it may be legal, but it’s wrong”; a conversation that has been going on since Plato and Aristotle (who were the David Brooks and Ross Douthat of their time) were haggling it out at all-night philosophizing slams. Afterwards: Denny’s. Somehow I don’t foresee a generation that is unable to figure out if Glenn Greenwald is Jesus or Judas (with no room in between) is going to rassle this one to the ground for a tap out.

Safer still, for the time being at least, to assume that everything that has come out in the past few months is one Obama false flag after another designed to distract us from something even worse headed down the pike like martial law or maybe Nickelback applying for US citizenship.

Then shit will really be fucked up and bullshit…

Random tenny thing:

UFO’s Are Real – MC 900 Ft Jesus
Breaking Up The Girl – Garbage
Little Tornado – Aimee Mann
Golden Pendulum - Big Pink
Who Goes First? – Ned’s Atomic Dustbin
4 Degrees – Tool
Salka – Sigur Rós
Yellin’ In My Ear – Operation Ivy
1901 – Phoenix
Pablo and Andrea – Yo La Tengo
… and Blank Girl – Dum Dum Girls

I was listening to the new Laura Marling this evening based on word of mouth and also the strength of the single Where Can I Go  (why, yes, it will make you think of Afternoon Delight. You’ll live, you big baby.) and I’m kind of ‘meh’ on her in large doses. There is a kind of sameness about each song which makes me want to jump ahead for something, anything, different. On the hand, I was also listening to the new Filter which sounds exactly like every other Filter CD (NIN lite) and I don’t mind it so much with them which probably makes me a hypocrite or a misogynist or something, I guess. I am also disappointed by this which would have been interesting to see.

Also this:

Drum machines before drum circles!

a) Duh
and
b) Chill the fuck out

Is it just me or does the entire news media – as well as all the agitators and self-righteous bloviators on both sides of the aisle — not understand even the rudiments of electronic intercepts and the manner in which law enforcement actually uses such intercepts? It would seem so.

Because the national eruption over the rather inevitable and understandable collection of all raw data involving telephonic and internet traffic by Americans would suggest that much of our political commentariat, many of our news gatherers and a lot of average folk are entirely without a clue.

You would think that the government was listening in to the secrets of 200 million Americans from the reaction and the hyperbole being tossed about. And you would think that rather than a legal court order which is an inevitable consequence of legislation that we drafted and passed, something illegal had been discovered to the government’s shame.

Nope. Nothing of the kind.

[...]

Frankly, I’m a bit amazed that the NSA and FBI have their shit together enough to be consistently doing what they should be doing with the vast big-data stream of electronic communication. For us, now — years into this war-footing and this legal dynamic — to loudly proclaim our indignation at the maintenance of an essential and comprehensive investigative database while at the same time insisting on a proactive response to the inevitable attempts at terrorism is as childish as it is obtuse. We want cake, we want to eat it, and we want to stay skinny and never puke up a thing. Of course we do.

When the Guardian, or the Washington Post or the New York Times editorial board — which displayed an astonishing ignorance of the realities of modern electronic surveillance in its quick, shallow wade into this non-controversy — are able to cite the misuse of the data for reasons other than the interception of terrorist communication, or to show that Americans actually had their communications monitored without sufficient probable cause and judicial review and approval of that monitoring, then we will have ourselves a nice, workable scandal. It can certainly happen, and given that the tension between national security and privacy is certain and constant, it probably will happen at points. And in fairness, having the FISA courts rulings so hidden from citizen review, makes even the discovery of such misuse problematic. The internal review of that court’s rulings needs to be somehow aggressive and independent, while still preserving national security secrets. That’s very tricky.

But this? Please. This is bullshit.

Please feel free, after actually reading the whole thing and paying attention to everything – not cherry picking, to screech about it in the comments keeping in mind, of course,  that PRISM is watching and is very interested in exactly what you are doing and thinking and saying right now.

Yes, particularly YOU….

There is a scene in The Lord of the Rings where my favorite character, the aging, battle-weary Théoden, King of Rohan is confronted with a profound dilemma. Determined to honor his ancient oath and ride to the rescue of his ally the besieged nation of Gondor, he is told that his forces are insufficient to defeat the enemy, evil Mordor.

“No. We can not. But we will meet them in battle nonetheless,” Théoden answers grimly, doomed by honor and destiny to perish in what seems a lost cause. And he dies, but because of his sacrifice the good guys ultimately win

A SPOILER ALERT would have been nice, you dick. Peter Jackson hates you.

Sorry, please proceed:

Improbably that scene came to mind just now as I wrestled with whether to seek the Republican nomination for the Senate seat from New Jersey left vacant by the death of 89-year old, five-term incumbent Frank Lautenberg. Before the mocking birds flutter, let me explain. In New Jersey, registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by over 700,000 votes, and no Republican has been elected senator since Clifford Case in 1972. Important Republicans have spent millions trying, including former congressman Dick Zimmer, state senators Tom Kean Jr. and Joe Kryllos and Heisman Trophy winning Army general Pete Dawkins. Further, likely Democratic candidate Newark mayor Corey Booker is popular, flush with cash and buoyed by Hollywood, Silicon Valley and an adoring press. The electoral clash therefore will be as one-sided as Théoden faced when leading his riders against Mordor.

You’re breaking up with us aren’t you? This totally sounds like a break-up speech. My girlfriends said this would happen, I should have listened to them although I thought they were just being jealous bitches, particularly Ashley, that little slut. Is it us? Did we do something wrong. What? Tell us, we’ll do better, we promise….

But for someone like me whose entire professional life has been a long shot that struggle appealed.

Sometimes high flown rhetoric sound talk funny.

So I was juiced to make a run or at least give the prospect of running every consideration. Then Governor Chris Christie surprised the world by pulling his electoral stunt, scheduling a special October 2013 election that the New York Times correctly called “expensive, awkwardly timed and unlikely to help Republicans—other than himself.” Suddenly, the election originally scheduled for November 2014 was now just four months away. More urgently, the deadline for collecting signatures and filing the requisite documents of candidacy for the August 2013 primary is a mere four days away, Monday June 10th at 4pm.

So, after Chris Chistie failed to look Geraldo’s way  and say “I’d tap that” (and I think I speak for all people including Mrs Christie when I say “ew”) Geraldo was all “Aw mang, this is gonna be hard. Pass.”:

Ultimately, I concluded that whatever else it is, New Jersey politics is not a fantasy novel.

In a meeting Thursday night with my wife Erica and two adult daughters, 18-year old Simone and 20-year old Isabella, the ladies of my life argued strenuously against a campaign odyssey that would exhaust our finances and expose us to the ravages of unlimited Super PAC money and tabloid scrutiny.

For their sakes and mine, I have decided reluctantly not to run.