Two quick updates

1) Last Saturday, I told you that

[t]he House Judiciary Committee has reported out HR 2028, a bill which would bar federal courts from hearing any challenges to the Pledge of Allegiance on First Amendment grounds.

I also suggested the argument would be that since "inferior" courts are by the Constitution created by Congress, they can be regulated by Congress. But, I added, that argument is dangerous because

accepting it would enable Congress to put any of its acts beyond judicial review simply by declaring them to be so. One of the checks against overreaching government power we have come to rely on would disappear in a puff of rhetoric.

Well, guess what. The Miami Herald tells us that on Thursday, the House passed the bill, using exactly that logic:

Supporters insisted Congress has always had authority to limit federal court jurisdiction, and the legislation is needed to protect an affirmation of religion that is part of the national heritage.

In fact, the bill, which passed 247-173, is worse than I thought because it also proposed to prohibit the Supreme Court - which is created by the Constitution, not Congress - from hearing such cases. On the other hand, the Herald also says the bill has "little chance" of getting through the Senate this year. With January starting a new Congress, the advocates would have to start over. The fact that they undoubtedly knew that marks this as political posturing rather than real commitment, simply a cheap attempt to force some Dummycrats into taking an unpopular, even if Constitutionally correct, position.

Be that as it may, the fact the bill passed so quickly and easily shows it worked, meaning the warped reactionaries are still in charge and the wimpy remainder are still running scared. And if you think a John Kerry win will change that, you haven't been paying attention.

2) On Thursday, I posted about a report citing a Haaretz article saying that Israel was going to buy 5,000 smart bombs from the US.

The original Haaretz article, dated September 21, can be found here. It adds the detail that the 5,000 bombs are to include

500 one-ton bunker busters that can penetrate two-meter-thick cement walls; 2,500 regular one-ton bombs; 1,000 half-ton bombs; and 500 quarter-ton bombs.

The question I asked about what they're for got a partial answer.

An unidentified senior Israeli security official said, "This is not the sort of ordnance needed for the Palestinian front. Bunker busters could serve Israel against Iran, or possibly Syria," according to Reuters.

An Iranian official responded by wondering if the sale was a type of "psychological warfare."

Let's hope that's all it is.