Balls and strikes?

"I will remember that it’s my job to call balls and strikes and not to pitch or bat."

- From John Roberts's opening statement in his confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, 2005

“Essentially,” [Justice Stevens] wrote, “five justices were unhappy with the limited nature of the case before us, so they changed the case to give themselves an opportunity to change the law.” Roberts, as a fifth vote (let alone the Chief Justice), had the power to keep the ruling of Citizens United narrow if he so chose. He chose otherwise: to dismantle the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act while overruling a 2003 case upholding the law and a 1990 case underlying this.

Citizens United says a lot about Chief Justice Roberts as a jurist, but it says more about him as a man.

A problem with school

I was speaking to someone who succeeded financially by inventing an interesting product. I mentioned my decidedly mixed feelings about my educational experience and he noted with conviction that "grades in school reflect obedience as much as they reflect knowledge." I don't know if obedience is the right word but I basically agree. In addition to not disrupting class, there's a more fundamental ability to not just perceive the points that the instructor is trying to make but to adopt their mindset in some way. This ability to perceive and adopt a mindset when necessary is a way to succeed but it is also a trait that facilitates and disposes towards bullshitting as described by Harry Frankfurt. Such bullshit has poisoned our discourse, turning statements into markers for being in a group rather than building blocks for ideas that can be advocated or defended. 

From the phone to the revolving door

Gail Collins illustrating the process behind much of our current political dysfunction:

Once politicians get to Congress, they become acquainted with people who are truly rich. That’s pretty much a necessity because re-election is something else you cannot generally buy for a million dollars. Suddenly, they’re hanging out with folks who have private jets and four houses.

Eventually, many lawmakers begin to feel as though they are making an enormous sacrifice by holding public office for $174,000 a year. And then they’re off to a D.C. law firm or lobbying job, which will pay them huge salaries for knowing the people they know. It will never occur to them that if voters had not given them that stint of public service, they would be processing divorce cases back home in East Cupcake.

My take: