And in the meantime...

While our chattering classes, and their lawyers, continue to agonize over the "rights" of beheaders, these scientists are working in obscurity to protect America with a missile shield.
Which will come in very handy when the beheaders' cousins in Iran complete their nuclear program. Which is, of course, entirely peaceful. (Thank you, Ben Bova - good journalist, and a *great* writer of hard sci-fi)

FISA

And since we don't waterboard people anymore, we might at least have effective intelligence gathering. Another one of Andy McCarthy's excellent articles is here (he's a former federal prosecutor and a current Foundation for the Defense of Democracies fellow who generally makes tons of sense).

Waterboarding, we hardly knew ya

On a more serious note, here's a great article by Andy McCarthy (courtesy of National Review Online) on what should be - but probably won't be - the end of the"torture" controversy.

Personally, any qualms I had about the use of what NKVD used to call "French wrestling" against Al-Quaida operatives magically evaporated after watching the last moments of Danny Pearl's life... but I'm sure that's just another example of my outdated, "us vs. them" mentality...

Of course, I meant "debates"...

...not "debats." Debat was Batman's nickname in certain parts of Gotham, until its use was outlawed by the hate speech policy.

This seems somehow appropriate...

... with all our recent debats and whatnot. I especially like the bit about "the Vicar of Christ and Doctor W." Oh, and the old "Earth-is-a-nuclear-bomb" idea...

https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc?2008cv0095-3

Upcoming Events!

On 22 January, at noon (location TBA), David Barton will be speaking on original intent and religion in the time of the Founding era. His speech is entitled, "Who Built the Wall Between Church and State?"

On 24 January, we will be having our kick-off spring semester meeting. Find out how to get involved, run for an office in the 2008-2009 school year, and join us on our trip to the Annual Student Symposium, to be held at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, on 07-08 March. After the brief meeting, we will be heading out to the Southern Inn for Feds on Tap.

Kurt Lash from Loyola Law School (L.A.) will be speaking on the subject of the inherent federalism of the Ninth and Tenth Amendments. Contrary to the meaning given to them by the Supreme Court, which speaks of the former as a guarantee of various rights (abortion, substantive due process, welfare) and the latter as a mere tautology, the Amendments should be interpreted as giving power and rights to the states and to the people therein.

In February, we may be hosting an ATF night: alcohol, tobacco, and firearms... just not in that order. :)