Lawyer-Wearing-Yarmulka

I love how all the news reports coming out of England these last few weeks always say about recent anti-terror operations always mention that that the police are "armed".

"Armed operation over London bombs"

I guess that they are still not getting used to police carrying weapons.

Here goes!

What is your career goal, and how does that play into your life goal?
Practice law (in which field, I haven't decided) earn a good living, but be able to come home at a normal hour so I can actually see my wife and kids. Life goal? Get married, have kids, settle down, and be just like everyone else.


What is the one thing you never want to do?
Live in Flatbush.

When you play Trivial Pursuit, what color/category do you avoid like the plague?
Brown/ Arts and Literature. I'm just better at every other category.

What did your childhood smell like?
Grass, chocolate, and a rubber eraser.

What is the emotion you feel most often?
This is a tough one- I'd say restrained happiness.


Now the rules again:
1) Leave me a comment saying "interview me please."
2)I will respond by asking you five questions (not the same as above)
3)You will update your blog/site with the answers to the questions.
4) You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5) When others comment asking to be interviewed you will ask them five questions.

There's an interesting Op-ed in the NY Times today by Vikram David Amar about 5 cases that John Roberst should be asked about during his confirmation hearings.

Amar wants the Senators to ask him if those 5 cases were correctly decided or not and why.

I know he's not asking me about the 5 cases, but hey, why not?

GRUTTER v. BOLLINGER (2003)
-Wrongly decided. If it's unconstitutional to give preference to white students because they are white, then it is unconstituional to give preference to a black student because they are black. Discrimination is a two-way street.

STENBERG v. CARHART (2000)
-Wrongly decided. Nowhere in the Constitution is there a right to have an abortion. This is a moral question that the Court has no right to interfere. Otherwise the Court is just substituting its judgment over the judgment of the state's democraticaly elected legislatures

ATKINS v. VIRGINIA (2002)
-Wrongly decided. The 8th Amendment is tricky, as it is a judgment call. What exactly is "cruel and unusual"? Yes, the standard evolves over time, but it shouldn't be the judgment call of 9 unelected judges.

McCREARY COUNTY v. A.C.L.U. (2005)
-wrongly decided. How exactly does displaying the 10 Commandments in a state courthouse violate "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" Does displaying the 10 Commandments establish a national religion? Which one?

SEMINOLE TRIBE v. FLORIDA (1996)
-I have no idea. My knowledge of 11th Amendment issues is more limited than a liberal's understanding of economics.

I started reading and then having my own jewish blog as a way to pass the time during downtime at my summer job. For those of you who frequent Dov Bear you'll notice that I've had a lot of downtime.

Overall, the experience has be both fun and interesting. There seem to be a lot of quality blogs out there that are a pleasure to read and post comments to, especially when you don't agree with the the post.

But there is a dark underside in jewish-blogger land and it disturbs me greatly. Of course I am refering to the multitude of blogs by people who have parted ways with the Orthodox world.

I am not here to condem them, but I would like to say a few things.

1. Somehow I doubt that the reason why you left the fold was because you were such a genius that had all of these brilliant questions that no one was able to answer. Nothing you have asked hasn't been asked before thousands of times; so stop patting yourself on the back.
2. That being said, I'd like to see someone admit that they left because they gave into temptation. I won't yell at you for that, it would just be refreshing to see someone write that they went off the derech because they wanted to eat pork/sleep with a shiksa/turn the light on Shabbos/ party/ or just plain stick it to your parents. I'll respect you more for being honest than be in awe of you for having such mind-blowing "questions".
   
3. A message to all those who left and have joined the religon of "Jewish Atheists"- there is nothing more pathetic than someone who actively believes in nothing. You don't want to be religous, that's fine by me. But to dedicate even a second of your life to futher your "belief" in the non-existence of God strikes me petty and slightly weird.
4. My last comment is to all those who seem to revel in "shocking" their Orthodox readers with all the details of the escapades since they left. First of all, even if you were a born and raised Gentile, you shouldn't publish something like that- in the end, all is revealed and no one is anonymous on the Internet forever. You think you want your future wife/husband/boss reading what you like do in the privacy of your own bedroom? Second of all, you're not going to shock anyone with your tales of eatin a cheeseburger on Yom Kippur. Grow up. You don't want to be frum? Fine. But boasting of all the things you do now just proves that you are still in an Orthodox mindset- move on, get on with your life.
   

I thank you for your time.

I've been going about it completly the wrong way!

Forget shidduchim, try goats!

Well Orthodox Jews can now stop complaining...

The latest version of the energy bill only extends DST 4 weeks: it will end after the first week in November and resume the 2nd week in March.

Looks like we Shachris daveners dodged a bullet.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/07/22/congress.daylighttime.ap/index.html

"The only way a Supreme Court nominee could win the approval of NARAL and Planned Parenthood would be to actually perform an abortion during his confirmation hearing, live, on camera, and preferably a partial-birth one".


http://www.anncoulter.org/cgi-local/
printer_friendly.cgi?article=66

Check out the "discussion" I've been having today with Dov Bear

http://dovbear.blogspot.com/2005/07/pointed-questions-for-orange-olam.html

...or at least more of it. Seems that Congress wants to extend Daylight Savings Time an extra 2 months by starting it on begining of March and ending it at the end of November.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-daylight20.html

I'm still trying to figure out if this is good for observant Jews. Shabbos would start and end latter, which is especially good in November, where Shabbos starts 4:30-5:00. Taanis Esther would be an hour longer, that's not so good.

But the biggest problem I see is for people who daven Shachris early in the morning, for example, under the new DST system, the earliest time you can put on Tallis and T'fillin with a brocha on November 15 is around 6:45 am, and if you want to daven at Naytz, then you're gonna have to wait till almost 7:45! Not a very good situation!

...is very weak. Being the lazy guy that I am, if you want to read why the libs have no chance at blocking his nomination just follow the link below!

http://powerlineblog.com/archives/011085.php

From todays NY Times editorial on Roberts...

"It is blindingly clear that judges have no greater aptitude than the average person to determine moral issues."

If the Supreme Court nominee agrees with this qoute from Scalia, then he/she has got my support!

...that one day a Supreme Court nominee will be asked by a Senate Democrat-

"Will you uphold Roe v. Wade?"

I have a dream, my friends, that the nominee will look into the eyes of that Senator and say-

"I don't see a reason to answer that question. If an abortion issue makes its way to the Supreme Court, I will decide it based on the issues of the case".

I have a dream, that the Senator will recoil in feigned horror and say-

"You mean you don't support a woman's right to choose".

I have a dream that the nominee will forcefully respond-

"My personal view of abortion is irrelevant".

I have a dream - that the nominee will then tell everyone that certain issues are best left to elected officals, and that Roe has done this country terrible harm.

Then I woke up.

Well, we'll get to find out tonight at 9 pm tonight- who will have the privelege of being called a racist, sexist, homophobic Nazi by Ted Kennedy?

Rumors are flying around that W is going to nominate Edith Clement to the Supreme Court. Looks like we are going to have another "stealth candidate" on our hands- which of course is not a good thing, seeing how well other Republican stealth candidates have done once on the bench.

While I know little about Clement, one qoute I found has me disturbed.

She has stated that the Supreme Court "has clearly held that the right to privacy guaranteed by the Constitution includes the right to have an abortion" and that "the law is settled in that regard."

Why exactly is the law settled?

Supreme Court rulings are not etched in stone. If the Court wants to change its mind because they think they erred, then they have an obligation to do so. Plessy v. Ferguson was a terrible decsion and was overturned.

It doesn't take a conservative mind to realize that Roe v. Wade was a terrible decsion from a legal and political standpoint. Even Ginsburg has admitted that she isn't the biggest fan of Roe.

I'll address the issue of abortion and potential Supreme Court Justices in a later post.

"My wife was not a clandestine officer the day that Bob Novak blew her identity,"

Joseph Wilson
July 14, 2005

Also...

From the Wall Street Journal...

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110006955

If someone is bashing the administration, is it so bad for Rove to expose him as the fraud he is?

I don't know whether to laugh or cry....


450 Sheep Jump to Their Deaths in Turkey
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/08/
AR2005070800553_pf.html

OK, I'm going to stop complaining about frivilous lawsuits in the U.S. and focus my efforts on Russia.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050705/D8B578DG0.html

So I'm still ticked off about my missing MP3 player, and lo and behold, it's just sitting there on a radiator in my in Shul (Synagogue)! My guess is, whoever stole it was overcome with guilt and figured it was the best place to leave it.

Well O'Connor just announced here retirement. This is going to be so much more fun than if Rhenquist called it quits. Democrats would probably give a pass to whoever will replace Rhenquist as it mantains the balance of the Court. But O'Connor is a swing vote, and I doubt the Left will allow Bush to appoint someone more conservative than her. Bush may nominate Alberto Gonzales, but that's going to tick off alot of people on the Right, as Gonzo is did not exactly win the accolades of the Right while on the Texas Supreme Court.

Dear Mr. Punk who broke into my car last night and stole my Rio Karma and all the quarters from the ashtray:

I will find you.

But I do thank you for not stealing my car, or causing any physical damage.