Pretty much my entire blogging career has been spent as a student at Carleton College. But I’m graduating next year, and I have to go elsewhere. I spent much of this year applying to a variety of law and graduate programs, and today I made my final decision. Next year, I will be attending law school at the University of Chicago.

There is a persistent tendency amongst people (all people, not just Americans) to deny their group or nation’s role in oppression or atrocities — something I discovered recently when I observed that the U.S. has, in fact, supported terrorism in Central America (the death squads of the 1980s). Denial is a tempting emotion. But it is also exceedingly dangerous, and lays the ground work for the reiteration of mass atrocity worldwide.

One thing I forgot to mention in my previous post on the special election for the Mississippi 1st House District: If nobody gets over 50%, it goes to a run off. That being said, it might not matter. Latest results (40% reporting): TRAVIS W. CHILDERS (D) 15,321 (53%) GREG DAVIS (R) 12,634 (43%) This would be a huge Democratic pick-up, and yet more proof that 2008 might make 2006 look like 2002 (how’s that for political in-geek humor?). UPDATE: Just as I write that, Davis surges (50% reporting) TRAVIS...

The Pennsylvania primary may not actually be that important, but there actually is an intriguing race being decided today: the special election to fill Mississippi’s First Congressional District (vacated by Roger Wicker (R), who was appointed to a Senate seat). This is another one of those Democratic pick-up opportunities in a solid-red district that came together because of a) nationwide Democratic momentum and b) excellent candidate recruitment. For Democrats, the MS-01 is really a can’t...

I have to say, I am thrilled that Pennsylvania is finally voting. It seems like an age since the last primary or caucus, and the press has already shown it has the attention span of a three-year old and that without the immediate specter of horse races to analyze or polls to parse, it will mindlessly pursue the first shiny object that catches its attention. So, if only for giving us a temporary respite from questions like “Is Rev. Jeremiah Wright as patriotic as Barack Obama?” (wtf?),...

If Democrats nominate Clinton, young voters will permanently be disenchanted with the Democratic Party and cripple our election prospects for decades (and don’t get me started on the Black vote). But if Democrats nominate Obama, frustrated women may stay home and likewise severely hamper Democratic efforts in the general and subsequent elections. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

Colin Powell’s been saying some awfully nice things about Barack Obama, and making much of his stance as an undecided voter. Some are wondering if an endorsement could be in the works. Much as I like Obama and want to see good things happen to him, that would be a very bad move for Powell’s reputation.

No world-beater, of course, but most under-rated President?

A few days ago, I wrote a post on what I termed “quiet injustices” — things that pretty clearly implicate questions of ethics and morality in our society, but yet rarely seem to bother us. My main example was D.C. disenfranchisement. Another is felon disenfranchisement (after their sentences have been served). Neither, I think, is in any remote way justifiable, and neither are particularly salient political issues. But the more I think about it, the more I question whether even...

FM 3-24 is the Army and Marines’ counter-insurgency manual. It was written in part by one Sarah Sewall, who is now an adviser on the Obama campaign. In the Weekly Standard, Dean Barnett, not seeming to know this, blasts her along with Samantha Power as embodying “dovish idealism” in the course of his critique of the “Obama Doctrine.” It’s a lot of juvenile giggling over “climates of fear” (because serious people know that fear distracts us from the...

Let others praise ancient times; I am glad I was born in these. –Ovid, 43 BC – 17 AD Every once in awhile, I look out on the world and marvel at where we are. The pace of technological improvement, and humankind’s ability to adapt to it, is nothing short of amazing. My roommates are all science majors, and sometimes I grill them to explain to me how these things works. But I’m on Spring Break now, and they’re not around. Which means I return to my default position of...

The Harvard Law Review has a short, accessible review of Clarence Thomas’ memoir, and how it explains some of the inconsistencies in Thomas’ originalism. I add some brief thoughts here.

Did a Jewish gathering really boo that statement? What does that say about us?

The middle games today were fantastic. My friend from Georgetown is mysteriously missing — yesterday, she was very eager to mock me for the Duke game…. - How about Stephen Curry? Shut down entirely in the first half, he came alive in the second to lead Davidson in a thrilling comeback over Georgetown. - You know what that game reminded me of? The one between Louisville and West Virginia a few years back — where WV was shooting the lights out of the building but the Cardinals hung...

We’re into round two now, but still some tremendous action (though I admit I missed some to watch the boxing match tonight — welcome back Joel Casamayor!). - I hate to be right in this case (I’m a lifelong Duke fan), but I was: Duke died by the three. You miss fifteen straight three-pointers, and bad things will happen to any team. - Duke also got totally out hustled. Great game by West Virginia’s Mazzulla off the bench. - Finally, the odds that senior Duke forward DeMarcus...

Isn’t today kind of what March Madness is all about? Drama and big upsets galore. I’ll admit that I have a pre-existing bias towards the early rounds. Three games on at all times, folks you’ve never heard of stepping up huge, and teams like Siena are still in it. But today was really a great day for basketball. - Even with all the drama and upsets, the moment that made me happiest came during the UMBC – Georgetown match-up. UMBC has a 5’8″ guard, Jay Greene who...

It’s that most wonderful time….of the year! Sporadic thoughts from Day One of the tourney: - I feel bad for George Mason. I really do. There defense actually played pretty well against Notre Dame. They just couldn’t shoot to save their life. Every roll and every bounce went against them. It was really kind of tragic. - It won’t happen, but wouldn’t it be cool if Duke won the tourney after its fright against 15th-seed Belmont? We could have a tournament champion who was...

This is Barack Obama’s NCAA bracket. Would it be entirely cruel and irrational of us to pick it apart for political motivations. Yes, obviously. Will that stop us? Hell no! Have at it in the comments. UPDATE: I didn’t realize it was cut off — here’s a link.

Native John Cole: Now I don’t want to throw the state under the bus (since that is so fashionable these days) because I love it here so much, but anyone who is surprised by this simply is not paying attention. Racism is alive and well in central PA, SE Ohio, and much of WV. What Carville said about central PA (it resembles Alabama) can be said about the regions I discussed, and it was why I was able to say, when I was a Republican, that most of the racists I have met in my lifetime were Democrats....

An expansion on my previous post — this one explaining strains of Black Conservatism that are not separatist (such as Clarance Thomas’) and how they fit within the overall paradigm, as well as the difference between Black Conservatism and conservatives who are Black.

Like anyone who wants America to still have an economy tomorrow, I support the government’s intervention to head off disaster in the Bear Stearns fiasco. But I admit discomfort, for this seems to be precisely the type of governmental assistance that I hear many people decry when it’s proffered to the less fortunate. We give it to Bear Stearns — even though they were reckless and irresponsible, even though their predicament is primarily of their own making — because they “matter”....

About a year ago, I penned a post entitled “Taking Thomas Seriously”, about the particularly political ideology held by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. In it, I noted that both liberals and conservatives misunderstood Thomas’ orientation because the tried to map him onto “standard” (White) political categories. Thomas is a conservative, yes, but specifically he is a Black Conservative, which is a very particular philosophical tradition that does not perfectly...

The theme being people fleeing human rights abuses in Iran being treated like dirt when they try and get asylum in the west. Today’s variation: a 19-year old gay teenager who likely will be deported back to Iran (where his boyfriend was executed for Sodomy) from Great Britain because Iran does not “systematically persecute” homosexuals. But he’s breaking the law, dammit!

Guess where he’s begging to be released from?

Honestly, what’s the world coming to when “Socialized Medicine” doesn’t scare people anymore? Incidentally, the first time I ever heard the term “socialized medicine”, it was in a text book discussion of the Polio Vaccine — specifically, where Eisenhower-era Republicans objected to distributing the vaccine for free on that grounds. So that may be why I don’t find the term as scary as most.