A Florida court crossed the line by forcing Samantha Burton to be hospitalized to prevent her from smoking during her pregnancy. State courts have forced mothers who are pregnant to be involuntarily tested, hospitalized and bedridden to prevent them from engaging in a wide range of unhealthy behaviors in the past--most notably the use of illicit drugs like crack, cocaine, and alcohol. More...
I would imagine that the appeals court will ultimately reverse the first court. Still, this is a real head-shaker. Do we need to add a Florida category?
Friday, January 29, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Law is not about results
This article stopped me in my tracks. "If the Constitution or other laws bar the government action in question, then that's the end of the inquiry; whether those actions produce good results is really not germane." More...
Health care
It comes up, and you should know something about it. How about a country by country CBA? Link.
Monday, January 25, 2010
The way of all (PF) flesh
Jonathan Peele writes on the PF topic selection process, which is, apparently, franchised. Could this happen to LD?
"As has been done with increasing frequency in recent years – most recently for the November failed states topic – the NFL Executive Director has sold the topic selec tion rights to a sponsoring organization." More...
"As has been done with increasing frequency in recent years – most recently for the November failed states topic – the NFL Executive Director has sold the topic selec tion rights to a sponsoring organization." More...
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Does foreign aid work?
Comparing types of foreign aid. Some interesting facts and conclusions.
From PAP: If you ask whether development aid is effective, it depends on what kind of aid you’re talking about, and on what you understand by effectiveness. If by effectiveness you mean that development aid should foster economic growth, you’re probably right to say it’s ineffective. But if you say that aid should solve some very specific problems such as a disease or the consequences of a disaster or a famine, then it can be very effective. More...
From PAP: If you ask whether development aid is effective, it depends on what kind of aid you’re talking about, and on what you understand by effectiveness. If by effectiveness you mean that development aid should foster economic growth, you’re probably right to say it’s ineffective. But if you say that aid should solve some very specific problems such as a disease or the consequences of a disaster or a famine, then it can be very effective. More...
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Peter Singer
Watch this video, which is Singer on greed. I've never seen him before. After this, I want to see more.
Democracy on the decline
From PAP: According to the latest report by Freedom House, 2009 marked the fourth consecutive year in which democracy suffered a decline—the longest consecutive period of setbacks in the nearly 40-year history of the report. These declines were most pronounced in Sub-Saharan Africa, although they also occurred in most other regions of the world. More...
Fascinating map of the Balkans
I found this while aimlessly surfing through Wikipedia. You watch the Balkans balkanize through the years. Amazing! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkanization
Thursday, January 14, 2010
More on meth
As a therapist working in a drug and alcohol treatment program at an HIV/AIDS clinic, I can assure you this menace is anything but conquered. More...
Speed still kills
Not debate-oriented. More like a PSA, from A Sullivan.
It is not a recreational drug; it is death. There needs to be more funded treatment centers, more outreach to the communities that are most vulnerable. More...
It is not a recreational drug; it is death. There needs to be more funded treatment centers, more outreach to the communities that are most vulnerable. More...
Don't blame me
This week will now take place next week, podcastwise. But at least there's a new poll. Link.
Doctorow on copyright
Cory Doctorow is a most vocal proponent of open rights to intellectual property, and this piece provides some good points on his side.
The vast majority of the culture swept into this 20th century black hole was not commercially available and, in most cases, the authors are unknown. The works are locked up -- with no benefit to anyone -- and no one has the key that would unlock them. We have cut ourselves off from our own culture, left it to molder -- and in the case of nitrate film, literally disintegrate -- with no benefit to anyone. More...
The vast majority of the culture swept into this 20th century black hole was not commercially available and, in most cases, the authors are unknown. The works are locked up -- with no benefit to anyone -- and no one has the key that would unlock them. We have cut ourselves off from our own culture, left it to molder -- and in the case of nitrate film, literally disintegrate -- with no benefit to anyone. More...
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
We live in a bizarre world
A Sudanese woman who wore pants in public was fined the equivalent of $200 but spared a whipping on Monday when a court found her guilty of violating Sudan’s decency laws. More from P.A.P....
This is the headline of the year!
Freemasonry Symbols Found In Lincoln-Douglas Debate Site, Book Reveals
Fortunately (unfortunately?), it's Abraham L and Stephen D, not the Glenbrooks or something. Link.
Fortunately (unfortunately?), it's Abraham L and Stephen D, not the Glenbrooks or something. Link.
Monday, January 11, 2010
The moral and constitutional case for a right to gay marriage
I can't say I ordinarily follow the NY Daily News, but this piece is absolutely to the point.
"To pass constitutional muster, racial discrimination had to survive strict scrutiny' by the courts. Government had to demonstrate a compelling need for its regulations, show they would be effective and narrowly craft the rules so they didn't sweep more broadly than necessary. That same regime should apply when government discriminates based on gender preference. No compelling reason has been proffered for sanctioning heterosexual but not homosexual marriages. Nor is a ban on gay marriage a close fit for attaining the goals cited by proponents of such bans. If the goal, for example, is to strengthen the institution of marriage, a more effective step might be to bar no-fault divorce and premarital cohabitation. If the goal is to ensure procreation, then infertile and aged couples should be precluded from marriage."
More....
"To pass constitutional muster, racial discrimination had to survive strict scrutiny' by the courts. Government had to demonstrate a compelling need for its regulations, show they would be effective and narrowly craft the rules so they didn't sweep more broadly than necessary. That same regime should apply when government discriminates based on gender preference. No compelling reason has been proffered for sanctioning heterosexual but not homosexual marriages. Nor is a ban on gay marriage a close fit for attaining the goals cited by proponents of such bans. If the goal, for example, is to strengthen the institution of marriage, a more effective step might be to bar no-fault divorce and premarital cohabitation. If the goal is to ensure procreation, then infertile and aged couples should be precluded from marriage."
More....
Democracy can't work here
P.A.P. brings up interesting anti-democracy arguments.
"In discussions about the promotion of democracy in those parts of the world where it hasn’t been (firmly) established yet, the sceptical side of the argument usually advances either or both of the following positions:
Democracy is a political form typical of the West and undesirable or impossible elsewhere.
Democracy is a political concept which is defined in different ways according to the culture in which it is applied. When promoting democratic government in certain places, we are in fact promoting standard Western democracy when we should in fact be promoting something quite different."
More...
"In discussions about the promotion of democracy in those parts of the world where it hasn’t been (firmly) established yet, the sceptical side of the argument usually advances either or both of the following positions:
Democracy is a political form typical of the West and undesirable or impossible elsewhere.
Democracy is a political concept which is defined in different ways according to the culture in which it is applied. When promoting democratic government in certain places, we are in fact promoting standard Western democracy when we should in fact be promoting something quite different."
More...
Friday, January 8, 2010
Great quote via A Sullivan
"To do evil a human being must first of all believe that what he’s doing is good . . . Ideology—that is what gives evildoing its long-sought justification and gives the evildoer the necessary steadfastness and determination. That is the social theory which helps to make his acts seem good instead of bad in his own and others’ eyes, so that he won’t hear reproaches and curses but will receive praise and honors. That was how the agents of the Inquisition fortified their wills: by invoking Christianity; the conquerors of foreign lands, by extolling the grandeur of their Motherland; the colonizers, by civilization; the Nazis, by race, and the Jacobins (early and late), by equality, brotherhood, and the happiness of future generations. — Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago.
Link.
Link.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
NCFL changes LD dramatically?
Hardly.
Two LD issues were brought before the board. The elimination of lag pairing failed miserably (or words to that effect). And good old fashioned disclosure remains punishable by 500 years in Purgatory. There's also some resolution discussion; don't read it on an empty stomach.
Full report here, via the PFDebate Blog.
Two LD issues were brought before the board. The elimination of lag pairing failed miserably (or words to that effect). And good old fashioned disclosure remains punishable by 500 years in Purgatory. There's also some resolution discussion; don't read it on an empty stomach.
Full report here, via the PFDebate Blog.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Forced democracy?
The ever-reliable P.A.P. blog discusses the down sides of getting democracy in places where it isn't.
If people want to have democracy, then it is of course possible and acceptable, maybe even necessary to assist them and to help them in their struggle against their government. But can we promote democracy if the people of a country do not want to have a democracy? Is it not undemocratic to force someone to be democratic? On the one hand, democracy implies respect for the will, the choice and the consent of the people. But, on the other hand, if we want to create democracy with undemocratic means, we have the analogy that peace is not always restored with peaceful means either... Does democracy not imply the right of the people to decide against democracy and to choose something else? More...
If people want to have democracy, then it is of course possible and acceptable, maybe even necessary to assist them and to help them in their struggle against their government. But can we promote democracy if the people of a country do not want to have a democracy? Is it not undemocratic to force someone to be democratic? On the one hand, democracy implies respect for the will, the choice and the consent of the people. But, on the other hand, if we want to create democracy with undemocratic means, we have the analogy that peace is not always restored with peaceful means either... Does democracy not imply the right of the people to decide against democracy and to choose something else? More...
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Iranian sanctions and Jan-Feb
Jim Anderson does an interesting post on both sides, vis-a-vis Iran. Check it out.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Gay rights support
Andrew Sullivan reposts an important article about the growing support for gay rights.
If you think that the Vietnam war took around 60,000 young American lives randomly over a decade or more, then imagine the psychic and social impact of 300,000 young Americans dying in a few years. Imagine a Vietnam Memorial five times the size. The victims were from every state and city and town and village. They were part of millions and millions of families. Suddenly, gay men were visible in ways we had never been before. And our humanity - revealed by the awful, terrifying, gruesome deaths of those in the first years of the plague - ripped off the veneer of stereotype and demonization and made us seem as human as we are. More, actually: part of our families. More...
If you think that the Vietnam war took around 60,000 young American lives randomly over a decade or more, then imagine the psychic and social impact of 300,000 young Americans dying in a few years. Imagine a Vietnam Memorial five times the size. The victims were from every state and city and town and village. They were part of millions and millions of families. Suddenly, gay men were visible in ways we had never been before. And our humanity - revealed by the awful, terrifying, gruesome deaths of those in the first years of the plague - ripped off the veneer of stereotype and demonization and made us seem as human as we are. More, actually: part of our families. More...
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