In other news, the Washington Post reports that Transportation Security Administration nominee Erroll Southers has withdrawn his name from consideration. I assume the next nominee will not have violated the federal Privacy Act nor provide false testimony to the Senate Government Affairs Committee. I think Radley Balko would also like the next nominee to replace […]
Archive | 2010
Anonymous Supreme Court Opinions
Today, we continue where we left off yesterday, summarizing our proposals and arguments for Supreme Court reform in Judicial Duty and the Supreme Court’s Cult of Celebrity. A surprisingly fateful development in Supreme Court practice was the emergence of a culture of signed majority opinions. Currently, one Justice writes an “opinion for the Court” (or […]
FHA Slightly Tightens Loan Requirements
Instead of letting housing prices find the natural market-clearing price, many in the government have been supporting the efforts of those trying to reinflate the housing bubble. The Federal Housing Authority (FHA) has been backing up to half of the mortgage market in some locales — allowing ridiculously low down payments of 3.5%, plus allowing […]
Change I Would Never Have Believed in – Is Obama’s Window of Opportunity Closing Faster than Expected?
President Obama famously promised the country “change we can believe in.” As a longtime Massachusetts resident, one change I would never have believed in until shortly before it actually happened is a conservative Republican winning a Senate seat in my home state. No Republican has won a Senate race in the Bay State since 1972, […]
Charity Challenge for Haiti
Over at Prawfs, Dan Markel is issuing a charity challenge for Haiti: “With this post, we’re issuing a challenge. For now, our family will match contributions until they sum up to total of $1200.” I just donated $500 to the American Red Cross in response to Dan’s challenge, and I hope you will consider giving, […]
15%
That strikes me as the most interesting (tentative) number coming out of the Brown/Coakley race — Massachusetts went 62%-36% for Obama in 2008, and now, “With more than three-quarters of results counted, [Republican Scott] Brown had 52 percent of the vote to 47 percent for Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley.” That’s a 16% gain for […]
Brown Takes Solid Lead with Half Results In
CNN: ” Republican Scott Brown grabbed a solid lead with almost half the results counted in Tuesday’s special election to fill the U.S. Senate seat controlled by the Kennedy family since 1953. Brown, a Massachusetts state senator, had 53 percent of the vote to 46 percent for state Attorney General Martha Coakley, the Democratic contender, […]
What’s Wrong With the AALS?
Brian Leiter has had a series of interesting posts on the Association of American Law Schools (AALS), focusing on why the AALS charges such high fees for its academic conferences: 1. AALS Annual Meeting Registration Fee Is Not (ahem) “Popular” 2. So would reducing the high AALS Annual Meeting registration fees affect attendance? 3. More […]
My take on the Massachusetts election
From a segment on the Russian station for Radio Liberty. (Transcript, plus audio link.) For those of you who don’t read Russian, the short explanation is: The desire of voters to send a message of their disapproval of George Bush is considerably less significant than it was in 2006. Generally speaking, American prefer divided government.
Outstanding debate on same sex marriage
This Monday, Jan. 25, at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Jonathan Rauch (National Journal, The Atlantic, Brookings) vs. Maggie Gallagher (National Organization for Marriage). Two outstanding, very articulate, intellectually rigorous advocates for their respective points of view.
Schultz “Misspoke,” But He’d Still Cheat
Radio talker Ed Schultz clarifies his comment from last week that he’d vote ten times in Massachusetts if he could get away with it. From the Radio Equalizer: An apology right off the top here on the Ed Schultz show today, great to have you with us. I misspoke on Friday. I’m sorry, I’m sorry. […]
Which Is the Correct Way to Say the Current Year — “Twenty Ten” or “Two Thousand Ten”?
Seems to me that the answer is “both,” because both fit standard well-established patterns of English speech. On top of that, both are clear in context. The One Right Way theory leads some people to insist that it must be just one, usually by analogy to other usage. Some, for instance, argue that it must […]
“Major and Minor Music Compared to Excited and Subdued Speech”
Prof. Mark Liberman (Language Log) links to Daniel L. Bowling, Kamraan Gill, Jonathan D. Choi, Joseph Prinz, and Dale Purves, Major and Minor Music Compared to Excited and Subdued Speech, 127 Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 491 (2010); here’s the Conclusion (paragraph break added): In most aspects of music — e.g., intensity, tempo, […]
Zywicki on “Only Good Movies Blog”:
The guys at the “Only Good Movies Blog” have asked me to participate in their “Movies and the Masses” feature. I was chosen–in the words of the blog’s proprietor–because they asked “random” people to answer a few questions about movies (how’s that for credentials). Anyway, my choices are here. In looking back over my choices, […]
Feds Stifle Research, But Support for Pot Decriminalization Grows
Many doctors and patients believe there are many legitimate medical uses for marijuana, yet there is relatively little serious scientific evidence to support such claims, particularly as concerns smoking it. One reason for this could be that the federal government makes it so difficult — indeed, virtually impossible — to conduct scientific research on marijuana’s […]