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it is not dead, it is just sleeping

Phoenix Lander on Mars has ceased operation as winter moves in, power ran out and batteries died. Phoenix Mars Lander has ceased communications after operating for more than five months. As anticipated, seasonal decline in sunshine at the robot's arctic landing site is not providing enough sunlight for the solar arrays to collect the power necessary to charge batteries that operate the lander's instruments. Mission engineers last received a signal from the lander on Nov. 2. Phoenix, in addition to shorter daylight, has encountered a dustier sky, more clouds and colder temperatures as the…

2006 Koufax Awards

tags: blog awards, Koufax Awards Wow, surprise, surprise! I just discovered that Living the Scientific Life was nominated for one of the Koufax Awards, in the category "Most Deserving of Wider Recognition". This category is defined as being for writers who consistently deliver, yet don't receive the recognition they deserve. Of course, I think my blog deserves this award, but there are a bazillion other very fine blogs nominated too, so chances are, it will merely be an electron blip across the screen of the blogosphere, as it always has been with the Koufax Awards. However, that said, if…

We need one in every state

Come on, if Texas can open a Camp Quest, what's your state's excuse? There's also a nice article with a poll on the new godless camp — it's mostly positive, but they do go out of their way to get a quote from a dissenter. But Dr. Darrell Bock of the Dallas Theological Seminary doesn't believe that being more vocal will have much impact. "People pretty much have their minds made up on these kinds of matters. They're either going to be for or against," he said. Hey, that's good news! Dr Darrell Bock of the Dallas Theological Seminary has just declared evangelism dead. Do you think the…

The next big thing from the creationist movie community

Kevin Miller, screenwriter for the propaganda film Expelled, has a new project in the works that follows in the Christian movie tradition. Creation, Resurrection Pictures' first original film project—a humorous and tearful story of a high school biology teacher's struggle to expose the lie of evolution, based on the life of creation evangelist Dr. Kent Hovind and written by Kevin Miller the writer of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is scheduled for production in 2010. I was rolling my eyes, nothing more, as I read that, until I hit those magic words, "Dr Kent Hovind"…then I had to smirk.…

To Be Or Not To Be: Ralph Nader Confides in Cardozo the Parrot

tags: Politics, Ralph Nader, Cardozo, humor, funny, streaming video This is a silly video by Ralph Nader, who feels left out of the political process since the electorate finally sees him for what he is. So Ralph talks about dressing up as a panda with Cardozo the Amazon parrot, who lives with former Salt Lake City Mayor, Rocky Anderson, in a lame attempt to recapture his old glory days of spoiling elections and making life worse for the electorate [2:45] Cardozo, here you are from the free flying Amazon jungle to a cage in Utah -- albeit an open door cage with a fine master. Do not feel sad…

West 34th/Penn Station Subway Art 4

tags: West 34th street Penn Station subway art, Circus of Garden Delights, subway art, NYC through my eye, photography, NYC Circus of Garden Delights. West 34th Street/Penn Station Subway tile mosaic art #4 as seen at NYC's West 34th Street stop at 8th for the A, C and E trains. Artist: Eric Fischl, 2001. Image: GrrlScientist 2008 [larger view]. According to the artist, this subway station artwork "depicts a commuter being drawn into the bizarre and surprising world of the circus, meeting animals, clowns, acrobats and fire-breathers on his way to work." I have photographed tile…

West 34th/Penn Station Subway Art 3 [Detail 2]

tags: West 34th street Penn Station subway art, Circus of Garden Delights, subway art, NYC through my eye, photography, NYC Circus of Garden Delights. West 34th Street/Penn Station Subway tile mosaic art #3 [Detail #2] as seen at NYC's West 34th Street stop at 8th for the A, C and E trains. Artist: Eric Fischl, 2001. Image: GrrlScientist 2008 [larger view]. According to the artist, this subway station artwork "depicts a commuter being drawn into the bizarre and surprising world of the circus, meeting animals, clowns, acrobats and fire-breathers on his way to work." I have photographed…

West 34th/Penn Station Subway Art 3 [Detail 1]

tags: West 34th street Penn Station subway art, Circus of Garden Delights, subway art, NYC through my eye, photography, NYC Circus of Garden Delights. West 34th Street/Penn Station Subway tile mosaic art #3 [Detail #1] as seen at NYC's West 34th Street stop at 8th for the A, C and E trains. Artist: Eric Fischl, 2001. Image: GrrlScientist 2008 [larger view]. According to the artist, this subway station artwork "depicts a commuter being drawn into the bizarre and surprising world of the circus, meeting animals, clowns, acrobats and fire-breathers on his way to work." I have photographed…

West 34th/Penn Station Subway Art 3

tags: West 34th street Penn Station subway art, Circus of Garden Delights, subway art, NYC through my eye, photography, NYC Circus of Garden Delights. West 34th Street/Penn Station Subway tile mosaic art #3 as seen at NYC's West 34th Street stop at 8th for the A, C and E trains. Artist: Eric Fischl, 2001. Image: GrrlScientist 2008 [larger view]. According to the artist, this subway station artwork "depicts a commuter being drawn into the bizarre and surprising world of the circus, meeting animals, clowns, acrobats and fire-breathers on his way to work." I have photographed tile…

West 34th/Penn Station Subway Art 2

tags: West 34th street Penn Station subway art, Circus of Garden Delights, subway art, NYC through my eye, photography, NYC Circus of Garden Delights. West 34th Street/Penn Station Subway tile mosaic art #2 as seen at NYC's West 34th Street stop at 8th for the A, C and E trains. Artist: Eric Fischl, 2001. Image: GrrlScientist 2008 [larger view]. According to the artist, this subway station artwork "depicts a commuter being drawn into the bizarre and surprising world of the circus, meeting animals, clowns, acrobats and fire-breathers on his way to work." I have photographed tile…

The Gonzo "I Don't Remember" Drinking Game

Some friends were saying they were going to engage in a drinking game where they would have one drink every time Alberto Gonzales said "I don't remember"or "I don't recall" or something to that effect during today's congressional heaaring. I have no idea if they have actually done this because I haven't heard from any of them today. Of course, they could all be in the hospital for alcohol poisoning right now since Gonzo said some permutation of "I don't remember" 71 times today. I've never met anyone with such a faulty memory as Gonzo apparently has -- and this, after one month of "…

Quitter

That wacky know-nothing up north, Sarah Palin, has quit her job as governor. She doesn't give a good reason why; in an annoyingly chipper speech, she whines about the way she was being scrutinized for ethics violations, and the fact that she was currently an ineffective lame duck governor, and then announces that she's stepping down from office. It makes no sense at all, and it does say something about the weakness of her character. Brave Dame Sarah ran away. ("No!") Bravely ran away away. ("I didn't!") When danger reared it's ugly shead, She bravely turned her tail and fled. ("no!")…

Home alone

I have been abandoned. My wife has left me. The kids have all moved out. I'm stuck home alone with nothing to do but work and take care of the annoying cats for a whole week, and I may just go insane. The Trophy Wife has gone to summer camp! She's working for a week as a camp counselor at Minnesota's Camp Quest, the secular place for smart kids to be. I'm thinking I should probably demand, as a price for forcing me to bach it for all this time, some kind of direct report from her at the end of the week that I could post here and get everyone excited about sending their kids (or spouses) away…

Kea

tags: birds, kea, Nestor notabilis, ornithology, Image of the Day I have been digging through my image archives in my gmail account and found some real treasures that my readers sent to me. Unfortunately, I overlooked quite a few images that were sent when I was in the hospital and had poor computer access. So let me fix this oversight during the next few weeks; Kea, Nestor notabilis. Image: Daniel Collins [larger view]. The photographer writes; This particular shot was taken around Arthurs Pass, in the middle of the South Island, NZ. This is standard Kea habitat, but I suspect you'd…

What's On My Parrots' Menu This Week?

tags: parrots, feeding One of the great pleasures I have is feeding my birds. I love everything about it, from shopping for the finest and freshest foods to preparing them for the birds to eat. As a result, I'd guess that my food preparations for the birds become rather complicated. Anyway, I thought I'd let you all know what my birds are eating this week; All the birds; frozen, thawed mixed vegetables (peas, carrot pieces, corn, lima beans) fresh zucchini pieces fresh red bell pepper pieces fresh corn-on-the-cob cut into 1-inch "wheels" fresh gala apple pieces fresh mango pieces fresh orange…

Orcas in Antarctica

tags: Antarctica, Orcas, Killer Whales, Orcinus orca, wildlife, streaming video In this video, we are given a look at a pod of Orcas -- "killer whales" -- Orcinus orca, that live in the Antarctic. I have spent many happy hours in Friday Harbor at the University of Washington's research station, watching Orcas and talking to the biologists who study them. These biologists were fairly certain that the Friday harbor Orcas are a different subspecies or species from those orcas that live in more open waters, such as the ones you see in this video. The reasons? At the time, they didn't have DNA…

Helsinki Heartsease

tags: Heartsease, Gardening, Horticulture, Botany, nature, Helsinki, image of the day Heartsease is known by a wide variety of names, including the Wild Pansy, Ladies' Delight, Jump-Up-And-Kiss-Me, and Johnny Jump-Up, Viola tricolor. Photographed on Seurasaari, Helsinki, Finland. Image: GrrlScientist, 4 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image) Native over large areas of Europe and western Asia, this is the ancestor of the modern pansy. I remember Heartsease from watching a live performance of Shakespeare's comedy, A Midsummer's Night Dream in London last year, where Oberon claims that the…

TEDTalks: Arthur Benjamin's Formula for Changing Math Education

tags: Arthur Benjamin, Mathematics, calculus, statistics, education, , TEDTalks, streaming video Someone always asks the math teacher, "Am I going to use calculus in real life?" And for most of us, says Arthur Benjamin, the answer is no. He offers a bold proposal on how to make math education relevant in the digital age. [2:59] TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on…

Expedition to Antarctica: Others Think I'd do a Helluva Job Too

Since I have recently developed quite a history of visiting cold and snowy places, often during the winter, I wish to preserve that tradition. I am competing for the opportunity to go to Antarctica in February 2010 -- a dream adventure that I've always wanted to pursue (and almost did pursue when I was an undergraduate researching Fin Whales and Crabeater Seals at the University of Washington). To enter, we must write an essay explaining why we think we are the best choice, and solicit votes from the public. Whomever receives the most votes wins the job. But I am not the only one who thinks…

TEDTalks: Philip Zimbardo Prescribes a Healthy Take on Time

tags: marshmallow experiment, future-oriented, time, Philip Zimbardo, TEDTalks, streaming video In this video, psychologist Philip Zimbardo says happiness and success are rooted in a trait most of us disregard: the way we orient toward the past, present and future. He suggests we calibrate our outlook on time as a first step to improving our lives. [7:07] TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate…

TEDTalks: Robert Full Tells Us What He Learned from the Gecko's Tail

tags: TEDTalks, biomimetics, biomutualism, biology, engineering, origin of flight, Robert Full, streaming video Biologist Robert Full studies the amazing gecko, with its supersticky feet and tenacious climbing skill. But high-speed footage reveals that the gecko's tail harbors perhaps the most surprising talents of all. [12:27] TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on…

Gift Idea: Endangered Parrots of The World Chess Set

Endangered Parrots of the World Chess Set [larger view]. Do you know someone who loves chess, art and parrots? If so, you might wish to start saving your money now for a Christmas gift that they would probably love: an Endangered Parrots of the World Chess Set. This environmentally-friendly hand-made Chess Set was created by Grant Dawson Collections in the United States from certified sustainable North American hardwoods (walnut and maple) and food safe natural finishes, with recycled glass ball feet, and features 32 lead-free pewter playing pieces finished in 24k gold or sterling silver…

Worth reading: Unequal risk and hospital infections

A few of the recent pieces I've liked: The excellent "Unequal Risk" series by the Center for Public Integrity's Jim Morris, Jamie Smith Hopkins, and Maryam Jameel ("Workers in America face risks from toxic exposures that would be considered unacceptable outside the job — and in many cases are perfectly legal.") Sarah Kliff at Vox: Do no harm ("There's an infection hospitals can nearly always prevent. Why don't they?") Ta-Nehisi Coates in The Atlantic: Letter to My Son ("Here is what I would like for you to know: In America, it is traditional to destroy the black body -- it is heritage.")…

Pimp My Book Manuscript

Since late ’09 my main research project has concerned the Bronze Age in the four Swedish provinces surrounding Lakes Mälaren and Hjälmaren. I've looked at the landscape situation of the era's deposition sites, which is pretty much where you find bronze objects. Yesterday I finished the first draft of the book (except the descriptive gazetteer, into which I still need to stick a few bits). And so here it is (300 kB PDF file)! The title is: In the Landscape and Between Worlds. Bronze Age Deposition Sites Around Lakes Mälaren and Hjälmaren in Sweden. I would be very grateful for comments,…

Busy Time Ahead

After a languid summer of reading, swimming and some work I'm gearing up for an intense time with a lot of fun stuff during September and October. Accompany Junior's class to Sevenoaks and London for music camp. For the second time, review grant applications for the main science funding body of a country in southern Europe, possibly with travel involved. Go to the Lake Vänern Museum in Lidköping to look at the finds from the Sunnerby barrow that I've been contracted to write about. The 15th European Skeptics Congress of which I am a co-organiser. Teach Scandy Archaeology 101 in Umeå one day…

Making Peace With Kraftwerk

I used to be kind of angry and disappointed with Kraftwerk. The only album they put out after I started listening to them was 1986's Electric Café which is OK but not great, and after that, no new material. But now I look at their catalogue and think, hey, from 1974 and for seven years on, they released five amazing albums. The stellar Computer World appeared in 1981, the year when Hütter & Schneider turned 35 and 34. In terms of the normal productivity and creativity arc of a band, Kraftwerk have nothing to be ashamed of. And there is that nagging question of what Ralf Hütter's 1983…

Flew To Öland

Yesterday I went to Öland and showed my students some sites and landscape. We were joined by human geographer Carl-Johan Nordblom who knows all the post-Viking stuff. Lovely day! Though we couldn't find our way to the best-preserved of the Resmo passage tombs. The land owner has tired of visitors and closed off the driveway from the main road. My ride Stockholm-Kalmar was a fun little flying school bus, the Swedish 1983 design SAAB 340, seating 34 people. I had a great view when we flew back north in the sunset, golden horizontal lighting bringing out the surface contour. There was a little…

Bo Ohlson's Lemon Chicken, as Remembered and Recreated 30 Years Later

Dismember a chicken and boil it in pan #1 until tender. Boil it with onion + carrot + garlic clove, all split, and bay leaf + salt. In pan #2, melt a few tablespoons of butter and whisk 0.4 dl of wheat flour into it. Add 5 dl of the chicken broth from pan #1, strained, a little at a time, while whisking. Add the shredded zest of a lemon and half of its juice. Add salt and pepper to taste and a dash of turmeric for colour. When the sauce has boiled for a while and thickened well, take it off the heat and whisk an egg yolk into it. Meanwhile, cook rice and some vegetables. The easiest way to…

Simon's Mix CD

I put together a mix CD today for Simon who's celebrating his 60th birthday. He's the husband of a colleague of mine, and all I really know about him is that he's English, he's a semi-pro musician and he likes Keith Jarrett, Juan Gilberto, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan and Hermeto Pascoal. So I thought I might share some tunes from the past few years that he may not have heard. 1. Comets on Fire - Hatched Upon the Age 2. Dungen - Mon Amour 3. Fleet Foxes - Your Protector 4. Frank Black - If Your Poison Gets You 5. George Hrab - One Hypnopompic Jerk 6. Maggi, Pierce & E.J. - Snowed In With You…

Dark Vengeance of Cryptic Slaughter

Discreetly hidden under the northern side of the eastern bridgehead of rural Täckhammar bridge is a spray-painted mural. I found it while checking for geocaches. It depicts an evil-looking male face accompanied by a really funny piece of Satanist prose poetry. "Dark vengeance of cryptic slaughter and Satanic suffering. The boundaries of Hell will brake [!] and humanity fall into frantic oblivion. Hatred and pain will forever rule the realm of Man." Dark Vengeance is a 1998 computer game. Cryptic Slaughter was an 80s thrash metal band. "Frantic oblivion", though an oxymoron, is actually a…

Weekend Fun

Had friends over to play some Abalone, Hell Rail and Balderdash. 11-y-o Junior often joins our board-game sessions these days. Bought ski boots for Junior and went skiing with him and the Rundkvist ladies. Watched Where the Wild Things Are. Nice visuals, but the movie unexpectedly turned out mainly to explore the complicated personal relationships between a group of monsters. They all behave like a cross between small children and old junkies and are pretty annoying. Celebrated Chinese New Year's Eve at an unassuming suburban restaurant that made my wife nostalgic through its genuine tacky…

Mars Rovers Still Working After Six Years

Dear Reader, remember the remote-controlled Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity? How long is it since the last time you thought of them? Spirit landed on Mars six Earth calendar years ago today, Opportunity on 25 January -- and both still work fine! Sadly, though, Spirit has been stuck on the edge of a small dust-filled crater since May last year, one set of wheels inside and one outside the crater. Its future looks dim as the Martian winter approaches and it is in a poor position for continued solar power. But Oppy trundles on toward Endeavour crater, taking pictures and analysing rocks. In…

Quiet, isn't it?

A hectic week of rowing and two weeks in Norway has left a bit of a hole in my blogging schedule. I also think it is about time to recognise that my long drift away from active involvement with science, combined with not-a-lot-going-on-really in actual climate science means I'll need to find other things to write about. Fortunately I spent quite a lot of my free time in Norway reading Hayek so there's a lot to discuss, starting with theory of law, which I discover is a thing. But that's not for today. Also, I'll get back to the sea ice at some point and try not to annoy Brian too much. This…

ZOMG: ExxonMobil and Sierra Club Agreed on Climate Policy—and Kept It Secret

o I've decided to try the "ZOMG" prefix for these things, instead of postfixing a mark of interrogation. Perhaps it makes things clearer. Anyway, the latest breathless nonsense is ExxonMobil and Sierra Club Agreed on Climate Policy—and Kept It Secret from Bloomberg (h/t JS). Why is it nonsense? Firstly, they're pretending this is news. It isn't news: this is essentially a re-tread of How two ExxonMobil and Sierra Club lawyers agreed on a carbon tax which is a much better article and more than a year old. Notice that it doesn't make any foolish claims about secrets. Secondly, Exxon's support…

One of The Top 50 Eco Blogs

I appear in the Times The Top 50 Eco Blogs. The accolade is somewhat blunted by the heading "FROM DARYL HANNAH AND AL GORE TO THE SCIENCE AND ECONOMICS OF CLIMAGE CHANGE, THE VERY BEST OF THE WEB" but I suppose I'll have to take what I can get, and put aside the shouting. I do rate as #2 amongst those listed as "scientists" (someone hasn't noticed my career change :-), whereas those exiled to Japan who actually have something to say pass unnoticed. Meanwhile, we had an earthquake nearby, but it was no plastic man toppler and I slept through it. Nice outing on the river tonight... clear,…

Failed Attempt To Use Aard For Anti-Cult Propaganda

I don't like Falun Gong, which I regard as a crazy manipulative cult. And I don't like the Chinese government, which I regard as a repressive capitalist dictatorship. These two organisations, in turn, hate each other. And it looks like someone in the Chinese government is trying to use me to disseminate anti-FG propaganda. This morning I received two letters from people claiming to be FG members trying to convert me. Neither letter is very long. Both contain loudly racist statements about black people and "mix-blood". It is a matter of public record that my wife is Chinese and that we have a…

More hot air

Bush said something about climate change. Sounds like the usual nothing to me: My proposal is this: By the end of next year America and other nations will set a long-term global goal for making sure we don't have to do anything in the near future. Sorry, that should read ...for reducing greenhouse gases. Predictably enough, Blur hailed this as a Great Leap Forwards whilst Merkel was sensibly more cautious. [Update: Nature has an editorial entitled "No more hot air": The leaders meeting at this year's G8 summit must grasp the opportunity to assert themselves and commit to real action on…

Spot the difference!

TGGWS was rebroadcast on Monday. I didn't see it, but B did, and his eagle eyes spotted at least one figure that has changed: see if you can see the differences (LHS:new; RHS:old): Yes, thats right: they have put it onto the proper time scale; removed the attribution; and deleted the arrows on the RHS. And changed the caption to "110 years". So... looks like they are listening to at least some of the complaints. However, they haven;t inserted the missing data at the end - I wonder if any views though "hmm thats odd - why stop at 1988?". Don't forget, BTW, that this fig has a dubious…

Running the rule over Stern's numbers

There is a r4 prog on Running the rule over Stern's numbers tonigh (8 pm). Apparently I get my 5 mins of fame at some point during it, we shall have to see. Update: Well, I was indeed there, for rather longer than I expected. I particularly liked the bit where I say "the A2 scenario, this, err red line here...". If you listen carefully you can hear me laughing gently as I say it. Roll on my TV appearence. Apart from that, I think this is a good prog: it airs the arguments against Stern I've given here and others have elsewhere, but within the context of the IPCC position rather than the…

It's "Report a scientist to the Feds" day!

Now William Dembski, that untiring advocate of academic freedom and the open discussion of controversial ideas, has reported Eric Pianka to the Department of Homeland Security. Could Pianka be charged with terrorism/conspiracy to commit a terrorist act? What happens if a student actually takes his suggestion to heart and kills a bunch of people? Why shouldn't we think that Dr. Doom himself would commit the act of human destruction he is advocating? How is what he is saying any different from somebody at an airport saying that he plans to plant a bomb there. Hmmm…anybody ever read any…

Paper terror in the skies

A week (?) ago I wrote a post called "Liquid terror in the skies" but it got eaten by weasels. Since then the usual lack of supporting evidence has not appeared, and today we have a paper bomb causing a plane to be diverted. One voice of sanity amongst the over reaction seems to be Ryanair, although of course they have a strong commercial interest in saying so. The paper bomb reminds me very much of a Len Deighton short story - from "Declarations of War" - about a war gaming, when one side occupies a country house; a gardner is let in carrying some flowers, which turn out to contain the word…

Ten Caches in Haninge

Got up at half past seven, spent the morning geocaching around Haninge. Found nine out of ten caches I searched for, listened to music and podcasts, sunshine, happy! Saw some sights: A hill fort A huge sun-dial sculpture The ruin of a bunker (?) A modern runestone (c. 1900), cemented to a cliff and covered with spray-painted graffitti A frisbee golf course full of buttercups Two potholes / giant's cauldrons / jättegrytor A mid-11th century runic inscription on a cliffside, with a looped and be-runed dragon and a big central cross, commemorating a deceased person and mentioning a bridge built…

Very encouraging!

A Few Things Ill Considered is just as happy as the next vile, hate-spewing, far left smear machine that Barack Obama actually won the recent US Presidential election, but I have to say I am so ready to be really disappointed! Call me a cynic, but we've had progress waved under our noses before, only to have it snatched away by spineless, self-serving Democratic congress people and the harsh reality that the real power structures in the US are not all elected officials. Nevertheless, when it comes to tackling climate change, the signs are really hopeful, even if the challenge is enormous. I…

A couple of discussions of Palin and Climate Change

This was Palin's response when asked about climate change in Thursday's vice-presidential debate: I think the (rather blindingly) obvious point to any with the slightest sincere interest in this issue is that despite what she says the cause of the current climate change is completely central to the question of what to do about it. Real Climate makes this point whether you are wholly in the adaptation camp or wholly in the mitigation camp. She mentions magical cycles as a possible explanation, one of the standard, easily debunkable lines. But as a young earth creationist, what cycles is she…

Breaking News? or Broken Record....

Via Andrew Dessler on Gristmill, we have this quoted material: At the World Climate Conference in Geneva this week, the United States blocked consensus on specific goals for reduction of carbon dioxide emission. As What's New predicted a month ago, the US sided with such backward nations as China and the Soviet Union, and oil producers like Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. Our traditional allies, Western European nations, Canada Japan, New Zealand and Australia, said they could cut emissions through energy efficiency measures at no net cost. A German study even concludes they can make money --…

More America-Hating Terrorist Sympathizers

Looks like even some Republicans are breaking ranks: The Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday voted 15-9 to recommend a bill -- over the objections of the Bush administration -- that would authorize tribunals for terror suspects in a way that it says would protect suspects' rights. The bill was backed by Republican Sens. John Warner of Virginia, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Sen Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. It differs from the administration's proposal in two major ways: It would permit terror suspects to view classified evidence against…

Campus Speech Codes Beginning to Fall

And I regard that as very good news. Last week, Georgia Tech dropped its speech code as part of a settlement in a lawsuit brought against them by the Alliance Defense Fund (and yes, I will agree with them completely on this one despite my opposition to them in most cases). The same thing happened back in May at Penn State, also in response to a lawsuit filed by the ADF. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) does excellent work in this area, pressuring colleges and universities to drop their unconstitutional speech codes and encourage a freewheeling exchange of ideas on…

Susan Jacoby on Anti-Judicial Extremism

Susan Jacoby has a pretty good essay at TomPaine.com about anti-judicial rhetoric and how it is damaging our system of law. Part of the essay focuses on Judge Jones and quotes a particularly wise statement from him: "But I submit to you that as citizens, we do not want and cannot possibly have a judiciary which operates according to the polls, or one which rules based on who appointed us or according to the popular will of the country at any given moment in time." Hear, hear. The courts were designed specifically not to be beholded to popular opinion. The founders saw that as one of the most…

Washington Post on Student Speech

The Washington Post had an editorial yesterday about student free speech and the Harper v Poway case, where the 9th circuit ruled that a school could prevent a student from wearing a t-shirt declaring that homosexuality was against God's law and shameful. I think they hit the nail pretty much on the head: The case is hard -- pitting important First Amendment values against the ability of a public school system to create an environment in which all students feel welcome and comfortable. In our view, the court's answer presents serious problems. Identifying a better solution, however, is tricky…

A Little Hope and Human Decency

Here's a follow up article on the Lakeway Inn in Meade, Kansas. That's the little restaurant and B&B that has a small rainbow flag hanging outside that anti-gay bigots presumed had something to do with homosexuality and thus threw a major hissy fit, cutting up the flag and starting boycotts and protests. This is a hopeful turn: "We're getting 200 e-mails a day," J.R. says. To give financial support to the Lakeway for standing its ground, people out of the area are calling up to rent rooms by credit card with no intention of spending the night. The southwest chapter of the Kansas Equality…