ABC in business of creating news instead of reporting news?

ABC conducts a poll an gets this result and decides it is news:

Three in 10 Americans say the Supreme Court is "too conservative," up sharply from two years ago and now substantially more than call it "too liberal." Just under half say the court is about balanced ideologically in its decisions.

Thirty-one-percent call the court too conservative, compared with 19 percent in July 2005 -- a period in which Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito have joined the court, replacing William Rehnquist and Sandra Day O'Connor.

Several problems with this being presented as news. First, I highly doubt that more than 1% of the people polled could even name all 9 justices much less intelligently discuss the constitutionality of recent rulings. Beyond that, what really undermines the idea of this being "news" is a great deal of poll results are really just people responding with what they have been told repeatedly by the extreme left leaning mainstream media. To the extent people even watch news coverage of the court they are mislead to believe that any ruling that is inline with the Constitution is excessively conservative. After decades of liberals using the courts to enact legislation many have forgotten that the legislative branch is responsible for legislation.

Monday night links and comments

Huh, the last king of Afghanistan died. Wonder what the odds were on him living to 92 years old. At 19, he was crowned hours after his father was assassinated. At the time his nickname was "Next."

Michael Vick ordered to stay out of training camp
Okay, but what took so long. After the indictments were handed down last week with the awful details, did anyone outside Vick's immediate family really think he would be playing this season? Don't argue about the assumption of innocence. That is in the criminal courts not the court of public opinion.

Your girlfriend is too drunk to drive. Take the keys = good idea. Get run over by her car trying to stop her = bad idea.

Vega then got into her car and drove off as her boyfriend clutched to the open driver's side window. She reportedly fishtailed down the block as her boyfriend's feet dragged. Soon after, Wiederer became lodged under the car — leaving what Newsday called "a trail of skid marks and blood."

Jay Steiner, a 60-year-old retired nurse, said the car sped through two stop signs before coming to a stop. He rushed to the vehicle but saw no signs of life. He said he recalled Vega saying, "Oh, my God ... Don't tell me I just killed my fiance."

Wow, good luck sleeping with that one on your conscience.

Wow, it's a small world. There is a kid that has been teammates with my son on a few baseball teams over the last couple years. I've met his parents in passing - nothing more than "Hi, how ya doing?" Well, at a practice last week I'm talking to the kid's dad and he kiddingly gives me some grief about wearing a Cleveland Browns tee-shirt. He asks "Whats a Browns fan doing living in the Cincinnati area?" I responded with an off hand comment about marrying a southern girl and this guy says he did the opposite. I asked him where his wife is from and he says "Westlake" which is my hometown. After we talk some more, I realize his wife was a classmate of mine and grew up just a couple blocks away. What are the odds? Looked her up in the yearbook - zero memories. Talked to her at the tournament this weekend - still zero recollections of her.

Speaking of Cleveland, local icon Drew Carey has been selected to succeed Bob Barker as host of the long running TV show "The Price is Right." There were rumors that my distant cousin, Dan Patrick, had resigned from ESPN to take that job. I guess I can assume those rumors were false now.

Need a reason to pray tonight? Pray for this family.

Minor league coach dies after being hit. Coolbaugh is survived by his wife, Mandy, and two young sons, Joseph and Jacob, all of San Antonio. Mandy Coolbaugh is expecting another child in October.

Tancredo jumps the shark

Congressman Tom Tancredo has been a second tier candidate for the Republican nomination for the 2008 presidential race with a minor following based solely on the combined issues of illegal immigration and border security. Though I tend to agree with him on those issues, I found him to be less than impressive in the early debates and assumed his campaign wouldn't make it to the primaries. Well, he is now making comments that should leave him lumped together with the oddball candidates like Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX). Discussing the case of a couple border guards who were sentenced to prison after shooting a fleeing illegal alien in the backside, Tancredo threatened to withhold funding for federal prisons if the president doesn't pardon the two border guards.

A Republican congressman yesterday said he will offer an amendment to an annual spending bill to prevent the Bush administration from using funds to enforce the prison sentences of two U.S. Border Patrol agents.

Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado said the amendment would force the release of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, who were sentenced to 11- and 12-year prison terms for shooting a fleeing drug-smuggling suspect in the buttocks.

"Americans have been waiting months for the president to right this wrong and I am not going to wait any longer," said Mr. Tancredo, a candidate for president in 2008. "It's time that the Congress took matters into its own hands.

No, it is not time for Congress to take matters into its own hands. We have a judicial system that works fairly well. We also have a provision in our Constitution for the head of the executive branch to commute or pardon people convicted of crimes. We do not have a system for the legislative branch to override if they don't like how the other two branches handle a case. Silly stunts like this go a long way in explaining why we tend to elect presidents out of governors mansions instead of the halls of congress. I'm for boarder enforcement and I'm generally very pro-law enforcement. However, unlike the congressman and some of my friends on the right I also understand that putting on a badge does not mean one is incapable of doing wrong.

New Favorite Politician

Regular readers know I don't hold many politicians in very high esteem. However, after reading a letter sent by a Cleveland City Councilman to a constituent, I have one I can respect for being a straight shooter. I don't know if Councilman Polensek is a Republican or a Democrat, but he is right on with this letter. Here is a snippet:

In closing, I told you just recently to stay out of my neighborhood, you crack dealing piece of trash. Yet, you keep coming back because you think you are a big man. Well, real men go to school (editor: Huh?) or to work every day and take care of their families, and not through illegal drug activity. You are a "thug" and you know what? There are only two places you will end up at the rate you are going - that is prison or the nearest funeral home. Quite frankly, I don't care which one you get to first as long as your dumb stupid ass is out of my neighborhood.

Now, that there is some personalized constituent services. Last time I got a letter from an elected official (Congressman Boehner) my name was misspelled.

Rest in Peace - Lady Bird Johnson

Former First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson, widow of Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36th President of the United States, passed away today at the age of 94. Our prayers go out to her family and friends as they deal with their loss.

Confused Episcopal Priest Story - UPDATE

A couple weeks ago I commented on the nuttiness of Rev. Ann Holmes Redding. Who? She is the Episcopalian priest who professes to be both Muslim and Christian. In the original story there were comments from her bishop indicating he had no problem with her actions.

Officials at the national Episcopal Church headquarters said they are not aware of any other instance in which a priest has also been a believer in another faith. They said it's up to the local bishop to decide whether such a priest could continue in that role. Redding's bishop, the Rt. Rev. Vincent Warner, says he accepts Redding as an Episcopal priest and a Muslim, and that he finds the interfaith possibilities exciting.

Well, it turns out the local bishop is not the final word on this situation. Here is a link to an update to this story.

The Rev. Ann Holmes Redding, a local Episcopal priest who announced she is both Muslim and Christian, will not be able to serve as a priest for a year, according to her bishop.

During that year, Redding is expected to "reflect on the doctrines of the Christian faith, her vocation as a priest, and what I see as the conflicts inherent in professing both Christianity and Islam," the Rt. Rev. Geralyn Wolf, bishop of the Diocese of Rhode Island, wrote in an e-mail to Episcopal Church leaders.

Redding was ordained more than 20 years ago by the then-bishop of Rhode Island, and it is that diocese that has disciplinary authority over her.

Monday's links and comments

Fred Thompson Picking Up Support in Ohio. He hasn't announced he is running yet, but support is building. Viking Spirit blog has a post titled: "Switching horses: I'm supporting Fred Dalton Thompson." More interesting than the fact that he is supporting Thompson is that he is switching from being a Giuliani backer. Support in a political race is a zero sum game. If each declared candidate has a percentage of support from likely primary voters and a new candidate enters the field and garners 20% support then that has to come from the other candidates. I've assumed that Thompson would appeal to the uneasy McCain backers, so seeing a Giuliani backer switch is interesting. As far as actually announcing goes, I'm hearing Thompson will likely jump in the fray on the 4th of July.

People fooled into thinking a national health care plan is a good idea need to read this article from a country with "free" health care: Woman faces 3-year surgery wait.

Out of desperation, she went to an orthopaedic specialist as a private patient a few months ago.

The specialist told her she could operate within two weeks. But with the bill expected to hit $4000, Mrs Haffenden was forced to go on the 14-month waiting list to see the same specialist as a public patient.

Speaking of medical issues, you have to be happy for LeCharles Bentley:

Center LeCharles Bentley, whose first season with Cleveland ended with a freakish knee injury last summer that became infected and threatened his life and NFL career, plans to play for the Browns this season.

Six months ago I was hearing he may need to have his leg amputated and now he is talking about being ready for the season opener. Amazing. Whether or not he ever plays football again I'm just glad he seems to be returning to good health. We often take note of the millions made by the top athletes, but we forget that too many of these players sacrifice their future health for some temporary gridiron glory.

After the failures of my generation, apparently there is some hope for the next one. (H/T BizzyBlog)

A new poll conducted by a three media outlets finds that teenagers and young adults are more likely than older adults to say that they don't think abortion should be legal or that it should be subject to stricter limits than it is now. The poll confirms the findings of other surveys showing the next generation of Americans are more pro-life.

This shouldn't be too surprising. James Taranto of The Wall Street Journal has previously noted something he calls the "Roe Effect." Since 1973, a sizable percentage of potential pro-abortion voters were aborted long before they could vote. Children of people likely to raise them to be pro-life are much more likely to survive the dangerous unprotected first nine months of their lives.

My congressman, John Boehner (R-OH), has an op-ed piece at Townhall.com titled Broken Promises which looks at how the Democrat majority has failed to deliver since taking over. This just might knock him off of Nancy Pelosi's Christmas card list.

In baseball, Reds manager Jerry Narron was fired for failing to figure out how to win without much of a pitching staff. Stranger than that is Mariners manager Mike Hargrove firing himself while his team is riding a nine game winning streak. Usually, managers suffer burn out when failing to meet expectations not when exceeding all reasonable expectations. Neither move will make much difference. The Reds will lose between 95 and 105 games while the Mariners will miss the playoffs by around 5 games.