Weekend reading – Valentine’s Day (“VD”) edition

By J. DeVoy

As VD approaches, love is all around us.  The international community has come together in Vancouver to indulge its holding-hands-and-singing-kumbaya fantasy of global cooperation, and betas everywhere are casting their lots with flowers, chocolates and fancy dinners to get women – any woman – to commit to them.  Some of these items, however, may preserve your sanity.

The Weekly Standard points out that dating sucks, offering commentary on various issues that have been raised previously on this blog.  It’s a huge, sprawling piece at 12 pages, but well done – and written by a woman, no less, removing the stench of bitterness that would accompany male authorship of such an article.

New York Gov. David Paterson sucks at handling sex scandals, or at least Ferdinand Bardamu thinks so.  Indeed, Paterson’s desperate peal for understanding is far from Clintonesque.  Amateurs should stick to the basics: 1) admit nothing, 2) deny everything, and 3) make counter-accusations.

The Fourth Circuit shows some love to military contractor DynCorp, vacating a $10 million punitive damages judgment against it.  Apparently punitive damages for tortious interference with contract are capped at $350,000 in Virginia.  Still, for being found liable, that’s not a bad deal for DynCorp.

Senator Harry Reid whines about the ABA’s favorable ratings for nominated judges who have experience, as opposed to those with none.  Telling the ABA to “get a new life,” a statement many would otherwise agree with, Reid chides Supreme Court justices as well, calling them “people who have never seen the outside world.”  This dearth of real-world experience is precisely why John Roberts was a partner at Hogan & Hartson, leading up its appellate practice before being placed on the bench, while Reid has been leeching off taxpayers in elected positions since 1968 – when Roberts was only 13 years old.

Finally, someone in Seattle decidedly is not feeling the love.  Five or six sea lions have been shot to death in the Seattle area, including one on the Federal Endangered Species list.  While shooting a sea lion is almost always illegal, this probably wouldn’t have happened if they were cute.

"At least it wasn't me!"