Author Archive | Jim Lindgren

Last week some commenters wondered why I hinted that radically reducing greenhouse gasses in the present environment ran the risk of impoverishing people. I had in mind two things: (1) our nonsensensical government policy promoting ethanol, which appears to have contributed to a worldwide run-up in food prices, leading to disasters for many poor people […]

Glenn Reynolds examines technological solutions to global warming: [W]hat if we could reduce greenhouse gases without impoverishing the world? That would be worth doing anyway, because along with those greenhouse gases come all sorts of other nasty substances we’re better off without. That point is catching on, too. Even some environmentalists are already looking to […]

[UPDATE Monday, 12:40pm: On two computers that I tried this morning, the Powerblogs page that we use for posting and updating the Volokh Conspiracy was unreachable. Also, I noticed that there were no posts from other VC bloggers on Monday morning, typically one of our heavier posting times. At some hours this morning, I also […]

The New York Times has a long story critical of John McCain’s links to a rich Arizona developer, Donald Diamond (registration required): Mr. McCain has campaigned as a critic of the corrupting influence of money and politics, saying he had learned a lesson from a late 1980s scandal over his part in an intervention with […]

I have been looking into the background of links between Barack Obama and Bill Ayers, in particular, their having served together on the board of the Woods Fund for several years. For those who don’t want to read my entire post, I’ll start with my conclusion: It seems to me that Obama’s serving on the […]

In the last week, there appears to be a move in Rasmussen national tracking polls in favorable/unfavorable ratings of Barack Obama. In a week, he has gone from about a 52% favorable / 45% unfavorable rating last week to a 47% favorable / 51% unfavorable rating on April 16, i.e., from a 7% plurality to […]

Barack Obama spoke about Rev. Wright at the ABC debate on Wednesday night: OBAMA: … And, you know, the notion that somehow that the American people are going to be distracted once again by comments not made by me, but somebody who is associated with me that I have disowned, I think doesn’t give the […]

Barack Obama’s gaffe in San Francisco reminds me a lot of Gary Hart’s comments disparaging New Jersey in the 1984 election. I see that the Perrspectives blog has been drawing 1984 Hart/Obama parallels even before Obama’s latest mistake: Locked in a tight contest in New Jersey, Hart and his wife Lee spoke with reporters at […]

I am surprised by the aggressiveness of McCain’s economic plans: In his most wide-ranging speech on the economy, presumptive Republican nominee John McCain on Tuesday laid out an agenda that would change the tax code, freeze discretionary spending and temporarily suspend federal gas taxes. . . . McCain, with the exception of military spending and […]

Kansas beat Memphis for the NCAA championship, so the final standings in our VC March Madness contest are: 1. Jim Lindgren (yours truly) 2. Mintstate (who actually picked 2 more games correctly than I did) 3. Circ230 4. DUNKtus officio 5. Davidson Dispatch 6. PennLaw 1L 7. Durry’s 8. Go Go Gadget 9T. Scalito22 9T. […]

Well, the first Volokh Conspiracy March Madness contest is down to the final game and it’s between me and Molechaser (out of 252 entries). At the moment, I lead Molechacer by 16 points, but with 32 points awarded for the winner of the championship game, one of us will beat the other by a wide […]

Christopher Hitchens writes of Hillary Clinton’s involvement with US policy on Bosnia beyond her 1996 trip with Sinbad and her daughter (tip to Instapundit): In particular, what had happened to [Bill Clinton’s] 1992 promise . . . that genocide in Bosnia would be opposed by a Clinton administration? . . . President Bill Clinton had […]

Time Magazine is reporting on recent studies suggesting the harm to human survival and the environment from our move to corn-based ethanol and other biofuels: THE CLEAN ENERGY SCAM [B]y diverting grain and oilseed crops from dinner plates to fuel tanks, biofuels are jacking up world food prices and endangering the hungry. The grain it […]

Because all four favorites made the NCAA Final Four and because more points are awarded for the last few games, the winner of the Volokh Conspiracy

There is something strange about the purported new US News rankings of law schools. The two schools with the highest placement rates at graduation (Berkeley 99% and Columbia 98.9%) are also the only two schools on the first page (top 59 schools) with identical placement rates for