Matheson finally confirmed for Utahs 10th Circuit Court

Lame duck fail: 19 judicial nominations left hanging
While an amazing amount of work got accomplished in this Lame Duck session, and the Senate did manage to work through half of the 38 Judicial Nominations awaiting floor action, 19 nominations died. Alliance for Justice President Nan Aron writes: Three Circuit Court and 16 District Court nominees approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee were prevented from receiving votes, including even the most noncontroversial individuals, many of whom are actually supported by Republican Senators. Here is ...

Ethics panel in 2005 found Md. judge's board membership in violation
The nation's top federal judicial ethics panel told a judge in Maryland five years ago that his membership on the board of an anti-regulatory group violated two canons of ethics, provoking his immediate Resignation from the board. But the authority's opinion was not published until this month and three other Federal Judges - including one of the nation's 13 Circuit Court chief justices - presently sit on the same group's board. The episode, which involves judges' ties to a Controversial Monta...

Census Impact on 2012 Presidential Race is Limited
Under the new allocation of Electoral Votes that will go into effect in 2012 as a result of this year’s Census, President Obama would have won 6 fewer Electoral Votes than he did in 2008, gaining 2 in Florida and 1 in each of Washington and Nevada, but losing 2 in both Ohio and New York, and 1 in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Massachusetts. Mr. Obama would nevertheless have won his election against John McCain; his revised total of 359 Electoral Votes would have be...

Senate approves two D.C. judicial nominees
The Senate on Wednesday approved two of President Obama's four pending nominees to the bench of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, part of a last-minute flurry of action on nominations before the 111th Congress adjourned. By voice vote, the Senate approved Robert L. Wilkins and Beryl Howell to serve as District Court judges. Wilkins is a partner at the Law Firm Venable, while Howell is on the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Wilkins and Howell were both approved by the Senate Judic...

Utah man indicted for alleged Facebook threats
A federal Grand Jury has indicted a Salt Lake City man for allegedly using Facebook and e-mail to make violent threats against government officials. The U.S. District Court indictment charges 36-year-old Mark E. Bayne with three counts of threats in interstate commerce. Each charge carries a possible penalty of up to five years in federal Prison. In court papers, prosecutors say Bayne used a Salt Lake Community College computer to send threatening e-mails to state, federal and private entities, ...

The Logic of Our Iran Sanctions
Jan 3, 2011, Vol. 16, No. 16 • By MARK DUBOWITZ and Reuel Marc Gerecht Get alerts when there is a new article that might interest you. Even before the recent inconclusive nuclear talks with Iran in Geneva, President Barack Obama undoubtedly agreed with France’s National Security adviser, Jean-David Levitte, when he described Tehran’s approach to nuclear negotiations with the West as a “farce” and the Dictatorship of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as “fascist.̶...

House Republicans seek to reduce spending by replacing PAYGO with CUTGO
Jon Ward covers the White House and national politics for The Daily Caller. He covered the last two years of George W. Bush's presidency and the first year of Barack Obama's presidency for The Washington Times. Prior to moving to national politics, Jon worked for the Times' city desk and bureaus in Virginia and Maryland, covering local news and politics, including the D.C. sniper shootings and subsequent trial, before moving to state politics in Maryland. He and his wife have two Children and li...

Obama To Restore Wilderness Rules For Public Lands
The Obama Administration plans to reverse a Bush-era policy and make millions of undeveloped acres of land once again eligible for federal wilderness protection, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Thursday. The agency will replace the 2003 policy adopted under former Interior Secretary Gale Norton, Salazar said. That policy — derided by some as the "No More Wilderness'' policy — stated that new areas could not be recommended for wilderness protection by the U.S. Bureau of Land Manag...

Stories of Progress
This time of year, Americans around the country are taking the time to exchange heartfelt messages with friends and loved ones, reflecting on the past year. They write of achievements and setbacks, of births, graduations, promotions, and moves. These messages allow us to overcome the miles that separate us. And they allow us to continue one of the most basic American traditions that has held folks close for centuries -- the simple sharing of stories. And as families gather around holiday tables ...

Census Results Empower GOP
Just in time for Christmas, the 2010 Census results that were released this week gave the GOP many gifts that will last throughout the decade. The GOP will immediately benefit from a net gain of six Electoral Votes in the Electoral College, if the state-by-state results of the 2008 Elections are adjusted based on the new Census numbers. The Census also revealed population shifts to the West and the South. This bodes well for both the Southern and Libertarian wings of the GOP this decade. The Te...

Palin then: Wikileak cables threaten national security. Now: They prove I'm right about Iran.
Steve Benen notes that Sarah Palin cites "leaked diplomatic cables" in her anti-Obama screed on USA Today's op-ed page in which she endorses a more bellicose policy towards Iran. Why is this interesting? Because those "leaked diplomatic cables" that Palin's ghost-writer referenced are, of course, the materials published through Wikileaks. I'm not suggesting for a moment that the media steer clear of such revelations, but the former half-term Governor's reliance on the documents is, to put it mi...

Saint Louis' Majerus misses game with illness
Saint Louis coach Rick Majerus is sick, causing him to miss the Billikens' game against Mississippi in the Cancun Governor's Cup. The school says Majerus started feeling ill earlier Friday. The symptoms were not severe, but he decided to stay away from the sideline as a precaution. Associate head coach Porter Moser was in charge of the team with Majerus out. The Billikens' next game is Jan. 1 against Bowling Green at home. The 62-year-old Majerus, in his fourth season with Saint Louis, has dealt...

Bristol Palin buys home in Arizona
Bristol Palin has purchased a home in Pinal County south of Phoenix. Paperwork shows the daughter of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is the sole purchaser of a home for $172,000, in the Town of Maricopa, in a development called Cobblestone Farms. The sellers are a North Dakota couple. The Arizona Republic reports the home was built in 2006 and was purchased for a little under $330,000 at that time. Real Estate Web sites show the house is a two-level, brown stucco with a tile roof and a landsc...

A Full List of the 19 Judicial Nominees Confirmed
As reported in a number of previous ACSblog posts, the Senate confirmed 19 judicial nominees to the federal courts before adjourning this week, leaving many others behind who will have to be re-nominated next session if they are to be reconsidered by the Senate. Below is a full list of those confirmed during the Senate's lame-duck session. For more information on the continuing judicial vacancy crisis, visit JudicialNominations.org. Scott M. Matheson Jr. for the Tenth Circuit Every Thursday, A...

Meanwhile, back in the real world
From The Situationist blog comes yet another little reminder that America really does have a history, and a culture, and all sorts of racial complications that people in the real world just can't help but notice, even if the people inside the tv machine can't: Blood & Race Posted by The Situationist Staff on December 21, 2010 From the Harvard Gazette:The centuries-old "one-drop rule" assigning minority status to mixed-race individuals appears to live on in our modern-day perception and cat...

Surprise Finding About Placebo Performance
Like this Story? Share it: (Discover) In many medical studies, even people who take "fake" treatments, such as sugar pills with no active ingredients, can still feel better. These are the puzzling "placebo effects." They are common, diverse and powerful and they raise an interesting ethical question - can doctors justifiably prescribe placebos to their patients? The standard answer is no. Doing so patronises the patient, undermines their trust, and violates the principles of informed consent. I...

Welcome Back ROTC? (yah RIGHT)
There’s enough manure in this report to fertilize forty acres.   This is the FOXNews report on the reaction from so-called “elite colleges and universities” to the Repeal of Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell. Some comments after the report. “The congressional Repeal of the Military’s ban on gays serving openly has led some of the nation’s most prestigious universities to consider ending their decades-old standoff with the Pentagon’s ROTC program. ...

Colleges reconsider ROTC after 'don't ask' repeal
FILE - In this April 9, 1969 file picture, a Student leader speaks from steps of the Harvard administration building at Cambridge, Mass. as part of a Protest against Reserve Officers Training Corps program at the university. Forty years ago, ROTC units disappeared from Yale, Harvard, Columbia, Stanford and other elite schools, casualties of Vietnam-era tension and academic power struggles. Now, those same schools are moving toward welcoming ROTC units back thanks to the imminent demise of "don't...

Welcome Back ROTC? (yah RIGHT)
There’s enough manure in this report to fertilize forty acres.   This is the FOXNews report on the reaction from so-called “elite colleges and universities” to the Repeal of Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell. Some comments after the report. “The congressional Repeal of the Military’s ban on gays serving openly has led some of the nation’s most prestigious universities to consider ending their decades-old standoff with the Pentagon’s ROTC program. ...

Filibuster Reform: Building for Speed
Ezra Klein did an interview with Jeff Merkley about the Filibuster, where he asked him how creating a process where the minority has to actually filibuster will actually solve the issue of needless obstruction and delay. EK: …even if Reid had the powers and the rules that you would like to see him have, he would not force the minority to hold the floor, because to him, if he can’t get the bill through and he gives them three days to argue about it so the American People can see tha...

Obama has far fewer judicial choices confirmed after two years than Bush or Clinton
Despite the Senate confirmation of 19 judges (of 38) nominated by President Obama for positions on the federal bench during the lame-duck session of Congress, he has had far fewer of his nominees confirmed in his first two years than recent presidents. A total of 60 judges nominated by Obama thus far in his presidency have been confirmed to U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals and U.S. district courts compared to 100 for President George W. Bush and 126 for President Clinton in the same time period. T...

Chicago elections board considers Rahm's eligibility
Earlier this morning, the hearing officer -- a Republican -- examining the residency challenges into Rahm Emanuel's bid for Chicago mayor recommended that Emanuel be placed on the ballot. The hearing officer concluded that Emanuel did not abandon his residency rights when he moved to Washington to be President Obama's Chief of Staff, and that Illinois law expressly protects the voting and residency rights of those absent "on business of the United States, or of this state." Today, the three-memb...

The Man with the Mustache
The man with the infamous mustache, John Bolton, is seriously looking into an Exploratory Committee for 2012. National Review has an article on the topic, that Bolton reposted to his Facebook page. Here’s an excerpt from the article: Two summers ago, National Review took one of its cruises, this one to the Eastern Mediterranean. We had several hundred passenger-readers aboard, and a slate of speakers. One of them was John Bolton, the lawyer and foreign-policy official. On the platform, h...

New START treaty gets preliminary OK in Russia parliament
Reporting from Moscow — After just a few hours of debate, the lower house of Russia's parliament on Friday gave overwhelming preliminary approval to the New START arms treaty with the United States. The vote set the stage for its likely easy approval in the new year. Lawmakers in the State Duma voted 350-59 to approve the treaty on its first reading. Two more votes in the lower house, on the second and third readings, and balloting in the upper house were put off until January. However,...

UTAH: Gay Rights Come To Grand County
In a continuance of the march to full LGBT rights for small town and rural Americans, yesterday Grand County, Utah granted housing and employment protections to its gay and Transgender residents. The Salt Lake Tribune reports: That means one in four Utahns, living in 10 communities from Moab to Logan, are protected from Discrimination based on their Sexual Orientation or gender identity. Advocates for the statutes hope that groundswell of support will push the Utah Legislature to protect all U...