September 2004
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The Exploitation of Research Assistants by Law Professors
Gary Lawson (Law, BU)–who as readers know is always worth quoting–writes with some important observations that warrant the attention of law faculty: “Your recent post on RAs and co-authorship deserves a thread. The failure of legal academics properly to credit co-workers (who are often relegated to polite mentions in star footnotes) is one of the…
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Cheney on a Military Draft
This article reports Vice-President Cheney’s comments on the prospect of a military draft (our topic du jour): “At a campaign appearance in Oregon last week, Vice President Dick Cheney said the all-volunteer military remains America’s best option and it would take a crisis ‘on the scale of World War II before I would think that…
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Ad Hominems, InstaIgnorance, and the Case of the Coming Draft
On the off chance that some folks who write blogs are (appearances notwithstanding) educable, may we take a break from our regular (or irregular) programming, to explain the meaning of “ad hominem”? Many names have descriptive and referential content: this goes for “criminal,” “moral cretin,” “moron,” and “liar.” Many of these names (e.g., “moral cretin”)…
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Is Harvard Law School the Plagiarism Leader in American Legal Education?
This article might lead one to think so. Although I’m no fan of the “Professor of Torture” Alan Dershowitz, my impression was that the “plagiarism” allegation against him last year lacked merit; Larry Tribe and Charles Ogletree present clearer cases, and both acknowledged improper use of the work of others. But what does it all…
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Eroding civil liberties in Britain
Details here: “The demonstrators who have halted the construction of the new animal testing labs in Oxford command little public sympathy. Their arguments are often woolly and poorly-presented. Among them is a small number of dangerous and deeply unpleasant characters, who appear to respect the rights of every mammal except Homo sapiens. This unpopularity is…
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God Bless America, Again
Apparently this fellow from outside the U.S. has not been watching Fox or reading InstaIgnorance. An excerpt (footnotes are omitted, but are in the original): “Dear Americans (I am here addressing only those of you who are rationally choosing to prolong the suffering of the human race for 4 more years): “Just this past week,…
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The Coming Draft continued
Details here: “It is fair to ask how many wars our imperial nation can fight with its hard-pressed volunteer forces, many of whom are now forbidden to leave when their enlistments run out. Or, when they are finally released, how many will re-enlist. The National Guard, for example, failed to meet this year’s quota of…
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America, One-Party State
Details here: “This week made it even harder to convince the voters that this country has a genuine, major opposition party. The Congressional Democrats have now completely capitulated to the Republican advocates of supply-side economics — what the first President Bush once called ‘voodoo economics’–by overwhelmingly voting for Dubya’s tax cut package. Only one, lone…
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In Memoriam
Richard Arnold (1936-2004) The New York Times obituary of this honorable jurist is here. Sadly, he will almost surely be replaced, if Bush is reelected, by a right-wing zealot and mediocrity. UPDATE: Rick Garnett (Law, Notre Dame), who clerked for Judge Arnold, has a more personal remembrance here. Professor Garnett also informs me that Judge…
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More Thoughts from Specialists on Political Theory vs. Political Philosophy
David Lefkowitz (Philosophy, UNC-Greensboro) writes: “I’d like to contribute a few thoughts on the choice between political philosophy and political theory…. “First, one way for a student to get a quick and dirty look at the differences between political theory and political philosophy is to visit the American Political Science Association’s annual meeting web-site, and…
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“Thought Control” on Iraq
Details here: “The Army Field Manual describes information operations as the use of strategies such as information denial, deception and psychological warfare to influence decision making. The notion is as old as war itself. With information operations, one seeks to gain and maintain information superiority — control information and you control the battlefield. And in…
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Historian/Sociologist of Science Shapin from UCSD to Harvard
Steven Shapin, one of the most important and provocative historians and sociologists of science at work today, is moving from the University of California at San Diego to a new Chair in History of Science at Harvard University. Details here. This is slightly dated news, but will still be of interest to philosophers.
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Is Law Teaching a “Tough Market” for Women?
Orin Kerr (Law, George Washington) discusses a recent article on the subject, and makes a number of sound points. UPDATE: More on the AALS data from Professor Kerr here.
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If America were Iraq
Juan Cole (History, Michigan) has once again produced a striking piece of analysis. It pays to have a knowledge base.
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“Hold Them Accountable”
Indeed, we should. This new 527 group is putting the ad at the link in to circulation, and soliciting support for more. You would be forgiven for thinking that they believe the only deaths that count are American, but as a political matter (and given the general moral indifference to the miseries of non-Americans in…
Then my question is how many of ordinary mathematicians also qualify as artists of their profession…