I just saw the Coen Brothers’ latest film, The Ladykillers. Although a remake of an older film, it retained the quirky Coen feel. One particularly odd touch: an elderly, chuch-going and morally upright African-American woman who sends monthly checks to Bob Jones University. As this was a Coen production, I suppose the reference to that […]
Archive | April, 2004
Which one is it?
When you talk with this woman in person, she refers to asymmetric information, not “asymmetrical” information. My dictionary lists the choice as optional, she could have called her blog Asymmetrous Information as well, though that is archaic. Here is her excellent post on health care, from a few days ago.
Student writing gets noticed:
Eric Soskin (Per Curiam) reports: [T]he Las Vegas Review-Journal has cited a January student note on Guinn v. Legislature of Nevada as ammunition in its campaign to overturn the Nevada Supreme Court’s ruling in the case. The editorial is complemented by a full-page article interviewing parties in the case, their attorneys, and even a senior […]
A couple more items about obscenity prosecutions:
A few correspondents suggested that prosecuting producers of obscenity will send the message that pornography is bad, and will therefore influence some people not to get it, even if it’s easily available. I think such “normative effects” of the law are sometimes important in some contexts, but I just don’t see it happening here. Would […]
Daily constitutional:
I’m with Will. This question from Milbarge at Begging the Question is too easy. Is there anything that an originalist interpretation of the constitution tells you is constitutional, but that you’re against anyway, say as a matter of policy, or that you’d vote against as a legislator? Even an originalist whose understanding of original understanding […]
The Asbestos Scandal:
Excellent article in the Mobile Register (via Overlawyered) about the scandalous behavior of attorneys and their physician accomplices who have been pursuing claims on behalf of tens of thousands of phony purported victims of asbestos-related diseases. The lawyers sends clients to the doctors, and the doctors conveniently find that every single one of them has […]
Easter Peeps:
Slate’s Explainer says that 700 million Peeps will be eaten this year. That’s all? Just two-and-a-half per man, woman, and child? Call it three for everyone old enough to be allowed to eat (semi-)solid food but not so old to have lost their teeth. Of those 230 million or so, 40 million are on low-carb […]
I know this is a minor point, but…
It really aggravates me. I read yesterday’s New York Times article on New Zealand politics with special interest because of the brewing fight over Maori rights. (Concidentally, Australian Aboriginal politics are in turmoil, too– the deeply flawed Aboriginal and Torres Straits Islander Commission is not long for the world.) Not a bad article. But at […]
Mazel Tov:
Our sometime co-Conspirator, Stuart Banner (Law, UCLA) has been named one of this year’s Guggenheim Foundation Fellows. The new class of inductees also includes three political scientists/ theorists: my Chicago colleagues Carles Boix (Political Science) and Mark Lilla (Social Thought), and my former teacher Jeffrey Herbst of Princeton. One other noteworthy (and worthy) honoree is […]
Obscenity and spam:
One correspondent suggested that a porn crackdown is needed because of the prevalence of porn spam: Prior to spam, porn was only available if you really wanted it. If you didn’t want to watch it, turn the channel, don’t buy the magazine, don’t rent the video. But spam changed that. Now porn shows up in […]
A bit more about the federal government and obscenity:
The chief defense that I’ve seen of the federal government’s obscenity crackdown (for instance, see Clayton Cramer’s post, though several other correspondents made the same point) is that it may decrease the availability of porn through non-Internet commercial channels: cable, for instance, or hotel pay-per-view. But so what? If you think porn is bad for […]
Religious hate crimes:
The Daily Ablution has an interesting report on how the Times (London) is reporting religious hate crime statistics. The facts from the British government report: Number of cases finalised by 31 March 2003: 18 . . . . Actual or perceived religion of the victimMuslim 10Sikh 2Hindu 2Jewish 1Jehovah’s Witness 1Christian 1Not Stated 1 The […]
Refusing to “Respect and Value” Homosexual Coworkers:
A federal judge has awarded back pay and damages for emotional distress to a Christian employee who objected to his employer’s policies requiring him to “respect and value” the differences of his gay colleagues. Specifically, Albert Buonanno objected to language in an AT&T Broadband employee handbook stating that “each person at AT&T Broadband is charged […]
2d Amendment Article Makes SSRN Top Ten:
My article, Was the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Conditioned on Service in an Organized Militia?, has made the ALL TIME HITS SSRN Top Ten Downloads for Law School Research Papers – Public Law & Legal Theory series. You can see the entire list here and can download it here. Here is the abstract: […]
Height Disparities:
Interesting New Yorker article, found via Alex at Marginal Revolution, discussing the fact that Europeans are growing taller, but Americans are not. The article claims that any population can grow to the same height as any other (height is not genetic, but based on nutrition), and concludes that Americans are not growing taller due to […]