CleverDonkey.com …Musings, Commentary, Opinions, and Drivel

I just read an article where the voting records of Supreme Court Justices were analyzed to determine if justices tended to stick to their leanings at the time of appointment (Liberal, Centrist, Conservative) or if they strayed over time. To the surprise of the investigators, the justices tended to drift over time, and sometimes even oscillated between positions from ruling to ruling.

I find this to be not only not surprising, but also dramatically refreshing. Interpreting the law of the land is not the milieu for rigid dogma, it is the place for thoughtful consideration of all sides of an argument. And, if one is to thoughtfully consider all facets of every argument, it becomes increasingly more difficult to stick to preconceived notions of right and wrong, of liberal versus conservative, of Republican versus Democrat.

If you then

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As a divorced father I can understand the frustration that arises from conflict with an ex-spouse (as I'm sure my ex can, as well). As a father I can state unequivocally that the ranting, vitriolic, spiteful, hateful voice mail message that Alec Baldwin left for his 11 year old daughter is completely inexcusable. It doesn't matter what his daughter or his ex (Kim Basinger) have done. It doesn't matter that his daughter didn't answer his call. What matters is that his daughter is 11 years old and as a child of divorce needs a loving father.What the message demonstrates, to me, is that Alex Baldwin is truly a psychopath, which is defined (by our friends at Wikipedia) as: A condition characterized by lack of empathy or conscience, and poor impulse control or manipulative behaviors. I think that describes him perfectly, particularly if you throw

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In the wake of the Virginia Tech mass-murder, the failings and hypocrisy of the media and “leadership” in the US stand in plain sight. Key points as follows:

The killer mailed a package of pictures, videos, and writings to NBC headquarters in the middle of his spree. NBC had every opportunity to quietly turn over this information to authorities as evidence. Unfortunately, they chose to exploit it for ratings value by playing it endlessly. The other “news” outlets, of course, followed suit.
Many, many of these types of sick individuals have a history of glorifying and idolizing past violent killers. Where is the hue and cry to restrain the so-called “press” from feeding such idolatry? Unfortunately there’s not much to be done here, as a free press is a basic part of the structure of the United States. However, we as news consumers should become

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