Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Two Random Things

One- Red Sox pitcher and all around dink pole Curt Schilling just came third out of three on Celebrity Jeopardy, losing the paltry sum he had won in the process. So much for self-proclaimed genius and social/political commentator's grasp on general knowledge.

Two- one doesn't expect to hear the name of neighboring town Port Clyde, Maine or the Penobscot Bay Medical Center (where my daughter Sprout was born a scant 8 weeks ago) on the evening news, but one doesn't expect the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to have a seizure at his summer home, either.

As much as I don't care for his politics, I am glad that no serious harm seems to have befallen John Roberts. However I was left musing that if it had been one of his right wing strict constructionist colleagues- like Alito, Thomas, or Scalia- would they have insisted that all human knowledge about medicine had been perfected in the late 18th century and thus demanded the doctors use leeches and treppaning awls to treat them? Or is it just in the realm of government and constitutional law that perfection was realised in 1789?

The unassuming portico on Justice Roberts' Port Clyde summer cottage

8 comments:

mainelife said...

I was thinking of you when I saw the news report. It appears that you are a far kinder person than I, as while I really don't wish for him to have poor health, I mused to my husband that it wouldn't be the most terrible thing should his health be seriously compromised enough to end his tenure on the court....not really a nice thought,I know (and I feel badly that I had it) but thoughts of how this court will change all our lives isn't really too nice either. I'm sure he's a "good guy" but his politics scare me.

Wisdom Weasel said...

He just has to hang in there until January 09...

mainelife said...

I just came back to make that precise point....pre-zactly. It would do no good to have something happen before the regime change.

SkookumJoe said...

dink pole?

some sort of new england fertility rite?

Wisdom Weasel said...

It is an emphatic insult (meaning "penis penis"), potentially of my own design- I don't remember where the hell I picked it up...

T. Oklahoma Bandwagon said...

Re: MaineLife's "good guy" comment ... that's unfortunately the sentiment that landed his arse on the bench to begin with. I think I saw both Joe Biden and Teddy Kennedy make comments similar to yours in the weeks that followed his votes poking big holes in Brown v. Board of Edu. and essentially gutting McCain-Feingold, which sucked but at least it was a nice gesture. I was kinda hoping that whichever of my wife's pals who was working the hospitalist shift last Tuesday wasn't on his/her best medicine behavior that day. No such luck. Damn that Hippocrates!

Wisdom Weasel said...

The best chance we have to be rid of him comes from his own side. Perhaps 18th century originalists Scalia and Thomas will take his seizure as a sign that he is possessed and sentence him to a spell in the stocks.

Bill Norris said...

You know, I happened to watch the local news that night, and a story about "Austin's Most Dangerous Crosswalks" led the show. About twenty minutes in, we got the news about Roberts doing the shake and roll. I think priorities are skewed.

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