"Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right.” Isaac Asimov

Quick, name the nine U.S. Supreme Court Justices? Next, name the people 

on Gilligan‘s Island? Now, evaluate what that says about you. Take all the time you need.  George Bush is about to pick his first Supreme Court nominee. (And now second nominee.)

Anyone who knows how Washington works (or in most cases, does not work) knows how big this is. I hope “W” makes a wise choice. 

His dad, George Herbert Walker Bush made a bad choice in David Souter. Perhaps because he was not a good judge of people, George the 1st did choose Dan Quayle (the other white meat) as his VP, who turned out to be a bit of a load. How could have GHW Bush have known that a 40 something confirmed bachelor still living with his mom would turn out to be a closet liberal? I bet he does not have “Gaydar” either.

Souter’s only noteworthy achievement was getting beat up while jogging in a bad neighborhood. This is the type of judgment we have gotten from this Judge. GHW Bush got thrown a curve ball on this guy and I hope young “W” does not make the same mistake.

4 year old spayed female Giant Schnauzer.

Raven was too strong for her elderly owner, who was on blood thinners. Raven is housebroken, crate-trained, and really loves people but doesn’t like horses. She'll need some leash training since she pulls when walking. Friendly and playful, Raven wants an adopter with a house large enough for an 86-pounder.

Roe versus Wade is not just the dilemma a Clemson grad faces when his boat’s Evinrude engine breaks. It is a serous issue for most Americans and the next two Judges will tip the scale on matters such as these: which are often decided on 5 to 4 votes.

With DNA testing and all the levels we have to go through, plus the second and third offender status of most of these thugs on death row, we will make few if any mistakes in the future. And the deterrent factor is clear to all of us and reinforced recently with the “BTK Killer,” an active Church member and scout master who brutally killed multiple women in Kansas years ago. He said he stopped killing as soon as the death penalty was instituted in his state. Can you say deterrent?

In Bush speak, we Southerners say: you kill one of us, we kill you back. It is a simple rule really, not open to much interpretation and probably began with the whole “eye for an eye” thing in the Bible. We don’t care if you are rich, poor, black or white, the rule applies.

As Ron White points out, Texas now has a rule that if you kill someone and there are two eye witnesses you go right to the electric chair upon conviction. No 25 years of appeals. Most states are making it harder to execute murderers; Texas is establishing an “express lane”!

This and other pets are available for adoption at Suncoast Humane Society, 6781 San Casa Drive, Englewood, 474-7884, www.humane.org Photo by Jim Hanushek

My view as a libertarian is smoke all the crack you want, just don’t expect me to pay for your rehab bill. Legislating morality from Washington is like having your military train in France. Further, legislating morality begs the question: whose morals do we make law? Bill Clinton’s, Bush’s or Hillary’s?

That is why Federal Courts should not meddle and tread lightly into areas such as gay marriage which is a state’s rights issue. Bush feels like he has a mandate to end man dates. Courts and Bush spend an awful lot of time keeping gays away from two pretty bad endeavors, marriage and the military. Marriage, where 50% of the people bitterly lose 50% of their money at some point and the military, where you get shot at. Why not bar them from watching E! on cable or not allow them to accessorize? If you want to send them a moral message you really need to hit them where it hurts!

At its core, the law should confine itself to what it can really police. And, as I see it, if someone does harm someone else, they need to be held accountable. Beyond that, any attempt to be the moral compass for 285 million Americans is self-indulgent folly, and a trap set for Bush by the “Religious Right” that he needs to avoid.

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