Halfhearted Filibuster Attempt Ends Predictably

AP: WASHINGTON - Samuel Alito took his place on the Supreme Court Tuesday after winning Senate confirmation, a personal triumph for the son of an Italian immigrant and a political milestone in President Bush’s campaign to give the judiciary a more conservative cast.

The 58-42 Senate vote was largely along party lines as Democrats registered overwhelming opposition to Bush’s choice to replace Justice
Sandra Day O’Connor, whose rulings have helped uphold abortion rights, affirmative action and other legal precedents of the past 50 years.| story

Buzzflash: When the editor of BuzzFlash was a young man on a car vacation with his family, he stopped at a site of historical interest. It was a marker that was in the middle of a cornfield in Illinois. At that time, the modest cement obelisk allegedly was the point that signified the population center of the United States.

That meant that to the East and West, North and South, the population of America was supposed to start at the marker and spread out from that spot. | editorial