I’m plugging for one of my former Professors now. I was in my second year of law school when Professor Jack Goldsmith came to Harvard. There was an uproar among the other Professors about the school bringing in a monster who worked for Bush. The faculty seemed to be believe that every single person who worked for Bush liked to personally torture detainees in the White House basement. On the plus side for me, nobody wanted to take him that year. I ended up getting in a class on Presidential power with him and about 15 other students. Almost all were Federalist Society members. He was easily the best Professor I had at Harvard. I talked to a current student who says that his classes are now among the most popular there.

Professor Goldsmith has basically put his Presidential Powers class into a book form. If it is anything like his class, this will give us the most thoughtful, conservative understanding of the legal underpinnings of the War on Terror we’ve had to date. Ed Whelen over at National Review has been covering Goldsmith’s legal thoughts about the War on Terror. Jeffery Rosen has a long article in the New York times about Goldsmith’s tenure at the Justice Department and his fight to push back against the very bad and un-conservative jurisprudence being pushed by White House hacks. If you want to really understand the War on Terror, this book is a must read. I’ve already pre-ordered mine.

Everyone who reads this blog regularly knows that I’ve had plenty of gripes with the Bush administration, but you’ve got to give it to Bush for being able to say stuff like this without fearing the PC-mongers. Here’s to hoping that the surge strategy in Iraq continues to prove successful, that we don’t let up anytime soon, and that we can confront Iran in a real way (whether through diplomacy, sanctions, threats, or as a last resort military action whether limited or full-scale) and minimize and eventually eliminate their threat so that we can establish some semblance of order in the Middle East. A tall order, I know, but the recent success in Iraq has given me some hope. I hope that this administration and the next one will really start turning the screws on Ahmadinejad to halt him in his footsteps.

By the way, I know I’ve been delinquent in posting lately; I’ve just gotten back into school and my time is less available. I can’t promise I’ll be regularly posting long essays any time soon, but I’ll try to be at least a little more active now that the semester is underway.

The body of the 68-year-old congressman was found by staff members who went to his apartment Wednesday after he failed to show up for work, according to a Republican aide who spoke on condition of anonymity pending an official announcement.There was no immediate word on the cause of his death.

MSNBC

From what I have read, this was not expected. It doesn’t appear that he was in ill health, at least not that anyone knew of.

The Club for Growth has already released its White Paper on Sen. Fred Thompson.

Guess they were ready for this as long as everyone else was…

Any new thoughts on the new candidate?

I watched last night’s debate and didn’t really feel that I walked away with anything more than I have from the previous ones. I think Huckabee did well again as he has in the past. I was totally unmoved by Mitt Romney, even more so that usual. There is just something about him that seems fake to me. Surprisingly, I was impressed with McCain last night. I think he presented himself very well and in my opinion, won the debate.

I would have liked to have stayed up to see Thompson on Leno, but I get up too early for work in the morning.

Wow we’re dumb.  It took the country a week before somebody pointed this out:

They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.

When I say “we’re dumb” I put myself at the top of the list.  With a degree in Politics and a concentration in American politics, I should’ve picked up on this immediately.  This doesn’t change what did or did not take place in the restroom, but it could clear up the legal matter immediately and allow Craig to stay put.