The following is an excerpt from OpinionJournal.com’s “Best of the Web” written by the editor, James Taranto.

Out on a Limb
“Efforts to Curb Social Spending Face Resistance”–headline, New York Times, Nov. 27

News of the Tautological
“Drivers Not Sold on Driverless Cars, Survey Says”–headline, InsideLine.com, Nov. 23

Bottom Stories of the Day

  • “Study: High Schoolers With Honors Diploma More Apt to Get College Degree”–headline, Indianapolis Star, Nov. 26
  • “No Love for Obama in Rural Utah”–headline, Salt Lake Tribune, Nov. 27

Time Is on My Side
The Associated Press reports on an alarming demographic trend: “The average age for the four living members of The Rolling Stones is about two years older than the nine justices of the U.S. Supreme Court”:

Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood have an average age of 68 years and 297 days, while the Supreme Court justices’ average is 66 years and 364 days. That makes the rock band one year and 10 months older than the members of the highest court of the United States.

If you look at the median age, the disparity is even greater: For the Stones, it is 68½, the average of Mick Jagger’s and Keith Richards’s ages; for the high court, just 64, Justice Clarence Thomas’s age. (Because life is short, we’re figuring ages as whole numbers of years.)

But then we noticed this story from CNSNews.com:

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says there will be enough women on the Supreme Court when all nine justices are female.

“So now the perception is, yes, women are here to stay. And when I’m sometimes asked when will there be enough [women on the Supreme Court]? And I say when there are nine, people are shocked. But there’d been nine men, and nobody’s ever raised a question about that,” she said.

It seems to us that Ronald Reagan ran for president in 1980 promising to appoint a woman to the court, and that he made good on that pledge the next year. Maybe Ginsburg is too young to remember that.

Oh wait, she isn’t. As the AP notes, she’s 79–the oldest member of the court. Which got us to thinking: Since the Rolling Stones are an all-male band, maybe we should compare their ages only with those of the male justices. The average (rounded) age of male justices turns out to be around 68. Likewise for the Stones.

It turns out the two most junior justices, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, skew the average age downward. The average of the three female justices’ ages is just 63; the median 58 (Sotomayor’s age).

For comparison, let’s consider an all-female band, the Go-Gos. Here are its current members’ ages, according to Wikipedia (not necessarily a trustworthy source, but c’mon, this is a frivolous item): Belinda Carlisle, 54; Jane Wiedlin, 54; Charlotte Caffey, 59; Kathy Valentine, 53; Gina Schock 55. The average Go-Go is 55; the median, 54.

So even though Elena Kagan, 52, is not only the youngest justice but younger than any Rolling Stone or Go-Go, female justices are still older than female rockers. That could change, however, if Justice Ginsburg retires. Or if she starts a band.

For more “Best of the Web” click here and look for the “Best of the Web Today” link in the middle column below “Today’s Columnists.”