Indeed. Thankfully, since that really woulda' messed with my meeting schedule this week. I'd have had to make an out-of-office autoreply to the effect of: "Sorry, but I will be out of the office until the revolution is over, but I will be checking mail on my blackberry and will get back to you as soon as I can during lulls in the action."
I just finally finished reading through Scalia's opinion. Wow. It's masterfully written. I get the feeling from his obvious enthusiasm that he may well have been waiting his entire adult life for this moment, to write this exact opinion. He just surgically deconstructs the dissent and makes a powerful case for the individual right to "keep and bear arms for whatever lawful purpose".
It needs to be said that the case at hand was a somewhat narrower draw inasmuch as it related specifically to Mr. Heller's right to defend himself in his home. BUT: the opinion that Scalia wrote went on at length about the vagueries of "keeping" and "bearing" obviously intended to provide guidance not just for this narrow case but for future rulings. While this ruling was specifically about the case of Mr. Heller in his home, Scalia's discussion of "bearing" arms makes no such distinction.
It's a great read. Justice Scalia conducts in this opinion a scholarly class in constitutional law and interpretation. Indeed, he takes the dissent to school and leaves them utterly wanting
It is a landmark case by any measure. But we have to see the obvious: We got this by one vote on the court. We were that close to losing it all.
Ahhhhhh...my last night of VBS...I taught the three year olds...need I say more. :-)
It’s good to be home. Now, I’m gonna spend some quality time with myman...he starts chemo in the morning for those of you who are keeping up with it all, and have been so faithful in praying for him...thank you.
Mrsnad
Speaking of out of office replies, a co-worker sent me these:
1) I am currently out of the office at a job interview and will reply to you if I fail to get the position. Please be prepared for my mood.
2) You are receiving this automatic notification because I am out of the office. If I was in, chances are you wouldn’t have received anything at all.
3) Sorry to have missed you, but I’m at the doctor’s having my brain and heart removed so I can be promoted to our management team.
4) I will be unable to delete all the emails you send me until I return from vacation. Please be patient, and your mail will be deleted in the order it was received.
5) Thank you for your email. Your credit card has been charged $5.99 for the first 10 words and $1.99 for each additional word in your message.
6) The email server is unable to verify your server connection. Your message has not been delivered. Please restart your computer and try sending again.
7) Thank you for your message, which has been added to a queuing system. You are currently in 352nd place, and can expect to receive a reply in approximately 19 weeks.
8) Hi, I’m thinking about what you’ve just sent me. Please wait by your PC for my response.
9) I’ve run away to join a different circus.
10) I will be out of the office for the next two weeks for medical reasons. When I return, please refer to me as ‘Kate’ instead of Dave
Yeah, it was a small-win-vs-total-defeat, so I'll take the small win. And thank George W. Bush for his two Supreme Court appointments. The RATs will spend the next couple of years coming up new wrinkles to try out at lower levels. I think the "militia weapon" vs "non-militia" will be one of them.
Perhaps the scariest thing I've heard from the dissenters (it takes a strong stomach, and I can't handle it all at once) was Stevens saying "I can't see how the Framers would allow the Constitution to trump 'policy' [government decrees]". Bastard!, that's why the Constitution exists. If he can't figure that out, he should turn in his black robe, and be removed from the federal payroll. That's even scarier than trying to ban high-cap mags "for the childrun".
My appearance here for the next 24 hours will be a bit irregular. I've been without power for over 24 hours now, although "they" say it will be only a few more hours. But I'm running my laptop off an inverter plugged into my 12 volt battery jumper. It's one thing to crank over an engine, another to keep a laptop online for any length of time.