We interrupt my Aspen vacation to give you this appalling message. Check out Bitch Ph.D and the truly heartless actions of Ocean County, New Jersey. One spokesman for a “religious” right-wing organization, The Leage of American Families, says that the county is “obviously reflecting the values of [its] community.” Either they’re lying, or that is one callous community. Just read the whole thing. Happy Holidays to everyone. And while you celebrate your family, remember...

I love my iPod too, but I can set priorities. I can’t tell you how much I love that Ghetto-fabulous picture of the VP, by the way.

The American Family Association and I clearly have different interpretations of what “one simple question” entails. Oy. Vey.

Lighting menorahs in front of the Iranian embassy this Channukah? Interesting idea. I like the symbolism. (link: Oxblog)

All the cute you ever could want, and more. I can feel my heterosexuality being sapped…[/sarcasm]

You can find it here. I gave it a “B”. Not bad by any stretch, but it still remained mired in what I believe are the major flaws in Bush’s Iraq perspective: a refusal to address criticisms on their merits (as opposed to caricatures), and an inability to transcend partisan concerns in building and maintaining support for his programs.

I always like discovering great quotes or arguments from old blog posts that I missed when they first came out. Just due to the nature of the blogosphere, even the best posts tend to sink into the morass, such that if you don’t see it within the first few days of their posting, you’re never going to see it at all. Hence, finding a gem in an older post (usually when another blogger dredges it back up as a “favorite”) is a real treat–like stumbling across buried treasure. So,...

You think you’ve had an embarassing dating experience? I think this may trump.

One conservative says “hooray–society is allowing for more choice.” Another says “boo–government and the judiciary has gotten more intrusive.” The liberal in me puts the two together and asks: So, what have learned?

Gordon Smith and Steve Bainbridge duke it out over the respective weather patterns currently in their home states (Wisconsin and California, respectively). Being the devoted winter baby (and part-time Minnesotan) that I am, I of course side with Professor Smith. But this also reminds me of an event that happened to me last winter at Carleton. One of my close debate friends from North Carolina had narrowed his college selection choices down to two schools: Carleton and Pomona. I already was committed...

Wow. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. Developing…

I respond to Notre Dame Law Professor Rick Garnett over at The Debate Link. Short version: education is a community endeavor, so any solution to our schooling debacle has to incorporate strengthening communities, not breaking them down.

Constitutional Law stars Sanford Levinson and Jack Balkin are debating the issues. Find out why Balkin has convinced me the answer is “yes.”

I have neither seen the movie nor read the books, so this is not a reflection on either. However, I just wanted to point out a telling feature of The Family Research Council’s rave review: At two hours and twenty minutes, Gresham says, he felt “that no time [had] passed…like Narnia-time in reverse.” Australia’s newspaper, The Age, noted Gresham’s “enormous reserves of charm, though liberals and feminists who encounter the gale force of his born-again Christianity...

You know you want to see it. Prettier than Napoleon with the link.

Sorry for the lack of blogging lately–I’ve been tired and missing sleep. One of the side benefits of being sleep-deprived to the point of brain-damaged is that you make observations you wouldn’t make in a mentally sound state of mind. And occasionally, those observations remain relevant even when one regains sanity. So it is with my latest insights on the judiciary, explained by a certain passage from the “hit” TV series “Firefly”. UPDATE: See, this is precisely...

Do Democratic criticisms of our Iraq policies embolden the enemy? Potentially. But certainly no more than the Republican defense of sticking with failed policies.

Katrina victims testify on Katrina response. Nobody looked good.

Professor Bainbridge is mildly depressed about his home state. And you thought California couldn’t top the recall. Baby, they’re just getting warmed up. Tip: Southern Appeal.

…because they make a greater share of the income. Plus the fact that we have a progressive tax structure. Why is this fact so difficult to understand? And why is it that so many otherwise intelligent conservative thinkers love to trot it out?