The Badgers were eighth in the Pairwise last week, but are now tied for 11th,
which means they went from a third seed to a fourth. They dropped because
Anchorage is no longer a team under consideration for the tournament. Records
against teams under consideration - those with .500 or better power ratings -
are part of the Pairwise criteria. UW was 6-1 vs. the Seawolves this season and
those wins can no longer be used in its Pairwise resume.
Moving on...
It seems the Opinion Journal has discovered some interesting goings on in the Middle East, where President Bush has become the new hero.
That's right, they're quoting President Bush, the simian-American unilateralist
cowboy! And they're not alone. In a Washington Post essay, Youssef Ibrahim, formerly a reporter for the New York Times
and The Wall Street Journal and now a Dubai-based consultant, says that
throughout the Arab world are coming "murmurs of approval for the devoutly
Christian U.S. president, whose persistent calls for democracy in the Middle
East are looking less like preaching and more like timely
encouragement"...Ibraham himself admits to second thoughts: "It's enough for
someone like me, who has felt that Bush's attitude toward the Mideast has been
all wrong, to wonder whether his idea of setting the Muslim house in order is
right."
Over at LGF we find out that trolling DU is a favorite not only of yours truly, but of all bloggers. Nowhere is there more fodder. Today (technically last night) they are predicting the Next Great War as America's great Navy has begun descending on the Middle East.
Justice Antonin Scalia gives a speech that I wholeheartily agree with. I heard him speak at Marquette and he is actually quite funny, in addition to being incredibly intelligent. I don't think even his most ardent detractors could deny his vast intellect. The thrust of his speech was that judges are ruling on issues they have no business ruling on.
In a 35-minute speech Monday, Scalia said unelected judges have no place
deciding issues such as abortion and the death penalty. The court's 5-4 ruling
March 1 to outlaw the juvenile death penalty based on "evolving notions of
decency" was simply a mask for the personal policy preferences of the
five-member majority, he said..."If you think aficionados of a living
Constitution want to bring you flexibility, think again," Scalia told an
audience at the Woodrow Wilson Center, a Washington think tank. "You think the
death penalty is a good idea? Persuade your fellow citizens to adopt it. You
want a right to abortion? Persuade your fellow citizens and enact it. That's
flexibility."
"Why in the world would you have it interpreted by nine
lawyers?" he said...Scalia said increased politics on the court will create a
bitter nomination fight for the next Supreme Court appointee, since judges are
now more concerned with promoting their personal policy preferences rather than
interpreting the law. "If we're picking people to draw out of their own
conscience and experience a 'new' Constitution, we should not look principally
for good lawyers. We should look to people who agree with us," he said,
explaining that's why senators increasingly probe nominees for their personal
views on positions such as abortion.
He's a judge who just wants to be a judge, a goal to which all Supreme Court justices should aspire.
