Damn!

Jess got into an accident on her way home from school yesterday. She's ok, physically, but she's still shaken up about the whole thing, and we're sure to take a financial beating. Luckily it was just her, and no other cars were involved. She was changing lanes and a patch of ice sent her off the road and into the guard rail. The damage to the car isn't terrible, but it'll still cost us a pretty penny because I don't have collision car insurance coverage. There's a long shot that Jess's insurance can cover it. One can always hope. I'm just glad Jess is alright.

So, Sam Alito made it through the judiciary comittee. My Constitutional Law professor says he doesn't think Roe is in jeopardy, but what is dangerous is that Alito and those in his cohort (scalia, thomas) believe in the power of the executive and don't believe in the power of congress. Having an all powerful executive is a scary thing, as any political scientist would tell you. In Alito's records there is a document that he wrote supporting something called the Executive Signing Statement. Now these are old news to White House insiders, but the way in which Bush has used them is to expand the executive power. An executive signing statement is a note (mostly in legalese) that the president attaches to a bill when he signs it into law. In the case of the anti-torture bill that McCain convinced Bush to sign, the signing statement was tantamount to saying that the executive could disobey this law in certain situations. Executives aren't supposed to legislate, and I think that these signing statements are unconstitutional. And Bush has had more of them than any other President.

Anyway, it looks like Alito will be confirmed, albeit along party lines.