When President Obama decides on a new Supreme Court associate justice, it may be worthwhile for the “technology president” to consider the future justice’s basic understanding of technology, a skill set that seems be notably absent on the Court. Seems during oral arguments Monday in the case City of Ontario v. Quon, a case that considers city workers’ expectation of privacy in personal text messages sent on devices provided by the city, the Court had some—ahem—issues grasping the practical aspects of the case: The first sign was about midway through the argument, when Chief Justice John G....
Continue reading...New York Times Columnist Line of the Day – 21 April 2010
If you’re one of the four-or-so frequent readers of this here blog, chances are you also occasionally check out the New York Times op-ed page. You may even know the names: Thomas “Friedman’s Just Another Word For Nothing Left to Lose” Friedman, Gail “The Colander” Collins, Nicholas “The Dark Crystal” Kristof, &c. Well, I’ve decided to devote a daily feature to these folks, by daily pointing out one line that is either awesome, funny, insightful, intelligent, ridiculous, or utterly divorced from reality. I hope you enjoy. Well, no Maureen today, so Tawmy Fried it is. In today’s...
Continue reading...Poem of the Week
It’s gray and rainy and chilly in DC today, the kind of day that calls for the following lunch: a hot cup of lentil soup, a few wheat crackers, and some seasonal springtime poetry. That’s what I’m having, anyway. This poem is one of my all-time favorites, and it appears in Tony Hoagland’s excellent and often quite funny collection What Narcissism Means to Me. A Color of the Sky by Tony Hoagland Windy today and I feel less than brilliant, driving over the hills from work. There are the dark parts on the road when you pass...
Continue reading...Morning Constitutional – Wednesday, 21 April 2010
Good morning, folks. Tara’s not getting married after all, and Leonard’s not going to act anymore. But we’re still bringing you your morning constitutional: European airports have reopened, and about 75% of scheduled flights are expected to fly today. In U.S. auto industry news, Chrysler announced that it lost $4B since coming out of bankruptcy almost a year ago, but sees signs of improvement in a profit for the first quarter of 2010 and a positive cash flow. On the other hand, General Motors has repaid $8.1B in loans it received from the U.S. and Canadian governments—five...
Continue reading...SCOTUS lifts ban on animal snuff films
The U.S. Supreme Court today handed down its ruling on U.S. v. Stevens, 08-769, and by an 8-1 decision, upheld the decision of the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, nullifying a federal law banning the practice of filming cruelty against animals, citing First Amendment speech protection. The case centered around Robert Stevens of Pittsville, Virginia, who ran a business and website selling videos of pit bull fights. He was caught in an F.B.I. sting and was consequently sentenced to three years in prison for violating a 1999 law banning the sale of videos portraying...
Continue reading...New York Times Columnist Line of the Day – 20 April 2010
If you’re one of the four-or-so frequent readers of this here blog, chances are you also occasionally check out the New York Times op-ed page. You may even know the names: Thomas “Fried at Last” Friedman, Gail “The Colander” Collins, Nicholas “The Dark Crystal” Kristof, &c. Well, I’ve decided to devote a daily feature to these folks, by daily pointing out one line that is either awesome, funny, insightful, intelligent, ridiculous, or utterly divorced from reality. I hope you enjoy. Today’s is from Roger “Life of the Party” Cohen, who, in today’s column “Reading Sarcozy’s Mind,” writes...
Continue reading...Tea Party rally in Washington cost taxpayers $13,600
Nothing like good old consistency. The tea partiers, who have but one issue in common, cut government spending, held a rally in Washington, D.C. back in November. Seems that little rally cost $13,600, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports: Months later, official expense reports show that the boisterous, 10,000-person rally to rein in big government and stop runaway spending cost U.S. taxpayers nearly $14,000. Wait, what? Well, it seems that tea party darling Rep. Michele Bachmann (MN), who spoke at the event, as well as Reps. Tom Price (GA), Todd Akin (MO) and Steve King (IA) shared the cost...
Continue reading...Morning Constitutional – Tuesday, 20 April 2010
Good morning, everybody. Apple wants its phone back. Now, your morning constitutional: A limited number of flights in northern Europe, expected to be around half of normal volume, will go ahead today. While some planes are flying from Scotland and Northern Ireland, it is unlikely any planes will depart from London today. Some science behind the flight bans. Rahm Emmanuel wants to be mayor of Chicago. Despite recent allegations of fraud, earnings for Goldman Sachs rose 91% for the first quarter of 2010 to $3.46B from the same period last year. The U.K. Financial Services Authority has...
Continue reading...New York Times Columnist Line of the Day – 19 April 2010
If you’re one of the four-or-so frequent readers of this here blog, chances are you also occasionally check out the New York Times op-ed page. You may even know the names: Thomas “Fried at Last” Friedman, Gail “The Colander” Collins, Nicholas “The Dark Crystal” Kristof, &c. Well, I’ve decided to devote a daily feature to these folks, by daily pointing out one line that is either awesome, funny, insightful, intelligent, ridiculous, or utterly divorced from reality. I hope you enjoy. Today’s is from Frank Rich’s excellent column from Sunday: “Welcome to Confederate History Month.” It was exceedingly...
Continue reading...Report from the heartland: Tea Party in Ohio
My mom mentioned recently that there’s a Tea Party guy running for state representative in my home state of Ohio. No great surprise there, but what worried her was how many yard signs she’d seen for him in the neighborhood. Now, my parents do live in one of the more conservative parts of a pretty conservative town. But there’s a difference between conservative and fringe, and up til now, it seemed like the Tea Partiers could be clearly distinguished from the usual run of the mill strident Republicans. My parents are friendly with their neighbors, and for...
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