The New York Post is reporting that the unaired portions of the Bin Laden tape make clearer his opposition to Bush, the success of the Afghan election, and the success of the US military in restricting Bin Laden’s actions. Bin Laden also follows the Michael Moore-Teresa Kerry line that it’s all about oil: Osama bin […]
Archive | October, 2004
Massad Update:
Professor Joseph Massad of Columbia, accused in a film by one student who approached him after a lecture of an overtly hostile attitude toward the student as an Israeli, and by another student of responding obnoxiously when the student tried to defend Israeli policy in class, has responded: “Massad called the documentary ‘a propaganda film’ […]
Glenn Reynolds’ better looking brother
joins the blogosphere. Jonathan Reynolds, a history professor at Northern Kentucky, has joined Ralph Luker’s excellent history group blog, Cliopatria. Cliopatria has been on a roll lately, particularly Luker, KC Johnson, and Jonathan Dresner. Glenn Reynolds is back at Instapundit.com, after a brief absence covered by a remarkably good trio of guest bloggers–Ann Althouse, Megan […]
The Internet and Democratic Debate:
A new study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project concludes that “[w]ired Americans hear more points of view about candidates and key issues than other citizens. They are not using the internet to screen out ideas with which they disagree.”
Interview with Josh Rushing:
Former Marine Captain Josh Rushing, known for his appearance in the recent documentary Control Room, has left the Marines and sat down for an extensive interview with NPR. It’s pretty fascinating stuff, even if you haven’t seen the movie. Ted Barlow blogs a helpful summary of Rushing’s commentary here.
Will They Believe Bin Laden?:
According to this site, 26% of Palestinians believe that Israel was behind the 9/11 attacks. The theory, apparently not uncommon in the Arab world, is that Israel attacked New York and DC to trick the United States: they wanted the U.S. to think that it was Osama bin Laden in order to trigger a backlash […]
Supreme Court Betting Pool:
Over at Crooked Timber, Henry links to a political science paper on a 1992 document discovered in the Blackmun papers. The document reveals a betting pool among the Justices about the outcome of the ’92 presidential election; in case you’re wondering, Justice O’Connor won. The 4-page long paper also offers some tongue-firmly-in-cheek analysis of the […]
More on Ohio absentee ballots:
My student Sean Hayes writes: Just read your post on the absentee ballot in Ohio. I voted yesterday by absentee for Ohio–I’m from Dayton, which is in Montgomery county. The same complaints from Cuyahoga are present on the Montg. County ballot. Your student is right: the ballots are not confusing. Yes, the numbers don’t line […]
Birdbrains:
Talkleft links to this story about thieves who came back to the scene of a crime to silence a talking parrot: Fearing a parrot named Marshmallow could identify them, three thieves returned to the scene of the crime to silence the bird — only to be caught by police. After making off with a booty of […]
Slow news day?
One of the items in today’s Slate begins: Bush Speech Bush Speech Popping a spring in Saginaw. By Timothy Noah Posted Thursday, Oct. 28, 2004, at 12:37 PM PT President Bush gave a speech today in Saginaw, Mich., in which, judging from the White House transcript, he repeated whole paragraphs twice, like a malfunctioning Stepford […]
The Economist switches from Bush to Kerry:
The Economist magazine, which endorsed Bush in 2000, has endorsed Kerry in 2004. This strikes me as more significant than most endorsements, both because they endorsed Bush in 2000 (and endorsed Dole in 1996) and because they are very smart small-government types. And it is particularly striking because they supported the decision to invade Iraq. […]
Yogi Berra:
Dan Gifford passed along a link to a funny and sweet OpinionJournal.com article about a recent appearance by Yogi Berra; here are some particularly nice lines: It’s a lucky few who get to visit a museum and talk with the person it’s named after. As Yogi Berra himself said at the 1998 dedication of the […]
Speech restriction in public university dorms:
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, whose factual accounts I’ve always found trustworthy reports the following: The University of New Hampshire has evicted a student from housing for posting fliers in his residential hall joking that freshman women could lose the “Freshman 15” by walking up the dormitory stairs. The public university found him […]
Whoops!
Rick Hasen (Election Law blog) notes the following: Electoral-Vote.com notes the following: Stupidity news: One of Kerry’s electors in Ohio, Rep. Sherrod Brown, is a congressman. Unfortunately, the constitution forbids federal office holders from being electors. It is possible that if Kerry wins Ohio, Brown’s right to cast an electoral vote will be challenged in […]
The NYT‘s Politics:
Here’s the abstract to an intersting statistical study by Riccardo Puglisi of the London School of Ecnomics analyzing New York Times issue coverage from 1946-1994. I analyze a dataset of news from the New York Times, from 1946 to 1994. Controlling for the incumbent President’s activity across issues, I find that during the presidential campaign […]