Six Supreme Court decisions this week. All of them (but one) were decided 5-4. In my mind, the court got about half of them right… the problem is that the ones they got wrong were real doozies. Here are the cases, from best to worst (in my opinion):
Jun 282007
Jun 282007
I suppose, given the nature of market economies, burqinis were inevitable. Guys, be sure to add it to the shopping list for your wives or girlfriends! I’d never imagined a two-piece swimsuit could be more modest than a one-piece.
The Washington Post just finished an excellent four-part piece, analyzing Vice President Cheney’s power and influence in the White House. What emerges is an interesting, if at times disturbing, picture of a man who knows exactly what he wants and how to get it. Anyone who has been following this administration won’t be horribly surprised at the general gist of the report, but the devil is in the details, and in this case the details reveal a mighty clever and influential devil at that. The key thing to keep in mind when you are reading this report, however, is that as much power as Cheney has and excercises, all of that power derives from the President Bush.
Jun 262007
Today’s New York Times has an extremely interesting article discussing new advances in the field of evolutionary-development, and what it means for our understanding of the processes of evolution. Assuming that the information presented in this article is correct (a decent assumption, but one should always take mass-media articles on technical subjects with a significant grain of salt), biologists are making a lot of headway in understanding the basic question of how species evolve. In particular, they are discovering that genetic mutation may actually be a lot easier than was first assumed. For instance, it turns out that fish have most of the same genetic building blocks that would allow them to grow the limbs and appendages necessary to walk on land. These genes, however, are sort of tuned to different settings, however, which cause the development of other body parts instead. If this is correct, it may explain how fish were able to evolve into land-creatures relatively rapidly.
Jun 262007
Last week, in response to the speculation that Bloomberg would enter the race, I looked at the history of third party candidacies, and what it might take for a future third party candidate to actually win the presidency. And things look pretty bleak for Bloomberg along those lines, and not just because only once has a third-party candidate ever finished even second, and he was an extremely popular ex-president. But, third party candidacies can serve as an important and useful check on the two parties in power because of spoiler candidates.
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