15 Apr 2005
Judicial Activism and Intellectual Consistency

That's the title of great post over at Dispatches from the Culture Wars. It quotes extensively from Dahlia Lithwick's review of the book Men in Black: How the Supreme Court is Destroying America in Slate. Here's a short sample:

How many times in the last few months did you hear someone argue that Judge Greer should have taken guardianship away from Michael Schiavo and give it to the parents so they could decide to keep her alive. But doing so would have required him inventing new law that was not part of the Florida law. Under Florida law, in a dispute over what a non-responsive patient would want done in a situation where they cannot voice their current wishes, the court is required to take guardianship of the patient themselves and determine if there is clear and convincing evidence of the patient's prior stated wishes. Judge Greer did that. He did not rule that Michael was her guardian and therefore he could pull the plug if he wanted to, he ruled that Terri herself had expressed her wish not to be kept alive in such a circumstance. If he had ignored that, refused to take court guardianship and enforce her own wishes, and then given authority over it to the parents, he would have been doing something the law simply did not allow. He would have been doing exactly what they pretend to complain about in other cases - ignoring the letter of the law to ensure a desired outcome.

Go read the whole thing. The religious right has apparently taken Ralph Waldo Emerson's famous dictum about a foolish consistency being the hobgoblin of little minds quite to heart.

00:00 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

A Quiz

in Flash format, that you've got to see to believe: What Dog Are You? Just click the 'Game' tab in the upper left, or the link to the quiz in the right column and you'll see why this made my 'Technology' section.

via Letter from Hardscrabble Creek

00:00 /Technology | 2 comments | permanent link

Man to Defend Cow Chip Throwing Title

Well, it wasn't for the World Championship or anything, but in 1973 or 74 I witnessed the Governor of Texas (Briscoe, if I recall correctly) engage in such a contest at a festival in San Antonio. I remember practically dying of laughter as I heard him address the crowd describing how to select the correct piece of dried bovine dung:

Ya gotta get'em when they're just right. If ya get'em when they're too wet, they stick to your hand, and if ya get'em too dry, they break when they fly!

I thought that this was the perfect sport for politicians - the get lots of professional practice, after all!

AP - Fire Chief James Pratt returns Saturday to defend his title as champion of the World Champion Cow Chip Throwing Contest. People from across the country and from some foreign countries will be on hand for the 36th annual competition.

(link) [Yahoo! News: Top Stories]

00:00 /Humor | 0 comments | permanent link

Cool pigs are porkier pigs

The headline certainly speaks truth, but the proposed solution(s) are a bit much. The easiest way to keep the little porkers comfy is to just let them roam the pastures and woodlots - which is what they were designed to do, instead of crowding them into completely enclosed barns and spending beau coup bucks on elaborate cooling floors and air conditioning to get them to chill. Not only is this a more natural and humane way to raise pigs, it's much more energy efficient: no oil powered cooling system needed - a nice shade tree will do just fine.

Dutch-sponsored researcher Thuy Huynh has discovered that pigs get stressed if they become too warm. They go and lie on the slatted floor, wallow in urine, eat less and grow less as well. With cooling systems, such as floor cooling, sprinkling or water baths, the pigs remain cool and grow better.

(link) [Science Blog]

00:00 /Agriculture | 0 comments | permanent link