Hi everyone,

Welcome back!  How are we doing?  Is everyone staying cool?  BDH and Little Buddha are adamant that the A/C be on even when I'm not home, and it's hard to argue with them at the moment.  I tried my best to keep it together yesterday, but I was overheated about two minutes into my walk to my meeting.  Not a pretty sight, kids.  It looks like it's going to be another scorcha out there today, so let's get ready.  Make yourself comfortable, help yourself to a nice medium iced DD, and let's clear out a little Wednesday Clutter.

Without a doubt, the highlight of yesterday was learning from the U.S. Supreme Court that racism no longer exists in America, which is why the conservative majority struck down a key portion of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.    I'm not a lawyer, and I never played one on TV.  I did take a constitutional law class in college, and my career has required me to have some working familiarity with legal decisions, so with that semi-educated background, I will say that this decision is stretching to have any basis in constitutional basis.  Check out this quote from Chief Justice Roberts:

Roberts said the formula that Congress used to determine what states and locales should be covered by the provision relating to approval for voting changes when it most recently re-authorized the law should have been updated.

Congress thoroughly reviewed these issues when they overwhelmingly reauthorized the act in 2006.  They clearly have the constitutional obligation to protect voting rights, but because Roberts doesn't like the formula they used for almost 40 years at that point, that makes it unconstitutional?  Sounds like an activist court trying to write laws from the bench to me.

The message to conservatives was, "Resume the war on voting rights with all due speed," as clearly evidenced by the fact that the Texas attorney general immediately went back to pushing for a voter ID law right after the decision was announced.  The record is clear at this point, the only rationale for these laws is to make it harder for minorities to vote.  If only there was a federal law which could prevent this most unAmerican of activities.  Oh, wait...

The saga of NSA-leaker Edward Snowden continues to grow more fascinating by the day.  Snowden is currently holed up in a Russian airport, and there are so many agendas at play, it's hard to keep track.

For you dog owners who compare your pooch to having a child, BDH would like you to know that there may be something to that.

Clutter is all for musicians being properly paid for their work, but on what planet does illegally downloading 30 songs justify a $675,000 fine?

So, my sporadic love affair with hockey comes to a close once again, now that the Boston Bruins lost in the Stanley Cup finals to the Chicago Blackhawks.  A few quick notes here.  First off, congrats to the Blackhawks.  I couldn't find much to dislike about them, and they just seem like a great team.  Well done.  Second, cheers to the Bruins, man.  I barely know diddly about pro hockey, but this team was fun to watch, and they have nothing to be ashamed of.  I don't know who's coming or going next season, but I hope a good portion of the team is staying, because this is a group that's easy to root for.  Third, the final result was lousy, but man was this series fun to watch.  It was the best of professional sports, well-matched athletes giving it their all and refusing to give up until the very end. 

I have no idea how "real" fans do this for a whole season, because I'm sure I stopped breathing five times last night, but that was awesome.  Finally, I remain convinced that Zdeno Chara has an outstanding future ahead of him as a professional wrestler when this hockey thing is over.  He's got the size, athleticism, hell he's even got a ready-made name.  All he has to do is be able to cut a promo, and we'll find him a mouthpiece if that's a problem.

Your new WWE world heavyweight champion!  (pic via wikipedia.org)

Now that we're done with hockey, Clutter's natural order can resume, and we can go back to talking about the Boston Red Sox, where there some big moves happening.  First off, we have third basemen Will Middlebrooks being sent back down to AAA to get himself together.  I'm pleasantly surprised that they did this.   I still think he'll end up being the team's starting third baseman, but there's no room for him right now, and sitting on the bench isn't going to help him find his swing again.  Once he does that, bring him back up, move Jose Iglesias over to shortstop and move Stephen Drew for whatever you can get for him at this point.  By the way, if you predicted that Iglesias would knock Middlebrooks out of the lineup, your pants are on fire.

Second, I'm sorry to hear that Boston catcher David Ross has been moved to the 60-day DL due to suffering a second concussion this year.  This is serious business, and you have to wonder if this might be it for Ross.  He was a strong addition to the Sox this year, and his presence will be missed.  On a more optimistic note, this gives Ryan Lavarnway a chance to step-up and show the team that he deserves to stay here for the long haul, so best of luck to him.

It's been a little while, maybe there's some chance that there was a big misunderstanding, and Matt Smith isn't really leaving Doctor Who!  It was all some clever Internet prank!  Yeah!  Wait, what's that?  There's a video?  Matt got a haircut?  He's bald?  Oh damn it.

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  John Roberts and company may think we should return to the 1950's, but that's not happening.  The right to vote will be protected for all, or else it means little.  On that note, let's have Sam Cooke close things out with today's, "Song of the Day."

Thanks for stopping by, everyone.  It was great to see you, as always.  Try to stay cool out there today, and let's do this again soon.  For now, that's today's Clutter, and we are outta here.