supreme court vacancy

The forerunners for the Delaware Supreme Court vacancy (due to the retirement from the bench of Justice Walsh), seem to be Vice Chancellor Jack B. Jacobs and Superior Court Resident Judge Richard R. Cooch. Time will tell.

the question of the day

Was Saddam Bush-Whacked?

high court upholds ban on cross burning

The U.S. Supreme Court has issued an opinion in which it tipped the balance scales in favor of a Virginia statutory ban on cross burning (when done to intimidate) at the expense of free speech rights.

A more thorough analysis is presented by Howard Basham at How Appealing, et. seq..

Ok.... then... what about flag burning?

shredding libraries

These days, when I go to the Library, I don't ask for help from the reference librarian.

I'm concerned about taking books out because I don't want to leave a paper trail.

I thought about trying to read books from a list I saw earlier this year of the 100 most significant books of the past century. I'm not sure that I will though. Some of them might not look too good on my permanent record.

Next time I go to the Library, I'm going to check to make sure my librarian has a shredder (NY Times link, free reg. req'd)

Happy daylight savings time!

the popular death penalty

A New York Review of Books essay on Scott Banner's The Death Penalty: An American History discusses the history of the penalty and legislative, executive, and judicial responses to it. If you find yourself interested in the use of this penalty during America's history, this article is a good starting point.

file sharing on campus

Some serious firepower was leveled against college students this past week by the recording industry. Law suits were initiated against 4 students who had songs available to share with others. The music was stored on computers connected to the college networks. The plaintiff record companies stated that they would drop the suits if the file sharing services were shut down.