They're in the Series!

Astros earn first ever World Series berth

Best political pun of the year

Deep down among the comments on a Volokh post, someone named Drew opines about whether the president really wants Roe v. Wade overturned: "I think Bush has bigger fish to fry than Roe."

Beyond these things

One of my clients has a joke-latin slogan they want on their business cards. I tried looking it up in the various Latin-to-English dictionaries on the Web, with no success. But while I was there, I thought about an intractable, supposedly Latin phrase that had been bothering me for a long time: the name of the rock group Procol Harum--you know, "A Whiter Shade of Pale"?

Anyway, their press materials used to say the name was a Latin phrase meaning "beyond these things."

It turns out that that's sort of right: Freedict's Latin-to-English dictionary gives "procul" (note the "u") as "far, at, to, from a distance." Used this way, it's an adverb. "Harum" is "of these things." So "procul harum" is probably better translated as "of these faraway things."

If somebody asks you the question in Really Hard Trivia, though, they're looking for "beyond these things". Or else they're wanting to hear that it was the name of Keith Reid's drug dealer's Persian cat. But that's a different story.

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain

Mark Evanier, who knows more than a little about television, has a few words to say about President Bush's teleconference with soldiers in Iraq:

This 'media event' was carefully rehearsed and loosely-scripted and someone -- maybe the same someone who erred by suggesting the format in the first place -- compounded the disaster. They allowed the media to see and tape the rehearsals where the troops were told what would be discussed in seeming spontaneity. I would love to hear the explanation of why they allowed this to be seen. It made Bush look like a marionette who walks in and does what his own handlers don't trust him to do without careful preparation. We all know that much of what we see on television that's represented as unplanned is meticulously prearranged. Most producers, however, know enough not to show the world just how prearranged.

How awful was it all? I felt sorry for George W. Bush. That's how awful it all was.

Slippery slope? Probably not.

Evan Wolfson, on Freedom To Marry, does everybody a service by clarifying the status of that supposed three-way marriage in the Netherlands:

On an Illinois radio show I did last week -- available on our website or at this link -- one anti-gay caller characteristically avoided offering a reason why the government should continue excluding same-sex couples from marriage and, as usual, went to the 'slippery slope' diversion of 'polygamy.' As new proof that the sky was falling, the caller said that the Netherlands, which has ended the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage, has now also allowed a trio of man and two women to wed. Before yet another right-wing scare tactic gathers traction, please note that this claim -- that the Netherlands registered a multi-partner 'civil union' -- is untrue.

Following the radio interview, we looked into the caller's claim and found an erroneous September 27 report in something called the Brussels Journal -- www.brusselsjournal.com -- misusing the term 'civil union' and talking about something 'registered by a notary.' Once we checked this with a leading Dutch expert who follows legal developments in family law, we learned that the only legally relevant thing that happened was that three people, with the help of a notary, signed a private cohabitation contract -- and did not enter into any kind of legal state-recognized union. Such personal agreements are not registered, and do not have legal implications for third parties. In both these respects, as well with regard to the state's imprimatur, a personal agreement or contract is different from both marriage and registered partnership. (And civil union, as such, is not a legal status in the Netherlands).

Damn. There goes the neighborhood.

I live in Kerrville, the county seat of Kerr County. So I was surprised to see an AP story in the local paper today that Karl Rove officially lives here (the link is to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram because the local paper doesn't carry the story on its web site, even though it's on the front page):

A Kerr County retired nurse is asking the local district attorney to investigate whether it is legal for presidential adviser Karl Rove to vote in Texas while he is living in Washington, D.C.

Rove, it turns out, owns houses in Washington and Florida, but he's registered here, ostensibly living at a bed-and-breakfast somewhere in Kerr County. (This press release says he owns two rental cottages, which might or might not mean the same thing.)

But wait, there's more. The AP also reports that "the Texas Secretary of State has said that Texans who move out of state can still vote in Texas as long as they intend to return to the state." (This is what allowed the first President Bush to vote in Texas while in office; he obviously was living in the White House, but his residence for voting purposes was a suite at a hotel/resort in Houston. And yes, he did move back to Texas.)

But wait, there's more. The AP also reports that Elizabeth Reyes, a lawyer in the Secretary of State's office, was fired after the Washington Post quoted her saying it might be vote fraud to register to vote if you don't live in the place you're registered. Reyes was told she was fired because she'd talked to the media in violation of agency policy. (You partisans can squabble among yourselves about whether that's fishy or not.)

But wait, there's more. The AP also also reports that an entity called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington "filed a complaint about Rove last month, but it was invalid because the complaint must be filed by a registered voter in the same county as the voter in question." The eventual complainant was Frances Lovett of Comfort (right down the road from here), who says CREW didn't contact her; she contacted them.

That's all I have for now; but if I see Rove buying sushi at the H-E-B, I'll be sure to post it.

Calling Ray Harryhausen…

Pythons vs. alligators:

What happens when a 13-foot python with an appetite runs into a 6-foot alligator?Recently, a case of that matchup was discovered in the Florida Everglades. It ended in a tie when the python exploded, leaving both beasts dead.

More on the Oklahoma suicide bomber

Michelle Malkin, whom I admire for her thoroughness if not her politics, has a good round-up on Joel Hinrichs, who blew himself up outside the Oklahoma University football stadium last weekend:

OKLAHOMA BOMBER: DELVING DEEPER

At first I figured Hinrichs was like Charles Whitman, a mentally disturbed misfit with lethal weapons but no real agenda beyond killing others and himself (not like that's not bad enough), but now it's looking like he was a pawn and a dupe of (gasp) radical Islamists.

If that's true, it's sad and horrifying that Hinrichs adopted the terrorist mentality. The cynicism and cowardice of those who engineered his corruption is breathtaking and appalling. Hinrich's story deserves a lot more notice.

Legal community overjoyed

Well, at least somebody thinks Harriet Miers is going to make a good Supreme Court justice. The Dallas Morning News reports:

Word that an esteemed Dallas lawyer and former councilwoman could become the next justice of the U.S. Supreme Court has stirred Texas pride among her many colleagues and friends.

[....]

"The legal community in Dallas has every right to be overjoyed," said Will Pryor, a mediator in Dallas who worked with Miers at the Dallas Bar Association. "She's a product of our legal community. We are all grinning ear to ear around here. It's a happy and proud moment."

Astros make playoffs again

Yay—my Astros made it to the playoffs again this year. (As usual, by the slimmest of margins.)

Let those of us who've witnessed the boys in playoffs against Philadelphia be grateful that that isn't happening again.