† Read The Bill: In the lecture to members of Congress hosted by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), chair of the House’s Tea Party Caucus, Justice Antonin Scalia gave lawmakers advice on how to keep the Supreme Court out of their hair,” reports The BLT: Blog of Legal Times:

Two of his suggestions: Be as specific as possible when writing legislation, and watch the boundaries set out by the Constitution.

Rep. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.) said Scalia emphasized that often, when the Supreme Court upends lawmakers’ work, “it’s because Congress is silent” regarding its intent. Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) said he took away that Congress should be its own “first line of defense” in ensuring that the laws it passes are constitutional. …

At least three House Democrats attended and two of them said the event was worthwhile. “There was nothing partisan here,” said Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.). “It was Justice Scalia expressing his views.” …

Bachmann said Scalia’s talk would be the first in a series. She said she plans to invite other “people who are known for having an understanding of the Constitution,” continuing next with Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn. Any other Supreme Court justice is welcome, she said.

† Media Irrelevancy – A Self-Inflicted Wound: A new report on coverage of the shootings at a constituent outreach event by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) in Tucson finds that 27 percent of the coverage concerned heated political rhetoric; 20 percent was about Jared Loughner and his family; and just 12 percent was “straight news accounts of the shooting and its aftermath,” reports The Wrap:

The analysis spanned 52 news outlets from the print, online, network TV, cable and radio worlds.

The list of outlets includes the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Arizona Republic, Yahoo News, Fox News, "Good Morning America," "CBS Evening News," "Parker Spitzer," "O'Reilly Factor," NPR and Rush Limbaugh. PEJ also looked at blogs and Facebook and Twitter for the top themes in online conversations.

The data reveals that TV and radio talking heads were the most fond of debating the politics behind Loughner's shooting spree - 57 percent of the shooting's radio airtime and 32 percent of the shooting's TV coverage focused on this angle.

"The topic of political discourse was less prominent elsewhere in the media," the report said. "It accounted for 21% of the online news studied concerning the shooting. And it filled 18% of the front-page newspaper coverage devoted to the shooting and 18% in network morning and evening news on the story."

† Updates To Previous Posts (fourth item, Why We Need Gitmo): A legal saga comes to an end with U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan sentencing Osama bin Laden cook-cum-bodyguard Ahmed Ghailani to life in prison for his role in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Africa. Several days earlier, Kaplan denied Ghailani a new trial on the one count of conspiracy he was convicted of - the jury acquitted him of 281 other counts associated with the murders of 224 victims. Over the past 18 months Kaplan issued several rulings pertaining to Ghailani's incarceration at Gitmo (his right to a speedy trial had not been violated) and evidence gathered through the use of enhanced interrogation techniques (the government's main witness would be excluded, but the case could proceed). New York Law Journal reports:

Judge Kaplan pronounced sentence after hearing emotional testimony from 11 victims and relatives of victims of the twin bombings of the embassies in Kenya and Tanzania on Aug. 7, 1998, that killed 224 people and injured thousands more.

The judge rejected the defense theory that Mr. Ghailani, 36, was a dupe who did not learn until it was too late that a truck, gas tanks, detonators and dynamite he helped obtain or assemble were intended for an Osama bin Laden-inspired attack on U.S. interests. …

Mr. Ghailani's case was seen by many as a test of the civilian justice system's ability to handle terrorism cases where the defendant was captured on the battlefield and the usual concerns about the search and seizure of evidence and the voluntariness of statements are complicated by the demands of intelligence gathering and the need to protect classified information and sources.

But the political winds have shifted since Mr. Ghailani was moved to New York in June 2009, when his case was widely viewed as a precedent for future prosecutions of Guantánamo detainees. Since then, many in Congress and local officials have voiced strong opposition for civilian trials, in particular vowing to block trials in Manhattan federal court, which sits near the site of the 9/11 attacks.

The Associated Press reports that Attorney General Eric Holder and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) had diametrically opposed views on the sentence of “[t]he first, and possibly the last, Guantanamo detainee to have a U.S. civilian trial”:

Holder said the sentencing "shows yet again the strength of the American justice system in holding terrorists accountable for their actions." …

Smith  … called the case "a near disaster" because Ghailani was only convicted of one of 285 counts.

† Updates To Previous Posts (penultimate item, Is Obama’s Birth Certificate Fake?): AZ Rep. Judy Burges has retooled her proposed bill requiring a presidential candidate to document (s)he is a natural born citizen, and to provide a sworn statement attesting that (s)he has not held dual citizenship and that his or her sole allegiance is to the United States of America, before the secretary of state can place his or her name on the ballot in the state. The bill (HB 2544), needs the votes of 16 state Senators and 31 state Representatives to make it to Gov. Jan Brewer’s (R) desk and has 41 representatives and senators are listed as co-sponsors, reports World Net Daily:

The proposal … is highly specific and directly addresses the questions that have been raised by Barack Obama's occupancy of the White House. It says:

Within ten days after submittal of the names of the candidates, the national political party committee shall submit an affidavit of the presidential candidate in which the presidential candidate states the candidate's citizenship and age and shall append to the affidavit documents that prove that the candidate is a natural born citizen, prove the candidate's age and prove that the candidate meets the residency requirements for President of the United States as prescribed in article II, section 1, Constitution of the United States.

The critical phrases are "natural born citizen" and the requirements of "article II, section 1, Constitution of the United States," which imposes on the president a requirement not demanded of other state and federal officeholders.  …

There are several cases still pending before the courts over Obama's eligibility. Those cases, however, almost all have been facing hurdles created by the courts' interpretation of "standing," meaning someone who is being or could be harmed by the situation. The courts have decided almost unanimously that an individual taxpayer faces no damages different from other taxpayers, therefore doesn't have standing. Judges even have ruled that other presidential candidates are in that position.

The result is that none of the court cases to date has reached the level of discovery, through which Obama's birth documentation could be brought into court. …

Similar legislation is in the works in MT, PA, GA and TX. Of these, only MT has a Dem governor, but Dems control the MT and PA state Senates, so it’s doubtful a “birther bill” will get very far in these states.

Meanwhile, HI’s new Gov. Neil Abercrombie (D) who famously promised to produce President Barack Hussein Obama’s birth certificates to  shut the birthers up, is now abandoning the effort, reports the New York Daily News:

State Attorney General David Louie told the governor that it's against state law to release private documents, including an individual's birth documentation without the person's consent

"There is nothing more that Gov. Abercrombie can do within the law to produce a document," Abercrombie's spokeswoman Donalyn Dela Cruz said Friday. "Unfortunately, there are conspirators who will continue to question the citizenship of our president."

Abercrombie, a fellow Democrat and a friend of the President, launched an effort in December to squash conspiracy theories that President Obama was born elsewhere.

The simplest thing Obama can do to make the birther conspiracy theories go away is to produce his long-form birth certificate (his campaign posted a certificate of live birth on its Web site). Should any of these bills get signed into law – and survive the inevitable court challenge – it will force Obama’s hand. But the odds are infinitesimally small of a happy ending – it’s unclear whether birthers define this as Obama producing his birth certificate, or being found to be occupying the White House illegitimately.

† Updates To Previous Posts (penultimate item, Garbage In, Garbage Out: Part II): In his State of the Union address last night, President Barack Hussein Obama pointedly noted that the Chinese were eating our lunch: “China … started educating … children earlier and longer, with greater emphasis on math and science. … Just recently, China became home to the world's largest private solar research facility, and the world's fastest computer. … China is building faster trains and newer airports.” Obama didn’t say whether Chinese “Tiger Mothers” are behind this phenomenal success, but if, as Obama noted, America does “big things” and ours “has been the story of ordinary people who dare to dream,” George Mason University law professor Todd Zywicki makes the case in this Washington Times op-ed that Amy Chua’s approach may not be the best. While Amy Chua “criticizes modern American parenting as providing insufficient control and discipline” in his book "Ten Ways To Destroy the Imagination of Your Child," Anthony Esolen “attacks the overscheduling and overregimentation of modern childhood”:

While professor Chua conscripts her daughters with compulsory three-hour violin and piano lessons (leaving open the obvious question, "What is so special about the violin or piano as opposed to the cello, trumpet or, for that matter, fly-fishing or baseball?") Mr. Esolen says we should encourage children to pursue their passions and develop a love of those activities for their own sake, regardless of their utility. Whereas Ms. Chua insists on world-class proficiency in the hobbies her daughters pursue under the belief that such things are fun only after one becomes expert, Mr. Esolen instinctively sides with G.K. Chesterton's tribute to amateurism that anything "worth doing is worth doing badly."

If Ms. Chua sees American children as needing more structure and control, Mr. Esolen urges the opposite - fewer play dates and music lessons and more free time for play, reading and tree climbing. If we want to destroy children's imagination, we should fill up their time with scheduled activities, tell them what books to read and what instruments to play and, above all, stress that none of this is to be enjoyed for its own sake but merely as steppingstones to eventual admission to Harvard or Brown.

The structure of Mr. Esolen's book is 10 chapters titled by mock "how to" lists to deaden your child's imagination. For example, "Keep your children indoors as much as possible," "Never leave children to themselves," "Replace the fairy tale with political cliches and fads," "Cast aspersions upon the heroic and patriotic" and "Cut all heroes down to size." He castigates the bland gender-neutralism of modern society ("Level distinctions between man and woman") and the general elimination of faith from modern society ("Deny the transcendent").

† Updates To Previous Posts (last item, 10 Reasons Michelle Obama Should Be Proud – Really Proud – Of America): This latest installment in The Stiletto Blog’s ongoing series meant to help instill the necessary pride of country in Michelle Obama’s consciousness to enable her to serve as an unofficial ambassador focuses on Gil Meche, a 32-year-old right-handed pitcher for the Kansas City Royals who retired and is walking away from a guaranteed $12 million paycheck in 2011. The New York Times reports:

“When I signed my contract, my main goal was to earn it,” Meche said this week, by phone from Lafayette, La. “Once I started to realize I wasn’t earning my money, I felt bad. I was making a crazy amount of money for not even pitching. Honestly, I didn’t feel like I deserved it. I didn’t want to have those feelings again.” …

Meche told the Royals’ general manager, Dayton Moore, that he did not want any of the paycheck due him. No settlement, no buyout, no strings. The Royals had been roundly criticized for signing Meche in the first place — he was 55-44 with a 4.65 earned run average in six seasons for the Mariners — and Meche believed they had already paid him enough. …

There is no throwing program to struggle through anymore, no excitement to try to summon for a game that hurts too much to play. Baseball is over for Meche, who spent Monday night with family friends in Lafayette, eating gumbo, drinking beer, relaxing. He has no specific plans, except to settle in his hometown and see his children whenever he wants.

“He gave his heart and soul to his profession,” Moore said. “You only have so many throws in you.”

Meche knew he had none left, and he would not pretend otherwise. He said his dream in baseball was always simple - to pitch as long as he could - and now that he has achieved it, he needs nothing more.