Did you know that Thurgood Marshall was an evil, commie, activist judge? Me neither. I always thought he was one of those legal icon kinda guys, that even people who don’t pay attention to much of anything have heard of (plus, he was really good in ‘The Defenders’). Here’s an interesting thought. You know who succeeded Marshall as a Supreme Court Justice? Clarence Thomas, that’s who.

Speaking of SCOTUS, it was a busy final day of the 2010 term.

First, they struck down the ban on handguns in Chicago. I’m still not quite clear how the 2nd Amendment’s protection of a well-regulated militia means every teabagging moron gets to have as many guns as they want, but, as a strict Constitutionalist (we’ll forget that the 2nd Amendment wasn’t actually in the US Constitution as originally ratified, hence the term, ‘amendment’), I think that this should only apply to single-shot muzzle loaders. So break out those flintlocks, patriots! You’ll probably need a little practice to be able to reload and get off a shot in 20 seconds the way our forefathers did. And don’t pack too much powder in there, or you might just have the damn thing blow up in your face.

The Supreme Court also left the door open for software patents. Once again, I must reiterate my objection to a bunch of old men and women who don’t seem to understand the nuances of pagers v. e-mail getting to decide anything related to technology.

There was also a setback for the Kristian Legal Society, which was seeking official recognition from the University of California’s law school in San Francisco. The ‘Society’ requires that voting members and officers affirm a “statement of faith,” including the belief “Christians should not engage in sexual conduct outside of marriage between a man and a woman.” Apparently this violates the school’s nondiscrimination policy for groups. Damn San Francsico Libruls. By a 5-4 vote, SCOTUS agreed with the school. Damn activist judges.

So, Stanley McChrystal is retiring. Not a surprise, really. How ya gonna keep him down on the farm, now that he’s seen Kabul?

It’s a man’s world around the house this week. With the wife gone, the dogs and I now have dominion over everything – including the cats, who are trying to get used to the idea that I really don’t care whether they like the food I give them. On the bright side, they’re free to drink from the toilet, as the prohibition on leaving the lid (never mind the seat) up has been lifted (so to speak). And it’s finally cooled off a bit. If only I didn’t have to go to work.

But, I do, so….