June, 2013 archive
“Judicial Activism” Is a Republican Thing 0
Right-wing justices adhere faithfully to an immutable document:
The Republican Party Platform.
Erwin Chemerinsky explains in the Sacramento Bee. A snippet (emphasis added):
It was striking that the conservative justices professed the need to defer to Congress when that supported a conservative result and to give no deference when it wouldn’t. And in cases involving federal statutes, time and again, the conservative justices went out of their way to protect big business over the interests of employees, consumers and small business even when it meant negating the clear will of Congress.
For decades, conservatives have professed a belief in judicial restraint and a desire to decide cases based on a neutral judicial methodology. This term, as much as any, shows that this is nonsense and it is an emperor with no clothes.
“A Giant Leap into the Present” (Updated) 0
This is delightful.
Via C&L.
Addendum, Later That Same Day:
In related news, the Commander Guy explains how gay-bashing is a logical outcome of Richard Nixon’s odious Southern Strategy and how the persons it recruited to the Republican Party have come to control it. A snippet:
Mainline Protestant and Evangelical Groups having reconciled after their earlier Civil War era split once again diverged after WWII over the issue of race, with Mainline groups identifying racial discrimination as a big problem (see: Holocaust, The) and Evangelical groups preferring that people should accept the social situation they were born into (hint: they mean black folks). Picking “Family Values” Dan Quayle as a VP candidate is an example of this strategy in action – the GOP telling Evangelicals that we are one of you now.
The Voter Fraud Fraud 0
Catch 22.
It’s the best catch there is.
Image via Bob Cesca’s Awesome Blog.
School for Scamdal 0
Lies and lying liars: Dick Polman post mortems the IRS non-scandal.
It was a put-up job, a con, a rigged game, a Republican snow job, a tissue of lies.
But wait, didn’t the original IRS inspector general’s report single out the agency’s targeting of conservative groups? Why did it fail to mention the targeting of liberal groups? This week, we learned the answer. According to a spokesman for the inspector general, Issa himself specifically told the IG to “narrowly focus on Tea party organizations.”
More about lies and lying liars at the link.
A Failure of Arithmetic 0
I received a postcard yesterday with the shattering news that my nine-year old truck with 110,000 mostly trouble-free miles on it would shortly be out from under its one-year factory warranty.
iJunked: The Gadgetification of Education 1
Der Spiegel:
There will be no blackboards, chalk or classrooms, homeroom teachers, formal classes, lesson plans, seating charts, pens, teachers teaching from the front of the room, schedules, parent-teacher meetings, grades, recess bells, fixed school days and school vacations. If a child would rather play on his or her iPad instead of learning, it’ll be okay. And the children will choose what they wish to learn based on what they happen to be curious about.
The one certainty about this is sales of iJunk: twice the price for half as much.
The rest is a combination of wishful thinking and charlatanry, like sleep learning, “Baby Einstein,” and cyber schools.
Facebook Frolics 3
Crackdown. From The Guardian:
More at the link.
The surprising take-away about this is that Facebook has “community standards.”
How Literate Are You? 0
Political Prof has posted a copy of a Louisiana literacy test ca. 1964. It was administered to (black) folks who wanted to register to vote.
You have 10 minutes: the passing score is 100%.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Spread random acts of politeness.
Kissimmee police are trying to find out who shot bullets into eight homes in two city neighborhoods.
The Deen of Southern Culture 0
The Rude One shares his take on the Paula Deen situation.
It’s not what you’d expect (warning: rudeness).
Like Chauncey Devega, he is able to look beyond an instance of a specific racist slur and see larger issues.
Electronic Scrubbing 0
In New York Magazine, Graeme Wood tells a fascinating tale of digital dishwashing. A nugget:
That work is not really any slimier than the work of PR firms offline—relentlessly accentuating the positive and hoping no one asks about the negative. But in the digital world, with anonymously registered websites, it’s easier to create natural-seeming whisper campaigns, positive or negative, and disavow any role in them. Michael Zammuto, president of Reputation Changer, founded in 2010, says he has seen numerous clients try to beat Google by flooding the web with junky self-glorifying sites. “These strategies never work over the long term,” he says. “There are no shortcuts.”
Gut Out the Vote 3
Plus ca change.
