It's Kagan!

Now, doesn't that have a ring of a summer replacement television show?

It's Kagan!

Quick, pull up the promo of a short, lets say, rounded, Elena Kagan, bouncing around, crazy-like, having mishaps, bumping into people, running in-and-out of an apartment, having forgotten something.

From the promo, we'll know it's going to be a zany comedy.



Well, it almost played out that way, with Cable going wall-to-wall with "It's Kagan", giving them an opportunity to ignore the disaster of the oil spill for the day (and likely, many more).

Jeffrey Toobin penned a post that he hangs, and hung, out with her.

They've already started, with slamming Kagan, for agreeing with something Thurgood Marshall said, which is pointed out they used the same, weak-ass fart, against Obama.

The Left has questions, with, at least, one push-back

A few more, Digby and Stephanie Mencimer, go with the inexperience angle, of Elana Who?

While Glenn Greenwald stands against her.



If nothing comes up that bashes her, expect someone - The PartyofNoicans, or Faux News, perhaps one of the many Flying Monkeys of the Right Wing Freak Show - will start a whisper campaign, a post with lots of question marks, on whether or not Elena Kagen is a lesbian.

Andrew Sullivan is already calling for Kagan to come out of the closet (if she is encased in one), while Digby cautions him to "Don't Go There", with Ta-Nehisi Coates needs a "Talk to Me Like I'm Stupid" about it all, and on-cue, some Flying Monkeys are trying to rally the troops with "The stakes are too high. Social conservatives must rise up as one and say no lesbian is qualified to sit on the Supreme Court.?"

If you want to hit the Tivo, and bypass all that, you can go to Tom Goldstein, from the Scotusblog, who is a-man-with-plan, laying out almost all you need to read about Elena Kagan;

It’s Kagan

9750 Words on Elena Kagan ...More than you ever wanted to know

Where We Go From Here ...Process and substance in a Kagan nomination

And it's only Day One.

You can check out Memeorandum to stay on-top of the minutia

Ella Fue!

Azucar Sonia Sotomayor!



If you caught, even only, a fleeting glance at cable news today, you, no doubt, heard the anchors, or talking heads gushing over the historic nomination of Federal Appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor, by President Barack Obama, to the Supreme Court.

This, from an email received today, from the President;

I am proud to announce my nominee for the next Justice of the United States Supreme Court: Judge Sonia Sotomayor.

This decision affects us all -- and so it must involve us all. I've recorded a special message to personally introduce Judge Sotomayor and explain why I'm so confident she will make an excellent Justice.

Judge Sotomayor has lived the America Dream. Born and raised in a South Bronx housing project, she distinguished herself in academia and then as a hard-charging New York District Attorney.

Judge Sotomayor has gone on to earn bipartisan acclaim as one of America's finest legal minds. As a Supreme Court Justice, she would bring more federal judicial experience to the Supreme Court than any Justice in 100 years. Judge Sotomayor would show fidelity to our Constitution and draw on a common-sense understanding of how the law affects our day-to-day lives.

A nomination for a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land is one of the most important decisions a President can make. And the discussions that follow will be among the most important we have as a nation. You can begin the conversation today by watching this special message and then passing it on.

You should also read;

Al Giordano: From the Bronx to the Court

Jack Balkin: Why the Sotomayor Nomination Makes Sense

Jane Hamsher: Obama Ignores Smear Campaign, Nominates Sotomayor for High Court

Glenn Greenwald: Obama's choice of Sotomayor deserves praise

Of course, no matter who Obama nominated, the PartyofNoicans, and the Flying Monkeys of the Right Wing Freak Show would be lighting their hair on fire, shouting it's the end-of-the-world, and they, surely, hit their marks, on cue.

Alan Colmes: It Didn’t Take Long For the Right-Wing Mob To Attack Sotomayor

Joe Sudbay (DC): Get ready for an onslaught of right wing attacks on Sotomayor -- aided and abetted by the traditional media

Blue Texan: Conservatives Already Screwing Up Opposition to Sotomayor

David Corn: Will Sotomayor Split the Right?

Nate Silver, and Eric Kleefeld have the counts, from the past two times Sotomayor faced Senate confirmation

Want more?

Talk about serving up a big slice of the American Dream, Sonia Sotomayor saved baseball!

More Bonus Riffs

David Neiwert: Obama cites Sonia Sotomayor's life experience in naming her to Supreme Court

dday: Sotomayor

John Cole: The Sotomayor Pick

Steve Benen: RNC 'TALKING POINTS' ARE 'ACCIDENTALLY' LEAKED...

And, of course, we have a tune to go with the title, from the Fania All-Stars

It seemed quite appropriate, and fitting, for the day.

Ella Fue (She Was The One) - Fania All-Stars

Retro Garlic: Bill Frist's Intern

We thought there had been only one doctor in the Senate.

Little did we know ...

Bunning: Justice Ginsberg likely will be dead in 9 months

U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning predicted over the weekend that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg would likely be dead from pancreatic cancer within nine months.

During a wide-ranging 30-minute speech on Saturday at the Hardin County Republican Party's Lincoln Day Dinner, Bunning said he supports conservative judges "and that's going to be in place very shortly because Ruth Bader Ginsburg … has cancer."

"Bad cancer. The kind that you don't get better from," he told a crowd of about 100 at the old State Theater.

"Even though she was operated on, usually, nine months is the longest that anybody would live after (being diagnosed) with pancreatic cancer," he said.

Earlier this month, it was reported that Justice Ginsberg was diagnosed, and underwent surgery, for pancreatic cancer.

Bunning, today, apparently pulled his head out of his ass, just far enough, to issue the requiste apology.

Steve Benen, over on Washington Monthy, offered up what should have been obvious to Bunning;

Note to Bunning: better to remain silent and be thought a fool than speak and remove all doubt.

The Retro Part

Frist Concurs With Vatican Diagnosis ... Viewed Videotape of Papal Apartment For Hours

Frist Distances Himself From Gitmo MD's ... Ethical Issues Reveled; Frist Says He's Never Made Exam or Viewed Tape


Bonus Bunning Bonehead Buffoonery

Jill from Brilliant at Breakfast: Nice. Real nice. Meet your soulless Republicans

Kathy at Comments from Left Field: Classless, Callous, and Stupid

Melissa McEwan: In the Grand Republican Tradition...

Jane Hamsher: High, Hard One or Low Blow? Jim Bunning Puts Justice Ginsburg in the Ground for Twenty-Five Bucks

The O.K. Corral Is About To Become A Whole Lot Bigger

The O.K Corral may soon lose it place in history, being reduced to a pillow fight.

If the Supreme Court goes the direction that they all but signed, sealed and delivered yesterday, Charlton Heston won't have to worry about anyone prying anything out of his cold, dead hands.

Here's the straight news accounts;

Los Angeles Times: Supreme Court appears to favor individual gun rights; A majority signals that it thinks the 2nd Amendment is not limited to arms for 'a well-regulated militia.'

"Five of the justices, a bare majority, signaled that they thought the amendment gave individuals a right to have a gun for self-defense. It was not limited to arms for "a well-regulated militia," they said."

Washington Post: Justices Appear Skeptical Of D.C.'s Handgun Ban

"The clauses of the Second Amendment -- "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed" -- have long vexed constitutional scholars. The Supreme Court's last major ruling on the subject, in 1939, stressed the militia-related aspects of the provision.

If you want a most entertaining account of yesterday's session, you gotta check out Dahlia Lithwicks' post "Bearing Arms … Against Bears - Justice Kennedy thinks D.C. residents need protection—from grizzlies."

"Dellinger opens by whooshing us back in time to the framers, who, he says, used the words "bear arms" to mean "rendering a military service." Chief Justice John Roberts immediately asks why the framers wrote "the right of the people" if they merely meant "the right of the militia." Justice Kennedy spoils any suspense by telling Dellinger, in the form of a question, that he has no problem "de-linking" the two clauses to read the first as "reaffirming" the right to a militia and the second as enshrining a right to bear arms. Justice Antonin Scalia does Kennedy one better and contends that the two phrases "go together beautifully." That's five votes to create a fundamental right to bear arms, only eight minutes into the argument."

Read the whole thing ... It's a hoot!


Bonus Cold Dead Hands Links

Chopped Garlic ... Of Virginia Tech ... The Right To Bear Arms ... And Barry Crimmins

Josh Sugarmann: The NRA's Post Massacre Script

Ana Marie Cox: Blaming the Victims ... Because They're Total Wusses

Top Ten Cloves: Things Overheard On First Day of Supreme Court

News Item: US Supreme Court starts new term

10. We might have to do something this term ... I think, while we were on vacation, the NSA was tapping my phone

9. Hey, even if we don't have a case in front of us, can we rule against Hillary Clinton, and ban her from using that laugh?

8. Should we leave room on the calendar for Britney Spears? ... I mean, if she comes in here not wearing any panties, she's got my vote

7. Anybody check the news? The President didn't declare any of us dead, like he did with Mandela, did he?

6. Hey, let's fuck with the Congress this year ... We don't reach any decisions... We just issue, non-binding "Senses of the Supreme Court"

5. If Roberts has another one of his seizures, and, God-forbid, anything happens, I got dibs on his office

4. If we get the Isiah Thomas case, I think Clarence, and Ruth, should recuse themselves ... Just to play it safe

3. That was a nice touch by the Chief Justice ... Giving us all Welcome Back gifts ... Bongs in the shape of a gavel

2. I just heard their replacing our Secret Service details with Blackwater guys

1. No Clarence, even with the discount, I don't want to buy your book


Bonus Nine-In-Black Riffs

White House Stresses Roberts' Wife "Not A CIA Agent"; No Knowledge of WMD's; No Plans To Send Husband To Niger

Congress Getting "Weary" Of Roberts' Visits; Senators Feeling Stalked; Roberts Relentlessly Using Meet-and-Greets To Boast Chances

Scalia: "No Pink Robes Needed Here"; Conservative Justice Reacts To Roberts Disclosure On Gay Rights Case; Justice Roberts Sunday In The Making

Bong Hits 4 Roberts

No doubt, there'll be a cloud of smoke puffed up later today, as young high school students fire up, likely adding a few expletives in front of "Bong Hits 4 Roberts"

The Roberts being Chief Justice John G. who wrote the majority opinion in The case is Morse v. Frederick, No. 06-278 earlier today.

Young student Joseph Frederick unfurled a "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner at a school event (and in a sense of irony - watching the Corporate-laden 2002 Olympic Relay Torch pass by; Perhaps young Frederick will have also learned the bigger lesson that you have to have millions of dollars invested in your message for it to be taken as legit).

The dangers of illegal drug use are "serious," Roberts wrote
, and the "First Amendment does not require schools to tolerate at school events student expression that contributes to those dangers," Roberts wrote, in the 5-4 decision.

I wonder if this will have repercussions for Nancy Reagan, and the recently, heavily-pumped-up legacy of former President Ronald Reagan, who had a more obscene message they put forth - "Just Say No".

Perhaps Roberts believes he is carrying on the fight, the War On Drugs, with the ruling today.

Rule one slogan illegal while promulgating another as valid.

We won't likely see the real-time effects of the Roberts' ruling for a few years down the road.

Whenever it is that MSNBC broadcasts its' first Doc-Block, on high school students suspended over voicing their constitutional right of free speech, which is likely to contain some footage of a banner unfurled - Bong Hits 4 Roberts!

Bonus Links

Walter Cronkite - Telling the Truth About the War on Drugs

Congress Getting "Weary" Of Roberts' Visits; Senators Feeling Stalked; Roberts Relentlessly Using Meet-and-Greets To Boast Chances