Archive | October, 2004

In response to my gripe about campaign spam from the Bush-Cheney Campaign, I received confirmation that apparently campaign spam is bipartisan this go-around: Over the last week, I have: 4 directly from from Kerry Edwards campaign 1 from Terry McAuliffe 1 from Howard Dean 2 from Democratic Party 1 from Al Gore Not to mention […]

I have been surprised by the betting consensus at www.Tradesports.com (inconsistent link) and elsewhere that Bush is more likely to win the election. Kaus notes that this belief in a Bush victory, which shows up in opinion polls, might cause people to “go with the winner.” I don’t understand why both the bettors and the […]

Eugene’s excellent post on Wikipedia below led me to look through Wikipedia for its entries on some topics that I think I know pretty well. My very tentative conclusion, based on a just few sample queries, is that I hope no one relies on Wikipedia for anything very important. Its entries seem to be a […]

The Eleventh Circuit case that struck down mandatory metal detectors for protest attendees (cited by Orin Kerr below) is noteworthy for one reason besides its important and likely controversial holding: It cites Wikipedia, a free online collaborative encyclopedia, for information on the Department of Homeland Security Advisory System. It is one of only two cases […]

It’s not every day that you read a news story on Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 29, but here’s one from today’s Boston Globe. (Hat tip: Howard.) Rule 29 allows a trial judge to find a criminal defendant not guilty as a matter of law; as long as the judge makes clear that she is […]

Instapundit points to this very perceptive analysis of John Kerry’s policies and attitudes toward Israel by Martin Peretz. But Peretz also begins his piece with this puzzling but accurate statement: “Like many American Jews, I was brought up to believe that if I pulled the Republican lever on the election machine my right hand would […]

John Fund has a sobering warning about election problems, particularly those related to provisional ballots: It’s a safe bet you will hear more about provisional ballots before Election Day–and a lot more if the election goes into overtime again. The provisional ballot could become this year’s equivalent of Florida’s infamous punch-card ballot, and it could […]

This article from the Guardian contains what (I think is) a whopper: that “Detroit is the largest Iraqi City outside of Iraq.” I couldn’t find exact statistics, but I am fairly certain that Ramat Gan, Israel (where my Iraqi-Jewish wife is from) has many more Iraqis than does Detroit. The vast majority of the 100,000 […]

Here’s one to put in the “things you find when for some strange reason you decide to google your first name” file:   Orin is a nonphysical entity that I connect with through conscious channeling. I experience Orin as a being of great love, wisdom, and compassion. He never tells people what to do or how […]

Some VC readers know about Memeorandum, but in case you don’t, you should. The site is a very cool idea: it gathers links to major news stories along with links to blogospheric coverage of those stories collected from a politically diverse set of blogs. Check it out.

I am old enough to remember being at demonstrations and at concerts where people were chanting “Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll.” The odder thing (in retrospect) is that all three were not generally thought of as simply hedonism, but rather as routes to enlightenment! Apparently, any new chant would involve sex and voting. The […]

FactCheck.org has an entry assessing John Kerry’s legislative record (tip LGF): At the final presidential debate, Bush said Kerry had passed only five bills during his career, and Kerry said he had passed 56. Actually, we found eleven measures authored by Kerry have been signed into law, including a save-the-dolphins law, a law naming a […]

An article in my alma mater’s (Brandeis University) newspaper, The Justice explains that two Brandeis Women’s Studies professors argue that (surprise!) what most of us think of as gender (or, some would say, “sex”) differences are actually mere stereotypes. Maybe it’s unfair for me to comment without reading the professors’ entire book, not to mention […]

Ron Suskind offers this very critical analysis of the President’s decisionmaking style in today’s New York Times Sunday magazine. For some commentary, check out Kevin Drum. If anyone has blogged a good defense of Bush in response to Suskind’s story, e-mail me the link at orinkerr at yahoo.com.   UPDATE: Bush supporters respond to the article […]

Wally Olson reviews Kennedy’s Crimes Against Nature. Money quote:”In his media-criticism chapter, he has the nerve to blast the press for its absorption with celebrity culture. Yet this book, like Kennedy’s entire career, is nothing if not an artifact of that culture. It would never have been acquired by a major publisher, or sent out […]