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Today President Bush nominated judge Samuel Alito to replace Sandra Day O'Connor at the Supreme Court (story). This is the kind of candidate that a lot of principled conservatives have been hoping for, and he's met with almost unanimous words of praise from many conservative sources. Equally expectedly, the left has been galvanized in the opposite direction, and we may see a political battle of epic proportions. Among those who oppose judge Alito it's become almost a matter of faith to identify him with Antonin Scalia, a Supreme Court justice under whom he had clerked.

Most people who know him regard judge Alito as a quiet, humble person with impressive intellectual capability and equally impressive record. He has served on 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia for past fifteen years. If elected, he will be the fifth Catholic on the current Supreme Court, making it the first majority Catholic court in the U.S. history. In that regard it is somewhat ironic that his nomination came on October 31st, which is not only Halloween, but also a Reformation day - a date on which Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses.

Judge Alito faces a tough battle ahead of him, and our prayers and thoughts will be with him. Godspeed, judge Alito.

Posted by Bojan Tunguz at 10:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

After mounting criticism from conservatives, Harriet Miers decided to withdraw from the consideration for a position on the Supreme Court. Misgivings about her competence for this very important position had not been assuaged as people got to know her better. This made an already uphill battle that much harder. Faced with these insurmountable challenges, she probably decided that it did not serve either the President or the conservatives in general to remain a candidate. Ironically, this may be the best proof of her conservative credentials.

So now the guessing game about the next Supreme Court nominee starts anew. Some of the most prominent contenders are judges Michael Luttig and Samuel Alito (story). From what I have read about their backgrounds, either one of them would make a supreme candidate.

Posted by Bojan Tunguz at 08:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Unseasonably warm weather at the beginning of the last week made one forget that Fall is already well under way. Sharmin had her Fall break so we drove over to Chicago for a couple of days. Chicago is a really hard city to drive around, particularly the downtown area. One is easily spoilt with long, wide, flat, mostly empty roads of Champaign-Urbana. It was a lot of fun to walk and shop along the Magnificent Mile. I got my fix of playing with Macs at the Apple store, and I almost ODd on cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory. We had our fill of a big city for at least little while.

Posted by Bojan Tunguz at 06:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I am feeling much better now. My sickness is almost completely gone, but some of my friends are still suffering from the flu. Recently there has been a lot of concern with the avian flu virus, and it seems that some strains of it have made its way even to Croatia. In the past that particular disease seemed endemic to the Far East, but the World is a much smaller place now. It is also particularly disturbing that the 1918 flu pandemic has jumped directly from birds to humans, with relatively little genetic modification. Dangers of something like that happening again seem very real.

Posted by Bojan Tunguz at 04:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The flue season has officially started, at least as far as I am concerned. My throat started aching me last night, and this morning I was feeling pretty crappy. I was planning on getting the flu shot this year, but I did not expect I would need it so soon. Because of the shortage of the flu shots last year, I never got vaccinated and as a consequence I had to endure one miserable illness after another. I hope that I don't have to go through the same thing this year. As soon as I get over this sickness, I am heading over to the health center to get a shot.

Posted by Bojan Tunguz at 01:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

This past weekend Croatian soccer team secured a spot at the next year's World Cup. This came after a 1-0 victory over Sweden in Zagreb. With one more game of qualifications left, we can afford to lose and still be among the two second best teams from Europe, which guarantees direct qualifications to the finals next year. This is Croatia's third World Cup in a row, and we are all hoping for a repeat of stellar performance from the 1998 World Cup. That year we came in third, definitely putting Croatia on the World soccer map.

Now, I have to make a disclaimer. I am actually not a big fan of soccer. In fact, growing up I positively detested it. Sometimes I joke that the number one reason while I came to the US was the fact that it is still the only country in the world that does not care about soccer. Here, you can say that you don't like soccer and you can still have a chance of being considered cool and socially accepted.

So why am I making such a big deal of Croatia's qualifications? First of all, I'll root for Croatia's national team in any sport that it competes in. Croatia's field hockey team competing against Zimbabwe? Go beat them guys! Croatian cricketers losing to Pakistan by 283 to 282? I'll be mad as hell and I'll engage in a lot of counterfactual thinking for weeks to come. If Croatian batter had only hit that last ball ...

Then there is the World Cup itself. It is THE largest sporting event in the World, and it is hard to remain indifferent about it. It brings out the raw emotions like nothing else. I attended one game back in 1994 when Sweden beat Romania in the quarterfinals. The game was played at Stanford Stadium, and I was able to get a ticket for an incredibly low price. For the 2002 World Cup I would stay late, sometimes all night, watching the games with friends and oftentimes engaging in some very un-PC cheering and commenting. Ah, that was a lot of fun. I can't wait for the next year.

Posted by Bojan Tunguz at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I just finished reading South Park Conservatives : The Revolt Against Liberal Media Bias by Brian C. Anderson. I've been a big fan of South Park for years - their brand of irreverent foul-mouthed humor hits a nerve with me I guess. However, I never really thought of that cartoon as a particularly pointed political satire. Maybe because I generally agreed with most of what they had to say, so it did not seem that they were going out on a limb with their message. Then some months ago I got an e-mail from a friend that linked to the original article that coined the term "South Park Republicans." That article claimed that a new brand of conservatism is growing, especially among the younger generation. It had very little to do with the preppy, staid attitudes that were the norm of conservatives just a generation ago. Suddenly, things made a lot of sense. Although the Creators of "South Park" spare no one from their ridicule, and they don't seem to have a single coherent political agenda, with a help of hindsight it is easy to see that they have an especially low regard for the lefty activist types.

Brian C. Anderson's book is not only, nor even primarily, about "South Park". And that is a good thing. When I first bought the book I was a bit apprehensive that it might get boring after a while. After all, how much can you really write about one particular aspect of one cartoon series? Luckily, Anderson focuses mostly on the subtitle of the book, and in a very detailed and well researched exposition demonstrates how the rise of new media outlets is evening the field for the conservatives. "South Park Conservatives" is a very well written book, and an invaluable resource and a reference for other sources of conservative opinion.

Posted by Bojan Tunguz at 02:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Croatia started the accession talks with the EU yesterday. This came about after Austria repeatedly pointed out the hypocrisy of allowing Turkey to begin its negotiations with the EU while having a much spottier human rights record than Croatia. Once again, thank you Austria.

Posted by Bojan Tunguz at 10:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

President Bush picked Harriet Miers yesterday to be his nominee for the Supreme Court seat that will become vacant with departure of Sandra Day O'Connor. The nomination of Ms. Miers once again confirms Bush's strong predilection for people who have shown him strong personal loyalty. A choice of someone without judicial experience also speaks of desire to have an expedient confirmation process. Bush doesn't seem to have an appetite for a long drown-out battle. The initial positive reaction from both parties seems to point to a fairly straightforward confirmation in the Senate.

Personally, I would have liked to see someone with a bit stronger legal credentials. However, Ms. Miers strikes me as a person who would be putting the law first, and not making herself the center of attention. In other word, a "humble judge who will strictly interpret the Constitution".

There are also interesting parallels between Ms. Miers nomination and Bush's erstwhile choice of Dick Cheney for his running mate. As a White House legal counsel, Ms. Miers was in charge of screening potential candidates. In the end she did the job so well that she herself got the nod. The same thing happened to Cheney in 2000. He was screening potential VPs for Bush, and ended up holding the job himself.

Posted by Bojan Tunguz at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)