More bizarro product promotion/”important issue” special issues/public service announcement comics can be found right here.

(Is it sad that I am fairly certain that at some time in my life I have read — or actually owned the books above? The first two I’m sure of, and can actually lay hands on one; FRANCIS… man, I don’t know, but it looks too weirdly familiar…)

Oh, Ohio. You make me so sad sometimes.

In a “Healthiest Cities” ranking of the 50 largest cities by Sperling’s Best Places, Ohio cities were notably absent from the top 10. In fact, Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati all made the bottom 10 at numbers 45, 47, and 48, respectively. The study compared data for Physical Activity, Health Status, Nutrition, Lifestyle Pursuits, and Mental Wellness. If you look at the numbers, all three are especially dismal in terms of diet.

Actually, the biggest surprise was that my current hometown, DC, was number 2. Sez local gossip & news blog, DCist, “Of course, the mental wellness gauge may not take into account the 535 members of Congress or homeless Joe that lives in the van down the road, but still, color us surprised. Somehow, despite horrific commutes on the Beltway, the stress levels of D.C’s numerous law offices, and Ben’s Chili Bowl, we’re on the whole very healthy people.” Seconded.

And even more disturbing, Washington scored 100 points (!) on the category of “mental.” I guess that must just be a product of inflated ego.

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Corey Greenberg, tech editor for NBC’s “Today” show, appeared last July to praise Apple’s iPod as “a great portable musical player . . . the coolest-looking one” and suggested a compatible device to “share your music with other people.” “This is the way to go,” he declared.

“Let’s cut the Apple commercial here right now, okay?” co-host Matt Lauer interjected.

Lauer was onto something. Greenberg, an NBC contributor, confirmed yesterday that he has received payments from Apple as well as Sony, Hewlett-Packard, Seiko Epson, Creative Technology and Energizer Holdings, charging $15,000 apiece to talk up their products on news shows. The contracts were first disclosed by the Wall Street Journal.

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{sarcastic snark} I never did trust that guy. {/sarcastic snark}

I know, I know, you’re getting sick of it, but I kind of think it’s funny. And sad. Funny sad.

One of the paragraphs in the second column reads thusly:

“NO RESPECT — Though a judge can find protection for obscenity videos, many of them find the Ten Commandments inappropriate for public display. They quote laws of foreign countries — even an unratified UN Treaty, rather than our own Constitution, when it suits their fancy.” (italics mine)

When I were in that there law school, we was learnt that them was called “persuasive authority” that a court is not required to follow but may consider — and was certainly appropriate. But whatever.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Majority Leader Tom DeLay says Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s work from the bench has been outrageous, his latest salvo at the federal judiciary in the weeks following the courts’ refusal to stop Terri Schiavo’s death.

DeLay also labeled a lot of the courts’ Republican appointees as “judicial activists,” a term applied by conservatives to judges they dislike for not following what they call strict interpretations of the Constitution.

The No. 2 Republican in the House has been openly critical of the federal courts since they refused to order the reinsertion of Schiavo’s feeding tube. And he pointed to Kennedy as an example of Republican members of the Supreme Court who were activist and isolated.

“Absolutely. We’ve got Justice Kennedy writing decisions based upon international law, not the Constitution of the United States? That’s just outrageous,” DeLay told Fox News Radio on Tuesday. “And not only that, but he said in session that he does his own research on the Internet? That is just incredibly outrageous.”

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I also liked this part:

However, DeLay has called repeatedly for the House to find a way to hold the federal judiciary accountable for its decisions. “The judiciary has become so activist and so isolated from the American people that it’s our job to do that,” he said.

One way would be for the House Judiciary Committee to investigate the clause in the Constitution that says “judges can serve as long as they serve with good behavior,” he said. “We want to define what good behavior means. And that’s where you have to start.”

Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

And on a semi-related note, I chuckled yesterday at this post from Professor Randy Barnett over at Volokh, about forthcoming responses to the quixotic argument that judicial review is an invention of an activist court and not authorized by the Constitution.

If you were at all wondering about the appearance of the Northwestern Wildcat at the top right of the dahlbergcentral home page, I think the letter pictured here will clear up any confusion. (and thanks, big bro, for the tribute.)

Staying true to my feline roots–from Bobcat to Wildcat–I’m poised to pounce on Evanston!

Let the debt begin!