Education's hidden scandal

Paul E. Peterson in the Charlotte Observer.

... dropout rates have actually increased since 1990, rising to 30 percent of all 17-year-olds.

Among blacks the dropout rate is running somewhere between 50 and 60 percent, a sad fact that remains one of the best-kept secrets in American education. Because few people know the facts, in a recently issued book Michael Dyson scolds Bill Cosby for (accurately) lamenting the fact that only about half of blacks graduate from high school. Dyson "corrected" him, saying the dropout rate is only 17 percent, an inaccuracy that earned Dyson warm praise from a New York Times book reviewer.

The reviewer's error only shows how successful the public education cartel has been in misleading the public. To hide actual dropout rates, most school districts report as dropouts only those who entered the year as seniors but did not remain in school until the end of that year. All other dropouts over the preceding three years -- and all the summers in between, when most dropping out actually occurs -- are statistically ignored.

His World is Flat

David Hazony in Policy Review reviews The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century by Thomas L. Friedman.

Partnership in Practice

Amy Sherman in American Outlook says "Plenty of evidence suggests that governments can collaborate successfully with faith-based organizations to make dramatically positive changes in people's lives."

Reporter's Privileges and Responsibilities

Ronald Goldfarb in Washington Lawyer looks for a balanced policy between the press's wish not to divulge sources and the public's right to know.

Arbitration Scorecard

Michael D. Goldhaber in American Lawyer/Focus Europe takes An inside look at more than 100 major disputes from the secret world of arbitration.

Enigma in Beijing

Thomas A. Metzger in Hoover Digest says China may have embraced capitalism with enormous zeal--but it remains unlikely to embrace American-style democracy anytime soon.

Attn: bin Laden

Stefan Beck in The New Criterion reviews Incendiary by Chris Cleave.

Judge Roberts on Trial

I still haven't received my print copy, so either my mail is slow or this is a late hit from Ronald Dworkin in The New York Review of Books October 20, 2005.

When Scalia tried to defend this view [Originalism] in a discussion of his judicial methods at Princeton some years ago, the objection was made that originalism, so understood, ignores a crucial distinction between what the framers intended to say and what they expected would be the effect of their saying what they intended to say. 2 The framers might have set out their own particular views about what counts as cruelty in punishment, what counts as a denial of equal protection in legislation, and so forth in the constitutional clauses they wrote. But they did not. Instead they chose to lay down general moral principles. So true fidelity to their intentions requires judges to ignore the framers' concrete opinions and do their best to apply these principles as moral principles: to decide, for themselves, that is, what punishments are in fact cruel and what treatment is in fact equal.

If some people think "general moral principles" means "deciding for themselves," that might be a reason why the Ten Commandments is so controversial in courthouses.

Caveat Empty

Exxon Mobil Corporation issued a report, The Outlook for Energy: A 2030 View, which forecasts a peak in world oil production in five years. Alfred J. Cavallo says in The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists that this report

... is more credible than other predictions for several reasons. First and foremost is that the source is ExxonMobil. No oil company, much less one with so much managerial, scientific, and engineering talent, has ever discussed peak oil production before. Given the profound implications of this forecast, it must have been published only after a thorough review.

Some Americans in London

An amusing look at some of the unusual Americans who have called London home.
Britain Today: Part IX, The New Criterion September 2005

Senate Confirms Roberts As Chief Justice

Jesse J. Holland of the Associated Press reports

The Senate voted 78-22 to confirm Roberts _ a 50-year-old U.S. Appeals judge from the Washington suburb of Chevy Chase, Md. _ as the successor to the late William H. Rehnquist, who died earlier this month.

All of the Senate's majority Republicans, and about half of the Democrats, voted for Roberts.

(via Drudge Report)

Feingold is a party of one

Craig Gilbert reports in today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on how Senator Russ Feingold's vote recommending confirmation of Judge John Roberts as Chief Justice of the United States might affect Feingold's potential candidacy for president.

Planning and Policy Advisory Committee survey

The State Courts Planning and Policy Advisory Committee (PPAC) is in the process of gathering input for its 2006-2008 planning recommendations to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Use the title link to provide your input via the online survey.

(via Waukesha County Bar Association)

Long-Awaited E-Discovery Rules Headed to Supreme Court

The Voice reports,

On September 20, 2005, the U.S. Judicial Conference approved the proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure governing discovery of electronically stored information (ESI). These amendments will be forwarded to the U.S. Supreme Court. If promulgated by the Court by May 1, 2006, the rules will become effective on December 1, 2006, unless Congress enacts a law delaying, voiding or amending them.

and provides a summary of the rules changes.

Anti-Wal-Mart alder ousted in Jefferson

I have heard of the stones crying out, but the trees? Karyn Saemann elaborates in The Capital Times report on a recall election.

A Jefferson alderman who twice this year voted against annexing land for a Wal-Mart SuperCenter has been thrown out of office.

Reaction was swift. Here's Ed Garvey.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: democracy just doesn't work.

Wait, my mistake, that was Kent Brockman. Here's Ed Garvey.

Meanwhile, back at home, the good folks were outhustlted [sic] by the anti-competition folks known as Wal-Mart supporters.

'Wisconsin Lawyers Make a Difference' TV series expands, Bar seeks lawyers who epitomize community service

Our State Bar

...seeks nominations of lawyers or groups of lawyers who demonstrate exemplary commitment to community or pro bono service to feature in a 30-second TV vignette to air in southeastern Wisconsin beginning in January 2006.

It would at least be a nice change to hear "community service" not preceded by "sentenced to."

Supreme Court will hear challenges to campaign law

Craig Gilbert reports in today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that one case arose in Wisconsin and presents a legal challenge to the application, though not the constitutionality, of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law.

In the Wisconsin Right to Life case, the organization launched an ad campaign last year knowing it would force a test of the law's reach. The ads asked people in the state to telephone Feingold and U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl and urge them to oppose efforts to block Bush's judicial nominees.

Though the ads didn't criticize either senator, they fell afoul of the law's definition of "electioneering." Under that definition, any radio or TV ads aired within 60 days of a general election or 30 days of a primary, and that name a federal candidate, face disclosure rules and fund-raising limits. Among other things, such ads can't be paid for with corporate money, as the Wisconsin Right to Life ads were.

Because Feingold was up for re-election, the mention of his name triggered the law.

The Politics of Same Sex Marriage

Jonathan Sterne in Bad Subjects

My fear is that debates and crusades around same-sex marriage (and lesbians and gays in the military before that) have obscured the real promise of queer politics: a society where people have maximum freedom of personal affiliation, where they can choose to configure their lives in a wide variety of ways, and where everyone has access to the "goodies" that come with institutions like marriage, without having to conform to their values.

Academic Ranking of World Universities - 2005

as calculated by the Institute of Higher Education at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

16 Univ Wisconsin - Madison

(via The Economist)

The Neglected Home Front

Stephen E. Flynn in Foreign Affairs

Choosing to invest in offensive and defensive capabilities should not be an either-or proposition. In war, nations need both. Given the wealth of the United States, it can clearly afford to protect its most valued assets along with fielding a second-to-none military. But it cannot strike the right balance as long as it persists with treating homeland security as wholly separate from national security.

'Trial By Jury' law-related education event changes venue, Wisconsin Mock Trial Program seeks volunteers

After 16 years at the State Fair, this event will be held this year at Marquette University High School, 3401 West Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee, on September 29th from 6 to 8 p.m. It is presented jointly by our State Bar and the Wisconsin Academy of Trial Lawyers (WATL).

"We are currently seeking volunteers for the 2005 - 06 Wisconsin High School Mock Trial Program," says Runaas. [Dee Runaas, State Bar Law-related Education coordinator] "The Mock Trial Program is an excellent opportunity for legal professionals to be involved in community service and help young people develop problem-solving skills. The program continues to expand annually, and as a result there is always a need for more volunteers."

Confronting the Culture

Lori Robertson says in American Journalism Review that The culprit behind the recurring clusters of plagiarism and fabrication scandals isn't just irresponsible youth or a few bad apples or the temptations of the Internet. It may be the newsroom culture itself.

Trafalgar then & now

How the English-speaking world is--and isn't--celebrating Admiral Nelson's famous victory.
Britain Today: Part VIII, The New Criterion September 2005

The Lawsuit That Sank New Orleans

David Schoenbrod in today's Wall Street Journal
(via PowerLine)

Legislature, UW System not on same page

Megan Twohey reports on University of Wisconsin System budget issues in today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Compared with Minnesota and Illinois, Wisconsin has lower family incomes and fewer large employers. Legislators here are more inclined to make a fuss over the six-figure salaries and lifetime employment enjoyed by many university officials.

"A lot of people in Wisconsin are working for $10 or $12 an hour," Schultz [state Senate majority leader Dale Schultz (R-Richland Center)] said. "When they hear about some of these personnel practices that have gotten a lot of attention, they're like, 'Why am I paying for this?' "

Doyle to reveal Tower Automotive plan

John Schmid reports in today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that
Gov. Doyle has announced package of economic development incentives, his second such proposal since he took office. One site he hopes could benefit is the large Milwaukee facility of bankrupt Tower Automotive, once A. O. Smith's. Schmid also reports on the context of the initiative.

David J. Ward, president of Northstar Economics, a Madison-based public-policy group, conducted a study that has alarmed the state's establishment.

Ward traced the state's growth in per-capita income from 1973 to 1998 and found that the state's growth (2.3%) lagged behind the U.S. average (2.8%) by a half-percentage point.

Extrapolating the trend for another 25 years (1999 to 2024) gives Wisconsin an average income of $40,598, which is 83% of the national average of $48,803.

Only 11 states currently have 83% or less than the national average, including Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama and Louisiana.

"Wisconsin is in a slow-growth trap," Ward said.

Separate and Unequal

Nathan Glazer in The New York Times reviews The Shame of the Nation by Jonathan Kozol.

His attack on the disparity in expenditure on education between central cities and well-to-do suburbs is similar. There has been research using the standard tests that questions whether greater expenditures on schools and students produce better educational results, but that research does not discourage Kozol. He expresses outrage at inequities in expenditure, pointing out that New York City in 2002-3 spent $11,627 on the education of each child, while Manhasset spent $22,311, Great Neck $19,705 and so on. There are comparable disparities in other metropolitan areas. (I have often been amused by these per-student expenditure figures, and have performed the thought experiment of calculating how much would be available at these levels of expenditure for the education of, say, a class of 20 children. It comes to some $220,000 for New York City, and one would think that would be more than enough to pay the teacher well, buy books and materials, maintain the classroom and even pay the janitor. One wonders where the money goes. The question is even more provocative when one considers the $440,000 available for a class in Manhasset.)

Godly vs. Secular

Steven Lubet in The American Lawyer says William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow duked it out at the Scopes trial--but not according to popular stereotype.

Not in Our Name

Michelle Fine in Rethinking Schools on "Reclaiming the democratic vision of small school reform"

All too many small schools have the same authoritarian principals, disempowered and uninspired educators, dubious high-stakes tests, and Eurocentric curricula as the large schools they were designed to replace. If large schools too often enact the pathologies of prisons, small schools sometimes embody the pathologies of families.

The Tactical, Numerical, Deterministic Model

The TNDM is a quick-reaction, inexpensive, computer-assisted mathematical simulation of air-land combat. It is suitable for planning, for analysis, and for examining a variety of combat situations, ranging from a small-unit, low-intensity combat action, to multi-day corps or army conventional battles. ...

Before the outbreak of the Kuwait or Gulf War, in January, 1991, planning analyses using the TNDM forecast casualty rates for US forces far lower than published predictions by any other model. In post-war assessments, adjustment of inputs to those actually experienced in the four-day ground war, yielded TNDM attrition results within 5% of the actual historical experience of US ground forces during the period February 24-28, 1991.

(via The Economist)

The Inequality Taboo

Charles Murray in Commentary

The New NASA

The New Atlantis says Mike Griffin Takes the Helm and Transforms the Agency.

Update: On the other hand, Jacob Sullum at Hit & Run asks Is NASA Necessary? (Compare the new proposals with those from forty years earlier.)

Update 2: On September 28, 2005, USA Today reports,

The space shuttle and International Space Station -- nearly the whole of the U.S. manned space program for the past three decades -- were mistakes, NASA chief Michael Griffin said Tuesday.

Two concepts of the moral life

Kenneth Minogue explores the moral life, or lack thereof, of modern Britain, and how it differs from that of past generations.
Britain Today: Part VII, The New Criterion September 2005

Judging Roberts

The confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee John Roberts began. This Infographic presents the key facts Congress has uncovered about Judge Roberts, according to The Onion

Leaving the Law

Joan Indiana Rigdon in the Washington Lawyer relates how discontent drove some lawyers to seek alternative careers.

The French Lesson

Dennis Bark introduces an essay by Olivier Dassault, "a remarkable Frenchman," about France and the French, the value of freedom, and America and Europe.

Land Rights-the Next Battleground

Peter Howson reports from Australia.
Quadrant Magazine June 2005

White do-gooders did for black America

Black poverty is the result of 30 years of misguided welfare rather than racism, says John McWhorter in the Times of London.
(via Arts & Letters Daily)

Supreme court schedules Ethics 2000 open administrative conference

From Order 04-07.

IT IS ORDERED that on November 30, 2005, at 9:30 a.m., at its open administrative conference in the Supreme Court Room in the State Capitol, Madison, Wisconsin, the Court shall discuss the (proposed) Preamble to SCR Ch. 20, (proposed) Terminology, and (proposed) SCR 20:3.8 entitled Special Responsibilities of a Prosecutor.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED any interested persons may file with the court a written submission regarding the subjects identified for this conference no later than November 19, 2005. As this matter has already been the subject of a public hearing, general public testimony will not be entertained at the open conference. The court may direct questions to individuals present at the conference to aid the court's consideration of these matters.

(via WisBar News)

Campaign for the Supreme Court

This Washington Post weblog has a running tally of votes in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
(via SCOTUSblog)

Update: Senators Kohl and Feingold both voted "Yes."

Repeal and referendum on smoking ordinance are rejected at the Big Meeting

Kristian Knutsen of Isthmus on last night's (through 5:06 a.m.) meeting of the Madison City Council.
(via WisBlawg)

National Pride and Prejudice

George W. Liebmann in American Outlook reviews The Return of Anti-Semitism by Gabriel Schoenfeld.

On Death Row in Japan

Charles Lane in Policy Review on Iwao Hakamada's long wait

Farewell, Church of England

The Church of England is under assault--and the enemies are within. Peter Mullen, Chaplain to the Stock Exchange, tells us why the "whole institution is like a psychotic kindergarten," and what must be done about it.
Britain Today: Part VI, The New Criterion September 2005

Testimony of Thomas W. Merrill

before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary regarding Kelo v. City of New London.
(via SCOTUSblog)

The case was the subject of Professor Merrill's presentation to our chapter on May 18, 2005.

Judicial Conference Supports Citing Unpublished Opinions

Tony Mauro reports in Legal Times

Passage of the resolution by voice vote followed "a great deal of debate," said Judge Carolyn Dineen King, chair of the executive committee, at a post-meeting news conference.

She said passage was eased by an amendment introduced at the meeting that would make the change prospective only, meaning that lawyers will be able to cite only those unpublished opinions issued after Jan. 1, 2007. King also stressed that individual circuit courts will be able to set their own rules about the precedential value unpublished opinions can be given.

(via WisBar Legal Community News)

Supreme Court accepts five new cases

Includes a case on the application of Palsgraf v. Long Island R.R. Co.

State Bar welcomes new members, Ninety two lawyers attend swearing in ceremonies

Once again, 100% of lawyers newly-admitted to practice joined the State Bar of Wisconsin.

Gard slams Crooks

David Callender reports in The Capital Times on criticism by Assembly Speaker John Gard of state Supreme Court Justice N. Patrick Crooks.

Gard and some Republicans are upset with Crooks in the wake of several rulings this year that overturned the state's limit on non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering, in medical malpractice cases and made it easier for consumers to sue companies over defective or dangerous products.

Physicians and business leaders contend that the rulings will drive doctors out of Wisconsin because of rising malpractice premiums and drive businesses out because of greater legal liability. ...

Crooks sided with the court's three liberals - Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson and justices Ann Walsh Bradley and Louis Butler - to create a 4-3 majority in those cases.

"They are the poster child for an activist, liberal court," Gard said of the four.

(via Xoff Files)

Human rights and terrorism

In its September 2005 issue, Prospect magazine says The [U.K.] Human Rights Act is a welcome constraint on government. But can it threaten our ability to fight terrorism? David Goodhart debates Roger Smith.

He's white, blue and red all over

Liberal Jack Burditt investigates a NASCAR race crowd for the Los Angeles Times.

Yes, the entire day was an education. For one, the crowd was more diverse than I imagined. Drunk, yes, but diverse.

(via Arts & Letters Daily)

Freedom and Preemption

The Federalist Society's 24th annual National Student Symposium was held at Harvard University earlier this year. The linked video is of a debate on "Freedom and Preemption: Strategic considerations concerning preemptive action in Iraq and beyond: between Professor Alan M. Dershowitz, Harvard Law School, and Mr. David B. Rivkin, Jr., Baker & Hostetler, LLP, moderated by Professor Steven G. Calabresi, Northwestern University School of Law and Chairman, The Federalist Society. The post title links to the first part of the debate, and is continued here.
[REAL PLAYER]

Why Are Lawyer Jokes So Funny?

Channel 3000 reviews Lowering the Bar: Lawyer Jokes and Legal Culture by Marc Galanter, University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School emeritus professor.
(via WisBlawg)

They Rule The World

Michael D. Goldhaber says One-year LLM programs at U.S. law schools are on the rise again, attracting fledgling power brokers from around the world.
The American Lawyer September 2005

An Open Letter to Our Comrades at ANSWER LA

from The Workmen's Circle/Arbeter Ring

Jewish anti-war activists have long observed, and protested, that anti-Semitism in the left and the anti-war movement impedes our participation, frustrating our cooperation with the wider movement for social change.

Change Links September 2005

Update: ANSWER LA responds in Change Links October 2005.

The letter from the Workmen's Circle is a naked anti-Arab racist diatribe. It is hoping to drive a wedge between our allies and to marginalize the voices of a people whose very existence has become the embodiment of anti-war--the Palestinian Arab people.

Education Policy in Wonderland

Charles Upton Sahm observes as The Campaign for Fiscal Equity collides with reality.
City Journal Summer 2005

The end of virtuous Albion

On some British virtues, once commonplace, that are today increasingly hard to find.
Britain Today: Part V, The New Criterion September 2005

A Tax Policy Conference: State Tax Incentives for Economic Development

Friday, October 7th, 2005 9:30 a.m. - 3:45 p.m. at The University of Minnesota Law School

Co-Sponsored by Minneapolis Lawyers Chapter of The Federalist Society, the Tax Subcommittee of the Society's Administrative Law and Regulation Practice Group, and The University of Minnesota Law School

Disrespecting the "Opinions of Mankind": International Law in Constitutional Interpretation

by Eugene Kontorovich, 8 Green Bag 2d 261-268. From the abstract at Social Sciences Research Network,

If the Declaration reveals anything about the relevance of foreign law to constitutional interpretation -- which is unlikely, as it predated the Constitution -- it suggests that the Founders' interest in the "opinions of mankind" did not involve their opinions on the legality of American actions. Any interest in foreign opinion also turned entirely on the ability and inclination of the foreign states to provide concrete support for America.

Of course, the Declaration of Independence itself does not dispose of the question of whether judges should follow foreign law. However, the cavalier misrepresentation of a basic document of the Founding by justices of the Supreme Court and leading scholars may raise concerns about how faithfully or accurately they would interpret the more esoteric and broader universe of foreign legal materials.

Update: Mary Ann Glendon on Judicial Tourism at Opinion Journal
(via Insight Scoop)

Update 2:Paul Mirengoff & Scott Johnson From Hegel to Wilson to Breyer in The Weekly Standard
(via PowerLine)

Under the Skin

Kay S. Hymowitz reviews Pornified: How Pornography Is Transforming Our Lives, Our Relationships, and Our Families by Pamela Paul
Commentary September 2005

The Politics of Industrial Relations

The pragmatic Australian electorate will be convinced by workplace results, argues Andrew Norton
Policy Winter 2005

Soak the Rich! (Colleges)

Robert Dunn in The American Enterprise.

A core value of American liberals is the importance of redistributing wealth from the prosperous to others, through highly progressive taxes and transfer payments. Which leads to a question: If redistributing wealth is a good idea for workers, companies, individuals, and families, then intellectual consistency suggests it should be equally valid for institutions like colleges and universities. Right?

(via Arts & Letters Daily)

Premium Discontent at the NYT

Mickey Kaus looks at

TimesSelect, the plan under which non-subscribers will now have to pay $49.95/year to read NYT op-ed columnists.

and sees a missed opportunity.

It seems to me, though, that the NYT is missing an obvious, lucrative marketing angle. It would be a variant of the idea my college friend Mark had for a Reverse Record Store--you'd go and pay them $11.99 and they'd take your money and use it (along with the $11.99 payments of others) to bribe Paul McCartney to not make an album that year. Similarly, imagine TimesDelete: for $19.95 a month, say, TimesDelete's premium subscribers could vote on one op-ed columnist to take an extended vacation. If more people picked Krugman rather than Brooks, Krugman would get his salary plus a bonus on the condition that he maintain a meaningful silence for several weeks. The race would be tight every month, I should imagine, with Republicans and Democrats trying to outvote each other. But you can't play if you don't pay! I'd say this is surefire, supplemental revenue stream would bring in way more than the puny $20 or $30 million dollars a year the Times might hope to make from TimesSelect, especially if the business model were extended to the news pages.

Legislators to stew over mix of issues

Stacy Forster writes on the fall session of the Wisconsin Legislature in today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Among the dozens of pieces of legislation are bills that would allow residents to carry concealed weapons; prevent University of Wisconsin System students from receiving emergency contraception; enable doctors and pharmacists to object on moral grounds to performing certain procedures; and create statewide smoking standards for restaurants and other businesses.

and

...a ban on human cloning ...

and

- Legislative leaders are moving swiftly to reinstate caps on pain and suffering damages to medical malpractice victims. ...
- Lawmakers also said they need to fix Doyle's budget vetoes for Medicaid spending, because of pressure that low reimbursement rates put on nursing home operators and pharmacists. ...
- A bipartisan package of top-to-bottom election reforms is expected soon. ...
- The Senate is considering a constitutional amendment that would limit the governor's veto power.

Ready? Cue the Sun...

David Brooks sums up the Roberts confirmation hearings in The New York Times
(via Open Book)

The Real Meaning of Genetics

For years, commentators and experts have looked to the genetic future with fear and trembling or euphoria and optimism. But in fact, the significance of the genetic age will likely be more subtle, if no less profound, than the dream and nightmare of genetic engineering. Eric Cohen provides an ethical overview of modern genetics--looking at what it means for human self-understanding, for therapy and cures, and for how we see life, death, and procreation.
New Atlantis Summer 2005

The acceptable face of the neo-cons?

Acceptable to those to whom neo-conservatism is unacceptable, at best.
Ezzat Ibrahim in Al-Ahram,

For a man whose reputation was made not on extolling the virtues of Western liberal democracy but on proclaiming its complete triumph, now and forever, a degree of equivocation appears to have crept into Fukuyama's commentary. Not, though, that he ever believed the end of history meant nothing would happen. It merely meant that nothing quite as momentous would happen anew, and if history were to begin again, it could only be a repeat.

(via Arts & Letters Daily)

The people vs. the E.U.

The recent referendums in France and Holland rejecting the proposed EU constitution are not a setback but the possible salvation of Europe. Rodney Leach explains why.
Britain Today: Part IV, The New Criterion September 2005

The National Archives Celebrates Constitution Day

For the first time, National Archives programs in honor of Constitution Day, September 17, will extend far beyond one day and far beyond the Rotunda to reach thousands of citizens, teachers, and students nationwide

via webcasts.

Succeeding at Seceding?

Archie Ingersoll on Movements trying to make the cut
Utne Reader September 8, 2005

Community Internet Under Attack

Mitchell Szczepanczyk in the September 2005 issue of Z.

Who might control the future of high-speed Internet? Will it be municipalities and communities that can make the Internet into a widespread and affordable public service like electricity or running water or big cable and telecommunications companies, like SBC, Comcast, and Verizon, who would redline communities and inflate prices to maximize profit?

And yet, somehow, my electric bill is more than my cable bill, and my water bill is more than my phone bill.

Getting ready for the Big One

From The Economist

The Southern California Earthquake Centre reckons that there is an 80% to 90% chance of a tremor of seven or higher on the Richter scale hitting Los Angeles within the next 20 years. According to the US Geological Survey, an earthquake of that magnitude would kill up to 18,000 in Los Angeles; in San Francisco, a repeat of the 1906 earthquake might kill 5,800 (almost double the last Big One). Six in ten Californians live in areas of high earthquake risk; in Los Angeles County, just about everybody does

The Economics of Climate Change

Select Committee on Economic Affairs
2nd Report of Session 2005-06 [PDF]
House of Lords (U.K.), July 6, 2005
(via The Globalist)

Consumer Protection Reform: The Class Action Fairness Act of 2005

Andreas N. Akaras reviews provisions of recent legislation that aims to curb frivolous proceedings and exorbitant attorney's fees
Washington Lawyer September 2005

Slouching Toward Byzantium

Robert Conquest on the United Nations, the European Union, and the decline of the West.
Hoover Digest Spring 2005

Misunderstood

Richard Lineman reviews Henry Adams and the Making of America by Garry Wills
The New York Times September 11, 2005

The real British disease

The British are experiencing a collective identity crisis. John O'Sullivan explains why, and why halting its progress is the surest way to protect Britain from decline.
Britain Today: Part III, The New Criterion September 2005

Wisconsin lawyers gear up to help those impacted by Hurricane Katrina

Our State Bar lists various ways members can help.

Appleton judge is 'chief of chiefs'

The Committee of Chief Judges has unanimously elected as its chair Chief Judge Joseph M. Troy of the Circuit Court for Outagamie County Circuit Court.

Feingold, Kohl undecided on Roberts vote

Craig Gilbert writes in today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on the decision ahead for Wisconsin's two Democratic Senators, both members of the Committee on the Judiciary.

Feingold said he found it disappointing that Roberts didn't do more to distance himself in the hearings from some of the legal and policy views he expressed in the Reagan-era memos. ...

"Like other (nominees), he came here wanting to say as much as necessary but as little as possible in order to get confirmed," Kohl said.

While "Head Cases" twists the traditional lawyer show, "Just Legal" just seems to plead out

Jill Vejnoska of Cox News Service reviews these two new television shows in the Rocky Mount Telegram
(via WisBlawg)

Roberts Confirmation Hearings

[periodically redated]
SCOTUSblog
How Appealing
Campaign for the Supreme Court [sic] at The Washington Post
Associated Press
Update:
Bench Memos at National Review
Update 2:
Hotline at National Journal

The Court, the Constitution, and the Culture of Freedom

This essay by Peter Berkowitz grows out of the 2004 Isaac Franck Distinguished Memorial Lecture at Georgetown University. A version was delivered as part of the America's Founding and Future lecture series at Princeton University, hosted by the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions.
Policy Review August/September 2005

Ready to Rumble

Denali K. Dasgupta says Big-firm life wasn't for them, so three young attorneys set out to counsel minority-owned businesses.
The American Lawyer September 2005

It's Time for a New "New Deal"

Katrina Vanden Heuvel at The Nation

While the Louisiana Army Corps of Engineers proposed $18 billion in projects that would have shored up the protective levees, improved flood control and perhaps prevented last week's breaches in the levees' walls, none of these projects were funded.

Because of the "perhaps" perhaps?

Law School Dogmas

Robert A. Crisell and Michael I. Krauss
"Even in purportedly Catholic law schools, students are fed a steady diet of anti-Christian dogma. Fortunately, alternatives are beginning to emerge in response."
American Outlook Spring 2004

Judicial Restraint

David Kusnet at TNR Online

After all, conservatives claim to favor judicial restraint as a matter of philosophy; as several Republican senators said in their opening statements, judges should not act like legislators or a continuing constitutional convention. As for liberals, they've become believers in judicial restraint operationally; they'd be happy if the Supreme Court doesn't overturn Roe v. Wade, affirmative action, and worker and consumer protections dating back to the New Deal.

The grim lessons of Katrina

Walter Ellis in The Spectator September 10, 2005

One thing that is certain is that no one will emerge from the audit with much credit; certainly not the state and municipal authorities, who have shown themselves to be whining incompetents. Much of the sniping at Bush has been infantile. Critics have depicted the President as uncaring, callous, even racist, which those who know him or have worked with him will recognise as risible. Far harder to rebut, however, will be the charge that he and his advisers failed to heed the central lesson of 11 September 2001: that danger can strike at any time from any quarter and the nation must be prepared. Plan B is all very well, but there has to be a Plan A.

State of the Nation

Nell Rosenthal reviews A Matter of Opinion by Victor S. Navasky
Commentary September 2005

Creative Capital: The Key to Prosperity

The U.S. university system has long been a prime source of scientific, social and creative leadership from around the world. But as U.S. universities begin a new year, Richard Florida says the U.S. intellectual infrastructure is eroding as leaders overlook the enormous economic potential of universities.
Globalist September 12, 2005

Opening Up

In an email interview by Barb Palser, John Robinson, editor of North Carolina's Greensboro News & Record, talks about his decision to plunge his newsroom headlong into participatory journalism.

The medium allows all sorts of voices, views and perspectives. Our blogs--particularly those written by news reporters--adhere to all the traditional journalistic principles of integrity, objectivity and fair play. In fact, we see them as yet another way to reach readers with relevant information about their community and their lives. We've posted audio and video of government meetings online. We've linked to blogs of elected officials to add that perspective to the discussion. We've answered readers' questions in the comments sections of blogs. All above board. All journalistically correct.

American Journalism Review August/September 2005

British intellectual life today

About a century ago, the term "man of letters" was in Britain replaced by "intellectual." Daniel Johnson examines the difference between the two, and what that difference says about the state of the life of the (British) mind.
Britain Today: Part II, The New Criterion September 2005

Paul Clement "2005 Supreme Court Review"

For this year's Consitution Day celebration Paul D. Clement, Solicitor General of the United States, presented a review of the recently completed term of the United States Supreme Court at a noon luncheon at the Milwaukee Athletic Club.

Update: outline of Mr. Clement's presentation

I. 2004 Term decisions

Overshadowed by the retirement of Justice O'Connor and then the death of Chief Justice Rehnquist.

Sixth Amendment Trial by Jury
United States v. Booker Federal Sentencing Guidelines
Probably the most important decision of the term.

Federalism
Gonzales v. Raich medical marijuana. While no one characterized it this way, the question was would it make a difference if Filburn was growing marijuana rather than winter wheat, Wickard v. Filburn (1942)
Granholm v. Heald interstate wine shipment

Seperation of Powers
Tenet v. Doe followed Totten v. United States (1876)

First Amendment: Freedom of Religion
Van Orden v. Perry Texas Ten Commandments monument
McCreary County v. American Civil Liberties Union of Ky. framed Ten Commandments (King James Version)

Takings
Kelo v. New London

II. 2005 Docket

Gonzales v. Oregon state assisted suicide law and the Controlled Substances Act

Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao Do Vegetal Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Controlled Substances Act: religious use of a Schedule I hallucinogenic

Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England New Hampshire parental notification of minor's abortion

FAIR v. Rumsfeld Solomon Amendment versus First Amendment

About that baseball analogy.

Ann Althouse was less than thrilled with Judge John Roberts using a judge as umpire analogy in his confirmation hearing opening statement.

It says: I come from the world of men. My reference points are men's things. I will speak in a way that will make men feel welcome and at home, and women can come along if they've taken an interest in the same things.

How about "The role of a judge is like Dad's when Mom says 'That's enough, you two! Your father will settle this when he gets home.' "

John Roberts: The Nominee

William L. Taylor finds the "smoking gun": Judge Roberts worked in the Reagan administration!
The New York Review of Books October 6, 2005

Live with Michelle Malkin

Karina Rollins interviews the author, columnist and blogger.
American Enterprise September 2005

The Great Flood of 1927

Rick Shenkman interviews Pete Daniel
History News Network September 6, 2005

Power to the Pictures

By David Moberg reviews Wobblies!: A Graphic History of the Industrial Workers of the World by Paul Buhle and Nicole Schulman

There are echoes of the radical IWW priest Father Thomas Hagerty's "wheel of fortune"-dividing the IWW into industrial departments, such as transportation, agriculture, mining, public service, and manufactures-in the current Service Employees union proposal for a few big unions concentrated in major industries, but not much else from IWW tradition. Hagerty envisioned not only each industry being organized top-to-bottom through a department of the One Big Union but also society itself being organized through this wheel of fortune.

In These Times July 19, 2005

The True Classic of Terrorism

Conrad's Under Western Eyes puts us into the psychic world of terrorists. We see the cult of the suicide bomber in the mystic extremists of 100 years ago, says Tom Reiss.
The New York Times September 11, 2005

Chinese Labor Struggles

A railway worker caught up in the events of Tiananmen Square, now using his radio show to broadcast the problems of Chinese factory hands live on air, Han Dongfang describes life in the Red Army, student-worker unity in 1989, surviving TB and torture in prison and the China Labour Bulletin's legal strategy. Can the PRC's official trade unions be captured from below?
New Left Review July-August 2005

Is Anything Not Interstate Commerce?

Jacob Sullum asks Will a Supreme Court led by John Roberts find limits to Congress' power?
Reason online September 9, 2005

Don't Refloat

Jack Shafer makes The case against rebuilding the sunken city of New Orleans.
Slate September 7, 2005, at 12:19 PM PT
(via Arts & Letters Daily)

Heated Discussion

Roesner's Illinois Wesleyan colleague, physics professor Narendra K. Jaggi, told the seminar about a lesson he'd taught in a freshman critical-thinking class, comparing the rhetoric used to argue for the Iraq war and statements urging action on global warming. With their shared emphasis on the possibility of future catastrophe, he pointed out, "the structure of the argument is very similar," an overlap that, given the failure to find weapons of mass destruction, might make global-warming advocates pause.

University of Chicago Magazine August 2005

Reexamining the Distinction Between Open Information and Secrets

Stephen C. Mercado in Studies in Intelligence Vol. 49, No. 2, 2005

Potemkin vistas

Do the moral and cultural values which sustained Britain during World War II still exist today? David Pryce-Jones looks at the outward indicators--and the realities they disguise--to answer this urgent question.
Britain Today: Part I, The New Criterion September 2005

Originalist Sin

Ken I. Kersch reviews America's Constitution: A Biography by Akhil Reed Amar
Commentary September 2005

A Feasible Fix for Social Security

Nicole Gelinas gives a recipe for saving the system, protecting the poor, and boosting the investor class.
City Journal Summer 2005

On the Future of Trade Unionism

Dick Howard in Logos Summer 2005

The wager of "Change to Win" is enormous. Its bet is all or nothing. The media have stressed mostly the negative consequences for the Democratic Party, at both the national level and in state and local politics, where unions bring with them an important contribution of activists and money.

Aspirations and obligations

The Economist of September 8, 2005 says The Millennium Development Goals [see below] cannot be met; some can barely be measured. What, then, are they for?

The Plame game

James Bowman On how to manufacture a scandal, media-style.
The New Criterion September 2005

Keeping Score

Carlyn Kolker says Winning a berth on The A-List isn't easy. One key number can make all of the difference.
The American Lawyer September 2005

Shooting Not to Kill

America's Development and Use of Non-Lethal Weapons
New Atlantis Summer 2005

Euro as Politics

by Pedro Schwartz, reviewed in The Independent Review Summer 2005

Bush and the Realists

Gary Rosen in Commentary September 2005

[Foreign policy] Realist prudence prevailed often enough during the long decades of the U.S.-Soviet rivalry, but, to [Hans J.] Morgenthau's dismay, it proved impossible to exorcise the ideological dimension of the conflict from American politics and discourse. In a nation persuaded of the world-historical significance of its own democratic principles, statesmen might practice realpolitik but would hesitate to avow it. Realism's directives were what gifted advisers like Dean Acheson, George Kennan, and Henry Kissinger whispered to Presidents behind closed doors (or urged in their own writings), not the stuff of stump speeches and party platforms.

Labour's Labor Problem

Gerald A. Dorfman on Why Tony Blair's Labour Party has kept the labor movement at arm's length.
Hoover Digest Spring 2005

The Annotated Bobblehead

Justice Antonin Scalia collectible provided to selected subscribers.
The Green Bag

The Great Generational Swindle

by Alan Charles Kors
"American college students are denied the very freedoms their professors demanded for themselves; and they know it."
American Outlook Spring 2004

Why They Do It

Christian Caryl reviews
Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism by Robert A. Pape,
Making Sense of Suicide Missions edited by Diego Gambetta,
Suicide Bombers: Allah's New Martyrs by Farhad Khosrokhavar, translated by David Macey,
Perfect Soldiers: The Hijackers—Who They Were, Why They Did It by Terry McDermott,
The Road to Martyrs' Square:A Journey into the Worldof the Suicide Bomberby Anne Marie Oliver and Paul F. Steinberg,
Suicide Terrorism by Ami Pedahzur, and
Dying to Kill: The Allure of Suicide Terror by Mia Bloom
in The New York Review of Books September 22, 2005

The suicide bomber is a prime example of an organization man or woman. [footnote omitted] A suicide attacker brings the bomb to his or her target and pushes the button; but he or she is very rarely the maker of the bomb. An organization recruits, indoctrinates, and trains the bomber; an organization picks the targets and later makes the case for the legitimacy of the attacks by distributing promotional literature or "martyr videos," recorded by the bomber before death. Freelance suicide attacks sometimes occur (most notably among the Palestinians), but they are strikingly rare.

The New York Review of Books September 22, 2005

Is Feingold's war stance a battle plan for 2008?

Craig Gilbert in today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on campaign developments (since Tuesday).

Statement on passing of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist

By Shirley S. Abrahamson, Chief Justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court, immediate past president of the National Conference of Chief Justices and immediate past chair of the Board of Directors, National Center for State Courts
Wisconsin Court System September 7, 2005

The Rehnquist funeral

Rick Garnett at Mirror of Justice

It was striking, to me, how few of the visitors were people of the "kind" I expected to see -- i.e., D.C. lawyers in charcoal grey suits. All kinds of people -- tourists, cab drivers, barristas, maintenance workers, and Senators -- passed in front of the casket, often stopping to cross themselves. Some of the Court police and building staff, whom I knew from a decade ago, talked with me about how much the Chief meant to them, and how much he had done for them. ...

One theme came up, again and again: The Chief Justice worried often that too many lawyers did a bad job of finding balance in their lives, and that they were unhappy because they did not remember that their families and loved ones were the most important things.

(via Open Book)

How to Reform Your Local School Board

Steve Loehrke tells what he's learned as President of the Weyauwega-Fremont School Board.
Wisconsin Conservative Digest July 2005

The wisdom of Hercules

Using computer models to identify important American jurisprudence.

Dr Fowler's model shows that, until the end of the 18th century, the Supreme Court's opinions rarely cited previous Supreme Court opinions. This is not all that surprising since there were so few. In the 19th century, however, the average number of citations to previous cases started climbing sharply and so did the average number of citations to those cases by later Supreme Courts. For a while, Supreme Court justices liked to cite opinions with many citations in them. By 1950, an average opinion cited about 15 other opinions, and each opinion was itself cited by roughly the same number.

The trend reversed, however, between 1953 and 1969, when the controversial Earl Warren served as Chief Justice of the United States. As that Court embarked on its activist, and mostly liberal, course, there was a precipitous drop in the number of citations it made, which implies that the Warren Court was less respectful, or perhaps just less interested, in precedent.

The Economist August 25, 2005

Freedom and Intelligence

The Federalist Society's 24th annual National Student Symposium was held at Harvard University earlier this year. The linked video is of a debate on "Freedom and Intelligence: The role of international treaties and federal law in the interrogation of detainess" between Professor Philip Heymann, Harvard Law School, and Professor Michael S. Paulsen, University of Minnesota Law School, moderated by Judge Frank H. Easterbrook, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
[REAL PLAYER]

Building a Better Business

John Allen on "social entrepreneurs" [PDF]
On Wisconsin Fall 2005

Leaderless on the Left

Gary Younge on Cindy Sheehan.

With the help of PR consultants she was packaged as a grieving Everymother who wanted answers. Capturing the public imagination, over the past two weeks she has been a regular feature on US cable and network news, the letters pages and newspaper editorials.

Change Links September 2005

American Institutions and Their Influence

by Alexis de Tocqueville
Project Gutenberg
(via The Online Books Page)

Feingold Could Be First Anti-War Candidate

Frederick J. Frommer in The Guardian September 6, 2005

At a recent town hall meeting in Star Prairie, Wis., one man told Feingold he was "livid with anger" over the war [in Iraq]. ...

Political analysts say if Feingold can tap that anger, he could emerge as the 2008 version of [Howard] Dean, the former Vermont governor who vaulted to the lead in Democratic presidential polls before flaming out last year.

(via Kathryn Jean Lopez at The Corner)

John Roberts and the Third Amendment

at the Committee For Individual Freedom

Indeed, Judge Roberts has never spoken publicly on the Third Amendment. Moreover, thousands of pages of documents surrendered to the Senate Judiciary Committee, and there subjected to ideological litmus tests, handwriting analysis and even infrared proctospectrology, yield no clues beyond the vexing secret Federalist Society code that Roberts is alleged to deploy when numbering his points in complex opinions.

(via Todd Zywicki at Volokh Conspiracy)

Wisconsin lawyers can help colleagues affected by Hurricane Katrina

Many displaced lawyers from the affected areas need not only temporary office space but even living accommodations to be able to assist others in the recovery efforts. ...

The State Bar encourages its members to contribute generously to one of the various organizations that are attempting to relieve the significant misery and dislocation occasioned by this natural disaster.

At Last, Reporters' Feelings Rise to the Surface

Today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel runs this Howard Kurtz column from the Washington Post of September 5, 2005.

If you've watched the news on television and found mere facts not enough, and wondered about the reporter's feelings and opinions, you were not alone. Hurricane Katrina, according to Mr. Kurtz, brought about a change.

For once, reporters were acting like concerned citizens, not passive observers. And they were letting their emotions show, whether it was ABC's Robin Roberts choking up while recalling a visit to her mother on the Gulf Coast or CNN's Jeanne Meserve crying as she described the dead and injured she had seen.

But won't it be difficult to bring in reporters to fill the gap left with the former reporters taking on this new role?

Roberts needs to answer these questions

Today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel runs this George F. Will column, which I've found online in the Sacramento Bee of September 5, 2005. He suggests some questions for Judge John Roberts in his confirmation hearings, like this one based on something Justice Antonin Scalia said.

"It certainly cannot be said that a constitution naturally suggests changeability; to the contrary, its whole purpose is to prevent change - to embed certain rights in such a manner that future generations cannot readily take them away. A society that adopts a bill of rights is skeptical that 'evolving standards of decency' always 'mark progress,' and that societies always 'mature,' as opposed to rot."

Is Scalia wrong?

I might pose a follow-up question. The Social Security Act is characterized as a compact between generations, with a fixed meaning since its enactment. Could we have a Constitution like that?

Playgrounds of the Self

Video games have become a major cultural force, with billions of dollars and innumerable hours expended on them each year. Some criticize their sexually explicit and violent content; some marvel at their graphic sophistication; some even argue that video games are good for us. Christine Rosen looks at how video games have enabled a novel kind of identity theft, as we play out our fantasies and frustrations in their many make-believe worlds.

New Atlantis Summer 2005

Gentle Regrets

Daniel Johnson reviews Gentle Regrets: thoughts from a life by
Roger Scruton

This book is not an apologia, but it is a reminder - lest those who curse his name forget - that Scruton did as much to bring down communism in eastern Europe as any of our politicians, diplomats and spies.

New Statesman
(via Arts & Letters Daily)

The wrong battles

Karel Charles Bouley in The Advocate September 1, 2005.

Now I know why there's the perception that gay people are always getting beaten up: We constantly pick the wrong battles. I see it all the time, and sometimes it's laughable, other times it's downright detrimental.

Two recent instances come to mind. First, there's the Family Guy incident, which at best goes into the Are You Kidding Me? file, and second is last week's Supreme Snub by several national gay coalitions against Judge John G. Roberts Jr., a man who will be the next Supreme Court justice no matter how much they stamp their Pradas.

Spreading the Capitalist Dream to the World's Poorest

A conversation with Stuart Hart about bringing capitalist know-how to the world's 4 billion poorest.

Together, these three unlikely partners are developing a new protocol for how to do business at the "bottom of the pyramid" (BOP) - the 4 billion people earning less than $2 a day, who make up three-fourths of the world's population. The BOP represents the world's largest market. Companies willing to shatter old business models can find opportunity there. As S.C. Johnson CEO H. Fisk Johnson says, the BOP may offer "the only pragmatic approach for long-term growth."

Marjorie Kelly interviews Stuart Hart in Business Ethics Summer 2005

The situation in Louisiana continues to be grim, but with some improvement

Diane E. Dees at MoJoBlog:

Today [September 2, 2005], on a conservative radio talk show, the host made a criticism that seemed valid to me: Why--when everyone knew a Category 5 hurricane was about to hit the city--didn't the mayor of New Orleans and the governor of Louisiana immediately mobilize Orleans Parish and Jefferson Parish school buses in preparation for evacuating people?

The Mother Jones weblog cites "a conservative radio talk show." Adversity did bring us together!

Bush names Roberts top US judge

Judge John Roberts has now been nominated to succeed the late William Rehnquist as Chief Justice of the United States.

President Bush will now have to nominate another person to fill the vacancy left by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who announced her retirement in July. He said he would do so in a "timely manner".

BBC 5 September 2005, 14:37 GMT 15:37 UK

Doyle recalls chief justice as true to Badger roots

Meg Jones writes in today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Gov. Doyle, who argued three cases before the Rehnquist Court, ordered all flags on state buildings flown at half-mast.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court's Chief Justice was also asked to comment.

Shirley Abrahamson asked Rehnquist, whom she first met in the late '70s, to preside over her oath of office when she became chief justice of Wisconsin's Supreme Court in 1996. In an interview a year ago, Abrahamson was asked which judge, living or dead, she admired the most. Her reply - Rehnquist. ...

When Rehnquist visited Madison to administer the oath of office to Abrahamson, he came a day early to visit the farmer's market on the Capitol Square and attend the Wisconsin-Stanford football game. The game, which the Badgers won, 14-0, presented a bit of a problem for the Stanford alumnus, Abrahamson recalled.

"As he explained to an appreciative crowd at my investiture, he brought mixed loyalties to the game, 'but (Rehnquist said) I resolved them in favor of Wisconsin in the second half,' " said Abrahamson.

'A Bigger Bang' is classic Stones

Dave Tianen reviews the new Rolling Stones CD in today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Which brings up the album's most talked about track, "Sweet Neo Con," the harp- and guitar-driven alleged exercise in Bush baiting. Two things: Denials that the song is about George W. ring timid and false. The tune references false Christianity, Guantanamo, Halliburton and the Pentagon. Secondly, political protest isn't what the Stones do well. That requires moral conviction, which they have pretty much managed to evade for 40 years.

Allan Bloom and the Conservative Mind

Jim Sleeper in The New York Times September 4, 2005

But everyone seems to have missed the elephant in the room: Bloom's ostensibly conservative meditation in fact anticipated and repudiated almost every political, religious and economic premise of Kimball's and Horowitz's movement. Conservatives who reread Bloom today are in for a big, perhaps instructive, surprise.

I doubt it. Here, for example, is Werner J. Dannhauser,

Rousseau also served Allan as a safeguard against overalliance with conservatism. (Allan held many right-wing views but was not really a conservative and refused to call himself one.)

"My Friend, Allan Bloom," The Weekly Standard October 9, 1995.

Rehnquist is dead at 80

Alan J. Borsuk writes in today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on the death last night of William Rehnquist, 16th Chief Justice of the United States, and a native of Shorewood, a Milwaukee suburb.

Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said Rehnquist experienced "a precipitous decline in his health the last couple of days."

Arberg said Rehnquist's three children were with him when he died.

May he rest in peace. Our condolences to the Rehnquist family.

Mr. Borsuk also provides this retrospective on A conservative in law and in temperament.

In the Asylum

Oh, to be in England column by Theodore Dalrymple
City Journal Summer 2005

Political party platforms

(major party platforms from 1840 onwards), by Democratic Party (U.S.), Republican Party (U.S. : 1854- ), States' Rights Democratic Party, Progressive Party (1912), Populist Party (U.S.), Constitutional Union Party (U.S.), and Whig Party (U.S.).
University of California, Santa Barbara
(via The Online Books Page)

The Folly of Sarbanes-Oxley

Scott S. Powell on The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, "The worst affliction visited on public companies in the last 70 years."
Hoover Digest Spring 2005

Endangered Sovereignty

John O'Sullivan says U.N. bureaucrats are making a quiet power grab in its Millenium Development Goals.

Falling asleep already, are you? Well, that is precisely the intention of those who composed these anodyne phrases. When bureaucrats seize power, they do it not with swords but with chloroform. ...

Worse, these commitments change when judges interpret the treaties in a way no one would have predicted when they were signed.

National Review August 26, 2005, 4:42 p.m.

Native Hawaiian Sovereignty Act: A Step Toward Secession?

The Heritage Foundation recently hosted a panel discussion on S. 147, The Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2005 (the Akaka Bill). The post title links to a description of the presentation and the webcast. Here is the text of the bill.

Reversed and Rendered

from the 1997 album "Licensed to Grill" by the Bar & Grill Singers of the Austin Bar Association.

Defining Conservatism Down

Austin Bramwell says As the Right's popularity has grown, its intellectual challenge to the Left has diminished.
The American Conservative August 29, 2005
(via Arts & Letters Daily)

The Importance of Being Lazy

Katrina Vanden Heuvel reviews The Importance of Being Lazy: In Praise of Play, Leisure and Vacations by Al Gini in her Editor's Cut weblog at The Nation.

Robinson--entrepreneur and business owner himself--isn't against the work ethic per se. What he's against is the crazed, psychotic overwork ethic. And he's started a crusade for federally required vacation time. ...

The movement's rallying cry has a familiar echo: "Workers and travelers of America, Unite! We have nothing to lose but our stress!"

Minor Characters

Elizabeth Becker on the life and death of Hout Bophana.
The New York Times August 28, 2005

Supreme Court accepts three new cases

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has granted petitions to review decisions of the Court of Appeals in:

State v. Campbell is a custody case raising questions dealing with "a fraud exception to the general rule that bars a collateral attack against an order or judgment of another judicial body in the context of a criminal proceeding."

Tyler J. K. is a juvenile sexual assault case raising questions on disclosure of confidential pupil records.

Welin v. American Family Mutual Insurance Company is an auto accident injury case raising questions regarding the definition of underinsured motorists coverage.

Guest LiveBlog from Roberts Forum

Daniel Chapman reports for The Triumvirate on last night's "Progressive Conversation" on John Roberts at the Marquette Law School.
(via Marquette Warrior)

Blogger Faces Lawsuit Over Comments Posted by Readers

David Kekmodel in The Wall Street Journal August 31, 2005

Bloggers have been buzzing about the lawsuit, swapping links to Mr. Wall's latest dispatches on the case and worrying about their own liability. Legal analysts said the suit could be a test case for determining what protections bloggers have or don't have for allegedly defamatory material posted by others. At issue would be the court's application of the federal Communications Decency Act, a 1996 law that, broadly, protects providers of computer services from being held liable for content posted by others.

(via Blogdex)