Holy Crap, Have I Really Not Posted Anything in a Month?

"[The law] is a jealous mistress, and requires a long and constant courtship. It is not to be won by trifling favors, but by lavish homage." Justice Joseph Story, 1829.

If Justice Story heard about my month, he'd say something to the effect of, "Damn, dude, slow down."  In the past month, I sent out an average of two substantive briefs (written reports to the Court where I actually had to think about the legal issues involved) ever week, for three weeks.  As a result, I have neglected friends, family, and most importantly, my blog. ;)

Anyway, I am still alive, and still thinking about all things politics, food and baseball.  So, rather than write a full-fledged post, here are a few quick thoughts:

1) GO PADRES - Homerism aside, my favorite baseball team is in first place at the All-Star Break, and is doing it all with epic pitching - giving up a mere 314 runs in 91 games (the fewest, by far, of any team in the majors).  Sure, the offense is nothing special, but it doesn't have to be.  Most baseball writers are expecting to Padres to fall apart in the second half, but if you look at the total run differential, the Padres are winning as many games as they should win.  In other words, they are as good as they're playing.  Hopefully, everyone will stay healthy.

2) OBAMA - Ugh.  When I was in college, I remember one of my professors stressing to us that most decisions of significance are made by people below the President.  And here, I think the biggest problem with Obama is that the people surrounding him are less aggressive than Obama.  There has to be a good cop/bad cop element to every negotiation, and Obama is a piss-poor bad cop.  I thought that Rahm Emmanuel would be the bad cop, but he's too moderate in his politics.  So as a result, Obama keeps caving to the Right.

3) THE ECONOMY - I am a Keyesian, so let me state the following to all potential federal decision makers - SPEND MORE FUCKING MONEY.  Oh, and spend it within the U.S., not abroad.  Yes, it'll hurt us in the long term, debt-wise, but not spending the cash and ending up in a long-term deflationary cycle is worse. 

4) RANDOM QUESTION - Why hasn't anyone on the Left thought about organizing the long-term unemployed to march on Washington for more benefits, etc.  Its not like they have anything to do right now.