HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE SPREADSHEET.

EMBARRASSING WIDENER:

A word needs to be said about the mocking laughter that instantly erupted from the law students in the audience. Presumably, that sound meant we are smart and you are dumb. Where did they learn to treat a guest at their law school — Widener Law School — with such disrespect? They hooted O’Donnell down, and she never got a chance to explain her point. What does that say about the climate for debate in law schools? Not only did they feel energized to squelch the guest they politically opposed, but they felt sure of their own understanding of the law.

I’ve been studying law myself since 1978, and I still puzzle over things and try to work my way through problems. If a speaker at my school makes a statement that sounds outlandish to me — me with 32 years of studying law — I may display a puzzled expression or a smile, but I hear the person out and entertain the possibility that he has a point and that even if the point is wrong, I will have learned some new perspective on the ways of being wrong or how another human being’s mind works. I try to create that atmosphere in the classroom.

What is the atmosphere at Widener? Is there no intellectual curiosity? No love of debate? No grasp of how complex constitutional law problems can be?

Well, we can only judge by what we’ve seen. Meanwhile, Cornell lawprof William Jacobson comments: “A literal reading of O’Donnell’s comments reflects that she was correct, but of course, the press and the blogosphere don’t want a literal reading, they want a living, breathing reading which comports with their preconceived notions.”

The Constitution stands for things that are good. The things that we want are good. Therefore, the Constitution stands for what we want. QED. How can those dumb wingnuts not understand this simple logic?

Meanwhile, I agree that the O’Donnell focus is a deliberate distraction. But I also think it’s important to use this opportunity — like the Sarah Palin “1773” brouhaha — to point out that the credentialed gentry class isn’t nearly as smart, and certainly isn’t as well-educated, as it thinks it is. Because, you know, it isn’t.

Perhaps Widener law students can’t be expected to understand constitutional doctrine like Wisconsin or Cornell law professors. But they can be expected to avoid showing their ignorance through ill-mannered displays. One of the underappreciated virtues of good manners is that they help you to avoid making an ass of yourself when you are not as smart as you think you are.

UPDATE: Not so smart: WaPo/AP Caught Revising the O’Donnell Story Without Issuing a Correction. “I ran a document comparison in word between the original text and every paragraph is completely rewritten.”

LOW TESTOSTERONE increases heart death risk? But does this mean that hormone replacement would help? Not necessarily.

FASTER, PLEASE: Experimental Drug Preserves Memory in Rodents.

An experimental drug developed by researchers at the University of Edinburgh reverses age-related memory decline in mice, returning their brains to a more youthful state of cognitive function. The compound is designed to dampen the production of glucocorticoids, stress hormones that are thought to damage the brain’s learning and memory centers over time.

“What’s most surprising is that even short-term inhibition was able to reverse memory loss in old mice,” says Jonathan Seckl, a professor of molecular medicine who was involved in the research. “I don’t think people had realized this was so reversible. It takes [the animals] back to being relatively young.”

The researchers hope to develop equivalent human therapies and are now more extensively studying the safety of a closely related compound in animals. They aim to begin human testing within a year.

Did I say “faster, please?” I believe that I did.

MORE ON-THE-GROUND ELECTION COVERAGE From DaTechGuy. From the video:

Me: What would you like to say to those people not only in this country but all across the country republicans and conservatives who are thinking: “It’s looking good and we can ease off a little?

Hughey Woodring: Get out and volunteer and get the word out!

Me: Is there any other way to win an election without working just right till the end?

Hughey: No!

He’s right. Don’t get cocky. Much more at the link.

CHANGE: Bill Haslam now favors gun rights. “Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Haslam told a Nashville meeting of the Tennessee Firearms Association that if lawmakers abolished the handgun-carry permit system and allowed people to go armed without permits, he would sign it into law.”

SayUncle comments: “And to think, just a few years ago, he was a member of the most powerful anti-gun lobby in the country. They grow up so fast.”

PROFILE: The Underemployed College Graduate.

CARDIOLOGY NEWS: Dabigatran – A New Oral Anticoagulant is Approved by the FDA. “A new era of non-valvular atrial fibrillation management has arrived.”

WILL GM SELL 60,000 Chevy Volts built in 2012? Maybe their partner the feds can contrive to raise gas prices and help out. Then again, it’s an election year . . . .

A PLUG-IN EV CONVERSION KIT for the Chevy Equinox. “Amp’s methodology is to stand on the shoulder of giants: take vehicles designed by other companies and make them electric.”

RAND SIMBERG: What NASA Can Learn From The Rescued Chilean Miners.

IN THE MAIL: The Faith and Values of Sarah Palin.

FRANK J. FLEMING: Republicans Kind of Suck … Which Is Why They Will Win Huge in November. As always, Frank J. explains things in a way no one else can. Or, at least, does.

RICK BOUCHER’S DONOR-FUNDED SUVS AND WHY IT’S GOOD TO BE IN CONGRESS: “In what other job can you get lobbyists, industry groups and special interests to help you buy a top-of-the line automobile? Or fly you to Vail during ski season?” Boucher’s defending his seat from a challenge by Morgan Griffith. I don’t know much about him, but he probably doesn’t have a donor-bought SUV.

VELVET UNDERGROUND DRUMMER MOE TUCKER ON why she is a Tea Partier:

My family was damn poor when I was growing up on Long Island. There were no food stamps, no Medicaid, no welfare. If you were poor, you were poor. You didn’t have a TV, you didn’t have five pairs of shoes, you didn’t have Levi’s, you didn’t have a phone; you ate Spam, hot dogs and spaghetti. We all survived! I am not against food stamps, welfare or Medicaid, if only they would oversee these programs properly!

I am also against the government taking over the student loan program, car companies, bailouts and the White House taking control of the census (what the hell is that all about?); [about] any First Lady telling (I know, I know, “suggesting to”) us what to eat, the mayor of New York City declaring “no salt” (screw you, pal!), the mayor/city commissioners of Anytown, U.S.A. declaring you can’t fly a flag, can’t say the Pledge of Allegiance and can’t sing the National Anthem. I’m against a President dismissing any and all who dare to disagree. . . .

I am against the government now thinking about bailing out unions. The unions made the contracts which include insane pensions; the U.S. government didn’t. I’m against the government closing down offshore drilling in the Gulf with one hand and with the other giving (lending?) Brazil money to help them do way deeper offshore drilling — rather curious. I’m against a government that will not defend our borders; and on and on and on.

Read the whole thing. And “Screw you, pal!” is the perfect response to a lot of nanny-state bossiness.

UPDATE: Reader Don Zeiter writes:

I think you should have pointed out the most important point she made.

“No country can provide all things for all citizens. There comes a point where it just isn’t possible, and it’s proven to be a failure everywhere it’s been tried.”

Those two sentences encapsulate why the Tea Party took off and the difference in thinking between the people in D.C. and us rubes in the rest of the country. It’s the difference between those supporting Christine O’Donnell and those supporting Chris Coons. Heck, it’s a concept that escaped George W. Bush and every president back to Calvin Coolidge.

Indeed.

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Blogging Through Georgia.

NOEMIE EMERY: They’re Not Elites, They’re Just Wrong. “There are words to describe this, but ‘bright’ is not one of them. This meritocracy has created an ‘elite’ without merit. In everyone’s eyes but its own.” Our gentry class is more credentialed than educated.

POLITICO: Early vote a bad omen for Harry Reid. “In Reno’s Washoe County and Las Vegas’s Clark County, Republican turnout was disproportionately high over the first three voting days, according to local election officials. The two counties together make up 86 percent of the state’s voter population.”

JONAH GOLDBERG: “It took 410 days to build the Empire State Building; four years to erect the Golden Gate Bridge. The Pentagon took two years; the Alaska Highway just nine months. These days it takes longer to build an overpass.”

CHANGE: Bedbugs Thwart School Field Trip.

A ROUNDUP FROM the kid-lit blogosphere.

CHANGE: More than a dozen House Democrats now want Pelosi out as Speaker. Well, instead of rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, they’re talking about switching captains. But, post-iceberg, they’d be better off thinking about lifeboats. Meanwhile, Steny Hoyer has his own problems.

PJTV: Trifecta: The Presidential Candidate Of Your Dreams?

CREDENTIALED, NOT EDUCATED: More on the left’s Tea Party ignorance. The Boston Tea Party, that is.

PHIL “WHO CARES ABOUT THE CONSTITUTION?” HARE is now trailing by 7 points in Illinois. “The Schilling-Hare poll’s sample of 417 likely voters backed Barack Obama in 2008, 47 to 40 percent. But this year, they disapprove of his job performance, 52 to 45 percent.That’s reason for Hare to worry.” Here’s Schilling’s website.