JIM TREACHER IS honoring “the gravitas-laden Katie Couric.”
Archive for 2010
August 4, 2010
PRIVACY AND LIES: Feds admit storing checkpoint body scan images.
For the last few years, federal agencies have defended body scanning by insisting that all images will be discarded as soon as they’re viewed. The Transportation Security Administration claimed last summer, for instance, that “scanned images cannot be stored or recorded.”
Now it turns out that some police agencies are storing the controversial images after all. The U.S. Marshals Service admitted this week that it had surreptitiously saved tens of thousands of images recorded with a millimeter wave system at the security checkpoint of a single Florida courthouse.
Whenever the government collects information, it lies about what it will do with it. This is a near-universal law.
UPDATE: Reader Dave Mason writes: “Look on the bright side. Glenn. At least they don’t want to control all of our medical records! What?”
FRANK ROSS: The Media’s Rehabilitation of Michael Bellesiles, Right on Schedule. It does give the feel of a coordinated campaign, doesn’t it?
FEDERAL JUDGE FINDS CALIFORNIA PROPOSITION 8 unconstitutional. Copy of the decision at the link. (Bumped).
UPDATE: More at Gay Patriot. Also from Jacob Sullum.
ANOTHER UPDATE: A roundup from Andrew Malcolm.
MORE: Some key language.
STILL MORE: Dale Carpenter: A Maximalist Decision, Raising The Stakes. “There are some interesting twists on familiar arguments and, overall, the opinion is a pretty good compendium of a policy brief for SSM. But my concerns about this decision outweigh what I see as its merits. In reading so far, I think a notable feature of Judge Walker’s decision is its judicial maximalism — a willingness to reach out and decide fundamental constitutional questions not strictly necessary to reach the result. It is also, in maximalist style, filled with broad pronouncements about the essential characteristics of marriage and confident conclusions about social science. This maximalism will make the decision an even bigger target for either the Ninth Circuit or the Supreme Court. If that’s right, it magnifies the potential for unintended and harmful consequences for gay-rights claims even beyond the issue of marriage. Think of a possible anti-SSM version of Bowers v. Hardwick, which had consequences far beyond the constitutional affirmation of sodomy laws.”
Plus, a roundup of Hollywood reactions.
OBAMA ENVOY GETS anti-U.S. tirade from Muslim leader. “Shocked, Hussain who had earlier talked about the Obama administration’s resolve to partner with the Muslim world for winning hearts and minds, shot back: ‘I reject the conspiracy theories that are being floated. At a school of architecture, I would expect people to look forward, be positive and not get trapped in the past.”’ Good luck with that.
THOUGHTS ON not being a conservative.
ARIZONA SHERIFFS TO THE FEDS: Don’t Sue Us, Police The Border.
COMING SOON: The 2010 Singularity Summit.
MORE THOUGHTS on longevity vs. “immortality.”
KEITH HENNESSEY RESPONDS TO TIM GEITHNER: Comparing Obama economics to Clinton economics.
A BUNCH OF new releases on Blu-Ray.
REASON TV: Five Ways The Drug War Hurts Kids.
QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF: Am I A Sim?
MICHAEL TOTTEN: “The Greatest Collection of Nightmares on Earth.”
CHANGE: Maxine Waters On Ethics.
IS HIGHER EDUCATION A WASTE OF MONEY? An interview with Andrew Hacker, author of Higher Education?: How Colleges Are Wasting Our Money and Failing Our Kids—and What We Can Do About It. “Imagine that, $50,000 a year. Thats over what the typical American worker makes. Now, why is that? Its because colleges know they can keep raising their prices as theyve been doing, well ahead of inflation, and the students will come and take out loans. In other words, our colleges are being really built on the indebtedness that young people, starting at the age of 18, are signing papers that they are going to live with until they’re 38. We regard this as totally immoral.” It’s also unsustainable, something I discussed in this column in June, and will be saying more about soon.
MEGAN MCARDLE: “I’m glad to hear that Michael Bloomberg has suddenly discovered that there are some restrictions on the government’s ability to dictate the uses of private property.”
MORE SYMPATHETIC, REHABILITATIVE COVERAGE OF MICHAEL BELLESILES, this time in the New York Times. I suspect that a scholar who wrote a fraudulent history suggesting that abortion shouldn’t be a constitutional right — relying, perhaps, on “records” that turned out to have been destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake — wouldn’t get the same treatment . . . .
NEW PJTV POLL TRACKS TEA PARTY SUPPORTERS. “Conducted for us by Pulse Opinion Research, these are ‘likely voter’ polls using methods licensed from Rasmussen. 1000 voters were surveyed on the first go-round with a sampling error of +/- 3% . . . . Interesting: 54 percent supported the Tea Party Movement strongly or somewhat. The two categories of support were equally divided. Only 41% opposed the TPM (13% strongly, 28% somewhat). Startling: 31 percent of self-identified Democrats support the TPM either strongly or somewhat.” This is perhaps less surprising in light of the blowout victory for Missouri’s anti-ObamaCare referendum.
Plus, some PJTV discussion from Bill Whittle, Scott Ott, and Vik Rubenfeld.
PROFESSOR BAINBRIDGE ON politics and law-school hiring networks.
LEONARD DAVID: A Real Mess in Orbit: Space Junk to Hang Around Longer Than Expected. “Space junk continues to clutter the friendly cosmic skies, posing threats to satellites and spacecraft, with scientists working to identify which bits of orbital rubbish to pluck from the heavens first. But a new study suggests they’re fighting an uphill battle. New research on changes in the Earth’s upper atmosphere suggests space debris could remain in orbit for longer than expected.”
IN THE MAIL: From Catherine Hall, Days of Grace: A Novel.
POLITIZOID: Nancy Pelosi On The Benefits Of Unemployment.
REASON TV: The Case For Cameras In The Supreme Court.