On the advice of co-blogger Peter Northup I have begun watching the DVDs of the unfortunately deceased Firefly. It is, in a word, awesome. (As in, Gilmore-Girls-awesome? West-Wing-awesome? Unclear.) What can one say? The dialogue snaps, the scenes thrill, but most striking is the eerie quiet of space, the lonely lack of any aliens, the resonation with the American frontier and cynicism about the frontier life. Think of it as the anti-Star-Wars, or more accurately, what the Star Wars galaxy would be like for less romantic folks in a truly lonely section of the outer rim. Slugthrowers instead of blasters, space freighters are unarmed, no droids or aliens, and the Jedi really are a (mostly) hokey religion, no match for a good sidearm. (The anti-federalist politics are a nice touch).

I have only seen the "first" two episodes and the pilot so far, but more will come very shortly. The DVDs are the 6th best-selling on Amazon. And maybe if enough people see the movie, it will rise again.

A Friend of Crescat points out that you can order the complete set of Penguin Classics from Amazon for a mere $8000 (free shipping). At 700 pounds, and 1100 books that is the not-particularly-great deal of $7.50 or so a book. I suppose with prices rising that is better than one could do wandering the aisles of Borders, but a dedicated scourer of used and remaindered books could do far better, and besides, many of the titles are in the public domain.

Still, just in case any reader feels the sudden need to drop $8000 to build up a really-large looking library in a hurry, I encourage you to order it through the following link and give this blog the biggest kickback it has ever had in its life.

Justice O'Connor retires.

Noah Feldman writes back in response to Jack Balkin's criticism (some of which I share). Unfortunately, Feldman does not explain how (or whether) the Feldman doctrine would hold tuition scholarships for private high schools unconstitutional while leaving federal financial aid untouched, or whether the government may extend, say, municipal garbage collection, to church property.

Meanwhile the Arbitrary Aardvark gives me credit for turning the phrase, "Surely when the church burns, the government may put out the fire." Alas, others turned it first. See David Currie, Inflating The Nation's Power, 71 U Chi. L. Rev. 1229 (2004) ("If the church burns, the state may put out the fire."); see also Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U.S. 1, 61 (1947) (Jackson, J., dissenting) ("Certainly the fire department must not stand idly by while the church burns.")