The Iran crisis is perhaps signaling, so far as I can tell watching from the outside, divisions within the Democratic Party and possibly within the Obama administration, not just between idealists and realists, but among an increasingly complicated set of normative foreign policy positions. A couple of years ago I mentioned the rise, as a […]
Archive | June, 2009
White House says Obama Health Care Promises Should Not Be Taken Literally.
After President Obama
Amos Guiora on the Israeli Administrative Detention Model:
Over at the international law blog Opinio Juris, Professor Amos Guiora has been offering a set of very interesting guest posts on the Israeli administrative detention model. Professor Guiora was an Israeli JAG officer for 19 years, and has a fascinating discussion going in the series. VC readers might find it interesting – certainly I […]
Let Marianne, Goddess of Liberty
smile upon the protestors. But like you, I have grave fears. (Update: This op-ed by Jim Hoagland at the Washington Post captures my own overall view pretty well.) I have no special expertise on Iran and so am only able to add my deep concern, sympathy, and support to the brave people in the streets […]
Some caution about Census data on same-sex couples:
Yesterday I posted some results from a new Census study comparing married same-sex couples and married opposite-sex couples, and comparing both to unmarried same-sex couples. The study concluded that in many significant ways — including likelihood to be raising children, income, home ownership, education, and race — gay and straight married couples were very similar, […]
American Universities and the Nazis:
Inside Higher Ed has a story about controversy surrounding what strikes me as a curious book, The Third Reich and the Ivory Tower. I only glanced at the book, but according to the story, the book documents the fact that American universities maintained cordial ties with German universities and in some cases the German government […]
“D.C. Expands List Of Allowed Guns To Avert Lawsuit,”
reports the Washington Post. “[Alan] Gura [who won the D.C. v. Heller case] filed another lawsuit in federal court in March on behalf of three individuals who wanted a handgun that wasn’t on the District’s list. To avoid that litigation, Attorney General Peter Nickles said the city decided to expand its list of legal weapons […]
Global Governance or Governmental Network Coordination for Global Financial Regulation?
Peter Mandelson, currently Business Secretary in the UK government of Gordon Brown and formerly EU trade commissioner, has an op-ed in today’s WSJ (June 19, 2009), “We Need More Global Governance: The Crisis Reveals the Weakness of Nation-Based Regulation,” (might be behind subscriber wall). (Reader warning: this goes on for a while.) This piece offers […]
New Census study comparing gay and straight married couples:
Gay and straight married couples are demographically very similar in terms of likelihood to be raising children, age, income, race, whether they own or rent a home together, education levels, and employment. And both are unlike unmarried same-sex partners (and, I suspect, unmarried straight couples), who skew younger, more educated, more wealthy, are much less […]
A Constitutional History Danger:
Legal scholars and historians frequently make sweeping conclusions about the Supreme Court and its individual Justices based on votes in particular cases. The problem is that until relatively recently, the norms on the Supreme Court discouraged dissent, and the Justices may at certain times have had additional reasons beyond those norms for joining a majority […]
Left/Right Bloggers in accord on grades for Obama WH staff, but not for his Econ. and Nat. Security Teams:
This week’s National Journal poll of top political bloggers asked for performance grades thus far for various components of the Obama team. Regarding the White House staff, the Left/Right gap was fairly small, with the Left collectively assigning a B-, while the Right gave a C. I gave the staff a B, and wrote: “Although […]
If You Don’t Want An Annoying But Extremely Catchy
theme song going through your head all day, don’t watch the Pajanimals with your kids.
No, Not That David Bernstein:
I received a voice mail and email message asking me, “Are you the David Bernstein who is involved with the Moroccan clementine market?” No.
Consumer Reports Rates Digital Cameras.
In its July issue, Consumer Reports (subscription required for full content) updated its online ratings of digital cameras. From the site Product Reviews and Bargains, here is a list of some of the top choices : For advanced Single Lens Reflex cameras (SLRs), [Consumer Reports] recommends the Nikon D300, Canon EOS 40D, and Olympus E-3. […]
Rare (Partial) Victory in Second Amendment Case:
A federal court holds that someone being prosecuted for possessing a gun after having been convicted of a domestic violence misdemeanor is constitutionally entitled to present an affirmative defense “that he posed no prospective risk of violence” (which I take it must mean no prospective risk of violence beyond that posed by the average person). […]