Monday, February 20, 2006

The Roberts Court

Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito have now been seated on the Court and it seems, from decisions on capital punishment and the Administration's attempt to prevent Oregon doctors from prescribing lethal doses that these gentlemen are true to pattern. Many would have sworn that Alito would have been the conservative and Roberts the moderate. Myself among them. However, they were wrong. It turns out that Mr. Justice Alito will be voting with Kennedy in many cases, while Mr. Chief Justice Roberts will be voting with Scalia.

What is it about conservatives that only half of them stay with their ideology? It seems half of conservatives nominated to the Court turn out to be moderates afterall. There is nothing like a lifetime appointment to the High Court to bring out the true character of the man or woman.

The long and the short of it is that the vote on abortion will likely still be 6-3. The more things change...

This years NFL playoff results - Pittsburgh exultant

Last year at this time I opined on how bringing employee-ownership to might affect the business end.

If you have been following the stadium funding battle in Washington, DC, you will note that I am not too far off.

More importantly, we have had another Super Bowl, so it is time to update the championship stats from last year.

Seattle moved up one slot to a tie for 27th by winning the NFC championship and losing the big game. Carolina moves down to 29th for losing to Seattle.

Denver moves down to 8th due to their loss in the AFC championship.

The biggest news, however, is Pittsburgh. By winning both the AFC championship and the big game they improve their record in title games to 11-8, which puts them in third place, displacing Washington and San Francisco, who are now tied for 4th at 10-7. If they repeat they will move into second. Three in a row would give them the best record of all.

Contratulations Steelers!

Here is the latest ranking.

Rank Team Wins-Losses
1 Green Bay 13-5
2 Dallas 13-11
3 Pittsburgh 11-8
4 Washington, San Francisco (tie) 10-7
6 New England 8-3
7 Chicago 8-5
8 Denver 8-6
9 Oakland 8-11
10 NY Giants 8-12
11 Miami 7-5
12 Buffalo 6-6
13 St. Louis 6-11
14 Indianapolis 5-5
15 Philadelphia 5-6
16 Kansas City, Detroit (tie) 4-2
18 Minnesota 4-8
19 Cleveland 4-10
20 Tennessee 3-7
21 Baltimore 2-0 (in reality, they are 6-10)
22 Tampa Bay, NY Jets, Cincinnati (tie) 2-2
25 San Diego 2-7
26 Arizona 1-1
27 Atlanta, Seattle (tie) 1-2
29 Carolina 1-3
30 Jacksonville 0-2