It’s almost reassuring to see that the various controversies surrounding Human Rights Watch’s reporting on Israel–Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson’s fundraising trip to Saudi Arabia, deputy director Joe Stork’s long history of anti-Israel activism, military analyst Marc Garlasco’s fetish for Nazi memorabilia–hasn’t led Whitson to even pretend she and HRW will treat Israel fairly […]
Archive | September, 2009
Honey, I Shrunk the Docket!
What explains the Supreme Court’s shrunken docket? Adam Liptak reports on various theories to explain why the Supreme Court takes fewer cases, including increased participation in the “cert pool” and a decline in cert petitions filed by the Solicitor General. Liptak also highlights research by University of Minnesota law professor David Stras focusing on the […]
Wittes on Obama’s Detention Policy:
Benjamin Wittes is not happy with President Obama’s approach to detention and Guantanamo Bay. President Obama’s decision not to go to Congress for help in establishing reasonable standards for the continued detention of Guantanamo detainees is a failure of leadership in the project of putting American law on a sound basis for a long-term confrontation […]
Roman Polanski, George Orwell, and Salvador Dali
When I was running university film societies in the 1970s and early 1980s, I considered Roman Polanski’s Chinatown the best film made in the 1970s. I don’t know what I would think today because I haven’t seen it for three decades. And I still consider Rosemary’s Baby one of the best horror movies ever made. […]
The ESPN Effect:
Some 15 years ago or so, my buddy Roger and I were talking on the phone as we did pretty much every week , and the subject turned, as it usually did, to baseball – this was before I got the soccer bug and started to put baseball matters behind me. We were chatting about […]
The Davis Polk Financial Crisis Manual
Via TaxProfBlog, I discovered the Davis Polk Financial Crisis Manual, in pdf. I read it quickly while covering my wife’s classes at St. Alban’s today – all quizzes and tests, so I had time to read while the boys were struggling with conjugating the pluperfect in Spanish. It’s really very good. 279 pages and available […]
The Roberts Court’s Hidden “Heart of Darkness”
Dahlia Lithwick is dismayed. Writing in Slate and Newsweek she laments that the Supreme Court is “completely misunderstood by the American public.” A majority of Americans approve of the Court’s performance in recent polls, she reports, and half of Americans think the Court is neither too liberal nor too conservative. So clearly the public does […]
Bloggers agree: Health bill likely to pass. Split on Obama foreign policy grade:
This week’s National Journal poll of political bloggers asked “What is the most likely outcome of President Obama’s health care reform initiative?” Ninety-three percent of the Left and 82 percent of the Right expected either “major” or “scaled back” legislation to be enacted in 2009. The Left was roughly split between major and scaled back. I […]
Sunday Song Lyric:
The VC may have a new blog platform, but I thought it was a good day for a classic song lyric. David Bowie is among my favorite artists and songwriters of all time, and “The Man Who Sold the World” is among my favorite Bowie songs, even if the original studio version is a bit […]
Switching Blogging Platforms and Hosting Providers:
The site might be down much of the weekend. By Monday, we should be on WordPress, hosted by Hosting Matters, with design by Sekimori. (Many thanks to Sekimori, by the way, for all her help with the conversion so far, and for her help to come!)
Government Files Notice of Appeal in Lori Drew Case:
Today the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles filed a notice of appeal of the District Court’s decision granting the motion to dismiss. It’s important to note that this does not mean the case will actually be appealed. The Solicitor General must approve the decision to appeal for it to go forward, and this may […]
“CRS Report” on Honduras “Coup”:
Thanks to a helpful reader, I’ve now located a copy of the CRS report on recent events in Honduras I mentioned here. The report, which was actually prepared by a different part of the Library of Congress and not CRS, the Law Library of Congress, the division of the Library of Congress responsible for reports […]
Revising Web-based Newspaper Articles Without Informing Readers:
On Wednesday, I wrote a brief post on ACORN’s lawsuit against those who made and distributed the now-infamous undercover videotapes of ACORN staff. In the post, I linked to a Washington Post story on the suit. Today, however, I learned that the story at that link is no longer the same as when I made […]
Some Thoughts on Multiple Blog Posts:
Some commenters said they were surprised that I’ve posted several times about the Obama praise song issue; they suggested that the matter is minor enough not to merit three posts (or, I suppose, now four, depending on how you count this one). How many article a newspaper publishes about a particular incident may well reflect […]
“The Principal of a New Jersey Elementary School “
where young students were videotaped singing the praises of President Obama is making no apologies for the videotape and says she would allow the performance again if she could, according to [three] parents who spoke with her Thursday night…. Parent Jim Angelillo said [Principal Denise] King told him the lesson was merely part of […]