I previously posted about the astounding news that English professors are more likely to be left-leaning than otherwise. There’s been a fair amount of debate and anger about why conservatives are under-represented in academia. Some conservatives have accused universities of unfair hiring practices, while others have suggested that conservative thinkers avoid academia due to an […]
Archive | Politics
Minority President
Lilly Goren, contributing to the under-appreciated, but ever-interesting Britannica Blog, helps us figure out whether America is more likely to elect a woman or a black man as president. How does she do it? She collects and assesses historical data from the only really important sources that ever existed: Movies and Television Series. Her findings tell […]
Shocking Truth
I’m as surprised as you are, but I returned the Sony Reader and asked for my money back. Amazing but true. In other news, I’ve just started reading “The Mighty and the Almighty,” by Madeleine Albright. Regardless of her politics, I think we can all agree that she’s smart, that she’s thought a lot about […]
Sexualization
Via Seed (link to Seed on main weeklyrob page), I read recently about a review of academic literature on the response of girls and women to “sexualization†(Link). [Apparently, the link is gone from Seed, so here it is elsewhere.] Sexualization is never actually defined in this article, because the writer can’t seem to follow […]
More Libertarian Paternalism
A while back, I posted about Libertarian Paternalism, as espoused by Cass Sunstein, professor of Jurisprudence at the University of Chicago Law School. Well, there’s a bit of a debate going on, for anyone who’s interested in this kind of thing. (Am I the only one?) First, Becker and Posner (an economist and a judge, […]
Gattaca
The President calls for a ban on genetic discrimination. (Link) I betcha this will be a very important topic of our future world. As the (very short) article says, banning this kind of discrimination would have at least two effects: 1. It would eliminate the fear that people might have about getting checked for possible […]
Condi’s Counselor
John Bellinger, the top lawyer at the State Department, is guest blogging this week at Opinio Juris. (Link) Bellinger will write a post a day (allowing comments from the masses), followed by posts by “Guest Respondents,†who will comment on what he said. If this isn’t a sign of the power of blogging today, then […]
Polls
Several blogs around town noted that Pelosi’s approval ratings are lower than Bush’s. (His are 45%, hers are 43%). Volokh points out, correctly, that everyone knows Bush. Therefore, practically everyone who didn’t approve of him, actively disapproved: 54%. On the other hand, there are a lot of people who neither approved nor disapproved of Pelosi. […]
Guide to Political Interference in Science
I got it from Seed (my favorite little science mag, linked on the left of the main page). (link to guide)
Freedom to Lie
Ok, first of all, alert readers may notice that it’s been more than a week since my last post. I’ve been house-sitting, away from my computer, and sick with a cold. As you can see, I subscribe to the shotgun approach to excuses, but coincidentally, they all happen to be true. Onwards: David Duke made […]