Quote of the Day.

The Constitution, written by men with some experience of actual government, assumes that the chief executive will work to be king, the Parliament will scheme to sell off the silverware, and the judiciary will consider itself Olympian and do everything it can to much improve (destroy) the work of the other two branches. So the Constitution pits them against each other, in the attempt not to achieve stasis, but rather to allow for the constant corrections necessary to prevent one branch from getting too much power for too long.

Rather brilliant. For, in the abstract, we may envision an Olympian perfection of perfect beings in Washington doing the business of their employers, the people, but any of us who has ever been at a zoning meeting with our property at stake is aware of the urge to cut through all the pernicious bullshit and go straight to firearms. - David Mamet: Why I Am No Longer a 'Brain-Dead Liberal', Village Voice, 3/11/08

There's a lot more there very much worth reading. Of course the normal readership of the Voice is full-throated in its outrage that Mamet has "gone neo-con" on them.

Big tip of the hat to reader Rob Bowers for the email pointer to the piece.