News & Media
Peter Steele . . . Rest in Slack
By J. DeVoy Peter Steele, singer/bassist for Type O Negative, is dead from heart failure at age 48. His musical openness about death, lust, suicide, love and loss, was inimitable. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DxgVB48JSY&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
Trust and Impaired Driving
by Charles Platt I’d like to extend my previous post on drunk driving to examine the relationship of trust between driver and passengers. If I am a passenger in a car, and the driver knows that I don’t want him to drink, we might argue that a relationship of trust exists, and if the driver is secretly violating that trust,
PSA: It's "website"
By J. DeVoy The Associated Press Stylebook hath spoken.
SEC sues Goldman Sachs [alternative title- :( ]
By J. DeVoy The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a civil suit against Goldman Sachs and one of its employees, Fabrice Tourre, for securities fraud. The complaint revolves around Goldman’s alleged misrepresentations about the quality of loans underlying a collateralized debt obligation (CDO). Paragraph five summarizes the consequences neatly: The deal closed on April 26, 2007. Paulson paid GS&Co
Does anyone know this chick's number?
Laura Hall, 20, has been banned from buying or drinking alcohol anywhere in England or Wales. Police applied to magistrates for the order because of the number of drink-related offences that Hall had been involved in. She had already been banned from pubs and clubs in her home town of Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, under the PubWatch scheme. (source) The Legal Satyricon
I'm getting to the point that I may go back to using PCs instead of Macs
If Apple keeps it up with this kind of crap. First, Steve Jobs channels Andrea Dworkin by deciding that he doesn’t want us to view porn on our iPhones, and now the App Store rejected a cartoonist’s app because political cartoons mock public figures, and are thus against Apple’s policies. Yeah really.
National Day of Prayer Unconstitutional
U.S. District Judge Barbara B. Crabb of the Western District of Wisconsin ruled that the National Day of Prayer is a violation of the Establishment Clause. (source). The case was a no-brainer. I haven’t seen the decision yet, but if it followed any precedent at all, I am sure that I can predict its content. Under Lemon v. Kurtzman, a
Hell Freezes Over — Glenn Beck Makes Sense!
This is going to be one bizarre day… I watched a segment from Glenn Beck and not only did it not make me want to puke, but I agreed with him. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vv-yzFL190]
The Bare Breasted Truth
By Tatiana von Tauber Envision spending a nice sunny Saturday downtown when suddenly a crowd of women come at you – topless! Do you gasp? Quickly grab your children and cover their eyes? Do you think, WTF, laugh or grab your camera? Portland, Maine had plenty of diversified reactions to just such an event. About two dozen women participated in a
Should the Academy Require Public Service Experience?
by Christopher Harbin A White House administrator recently spoke to a seminar that I’m in and floated by an interesting idea. Her idea was that universities should require candidates for the academy to have some public service experience in order to be considered. Personally, I think it’s a great idea — especially for law profs — who would most likely
Time to Rethink the Libel Process
by Charles Platt I don’t much care for libel laws. If someone seriously defames me, my classical recourse is to engage in a lengthy and expensive court battle which is a huge waste of resources. When a writer I know pursued such a battle, more than five years elapsed before he finally made it into court, and even with an
According to poll, Teabaggers are not poor white trash
Despite the fact that Teabaggers seem like an unwashed mass of poor white trash to me, it seems that the data conflicts with my anecdotal perspective.
Fireball lights up the midwest
By J. DeVoy I was wondering what the huge, bright streak across the sky was last night. The event lasted for several seconds and lit up the 10 pm sky as if it were dusk. Things returned to normal shortly thereafter, largely because none of this stuff happened. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr76hNngqts&hl=en_US&fs=1&] UPDATE: CNN has video of the event.
Tax day arrives!
By J. DeVoy Dear the top 10% of income earners: Thank you! Because of your toil as business owners, doctors, lawyers and financial service experts, you are able to subsidize the lifestyles and safety of people like me – somewhat literate, moderately intelligent lifetime students – by paying more than 70% of all Federal income taxes. My dirty secret
Alan Grayson wins a muzzle
By J. DeVoy Alan Grayson, the Democrat Congressman from central Florida, has been on a hot streak for bad PR. In December, Marc broke the story about Grayson’s poor reaction to constituent outcry over his childish antics. I truly admired Alan Grayson. I think that his policies are good for America. I think that his style is exactly what the liberals need.
There Goes the Neighborhood
In Eastwood (near Syracuse, NY), a church congregation is up in arms because a video store is opening next door and they intend to have adult videos available. (source) Roosevelt Baums, pastor of the church puts it more simply: It’s just not right. “Well, according to the membership, we wouldn’t like that in our community, especially because 4 percent of
If you're still Catholic….
You must be on crack. Hartford, Connecticut (CNN) — A bill in Connecticut’s legislature that would remove the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse cases has sparked a fervent response from the state’s Roman Catholic bishops, who released a letter to parishioners Saturday imploring them to oppose the measure. … The proposed change to the law would put “all
