Supremes grab headlines

Supremes dominate headlines and tune changes with Roberts singing lead.

The biggest news is limit on use of race in school integration plans. Some highlights:
- Scalia manages to let Roberts write a constitutional opinion without calling him a wimp;
- Roberts takes quotes from Brown v Board of Ed briefs and turns them upside down with out of context use;
- Kennedy's separate opinion (and his vote was needed to make a majority) gives school systems room to tinker rather than give up on integration or start from scratch. School assignments that distribute disadvantaged students rather than minority students might not be such a bad thing.
- Assignment to preferred school within a public K-12 school system not the same as admission to a public college or a private college that receives public funds, but watch out. If race alone not a permitted admissions factor are other accidents of birth used to justify diversity admissions also vulnerable? I want the job as lead counsel for parents from NY, NJ and CT challenging Ivy admissions - why is that kid from Nebraska with 1300 SATs (now 1950) getting my daughter's spot at Harvard - claim has a lot of problems but what a fee base.

Case barring execution of Texas lunatic a no-brainer. Sure, W has made some serious mistakes, but execution? Way harsh. Real issue here is why does Texas remain part of USA. Texans would be happier on their own, 49 other states would breathe easier. Why didn't we think of this before W ran in 2000? Note aside by J. Thomas in dissent, calling the majority "half-baked". Strong language indeed, Justice T, but Scalia is calling the guys on his own team wimps for not going far enough, you need to work on your act if you want role as majority whip.

A third decision permits vertical price maintenance - a manufacturer and distributor may agree that the distributor will not resell below a minimum price set by the manufacturer. Warning - if you thought earlier post on taxation of working interests was a snooze - do not read the rest of this paragraph. Not clear why a court, rather than a legislature, created this prohibition in the first place, it was never based on a real analysis of the economic impact and it extended the Sherman Act to bar a previously accepted practice. I remember the class clown in my advanced antitrust seminar (moi?) asking why this made sense in a world of Crazy Eddies (a prehistoric Best Buy). Manufacturers claim keeping discounts in line allows the dealers to invest in advertising, repair service etc, activities that build the brand and provide a real service to consumers. Not a big concern for consumers if, and only if, there is vigorous interbrand competition. Sony keeping its laptop prices high - OK, I will buy a Dell. Not clear where J. Breyer's dissenting estimate of consumer impact came from or how it took interbrand competition into account.

Comics everywhere mourn the passing (actually failure to pass) of the immigration bill, killed by an odd coalition of xenophobes who could not accept a whiff of amnesty in exchange for beefed up border security and pro-immigrant purists who could not live with compromise. This bill had serious issues, but made a real effort to deal with real problems. Most oddly, W did a lot right, on substance and on Congressional outreach. If you think intrabrand price maintenance has an impact on consumers, wait until you see what labor shortages at both unskilled and highly skilled end of the market do to the economy.

To Do List? This was supposed to be political humor - see special close

Nothing funny in today's headlines so - with unshakeable certainty that the world will be fascinated with the minutia of my monotonous retiree existence, I join the universe of diary blogging and publish my to do list.

1. Check toothpaste for "made in china" label. Chinese officials defend use of antifreeze as low cost ingredient, probably tasty as well as cheap and teeth will look exceptionally white if you elect open casket. Any chance the Chinese officials defending this practice own the toothpaste factory? Just yesterday Chinese President Hu Jintao was quoted as saying:
“Insist on the party’s leadership...and ruling the nation by laws” . Can an authoritarian one party state ever be a government of laws? Chinese antifreeze producers now looking to shift excess capacity resulting from toothpaste fiasco into toy train market, for an extra $2.95 Thomas the Tank will come with lead paint and a freight car of slick, green goop.

2. Write congratulatory note to Pope Benedict XVI. Sure he got off to a rocky start - PR gaffes followed by apologies to Islam and Latin America - but now the man is on a roll. Revival of Latin Mass sure to be a hit with the all important ancient Roman demographic, run-off election system insures health of future popes (see yesterday's post here at As Good As News) and premier of pope's new network prime time TV show, National Bingo Night, a summer ratings smash. PR blitz to continue next week with roll-out of Strudel and Becks alternative to bread and wine for communion.

3. Sign renewal contract for next summer's lawn service ......before immigration bill passes.

4. Finish plea to Lorne Michaels - never be another Gilda but we can still bring Emily Litella back. Just too many opportunites to pass up. Tuesday we had the virtual/invisible fence, today it's "desertification" -
"I just don't see the problem here Chevy, I mean I may be a little chunky but if I want a hot fudge sundae as an appetizer, cheesecake for my entree and chocolate oblivion for my after dinner drink I think it's horrible that the NY Times would write a story complaining about desertification."
No Emily, desertification, not dessertification, were talking about fields and forrests turning into sand dunes.

5. Think of something that is actually funny for tomorrow's post.

As Good As News -Special Item
Follow- Up Report:

The photo that inspired my Top Ten Reasons to Visit Iran was too good to be true. The NY Times pulled the picture and the caption from the Times on-line with an announcement that the "victim" may have been a real criminal, not just a teen wearing the wrong T shirt. Even a thug should probably not have to eat an implement used to wipe the policeman's derriere, at least not before a trial. Times can back off, but my Top Ten stays.

Post on Taxes are Death to Comics etc. was sent to NY Times as a serious letter to the editor, the reporting in the original NY Times story on "hedge fund" tax was genuinely abysmal. Although there were no new developments on the tax story, the Times ran a follow-up piece the next day which did a better job - if only they had included my example featuring Benny at the Jersey shore.