The lede of this TechnologyReview.com article says enough:

This month, NTT Labs, the research and development wing of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, plans to start conducting field trials for a radical new "human area networking" technology called RedTactont that uses the naturally-occurring electrical fields of human skin to transmit data.

Apple's new operating system, nicknamed "Tiger," is officially on sale today, and I already have it installed. Let me tell you: it's a treat.

It has numerous more features and tweaks then I could list here, so I'll concentrate on two particularly superb ones, I've found myself using with some frequency.

The first is Spotlight, Apple's new searching utility. As can be seen in the figure below, Spotlight is activated by clicking it's magnifying glass in the screen's upper-right corner. Type in a word or words, and Spotlight finds every file with that word in its title or inside the file itself, and it displays the top several hits, organized by file type. But get this. Spotlight also searches the text of e-mail messages, IM logs, photo meta information, etc. etc. And all Spotlight searches are nearly instant.



The second feature I wish to highlight is Dashboard. It allows a computer user to keep dozens of useful and repetitive functions available at the press of one key. Functions, such as address book, calendar, world clocks, stock prices, stickies, weather, etc., appear as graphical widgets that can be organized on the screen. These widgets are all in the same application layer and normally hidden from the user until he presses F12, and then everything goes darker and the widgets pop up on top of everything else. In the figure you can see some of the widgets I have open on my Mac:

Open-blogging on DC until May 11. Courtesy law finals...

Here are some of the significant legislative developments in Indiana from the last several days:

First, after a no-vote earlier in the day, the Indiana House voted at 11:36 p.m. in favor of enacting Daylight Savings Time in the state (51-46). One must wonder how Mitch Daniels persuaded those two votes to switch in such a short span. Either he made some sort of political threat to the switch-overs or he kissed some serious butt. I suspect the latter. Now the Federal Department of Transportation will hold hearings on whether certain parts or all of the state should change to the Central time zone.

The General Assembly also passed a measure increasing the speed limit on Indiana's rural highways, and it awaits Daniels' inevitable signature. The bill would raise the speed limit on certain stretches of interstate from 65 to 70, on some four-lane divided highways from 55 to 60, and on certain divided and limited access highways from 55 to 65. Though the law would authorize the increases to take effect July 1, the state must first conduct road review studies, which could take a few months.

Finally, the Indianapolis city council voted 18 to 11 against a measure that would have banned private employers from discriminating against employees based on their sexual orientation. The proposal would have excluded churches and certain non-profit entities from its effect. Nothing quite like a little pro-discrimination to bring our city council together.

Now, even as an ardent PC user, and as much as it pains me to admit it to Luke, I have to admit that I use Apple's iTunes to play mp3s. I can't help it; it's too pretty. One of my favorite features is the Smart Playlists, especially the Top 25 Most Played one that comes pre-loaded when you install the program. Is anyone else obsessed with this? I hope it's not just me. I find it very interesting to discover which songs I've listened to the most over the past year. For example, did you know I've listened to New Slang by The Shins 98 times since November 21st, when I first downloaded it? It's definitely No. 1 with a bullet on the list, followed by Margaret Yang's Theme from the Rushmore Soundtrack, Here Comes Your Man by The Pixies, and Such Great Heights by the Postal Service. Anyone else care to share their top songs?

I found it unusually hard to find something to blog about today. Until, that is, I thought I'd stop and watch CNN for a bit. You know, see how the "other half" lives. (According to the ratings, it's probably close to the "other quarter".

The program in question was Judy Woodruff's "Inside Politics", just your typical television pundit offering mindless analysis in place of actual journalism. But I'm fine with that. It's on at 3:30 p.m., so I'm not expecting gold. What made me laugh out loud was their little segment they've started recently called "Inside the Blogs".

Now, get ready to call me a misgynostic pig. Ok?

The two women they have running this segment are utterly and completely devoid of any possibility of coherent thought. One of them is from Australia, or some other non-English speaking country in the southern hemisphere, so you can't understand her at all. The other isn't even worthy of the title of "info-babe"; nothing of what came out of her mouth could somehow be construed as informative

But aside from the people they have running this segment, the whole concept upon which it is built fails to understand and appreciate the fundamental premise of blogging: that there is a direct, unencumbered, unfiltered exchange of information between the blogger and the reader. CNN puts these women on television to pick out what blogs they like, and then to pick out what parts of what blogs they like, and then to partially quote from what parts of what blogs they like. After that evisceration of text, they then proceed to do what members of the media are trained to do: tell us what it all means.

Oh thank you, CNN! I was scared of all those words on the screen!

It destroys the purpose of blogs if all people get out of them is a 2-minute, soundbite-filled coffee-talk segment between tweedle-dum and tweedle-moron. We don't need pundits to tell us what bloggers mean, or what blogs are worth reading today. The fact that CNN and Co. don't get it is shown by their falling viewership numbers, their inability to dictate what is and is not news, and the loss of their monopoly over information.

They are trying to capitalize on the success of blogs, while maintaining their disdain for the premise upon which all blogs are based: that a one need not be in possession of a journalism degree to able to have an opinion.

I have already written a post in January regarding the REAL ID Act, in particular arguing that making it illegal for immigrants to obtain drivers licenses does little to secure the United States against a future terrorist attack. Although not all of DC's readers agreed with me, I understand the argument that illegal immigrants shouldn't be allowed to have US drivers licenses. However, several other problems about the REAL ID Act remain. While the key feature of the REAL ID Act is the denial of driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, the act itself is a piece of bad policy.

First of all, this act is a nightmare for state governments. The REAL ID Act would require state governments to set up new computer systems for issuing secure driver's licenses. It would require them to get security clearance for state Department of Motor Vehicle employees. It would require them to verify, with the issuing agency, the validity of each document an applicant offers for a license. And yes, the Real ID Act would require motor vehicle employees in all 50 states to verify the immigration status of applicants. If it passes, the Real ID Act could cause delays in motor vehicle registry offices as states scramble to meet the new requirements. Residents of states that fail to comply could find that their licenses are useless as IDs at airports, grounding people unless they have passports to use as identification. And to top it off, it is unfunded by the federal government.

Second, The Real ID Act also demands more proof from asylum seekers. Government officials could ask for "corroborating evidence" from the country of origin, including written documents. This is overkill. Many victims of torture and abuse are unlikely to be able to provide such evidence, especially if they come from countries where law enforcement officials are blind to, or complicit in, abuses. Do you think Milosevic wrote notes to Kosovars? "Dear Mr. _____, we are going to kill you." Supporters of the REAL ID Act argue that this is to prevent false claims of asylum, but under current law this hardly ever happens. People who claim persecution and apply for asylum generally either enter the country legally or make the claim as they face deportation. If they have a legal visa, there is no reason to detain them, and if they face deportation, they are already in custody.

The REAL ID Act also grants judges the ability to deny asylum based on subjective reasoning such as lack of eye contact or what the judge deems as bad attitude. Additionally, if a person could not tell the airport security guard or person who detained them why and how they were being mistreated in their home country but later tells the judge, then the judge can dismiss their claim of asylum. For example, if a woman was raped by soldiers in her home country and didn't or couldn't describe the rape to the person who detained her but then told it to the judge, then her claim could be dismissed. The bill also allows the government to deport people back to their home country even if their asylum claim is currently under consideration.

The bill would also hurt long-time permanent residents: The Real ID Act would make noncitizens, including long-time permanent residents, deportable for past lawful speech or associations. This strips from immigrants First Amendment rights they are entitled to and that are cherished by us all. It would, for example, permit the deportation of a legal permanent resident who innocently makes an online contribution to a tsunami relief fund that is a subsidiary of an organization in a Tamil Tiger-controlled region of Sri Lanka.

Additionally, the REAL ID Act would permit more secret hearings and trials and cut back judicial review of deportation orders: The Real ID Act would broadly expand the restrictions on judicial review imposed by laws enacted in 1996 that gave rise to in absentia deportation trials, closed-door secret-evidence deportation trials, and video-conference deportation trials where the judge is in one city and the alien in another.

Third, the REAL ID Act grants the Department of Homeland Security the ability to waive all federal, state and local law in order to expedite the building fences and other physical barriers at our borders. In addition to any of the carefully crafted environmental laws, DHS could also waive labor, safety, hiring, and discrimination laws.

Also, under the Real ID Act, private bounty hunters would be given access to confidential law enforcement files on noncitizens. It is already difficult to determine the status of an immigrant in the United States, with the myriad documents that can indicate lawful presence. It is even harder to determine whether a specific individual is in deportation proceedings, and to determine with certainty the identity of an individual suspected of being in the United States illegally. The Real ID Act would give broad powers to untrained and bounty-driven civilians to stalk and arrest immigrants, even when they meet the terms of their bonds, solely on the bounty hunter's opinion that they might flee.

The United States needs true immigration reform, not this sham of a "national security" bill. By attaching this bill to emergencing spending funds for troops in Iraq and for Tsunami Aid, a small segment of the GOP is trying to bully the rest of Congress into passing a measure that requires debate and editing. Suspending habeas corpus, encouraging bounty hunters and making our laws hostile to those seeking asylum is not even a close start to making our country safe from future terrorist attacks.

I'm talking about cell phones... According to this CBS News article, people are increasingly making fake phone calls on their cells. Why? For an excuse to being late to a meeting at work, to brag about some new job you got... you name it.

Seriously. These people should be ashamed.

Thomas Friedman says George H. W. Bush (41) should be the U.N. ambassador, instead of John Bolton...

Paul Rusesabagina, the hotel manager who saved over 1000 lives during the Rwanda genocide, as depicted in the movie Hotel Rwanda, spoke at Depauw University in Greencastle, IN last night. Numerous of my law classmates and I were in attendance.

Mr. Rusesabagina ran through the events to which he was a party during the Rwandan genocide and highlighted some differences between the real events and the movie's depiction. Overall, the two seemed remarkably similar.

His speech highlighted the course of genocide-- usually beginning with forced displacement from homes, compared the Rwandan genocide to what is happening today in the Sudan, highlighted weaknesses in the application of the Geneva Convention's call for nations to stop genocide in other nations, and advocated an approach by the West "similar to the approach in South Africa" including both pressure and diplomacy.

A handout authored by Rusesabagina and Don Cheadle, the actor that portrayed him in the movie, stated that by conservative estimates 200,000 people have died in Sudan, and called on us to prevent a Hotel Darfur.

Find out more by going to SafeDarfur.org

Ariana Huffington on the left... Maureen Dowd on the right...

It's everybody's favorite Indiana political topic: Daylight Savings Time (DST)!

Don't worry, I'm not going to drag forth the in's and out's of the DST debate again here on the blog, but I just had a couple thoughts.

On Wednesday the Indiana senate will engage in a close vote on whether or not to move the state to DST. If it makes it past the senate, the house is likely to pass it, and Governor Daniels has already promised to sign it.

But not so fast! Congress is getting in the action too. They are debating a bill to expand DST by 2 months-- would begin in the first week of March and end in the last week of November. That would leave only 3 months not on DST. Not your grandpa's "summer time" now is it?

You know, why not just move the whole year onto DST? With 9 months with additional sunlight in the evening, how happy are we to be plunged into darkness in the 3 winter months, when I might add, it's already darker? This trend highlights the overall ridiculousness of DST.

Yet, I still support Indiana's adoption of it. Go figure.

Chris at Musings of a Domer has a good round-up of some positive developments in Sudan.

Back in December, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a group of marines that the companies making armor for the army's humvees were pumping it out as quickly as possible.

According to a GAO report released last week, this assertion was false. Both the assembly company and the armor production company could have ramped up production but did not do so because the army was pacing orders from them.

Either Rumsfeld knew the truth and lied, he was lied to by an inferior official, or he didn't know the truth and just made it up (most likely). It seems to me that the Defense Secretary should know the state of our army.

In a past post I said would delay my call for Rumsfeld to retire until I knew the full truth regarding the armor. That time is now.

And as the marines of company E can attest, the effects of armor shortage are all too real.

... is that the people polled have to know what they think, for the overall results to be meaningful. Quite often this is not the case.

Take, for instance, this WaPo-ABC poll of American Catholics. These findings seem incongruent:

- 80% believe the new Pope will chart a conservative theological course
- 73% said they are "enthusiastic" regarding Benedict
- 52% believe the Church is out of touch with American Catholics

Of course there is a way to explain the apparent discrepancy, but I'll leave that up to your imaginations.

[thanks to EmperorDan for the link]

Today is the Blue & Gold Game, Notre Dame's annual well-attended spring scrimmage. This will be the students, alumni, and other ND football fans first chance to see new recruits in action, the team veterans showing their improvements, as well as Charlie Weis's coaching.

Notre Dame will be better this year than either of the previous two years. Will we win the national championship? No. Will we make a BCS bowl? Maybe. Of course I cannot be sure of Weis' stuff, but his actions and words thus far give reason for confidence. With next year's recruiting class being predicted early-on as a top 10 class, the near future could bode even better.

And thus our opponents shall have their reckoning. Let each Fighting Irish victory serve as a painful reminder to them of how ignorant and wrong they were... I speak of newspaper columnists like Michael Wilbon of the Washington Post and Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star. I speak of bloggers like Daniel P., ND administrators like Chandra Johnson and Monk Malloy, benedict arnolds like Aaron Taylor, everyone at ESPN, and I speak of the thousands of other people around the country who WANT to see Notre Dame fail. These people don't understand greatness. It confounds them, because it is so foreign to them. It scares them.

Well after ND gets through with them, their fear will be quite understandable.

This nation's real conservatives are beginning to make themselves heard. And they are poised to challenge evangelicals (the political affiliation, not the religious descriptor) for the heart of the Republican Party.

The difference is easily explained. Conservatives have a vision for government-- its structure, its distribution of power, and its role in people's lives. They also have a strong tie to tradition and traditional values. They realize that their vision of government is best prepared to protect those values.

Evangelicals, on the other hand, share many of their beliefs on traditional values, but they are willing to contort the government to achieve their goals. They don't understand things like fiscal discipline, states' rights, and certainly not the judiciary.

Charles Krauthammer, one of a certain DC guest blogger's favorite columnists, looks at the latest round of Republican poor attitude towards the judiciary.

The Senate judiciary committee voted along partisan lines yesterday to advance Bush's latest two conservative judicial nominees and the the Senate Dems have already vowed a filibuster. The board is set and next week the battle shall be afoot.

Disappointingly Senate majority leader Bill Frist has agreed to provide a minute videotaped speech for a televised event called "Justice Sunday" being held by several Christian Conservative groups in an effort to portray Democrats' filibustering of Bush's nominees as discriminating against Christianity.

I firmly oppose any rhetoric or actions on either side of the aisle that seek to politically polarize this nation along religious lines. And I'm not the only one.

Senator Pryor's thoughts echo my own. As quoted by the Arkansas Democrat Gazette:

Their tactics threaten "to make the followers of Jesus Christ just another special-interest group," Pryor said in a conference call with Arkansas reporters. "It is presumptuous of them to think that they represent all Christians in America, even to say they represent all evangelical Christians," added Pryor, 42, a first-term Democrat who has considered himself an evangelical Christian for 25 years.

Evangelical no longer describes a religious attitude. Now it describes a political affiliation.

Sony, the proponent of the Blu-ray spec, and Toshiba the propent behind the HD-DVD spec, are in negotiations to create a unified next generation DVD standard. Let's hope they succeed. If they don't, it will mean higher prices of the media and the media players in the next few years.

"The unexamined life isn't worth living."

- Aristotle

I went to the Cake concert in Champaign, IL Wednesday night. It was terrific, as expected. Here's a good example of Cake lyrics:


We know of an ancient radiation
That haunts dismembered constellations,
A faintly glimmering radio station.
While frank sinatra sings stormy weather,
The flies and spiders get along together,
Cobwebs fall on an old skipping record.

Beyond the suns that guard this roof,
Beyond your flowers of flaming truths,
Beyond your latest ad campaigns,
An old man sits collecting stamps
In a room all filled with chinese lamps.
He saves what others throw away.
He says that he’ll be rich some day.

We know of an ancient radiation
That haunts dismembered constellations,
A faintly glimmering radio station.

We know of an ancient radiation
That haunts dismembered constellations,
A faintly glimmering radio station.
While frank sinatra sings stormy weather,
The flies and spiders get along together,
Cobwebs fall on an old skipping record

- Cake, "Frank Sinatra"

I find myself to be very fortunate to be reading C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity at the same time as the election of Benedict XVI. Although not Catholic, C.S. Lewis helped me to understand the core of Catholicism, faith and prayer. That is why every time I read a column or editorial or story expressing disappointment in the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to be Pope, I want to scream. There have been several columns and op-eds this week saying that the Catholic Church needs to be more liberal and open to change, especially regarding birth control, abortion, stem cell research and other important issue. These same pieces say that the Church is out of touch with today's society and that is why Church attendance is declining. In today's Washington Post, Richard Cohen, urges Catholic dissidents to be forceful in their opposition to Church authority. In response to all of this, I challenge those who want to "liberalize" the Church to understand Catholicism as not just a religion but also as a faith.

Several people, Catholics and non-Catholics, feel that the Catholic Church is unrealistic in its ban on contraceptives, abortion, stem cell research and euthanasia, to name a few. I join Pope Benedict XVI in his fight against moral relativism. I believe that when people say they are a Catholic, they should act like Catholics. To quote Michael Novak from Lucas' post yesterday, "When all opinions are considered subjective, no moral ground remains for protesting against lies and injustices." Those who call for the Church to be realistic need to realize that faith itself is not realistic. It is not realistic for the son of God to allow himself to be crucified for the sins of humanity, but that is what the Catholic faith teaches and that is what I, as a person of faith believe. It is not realistic for a person to rise from the dead three days after being buried, but that is the foundation of the Christian faith.

Today's society understands little regarding the purpose or meaning of faith. We are so caught up on being happy now and finding happiness that will last forever on earth. We have become selfish, calling the Church's teachings unrealistic. It is not unrealistic, it is called sacrifice. When push comes to shove, many times we don't want to sacrifice what we want now for what God wants. We expect to "get something" by going to Church. But that is not what the Catholic faith teaches.

I can only speak for myself, but I believe in my faith not to find happiness on earth, but for a chance of happiness after this life on earth. I believe that Church is about bringing the grace that God has granted us throughout the week and sharing it with others, and if I get something out of attending Mass, then that is a bonus. Jesus never said that his path was easy or realistic, he said it would be hard, that we may be laughed, that people might turn against us, but he encouraged us to stay strong. Those who want the Church to loosen its teachings, those who don't want to sacrifice need to look deep in their souls and ask themselves what God calls them to sacrifice each day. The answer is not much.

With complaints regarding Pope Benedict XVI's conservatism and orthodoxy surrounding us, we Catholics need to be reminded of our faith, of our call to sacrifice. Finally, we must remember Jesus' words in the Garden of Gethsemane, "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."

I wrote this post before Kristine's, but Blogger was being lazy and decided not to work. I like to add this to k-lam's well-said thoughts.

A liberal pope is a bad idea.

It's nothing against liberalism, folks. It's just the nature of liberalism.

The whole point of the philosophy of liberals, as this conservative understands it, is that the laws, policies, and beliefs of the past should never be set in stone. That is, what worked in the past may not be applicable in the future.

This is all well and good, if what you're trying to organize and administer is a government, a university, or even a society. But when we're dealing with the papacy, we're talking about the administration of the Catholic Church.

How is it any different? Because the Church's mission, above all else, is to find and live the Truth of Christ. The search for Truth should not be "liberal", and for that matter, it should not be "conservative" either. It should be honest and faithful.

The Church can, however, be "conservative" in the sense that Truth does not change over time. Christ's teachings will never become obsolete or unworkable, and that is the whole point of a religion that promises "eternal" life. In this way, we should always conserve that which is good and righteous, not doubt it when society begins to question its usefulness.

Many in the MSM are openly weeping or have resorted to hysterics (cough, Andrew Sullivan, cough) over the election of Benedict XVI. No article can go two sentences without using the terms "arch-conservative", "right-wing hardliner", "reactionary", or over even "neocon" to descrive the former Cardinal Ratzinger. But this zeal to attach political labels to what is most definitely not a political post does great harm to the papacy, and also to reasoned debate.

The rhetoric of liberals is extremely unhelpful in this respect. It should come as no surprise to anyone that the leader of the Catholic Church is faithful to Catholic doctrine. Demanding that the Church "modernize", "accomodate", or "become more relevant" is the wrong way to think and talk about a new pope. If they would only couch their words in terms of searching for Truth insteading of liberalizing the church, they might find people more responsive.

Today, space.com reported that the White House wants to decrease NASA's aeronautics spending over the next few years, despite urgings from the chairman of the House Appropriations science, state, justices and commerce subcommittee that funds be increased. Nevermind that the White House is demanding that NASA figure out a way to not only get back to the moon, but Mars as well. Nevermind that NASA has an integrated partnership with the FAA, constantly doing research and simulations in order to make not only astronauts, but also commercial pilots, as safe as can be. Nevermind that NASA owns some of the most sophisticated, near-landmarked, aeronautics facilities available. Let's cut spending.

But he does have a point that NASA needs to refocus its goals and objectives if it wants to be taken seriously and respected, both in the scientific and political communities.

In an interesting coincidence, this news arrives on the heels of SpaceShipOne inventor Burt Rutan's forecast that commercial spaceflight is not only a possibility in our future, but well within reach before this decade is out. It looks like spaceflight might very well follow in the footsteps of aviation. Last century, it was the adventurous who make flight possible, but the businessmen who made it a market. I believe commercial spaceflight will take a similar path, and just like the presence of the commercial market allowed the government to determine it’s niche in aviation development and regulation, so too may commercial spaceflight allow – or force – NASA to take a step back to determine what its own role will be in the pursuit of science.

A NYT reporter is speculating that defense lawyers may try to get 20th 9/11 hijacker Zacarias Moussaoui off his death sentence, after the terrorist asked the judge that he be excuted.

The judge ruled that Moussaoui was competent to plead guilty, but perhaps his lawyers should now claim that the very fact that he is asking for death is evidence that he is not mentally capable.

Silly reporter! We already decided that the right to die is a good thing, earlier this month. Money quote from Andy McCarthy over on the Corner, on the NYT's theory of choice:

"So, follow the logic: Expression of the supposed choice to die, if purportedly made by an innocent but inconvenient person, based on “proof” of the most suspect nature, must at all costs be deferred to on the theory that it is a personal and thoughtful decision. To the contrary, expression of the choice to die by a guilty terrorist, proved indisputably in an unambiguous written assertion by the person himself, is actually evidence that the person is “mentally unfit” on the theory that, well, who in his right mind would make such a personal choice to die? "

Apparently Sen. Pat Leahy only opposes the abolition of the filibuster when it helps his party.

At least Sen. Robert Byrd is being consistent. He supported the filibuster when he used it to stall civil rights legislation, and he supports it still. Good job, Bob!

DATELINE: NICEA, 325 A.D.
News Analysis

Claudius Heresy

The Catholic Church today has struck a bold new path at the Council of Nicea, one that Pope Sylverser said would enable Christians to better understand and worship the Lord. However, some moderate theologians are concerned that the hard-line, ultra-conservative approach of Sylvester and some other bishops will alienate the laity.

"I'm concerned," said Fr. Richard McBrien, an esteemed theology professor at Gaul University.

"I really thought we should reach out more, you know? Try to understand the Arians and not make them feel unwelcome."

One of the controversies concerned the two natures of Jesus Christ: human and divine. Official church teaching is that this dual nature is dogma, but other Catholics and their opinions have seemingly now been left out in the cold.

"I'm so disappointed. I just don't understand why we have to write this in stone," lamented Ivana Pagan, 20, a sophomore peace studies major from Tarsus College. Ms. Pagan expressed her discomfort for the decisions made at the council. "I came here to debate, not to be scoled for believing that Simon, Martha, John, and Pontius Pilate were also divine. Who are they to tell me I'm wrong?"

Father McBrien thinks that Ivana's heartbreak is emblematic of the frustration many Catholics feel at the Church's refusal to modernize its belief system.

"Look, why is the Church trying to fight Roman culture? What is so wrong with sacrifices to Neptune? Christ didn't come to Earth to condemn us; he came to liberate! And what's more liberating than the feast of Dionysus?"

A recently conducted focus group, with samples from Syracuse, Alexandria, and Corinth may confirm these fears. In the study, 65% percent of Christians found the concept of one god "too restrictive" or "moderately restrictive". 73% of those surveyed declared the concept of the Holy Spirit "probably false", while only 19% agreed that it was "true" or "probably true".

The poll has a margin of error of +/- 40%

Andreus Sullivanus, a Celtic commentator, agrees with the findings of the poll.
Between sobs, Andreus accused the pope of being a Nazi. (No one in Rome is quite sure what that is exactly. The word may be Sumerian in origin). "The Catholic Church of today is now indistinguishable from that of the former Nero regime," Sullivanus complained. "Heed the warning: free thinkers are to be trampled underfoot, dissenters are to be crucified."

When asked if he felt he might just be over-reacting, Andreus denounced that possiblity as "Wha! WHA!!!"

Most pundits agree that the Council's decisions will have a detrimental effect.
"People should be comfortable coming to Church, be they Gnostics, Arians, Huns, or Bacchanalians," McBrien added, shaking his head. "Drawing lines in the sand like this only drives people away!"

Without making itself more relevant, it seems Catholicism may end up in the ash heap of history, joining its parent religion, Judaism. However, as the number of people calling themselves practicing Catholics steadily dwindles, those who remain keep the faith, so to speak, that eventually the Church will modernize.

Pagan opined, "One day, I'll be able to walk into Church, with my husband and his 4 other wives, and not feel all the congregation staring me down. Once we get a newer, more moderate pope who isn't so reactionary, I'll finally be able to say 'I'm going to my orgy now' and know that my Church accepts me for who I am."

After several days on the blog, I feel I have sufficient data and have thus pulled the poll from the main page. Here are the results:

8% strongly liberal
22% moderately liberal
47% moderately conservative
22% strongly liberal

I will note the following... For the first few days the liberal/conservative ratio remained balanced, but then the conservatives seemed to gain consistently. I suspect voting fraud (a person or two voting multiple times by changing IPs), but I cannot be sure.

I'll have additional polls in the future, as this was kindof fun.

Open blogging time...

This op-ed in the NYTimes, with the sarcastic title Rome's Radical Conservative, says that Benedict XVI does not fit very well the stereotypes ("Panzer Catholic," "God's rotweiler," etc.) that his opponents craft for him. It's a well-informed read.

Further, Pope Benedict XVI, in his first homily as pope, laid out his first openly stated goal: bridge the divide within Christianity. I, for one, would greatly welcome a renewed ecumenicism. Of course, it takes two to tango.

I've added a new blog to the sidebar: Expresso by the Indianapolis Star editorial board. It shows promise, though at this point it lacks the attitude and personality which are essential to a blog's success. I think it may also lack focus, but that will take time to see.

The press in China may not be free, but when Daily Contentions picks up shop and makes the long hop across the Pacific, there will be at least one independent news source in that nation... And it will have photos, I hope.

'New pontiff loyal to Church theology' [WashTimes]

The article itself isn't bad, but the headline is a no-brainer.

As this nice MSNBC article points out, Einstein's discoveries impact our daily lives in many ways we fail to realize. From toothpaste to nuclear energy, he's had his hands on everything. Read the article, I'm serious :-)

We have a new Pope, and it is Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, now Pope Benedict XVI.

This happened only a handful of minutes after I finished the post immediately below. I'll have useful links and thoughts as I have time to post them...

Wikipedia has good info on Ratzinger... (thanks to Daniel)

EWTN has a great page with historical information on the popes... (thanks to Ornelas)

NRO has some great Ratinger quotes... (thanks again to Ornelas)

The text of Pope Benedict XVI's speech:

"Dear brothers and sisters, after the great Pope John Paul II, the cardinals have elected me - a simple, humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord.

"The fact that the Lord can work and act even with insufficient means consoles me, and above all I entrust myself to your prayers.

"In the joy of the risen Lord, trusting in his permanent help, we go forward. The Lord will help us and Mary his very holy mother stands by us."

I will maintain my pledge to not lower DC into the depths of papal speculation. The New York Times, et al., have already gone there to their detriment.

Rather I point to this E.J. Dionne column about Cardinal Ratzinger, not to speculate on his chances of being chosen pope, but to introduce a discussion on the future direction of the Catholic Church. This discussion will only intensify once the new pope has actually been chosen.

Dionne's lede is bold:

ROME -- The words broke like a thunderclap inside St. Peter's Basilica. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, addressing the world's cardinals just hours before they sequestered themselves Monday to choose the next leader of the world's 1 billion Catholics, decided to define this conclave.

"We are moving," he declared, toward "a dictatorship of relativism . . . that recognizes nothing definite and leaves only one's own ego and one's own desires as the final measure."

Cardinal Ratzinger has put the target squarely on secular humanist individualism. The challenge facing the Church and the next pope will be to balance maintaining absolute moral constructs while at the same time being flexible on the structure and means by which the Church conveys its message to the world.

Cell phone companies are positioning themselves to compete with Apple's digital music dominance. The plan is to replace Apple's scheme of downloading songs using the internet to one's computer and then transferring them to your iPod, with a distribution system that downloads songs using the wireless cellular networks to a new class of cell phones.

The advantages of such a scheme would be the flexibility and spontaneity that wireless downloading of songs would allow. The disadvantages would be slower speed, less capacity players, less user-friendly players, and higher price (songs sold this way are expected to be sold between $2-$3).

My prediction: the cell companies' model won't go beyond a niche market at first, but in a few years, expect a multiplicity of wireless devices, including iPods, that take advantage of the emerging everywhere broadband internet that the cellular companies are creating. Also expect some governmental regulation to open up the cellular networks which will be worth boatloads of cash by this time.

I'll preface this post with two points. First, I realize that the chances of there being an American pope are slim to none. Second, I am not familiar enough with any of the American cardinals to make a reasoned argument for any of them personally. Rather, I focus here on the global theological and political concerns of the day.

1. The next pope should be from a nation where Catholicism is stagnating... Africa and South America have booming numbers of Catholics and new priests, and thus they don't need the local ministry of a new pope. JP2 was from Poland and look at the effects he had there. Europe does not have a booming Catholic population and neither does America, as long as you don't count the influx of Catholics from across our southern border.

2. A dangerous spiritual dichotomy is developing in the world: fundamentalism (I don't actually like that term, but nothing else works right now) versus secularism. In Europe this battle takes the form of lapsed Christians versus Muslims, in a fight for the hearts and spirits of the populace.

In America, where mainline protestant denominations are losing numbers, it takes the form of evangelicals versus secular political groups. The Catholic Church represents a third option. Europe could be a lost cause, temporarily, in terms of re-energizing the Catholic masses, but America, I feel, is ripe for it. It could be the exemplar for a renewed Catholic vigor in the developed world.

3. An American pope could also help bridge the America versus the world divide which is present in too many people's hearts, both here and in "the rest" of the world. It's time for America to be a leaders amongst the world's nations, not apart from them.

Update: Read about how Hispanic immigrants are keeping certain parishes afloat in Indianapolis... Also read this excellent George Will column about Europe's lapsed Christian faith...

I'd be interested to see the general composition of DC's readership. So in an effort to gather some stats, here is the first readership poll:

[poll has been moved to the right sidebar...]

Today is everyone's favorite day of the year... that's right, it's the day the government wants you turn in your income tax forms. In fact, Americans have spent about 6.6 billion hours filling out those forms. So to all of us taxpayers, I give you these lyrics:

Let me tell you how it will be,
There’s one for you, nineteen for me,
‘Cos I’m the Taxman,
Yeah, I’m the Taxman.
Should five per cent appear too small,
Be thankful I don’t take it all,
‘Cos I’m the Taxman,
Yeah, I’m the Taxman.
If you drive a car, I’ll tax the street,
If you try to sit, I’ll tax your seat,
If you get too cold, I’ll tax the heat,
If you take a walk, I’ll tax your feet.
Taxman.
‘Cos I’m the Taxman,
Yeah, I’m the Taxman.
Don’t ask me what I want it for
(Taxman Mister Wilson)
If you don’t want to pay some more
(Taxman Mister Heath),
‘Cos I’m the Taxman,
Yeah, I’m the Taxman.
Now my advice for those who die,
Declare the pennies on your eyes,
‘Cos I’m the Taxman,
Yeah, I’m the Taxman.
And you’re working for no-one but me,
Taxman.

- The Beatles, "Taxman" (off the first album I ever owned of theirs... "Revolver")

According to this WaPo article, Sen. Frist "all but certain" to use the nuclear option (a procedural maneuver to declare filibusters of nominees unconstitutional) sometime in the next few weeks, as judicial nominations pop up again in the Senate.

Republicans have been doing a lot of lip service to this option in the last few days-- so much so, in fact, that I suspect it could be a bluff to scare the Democrats into conceding or compromising where they wouldn't earlier.

Or maybe they're not bluffing. This is a fierce game of political chicken.

BEIJING/TOKYO (Reuters) - The United States warned its citizens in China Friday of possible new anti-Japan demonstrations, saying they could turn against foreigners in general, as Beijing stressed that illegal protests would be punished.

I'll totally admit it: I have a man-crush on Jon Stewart. He's currently my only source of TV news (besides the occasional ticker headline I catch on CNN or Fox while surfing between baseball games), so in his honor, here are some TV clips, from around the web, that I found to be particularly humorous, informative, asinine, or even all three in one. Sit back and enjoy.
Jeff Gannon on the electoral divide: if this guy's 15 minutes aren't up yet, he's gotta be on the other side of 14:57.

Catholic League President Bill Donohue: beyond description.

Duma gone wild: at least when our Senators brawled in the hallowed halls, it was about something as important as slavery.

Remembering the Pope: more hypocrital than ND's latest 'justification' for raising tuition.

Star Wars merchandise: entertaining and nutritious.

However, this week's winner is Sen. Jon Cornyn of Texas, who somehow manages to paint a killing spree as the not entirely unexpected backlash against judicial activism. Sorry Tom DeLay, this just wasn't your week, but keep trying.

Apparently, a Palestinian studying the Koran says that it predicts the United States will cease to exist in 2007.

What evidence does he have of this prophesy? Well, the scholar has decided not to reveal his methods or specific predictions "out of a sense of responsibility because what is about to happen is extremely shocking and frightening." Right. That's verbatim what I used to tell my calculus teacher when I didn't show my work for our homework problems.

I guess part of the reason for our imminent demise is because, "As soon as the Europeans started arriving in the new world discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492, they declared a war on the so-called Red Indians, the legitimate owners of the land." But wouldn't Allah have Europe in the cross-hairs then? Damn it, why do they get a pass? No fair!

But if going on a genocidal conquering spree brings divine destruction, what's going to happen to the Muslims, whose ancestors wiped out the nations of the Christian East? I mean, Constantinople fell fifty years before Columbus failed to discover India. If the U.S. is "checking out" in 2007, the Arabs should've been wiped out sometime before the microwave oven.

Oh well. This works out for the best: I get my J.D., and I never have to pay off my student loans! Woohoo!

I know Luke already linked to a CNN page that gave an overview of what happens when the Pope dies, but I thought this page from EWTN lends just a bit more detail to how the Catholic Church fills the vacancy of the Holy See. Enjoy!

As millions of Roman Catholics and other admirers of Pope John Paul II paused last week to mourn his death and remember his life, it would be good to recall one of the most primary themes of his papacy: giving hope to those who are persecuted because of their religious belief.

There are few places in the world where religious persecution is more widespread than communist China, where millions of Chinese Catholics must practice their faith in fear. Recently, despite the possibility of jail or worse at the hands of their government, these brave souls gathered in secret to remeber the pope and give thanks for his life.

It's useful to remember that whenever you don't feel like waking up on Sunday to go to mass, or if you feel it's not vital for you to be there, that there are still those in this world who risk death to worship Christ together.

If John Paul does become a saint, there's probably no matter patronage for him than as the hope for the spiritually oppressed.

Tap, Tap, Tap. My foot is moving furiously on the linoleum floor and I glance at my watch for the third time in as many minutes. I inch forward and try to calculate how many minutes late to work I will be if this keeps up. I can feel myself getting angry as I glance at the many faces surrounding me. This shouldn't be happening. I got off the 'L' (Elevated Train) in downtown Chicago a minute and a half earlier than usual, which should have given me plenty of time. I should be outside by now. Should, should, should. I weave around a corner, make eye contact with a familiar face, and feel myself breathe a sigh of relief.

"The usual, sweetie?" he asks.

"Yep," I reply. "Grande skim vanilla cappuccino. Nix the foam."

Like many other coffee-philes out there, stopping by one of the four Starbucks in a three-block radius of my office has become a daily habit, if not a necessity. Each morning I consistently check my watch as I wait in line, hoping that things will move a little quicker than yesterday. In fact, my motivation to leave my Lincoln Park apartment on time is that I won't have to forego my morning cappuccino, or mocha.

Apparently, I'm not alone. According to this article from the Wall Street Journal (republished in the Chicago Tribune) Starbucks is consistenly reevaluating its service operations in order to shave every second possible off of its drink-making time. And apparently, it's working.

Efforts like these have helped Starbucks outlets increase their average yearly volume by nearly $200,000, to roughly $940,000, since 1999, executives say.

At first, I was thrilled with the notion that Starbucks was working hard to ensure that I could get in and out as quickly as possible. But will I really notice the 20 seconds I might save tomorrow with my barrista's new order filling system, or with the new espresso machine? Probably not. But Americans place so much focus on being productive and efficient (something historians and sociologists attribute partly to industrialization) that time has become the all-powerful dictator in our lives.

"Time is Money." This phrase does not exist in European culture. Interestingly, international exchange programs specifically instruct Europeans to beware our preoccupation with time and plan accordingly. Even the Smithsonian opened an exhibit a few years ago to determine how Americans became so time-obsessed.

I fear that Starbucks is only one example of the slow decline in interpersonal contact and overall rise in stress and anxiety being experienced throughout American culture. In an age where a woman can sue McDonalds because her coffee was too hot, will I be able to sue Starbucks because my coffee was too slow? I hope not, but stranger things have happened.

Drudge has a competitor and that site's name is Sploid.

Developed by Nick Denton, head of the Gawker blog network which controls among several sites, Wonkette, Sploid is more modern and splashy than Drudge, and its headlines ever more sensationalistic and tabloid.

However, Sploid does not present as many useful headlines as Drudge and its content is less politically relevant. Therefore, Drudge still reigns supreme and I won't be adding Sploid to DC's sidebar.

Yesterday in Atlanta, Eric Robert Rudolph pleaded guilty to committing the Olympic Park bombing in 1996, as well as bombing an abortion clinic and a gay nightclub. At a separate proceeding in Alabama, Rudolph pleaded guilty to bombing a Birmingham abortion clinic, in which an off-duty cop was killed. According to the plea agreement, Rudolph will serve four consecutive life sentences without being eligible for parole, but he will avoid execution.

Two lessons to be learned, I believe. The first is domestic extremists, no matter their ideologies or motivations, are just as dangerous as al-Qaida and their ilk, and should be treated accordingly. It doesn't matter if a person is neo-Nazi, ALF/ELF, Hamas, whatever; terrorism is terrorism and killing is killing, wrong and deserving of punishment.

The second is the importance of 'innocent until proven guilty.' Richard Jewell, the heroic security guard who prevented the Olympic bombing from being much deadlier by partially evacuating Centennial Park, was evicerated by both the FBI and the media. It turns out the only thing he did wrong that night was get his name in the paper. Jewell was in court when Rudolph was sentenced but refused to comment. After all he's been through, who can really blame him? In the age of instant everything, judgment must be passed only on crimes a person is actually proven of committing.

I don't fully understand how the stock market works, and therefore it is stupid... Heh, just kidding. It's definitely a good thing that the stock market is not fully comprehensible.

But take this example of the market working completely and utterly... wrong. I purchased several more shares this morning of a certain computer company for which I have an affinity. It was set to release an earnings report this evening after trading hours, so I figured that investors would jack up its price in anticipation of increased sales numbers.

Instead the stock lost about $1.50/share, and I lost a few weeks worth of beer money. So the earnings report gets released and the company's sales are up 70% over last year during this quarter, and they beat Wall Street's estimates by 33%. This company's computer sales are up 43% and its wildly popular portable digital music player's sales are up over 500%. So what does the stock do in after hours trading. That's right, it goes down over another 1%. Wait, that's wrong, not right.

If the stock doesn't go up at least 3 points tomorrow, I'll be mystified. Wouldn't be the first time.

Update:, Eureka! Apple's stock continues to drop on Thursday. Short-term weakness on slightly weaker iPod sales than some analysts had predicted. But long-term, due to the so-called iPod "halo effect" Apple's long-term forecast is quite bright.

I recently entered into a debate on the power of the judiciary and over the best manner to check it. The debate was spurred by a post at the Centre for Faith and Journalism blog criticizing Michael Farris, head of the Homeschool Legal Defense Association, for advocating checking the judiciary by: 1. getting rid of binding precedent, 2. creating a 2/3 Congressional veto over Supreme Court decisions, and 3. creating a wider array of criteria by which to impeach judges.

Farris, who is also the president of Patrick Henry College, challenged my criticisms of his positions. What follows is the entirety of our debate thus far:

Me:

Farris's statements are ignorant and short-sighted. It is not anarchy he calls for but pure majoritarianism, which is antithetical to the views of the founding fathers and the entire purpose of the Constitution.

Madison in Federalist #10, as well as Hamilton, both understood the problems associated with a tyranny of the majority, and Jefferson stressed the need to enshrine certain rights which could not be vacated by the will of a majority.

Certain checks on the judiciary's power are already contained in the Constitution, such as the nomination process itself, and the ability to determine jurisdiction at certain levels (a tactic that should be used sparingly for reasons that will become apparent later in my comment).

But Farris's suggestions that we abolish binding judicial precedent, vacate court decisions by acts of Congress, and impeach judges who don't vote the way we want, are unconstiutional and destructive of our structure of government. If they were enacted, we would no longer have an independent judiciary.

Abolishing binding precedent... This move, which would depart from hundreds of years of common law practice, would throw our courts into pandemonium. People's rights would vary depending on where they bring cases in federal courts, and an extreme number of cases would then have to be appealed to the Supreme Court. Furthermore, the Supreme Court already does not have to follow its own precedent, if it so chooses, so the law is never fixed by history, ultimately speaking.

Vacating court decisions by acts of congress. Impossible without an amendment to the Constitution. No point in having a judiciary at all.

Impeach judges who vote in ways we don't agree with. This typifies the ignorant understanding that most people have of the judiciary. They are not supposed to vote how people want them to vote, or to care about the will of the majority. They are supposed to be apart from the political whims of the day.

The real way to change course from a judiciary which "makes law" through activism is breed an understanding of what the judiciary does.

Paradoxically, conservatives who dislike the current state of the judiciary, are fostering the very attitude which is promoting the politicization of the court.

Depoliticize the court, remove the nomination procedure from the public spotlight, and nominate textualists to the bench. Those are the solutions we should be seeking.

Farris:

I would hope that the participants in this forum--especially the PHC students--would be savvy enough to recognize that a third party's portrayal of my comments might not be balanced and fair.

Here is exactly what I proposed and why.

My first proposal starts with a suggestion to curb the power of the judiciary made by Robert Bork. Bork has suggested that either house of Congress should be allowed to override a decision of the Supreme Court when it can muster a two-thirds majority vote. My modification of this idea was simply to add the notion that two-thirds of the state legislatures should have this same prerogative.

This is no attack on an independent judiciary's ability to decide "cases and controversies." Judges should be allowed to make decisions that bind the parties who are in court. But, when they are allowed to bind everyone to their decision, they are not exercising judicial power, but the power to make law--a prerogative that belongs solely to the legislature.

My second suggestion, which is quite similar to the first, comes from the position of Abraham Lincoln. He believed that the courts did not possess the power to make decisions that bound anyone other than the parties before the court. All I have suggested is to make this rule explicit by a congressional enactment which limits the jurisdiction of the federal courts.

Many posts attack me for supporting the idea of majority rule. That is simplistic at best. My view is this: Only our elected officials should have the power to make law. It requires a supermajority to make or change our Constitution--which is a law, the highest law.

Why would we want to give unelected judges the power to make law? What theory of government supports rule by the judiciary? What experience would suggest that this has been a good idea?

At the end of the day, I do believe that it is better to follow the will of the supermajority (the Constitution) than it is to follow the will of five justices sitting on the Supreme Court.

Me:

Mr. Farris, your comment on this blog shows that your positions have been fairly characterized by the excerpt in Daniel's post.

About allowing a 2/3 vote of Congress to overturn court decisions... This would upset the federalist balance that governs this nation. To create Constitutional law, not only Congress, but also the states, must vote in supermajority. Merely allowing one or the other to do so (which is in essence what a veto to court decisions would create) would destroy federalism.

About removing binding precedent... This move would overturn a practice that has been in effect for hundreds of years and is the very fabric on which the common law rests. You know this. You must know this. If every case was tried de novo, then the law's application would be incredibly inconsistent across the nation. Whether or not a plaintiff wins in a case will now largely be decided by the luck of the draw in which judge the plaintiff gets, and appeals would be useless as the appeals court would have no consistent law to hold the trial court accountable to.

A rule of law applied inconsistently is no rule of law.

Farris:

A rule of applied inconsistently is no rule of law. I accept that.

However, listen to Justice Scalia's dissent in Roper.

"What a mockery today's opinion makes of Hamilton's expectation, announcing the Court's conclusion that the meaing of our Constitution has changed over the past 15 years--not, mind you, that this Court's decision 15 years ago was wrong, but that the Constitution has changed."

How can you all believe in the rule of law, when those who hold the power of law assert the power to declare the meaning of the Constitution to change in the space of 15 years?

What realistic checks and balances are there on the judiciary? If they are there, why are they not working?

Me:

So, in essence, your argument boils down to this: 'since we have judicial inconsistency in our highest court, we must tear down the common law system of precedent, and create judicial inconsistency at all levels.'

This is baffling to say the least.

You cite Roper, one decision where the court got it wrong, and we both could cite numerous other wrong decisions stemming from the Roe line primarily, but how many times does the court get it right?

I cannot stress enough that if we create a 2/3 check in Congress upon the judiciary, that nearly every court decision from hereon could be subject to political review. The design of the court to be a place apart from politics, where learned men deliberate about the meaning of the laws, would be severely impaired, if not destroyed.

You ask an excellent question when you inquire as to why the checks on the court aren't working. One key reason is the political scrutiny being applied to the court. And yes, this scrutiny is coming from the right as much as the left. Let me also cite a Scalia dissent (from PP v. Casey):

In truth, I am as distressed as the Court is--and expressed my distress several years ago, see Webster , 492 U. S., at 535--about the "political pressure" directed to the Court: the marches, the mail, the protests aimed at inducing us to change our opinions. How upsetting it is, that so many of our citizens (good people, not lawless ones, on both sides of this abortion issue, and on various sides of other issues as well) think that we Justices should properly take into account their views, as though we were engaged not in ascertaining an objective law but in determining some kind of social consensus. The Court would profit, I think, from giving less attention to the fact of this distressing phenomenon, and more attention to the cause of it. That cause permeates today's opinion: a new mode of constitutional adjudication that relies not upon text and traditional practice to determine the law, but upon what the Court calls "reasoned judgment," ... which turns out to be nothing but philosophical predilection and moral intuition.

Scalia rightly puts much of the blame on the court itself for its activism.

How to rectify?

Stand strong in the Senate, be patient, and nominate textualists. Remember: Scalia was nominated by a Democratic senate just around 20 years ago.

Let's not make impatient and rash structural changes that remove the courts' ability to be the "objective arbiters of law" that Scalia calls for.

I eagerly await another response from Mr. Farris, and if one comes, I'll will post it here.

He has single-handedly pushed through Daylight Savings Time in the Indiana House, and he is clearly planning on running the state like a business. Our state's budget deficit is doomed.

Keep an eye on Indiana for a textbook study on how to reform bureaucracy.

In Friday's post, "The Weakest Link," I stated that efforts would be made to adapt humans to absorb the vast amounts of information they are confronted with-- either by implants or things closely associated with the body.

A couple days later I read in Slashdot:

New Scientist is reporting on a new way of detecting speech without using microphones, using electrodes places on the neck that measure muscle activity and nerve impulses. Apparently the user doesn't even need to speak the words out loud in order for them to be detected. This looks like pretty neat technology; if used with cell phones it could give the user a little more privacy, and the rest of us a little more peace and quiet.

...and with quality content like this, who can blame Google (see previous post)...

DC's ranking in the Google Directory for News: Personal Analysis and Opinion is now 35. Just a few months ago it was 50. At this pace I'll overtake Andrew Sullivan at #1 in less than a year ;-)

While I am surprised and pleased with this ranking, I am also a bit baffled. DC certainly does not get the daily hits to warrant such a ranking, so Google Directory must use humans to pick the blogs in this list. I'm glad D.C. has fans in powerful tech places...

It has been many months since President Bush stood on an aircraft carrier and proclaimed "mission accomplished" in Iraq. Now, thankfully, we are ever so close to that being a true statement.

Iraq has held free and open elections, has appointed the leaders of its government, and is on the verge of drafting a constitution. After months of battling militants, including purging strongholds like Fallujah, violence against Iraqis and coolition troops is at an all-time low, and the necessity of a U.S. troop presence starting to decrease.

With some Iraqis taking to the street to protest the continued U.S. presence in Iraq, including this protest organized by radical Shiite cleric Sheik al-Sadr (who just a year ago was fighting us with guns rather than peaceful protests, I should point out), U.S. commanders are beginning to agree that troop numbers can be reduced.

But with U.S. forces on the verge of capturing or killing militant leader Abu Musab Zarqawi, I think we should hold off on any withdrawal until that feat has been accomplished and its consequences determined.

My law school dropped in the rankings, and that has stirred a campus and city-wide debate about how to reverse course. Barb Berggoetz has a good article in the IndyStar about it. It includes quotes from a few law students-- this blogger included.

President Bush owns an iPod... but he is too busy to upload songs to it, so he has his minions (my apologies to his fine staff) purchase songs from the iTunes Music Store and upload them.

To be honest, I'm not that impressed with the President's playlist, especially considering the fact that he listens to his iPod to help him on long bike rides. I'm sorry, but I don't think of country bumpkin Alan Jackson as pump-me-up music.

I can see the new Apple commercial now...

The College Republican student group at Grand Valley State University organized a bake sale on Monday. But this wasn't just a typical campus fundraiser, it was a political statement. To make a point against affirmative action, the group sold its sweet treats with the following prices: $2 for white men, 75 cents for blacks and white women, 50 cents for Asians and Hispanics, and 5 cents for American Indians.

In the ensuing controversy, including complaints and pressure from outside groups, the College Republican group forced its officers to resign en masse.

What's that I hear? That's right, it's the marching of the thought police on America's campuses. Whether or not you agree with affirmative action, you must admit that this bake sale was a blunt way of showing "reverse" discrimination. It's not racist to oppose affirmative action.

[thanks to Daniel for sending the article]

I'm back from my short sojourn. Starting at 1 P.M. on Friday, Blogger refused to publish to the IU server on which my blog is actually hosted. After e-mails to Blogger and IU, Blogger claimed they had fixed the problem late on Friday. Due to my own fault, in my attempts to fix the problem myself after I first observed it, I had incorrectly changed a setting. I didn't catch that error until this morning, so now I am back in business.

With information streaming at us with increased volume and from numerous devices while we work (and play), we are becoming the weak link in the chain, when we are unable to deal with the information and process it. That's why the Educational Testing Service has developed an exam to test workers' capacity to multitask with numerous sources of information, and it's why a company has developed a helmet to help workers focus mentally on certain tasks.

And when we are the wink leak, only two solutions exist: either reduce the information overload, or adapt humans to deal with the information. If humans wish to remain human and not machine-like, then I suggest we emphasize the first of those options.

Of course, we already see efforts to do the latter. Devices such as internet-enabled sunglasses and watches already allow people to have constant access to the wireless information sphere which is enveloping us. How many years, or months, away are implants? Much of the future as told by science fiction writers of one, two, three, and even four decades ago, is now.

E.J. Dionne (not usually one of my favored columnists) has an informative, common sense, and level-headed opinion piece in WaPo today regarding the politics behind the election of the next pope. It's a quick and easy read.

The pope's funeral today considered one of the largest in history

In late May I will be traveling to Japan for a week and then to China for a little over 4 weeks. The China stay is for a law abroad study program in Beijing. I hope to continue posting in some degree during my stay, and for a few weeks DC will become DC China, with some posts centered on my observations about that nation (hopefully with bountiful photos) :-)

I am just a tiny tiny tiny bit concerned about this report of human to human transmission of the Avian Flu in a region of Vietnam that borders China. Some scientists worry that Avian Flu could cause the world's next epidemic.

To be honest, I'm much more concerned about the inevitable bout of food poisoning that I've been told to expect.

Physical comedy is not a bad thing. I'm not afraid to say that. In fact, it may be a solution to the current plight of Saturday Night Live.

But physical intimidation is another matter entirely.

Yesterday, while giving a talk at Butler University, conservative activist and blogger David Horowitz was attacked by pie-throwing radicals from the audience, while some of them verbally assaulted his associate with racials epithets. Three of the attackers were arrested, and a fourth is being investigated.

I am told that Butler is actually a relatively conservative campus, but apparently the audience at this event was significantly left-leaning. Though it is not clear that all of those involved were Butler students, the president of the university apologized to Mr. Horowitz and promised that they would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. As well they should be.

This incident is just the latest in a series of attacks that seems to be a systematic attempt to intimidate conservative speakers from appearing on college campuses. In the past month or so, Pat Buchanon, Ann Coulter, and Bill Kristol have also been targeted by campus radicals bent on what can only be called ideological terrorism.

Now, no one is suggesting that this is some vast liberal conspiracy, or that Democrats support these radicals in any meaningful way. But it has become apparent that there is a small but all-too vocal and activie minority on college campuses that is determined to stifle free thought. Their tactics, however, give evidence to their inability to intellectually defend their own opinions in debate, and further, show their true disdain for the principle of toleration.

No one should ever have to face physical or verbal intimidation because of their ideological perspective. I sincerely hope that all academia follows the example of Butler's president in denouncing this rash of threats and attacks, taking firm steps to ensure that they don't happen again, and promoting the philosophy that all points of view should be tolerated and not subjected to violence. We are all free to disagree with each other, but when our opposition crosses over into acts such as these, it is ignorant, unwarranted, and shameful.

Gas prices in my hometown now range from $2.29-$2.39, the highest I've ever seen in my brief 23 years.

The short answer as to why they are so high is that oil supplies are barely meeting the world's increasing demand. This does not mean that we are running out of oil, but it does mean that oil nations' output capacity is not high enough.

Alan Greenspan provides the long answer to the question, and identifies two main problems: most oil nations have not invested any money lately in adding oil production infrastructure to grab oil from their fields, and there is a shortage of refineries to refine heavy-sour crude (which is high in sulfur and needs special refining to be turned into gasoline).

I wouldn't expect to see gas prices under $2 for any significant period of time from now into the future.

Google Maps are really cool because they let you click and slide the map around- dynamically. And now Google has attached their satellite images to the map feature, such that you can look up an address and then immediately see its corresponding satellite photo, which can also be clicked and slid. Cool.

Search for "Washington, DC" to get a cool photo. Zoom in once or twice and see how long it takes to spot the national mall and the Washington Monument.

[Kudos to Daniel for pointing this feature out]

Any time a politician does something that a certain liberally-minded newspaper does not like, the frequency of negative investigative reports on that person always seems to go up. Witness the New York Times and Rep. Delay. They have written scathing editorials along similar lines as my criticism of Delay for his words regarding his judiciary.

And now amazingly, they have a long article that insinuates ethics violation by Delay. The problem is that, despite their front page splash, Delay has done nothing wrong in relation to the events the article discusses...

The article's bold headline reads: "Political Groups Paid Two Relatives of House Leader." And it leads with the fact that Delay's campaign committee paid his wife and daughter a combined $500,000 since 2001. Now this number may seem like a lot, until we break it down. Split between the wife and daughter and divided by the 4 year period, it comes to only $62,500-- not exactly a lavish sum for a person leading campaign work, which Mrs. Delay has done.

The Times reporter buries deep in the article the fact that it is not uncommon for Congressmen to pay family members to do campaign work.

If Delay had paid his family sums that go way beyond the norms for campaign work compensation, then there might be a story here, but otherwise, he has done nothing illegal nor unethical, and the Times has a non-starter.


Update: In response to a comment, which strawmanned me somewhat, I am not defending Delay's actions in other areas, such as his past ethics violations, and his current problems regarding trips to Russia. But I am defending him against this one article which is a non-story and clearly biased. So call this post less a defense of Delay and more a criticism of the Times.

Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, said that in regards to the Schiavo proceedings, the courts "acted in a fair and independent way" as quoted in this Reuters article. The article never gives the entire sentence from Frist, so I'd be interested to see if there was any creative reporting done in this story.

This may or may not be new to some of my readers, but it was new to me, and it's kindof cool, so here goes...

You can SMS (text) message somebody's cell phone from the comfort of your AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) by sending the IM to +1areacodecellnumber. The AOL system appears to give your screenname a unique number which the cell phone can respond to, such that you receive their message on your computer.

A Brazilian MP shocked parliament when he went into graphic detail about his prostate examination.

The session had to be adjourned because so many of his colleagues were laughing, reports Terra Noticias Populares.

MP Sargento Isidorio told the regional parliament in Bahia that he had had no idea what the examination involved.

He said: "I'm still seeing stars when I close my eyes... The doctor arrived in the room and didn't lose a minute to introduce his finger.

"I wasn't aware of how it is done and the way the doctor inserted that finger was horrible, I almost fainted!"

And he called for changes in medical practice, saying: "I am not against the test but I'm against how it is performed."


So... I think it would be funny if this happened here in the U.S... Rep. Barney Frank could give the rebuttal... Haha

The Supreme Court yesterday declined to hear Maurice Clarett's lawsuit against the NFL, in which he challenged the league's elgibility rules which disallow persons only 2 years out of high school from being elgible for the NFL draft.

A lower court had ruled in favor of the NFL. This ruling will allow the NFL to continue its practice of forbidding players from moving from high school directly to pro ball, as has happened in the NBA (to its detriment, many would argue).

For non-Catholics, and Catholics rusty on the election process for the new pope (from ABC):

- The next election for the Pope will not happen happen until nine days of mourning have passed.

- Fifteen to 20 days after the death of the Pope, 134 Cardinals will have made the trip to the Vatican from all over the world.

- After a mass in St. Peters the Cardinals will meet after a mass in the Sistine Chapel swearing an oath of secrecy and sealed off from the rest of the world, to begin the voting process known as the Conclave.

- Only 123 of the 134 Cardinals will do the electing because only Cardinals under 80 may vote.

- Voting is done twice in the morning and twice in the afternoon on rectangular paper ballots and the Cardinals are asked to disguise their handwriting.

- When two-thirds or simple majority vote has been reached, if too many days have passed, the decision and the new elected Pope, is announced to the world.

The first to find out if a decision has been made are the faithful gathered around St. Peter's, from the rooftop from the Sistine Chapel. A tiny smoke stack billows smoke each day of the Conclave. If a decision is not reached that smoke is black, but when a new Pope has been chosen that smoke is white.

You may or may not have known that two new disc formats are competing to replace the DVD in movie distribution: Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. You may or may not have also known that two formats are competing to replace the CD in music distribution: Super Audio CD and DVD-Audio.

And you may or may not also know that none of this may matter, as internet distribution of music and movies will eventually dominate-- with or without wires. Read all about it here...

The Iraqi government is coming together. A top Sunni leader has been chosen to be the Speaker of the Iraqi parliament, and the President and deputies have all been chosen.

The democratic efforts in Iraq now turn to the drafting of the Constitution, due in August, I believe. This is the most crucial phase of Iraq's democraticization, IMHO.

I'm not going to engage in it. Let me just repeat this adage to prepare you for the rampant speculation which will inevitably consume the media in the coming weeks: 'He who enters the conclave pope, shall leave a cardinal.'

[See the first post of this two-part series on meeting the globe's energy demands, which outlined the problem of carbon emissions and the shortcomings of the Kyoto Protocol]


I will now discuss the several alternative energy sources available and argue why nuclear power, though certainly imperfect, is the best solution at this point in time. Please reference this Wired article, which is my primary source for this post.

Hydroelectric power

Economically and technologically, hydro power is the most promising alternative energy source, with the exception of nuclear power. Currently, it represents 92% of the world's renewable energy, but there simply are not enough opportunities to significantly replace our use of coal. Further, environmentalists are opposing new dams in the U.S. China is set to build numerous new dams in the coming years, but altogether they will still only fill a fraction of that nation's exploding energy needs.

Solar power

Solar power plants, of sufficient magnitude to replace coal plants, are unfeasible, as a 1000 megawatt facility would require 60 sq. miles of panes! Therefore, for solar power to replace coal, individual homes and businesses would all have to have cells on their roofs. At four times the cost of nuclear power, solar power is not currently a viable solution. Over time, with advancements in technology and changes in economics, solar power's utility may increase.

Wind

To produce the power of a typical coal plant, a wind farm would take up 300 sq. miles. Simply not feasible as a replacement for coal.

Corn

It would take ten Iowas to grow enough corn to power the United States' grid. Enough said.

Natural gas

Supplies are not much greater than the supplies of oil. Emits 1/3 less carbon, so it would be a good short term aid in our fight against carbon emissions.

Methane

The Wired article does not discuss methane, but it does have some promise, though remote. Scientists estimate, though nothing firm, that vast quantities of methane are trapped below the ocean floor near several coasts-- potentially several times the amount of natural gas and oil. Methane burns more cleanly than oil. However, with current technology, retrieving methane would be costly and dangerous.

A case for nuclear power...

Carbon emissions and their effect on global climate are a problem here and now, thus we need a solution here and now, even if that solution is just a temporary one to buy us more time to develop better long term solutions. As I've explained before, nuclear power is not a legitimate long-term solution since we have yet discovered a solution to the disposal of nuclear waste.

The most controversial part of the argument for nuclear energy is the use of interim storage. I am not as qualified as some of my readers to criticize this aspect of the argument, so I will quote it:

At Yucca Mountain, perfection has been the enemy of adequacy. It's fun to discuss what the design life of an underground nuclear waste facility ought to be. One hundred years? Two hundred years? How about 100,000? A quarter of a million? Science fiction meets the US government budgeting process. In court!

But throwing waste into a black hole at Yucca Mountain isn't such a great idea anyway. For one thing, in coming decades we might devise better disposal methods, such as corrosion-proof containers that can withstand millennia of heat and moisture. For another, used nuclear fuel can be recycled as a source for the production of more energy. Either way, it's clear that the whole waste disposal problem has been misconstrued. We don't need a million-year solution. A hundred years will do just fine - long enough to let the stuff cool down and allow us to decide what to do with it.

The name for this approach is interim storage: Find a few patches of isolated real estate - we're not talking about taking it over for eternity - and pour nice big concrete pads; add floodlights, motion detectors, and razor wire; truck in nuclear waste in bombproof 20-foot-high concrete casks. Voilà: safe storage while you wait for either Yucca Mountain or plan B.

Finally, we could greatly reduce the amount of nuclear waste by reprocessing it. Nuclear waste retains 95% of its energy after the first reactor cycle. Current U.S. law forbids reprocessing, because reprocessed waste can be used to make nuclear bombs, but with Europe, Iran, and N. Korea using reprocessing, the cat is out of the bag.

Finally, it seems that these arguments are catching on. As this NYTimes article points out, government and industry leaders are starting to back new nuclear plants, even without Yucca Mountain's completion.

Well, I came a long way to be here today
And I left you so long on this avenue
And here I stand in the strangest land
Not knowing what to say or do
As I gaze around at these strangers in town
I guess the only stranger is me
And I wonder (yes, I wonder)
Yes, I wonder (oh, I wonder)
Is this the way life's meant to be?

Although it's only a day since I was taken away
And left standing here looking in wonder
(It's your life, it's your life)
Ah, the ground at my feet, maybe it's just the old street
But everything that I know lies under
(It's your life, it's your life)
And when I see what they've done
To this place that was home
Shame is all that I feel
Oh, and I wonder (oh, I wonder)
Yes, I wonder (wonder, wonder, wonder, wonder)
Is this the way life's meant to be?

Too late, too late to cry
The people say
Too late for you, too late for me
You've come so far, now you know everything my friend
Look and see the wonders of our world...

And I wonder (oh, I wonder)
Yes, I wonder (yes, I wonder)
Is this the way life's meant to be?

As I wander around this wreck of a town
Where people never speak aloud
With its ivory towers and its plastic flowers
I wish I was back in 1981
Just to see your face instead of this place
Now I know what you mean to me
And I wonder (oh, I wonder)
Yes, I wonder (yes, I wonder)
Is this the way life's meant to be?

And I wonder (oh, I wonder)
Yes, I wonder, wonder, wonder, wonder
Is this the way life's meant to be?
Ooohh, I wonder
Oh, I wonder, wonder, wonder
Is this the way life's meant to be?
Oh, is this the way life's meant to be?
Mmmmm, is this the way life's meant to be?
I wanna know now
Is this the way life's meant to be?

- Electric Light Orchestra - "The Way Life's Meant to Be"

Today at 9:37 P.M. Vatican time, Pope John Paul II passed from this earth, 84 years its resident, and is now with God. This man, who characterized human vigor and preached human dignity, was the most well traveled pope in history and the third longest.

Indeed, it is these virtues--vigor and dignity-- that will be his legacy. Perhaps an unlikely candidate for pope, Karol Wojtyla was a Pole rather than an Italian, and he had to attend seminary underground to avoid the wrath of the Communists who led his home nation. Once named Pope John Paul II, he became a leader of the people, traveling to nations in all four corners of the world.

In these trips he brought an unexpected an unprecedented level of ecumenicism to the Catholic Church, reaching out to Muslims in Palestine, praying at the waling wall with Jews, and bridging gaps between Orthodox Catholics and protestants.

He taught the lessons of human dignity, not just through his writings against abortion, war, and the death penalty, but also through his example: visiting the man who tried to kill him in 1981, asking for God's forgiveness to be upon him, and inspiring protests which uprooted the God-less communism from Poland and eventually all of eastern Europe.

Showing his great vigor, he held mass with over 600,000 young Catholics in Toronto, on World Youth Day. It is quite fitting then that a large percentage of those mourning his death in St. Peter's Square today, are teenagers.

***

And now the oldest and longest-enduring institution in the history of man, God's Church, will mourn the passing of its shepard, and will begin the process of selecting the next Vicar of Christ. As we look forward to our next spiritual leader, the next chapter of our faith, let us not forget that Pope John Paul II is not just now with God, but always has been, and that his example is our example.

Illinois plays Louisville tonight at 6 EST and MSU plays UNC thereafter. If Illinois wins out, then I will be victorious in the pools I've entered (if my calculations are correct), a first in my lifetime. So...

Go Fighting Illini!!

House majority leader Tom Delay, nicknamed by his friends and enemies as "the Hammer," has affirmed my earlier suspicions that some Republican leaders would use the Schiavo affair to attack the judiciary. From this SF Chronicle article:

At a press conference in Houston, the Texas Republican attacked "an arrogant, out of control, unaccountable judiciary that thumbed their nose at the Congress and the president" by refusing to order Schiavo's feeding tube reinserted.

When asked later if impeachment proceedings should be brought against some of the judges involved in this case, Delay said he was open to the idea.

So let me get this straight... A representative who has been criticized for violating ethics rules that the 1994 Republicans put in place is attacking the courts for not following an order which never actually existed, and had it existed would have been unconstitutional, and is exploiting the tragic death of a woman whose case challenged her loved ones to define the value and extent of life in an extraordinary circumstance, all for political gain.

I have never before been so embarrassed by the actions of a prominent Republican leader. This is shameful.

I dare any apologist to even approach a defense of Delay's actions. I will rip such a lame attempt to shreds. On and in case you didn't realize it yet, that earlier post about ending the blog, was a joke.

They linked to this new product, from their main page.

DC readers, I regret to inform you that I have made a very difficult decision regarding the existence of Daily Contentions. This is especially hard, considering the great amount of work I put in the redesign of the site...But it simply is taking too much of my time, and I need to devote more of my mental resources to other web projects of mine as well as law school.

Therefore, today will be the final day that I post on my own webblog. I have yet to make a decision as to whether I will maintain the site for guest bloggers.

-lds