Query to readers. Over at Slate Explainer, Christopher Beam explains that although municipalities and cities and such can go bankrupt under the Federal bankruptcy code, states are not included under Chapter 9. Right, got it. He then adds something I don’t doubt is true, but wonder if readers can point me to the relevant legal […]
Archive | 2010
Two Views of Credit Default Swaps
Two items in today’s Wall Street Journal (Tuesday, March 9, 2010) capture two different views of regulatory reform of credit default swaps. The first is the emerging European view: European leaders pushed for a ban on speculative bets against government debt following recent financial turmoil in Greece … German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday that […]
Chief Justice Roberts on Attending the SOTU
Very troubling, indeed.
Joseph Asch ’79 For Dartmouth Trustee:
Another Dartmouth Alumni Trustee election is upon us. Voting starts tomorrow. And even though the Board of Trustees eliminated parity a few years ago, alumni still elect one-third of the non ex-officio trustees. This year there are two seats open. Journalist Morton Kondracke is running unopposed for one seat. Petition candidate Joe Asch ’79 and […]
Pennsylvania State Police Raid Bars Looking for Unregistered Beers
Rise up, beer drinkers of Pennsylvania: The State Police want to confiscate your Pliny the Younger. Thanks to Instapundit for the link.
“Black Barbie Sold for Less Than White Barbie at Walmart Store”
So reports ABC News: A photo first posted to the humor Web site FunnyJunk.com and later to the Latino Web site Guanabee.com shows packages of Mattel’s Ballerina Barbie and Ballerina Theresa dolls hanging side by side at an unidentified store. The Theresa dolls, which feature brown skin and dark hair, are marked as being on […]
Drone Warfare and the Harvard National Security Conference
By Kenneth Anderson on March 9, 2010 1:51 pm in Counter-Terrorism Policy, Robotics, Targeted Killing, Terrorism, War and Armed Conflict, War on Terror
I’m writing from Cambridge, where I just finished a great short conference on targeted killing and drone warfare put on by the Harvard Law School National Security Law Society and Journal. The presentations should go up as video one of these days I hope!) and I highly recommend them if you are studying this topic. […]
Debating Green Jobs
The Economist hosts an online debate on the wisdom of government efforts to promote “green jobs.” In this corner, law professor and economist Andrew Morriss. In the other corner, one-time “green jobs czzar” Van Jones. I know them both, but I’m pulling for Morriss.
“Google’s Computer Might Betters Translation Tool”
A suboptimal newspaper headline, reported by the Language Log. The post closes with a simple but important bit of applied linguistics: An “extra second or two … is a long time in sentence processing.”
An Unusual Exclusionary Rule Case
Wilson v. State, decided March 3 by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (the highest Texas court for criminal matters), involved two Texas statutes. The first is a Texas statutory exclusionary rule (Tex. Code Crim. Proc. § 38.23), first enacted in 1925: No evidence obtained by an officer or other person in violation of any […]
Not the Best Way to Inspire Confidence
From Steele v. Steele (Ky. Ct. App. Mar. 5, 2010), quoting the trial court: Upon being asked by the Court to swear that he would testify truthfully, Mr. Steele declined, stating that his religious beliefs prevented him from swearing. He was then asked to affirm that his testimony would be truthful and he again declined […]
Moose Sightings, con’t:
So I’m up in beautiful Montreal, getting ready for a lecture I’m giving this afternoon at the University of Montreal on my Jefferson’s Moose book. When the cab pulled up in front of my hotel yesterday afternoon, this is what greeted me: Well! I’ll have to remember to thank the lecture series organizers for being […]
Suing Over Spilled Milk-a-What?
It seems someone got the crazy idea that Lindsay the E-Trade baby’s “milkaholic” friend was modeled on Lindsay Lohan — and now Lohan is suing the company for $100 million. No joke.
“Dissenting from the Bench”
It appears there has been a slight increase in the reading of dissents from the bench over the past few years. Is this a sign of a more contentious and less collegial Supreme Court? It’s the subject of Adam Liptak’s latest “Sidebar” column. “Dissenting from the bench,” a new study to be published in Justice […]
Laptops in Class Redux
The Washington Post revisits the question of laptop use in the classroom. A generation ago, academia embraced the laptop as the most welcome classroom innovation since the ballpoint pen. But during the past decade, it has evolved into a powerful distraction. Wireless Internet connections tempt students away from note-typing to e-mail, blogs, YouTube videos, sports […]