Friday, June 27, 2008

Recent Supreme Court decisions

The Supreme Court has been busy recently, ruling over multiple issues that have far-reaching consequences. Many of the rulings were 5-4 decisions and the newer members of the Court can already be identified as imposing their will.

Among the controversial decisions:

1) The inability to use the death penalty against child rapists (Regardless of the number of offenses, the age of the child, how egregious the act is, etc...)
2) Limiting the payments from businesses that have hurt the environment (Implying that the environment has no value)
3) Everybody can own guns (but maybe there can be restrictions... for now we'll have less)

Here's a good summary of things that happen even when a good decision comes out of the Supreme Court.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Cronyism anyone?

Apparently the Justice Department does not want candidates that think outside party lines... even though the Justice Department is supposed to be non-partisan.

From the NY Times article:
e-mail messages... indicated that “leftist commentary” or “buzz words like ‘environmental justice’ and ‘social justice’ ” were grounds for rejecting applicants. Membership in liberal organizations like the American Constitution Society, Greenpeace or the Poverty and Race Research Action Council was also seen as a negative mark, the report said.

The effect was clear, the report found, with applicants with a Democratic
affiliation rejected “at a significantly higher rate” than those with Republican, conservative or neutral credentials.

For instance, in 2002, all seven of the honors applicants with membership in the American Constitution Society, a liberal group, were rejected, while 27 of 29 applicants with ties to the Federalist Society, a bedrock conservative group, were accepted.

Similarly, 43 of 61 applicants with ties to the Democratic Party were rejected, while 41 of 46 applicants listed as Republicans were accepted. Many of those rejected were regarded as “highly qualified” based on the quality of their schools and other criteria.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

It's true, the jerk gets the girl

An article at newscientist.com discusses a new study showing that personality traits typically considered socially destructive contribute to higher mating success, ensuring the perpetuation of these otherwise undesirable behaviors.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Maybe they'll forget...

It seems that our legislators feel that we'll forget about issues if they are dropped for long enough.

In a follow-up to a previous report, Congress is close to granting retroactive immunity to telco companies that broke the law and spied on citizens.

More info from a Reuters article:
"Critics charge Bush violated the law in authorizing warrantless surveillance. Bush maintains he had the wartime power to do it. He later put the program under FISA jurisdiction but its terms remain secret.
As part of any law to update FISA, Bush has demanded retroactive immunity for any telephone company that participated in his spying program.
Critics, including civil rights groups and many Democratic lawmakers, argue it should first be determined what the phone companies did before deciding whether to give them immunity."

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Top 5 YouTube videos: June 2008

#5: Treadmills! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv5zWaTEVkI
#4: Pardon? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjzrNWPul9E
#3: I think his head explodes after the video ends: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59ZX5qdIEB0
#2: What did you learn in high school? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSoVKUVOnfQ
#1: Slow speaking, but awesome: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8QAeoFdM5g

Friday, June 13, 2008

ACLU challenges stupid law

In a follow-up to a previous article, the ACLU has decided to assist BJ Ostergren in allowing people to repost publicly available material.

Seems like something obviously legal, but not in Virginia...

The best of the US

Think of the best city in the US.

Do you have it?

If you didn't guess Raleigh, NC, then you're wrong. A totally unscientific collection of rankings for "the best places to live in the US" resulted in Raleigh, NC as the best of the US.

So says MSNBC (from Forbes, Kiplinger.com, Money magazine, Fortune Small Business magazine, Relocate-America.com)

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

The Smurfs Return!

The Smurfs, a favorite cartoon show consisting of mostly blue shirtless people, will be hitting the silver screen in the upcoming year.

Columbia and Sony studios have decided to create this movie for the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Smurfs by the Belgian cartoonist Pierre Culliford.

The movie will be both real (live action) and animated.

I suggest Gary Oldman as Gargamel.
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