Sung to the tune of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”:
My bones proclaim a story of incompetent design.
My back still hurts, my sinus clogs, my teeth just won’t align.
If I had drawn the blueprint, I would cer-tain-ly resign.
Incompetent Design!
Evo-Evo-Evo-lution! Design is but a mere illusion.
Darwin sparked our revolution. Science SHALL prevail!
Chief Justice Roberts issued his first Supreme Court opinion yesterday. Here’s a stylistic analysis of the opinion. My favorite part of the analysis:
For anyone who attended the oral argument in the case, Wednesday’s decision also shows that Roberts is unafraid of standing up to Justice Antonin Scalia. One of the relevant precedents in the case was a 1968 case called Newman v. Piggie Park Enterprises. When one of the lawyers at argument referred to the case by the shorthand Piggie Park, Scalia interrupted and said, only half-jokingly, “You know, it really would improve the dignity of this Court if we referred to Piggie Park as Newman.”
Without apology, Roberts referred to the case throughout his opinion Wednesday as Piggie Park.
The New Yorker has made Annie Proulx’s short story Brokeback Mountain, on which the movie is based, available on its website. I’ll have to read it either before or after seeing the movie, which opens tomorrow.