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July 19, 2005

Swiss Homeless World Cup soccer team

Posted by Jon Ham at 11:28 PM

I wonder, when coaches in this league want to cheat on recruiting, do they tell the recruit, "Well, Hartmut, I'd love to have you on our team but you're going to have to move out of that chalet and into a refrigerator box, at least until the season is over."

How leftists view the Supreme Court's role

Posted by Jon Sanders at 9:40 PM

Here's a telling quote from Sen. Schumer:

"[Roberts] is nominated for a position where he can overturn precedent and make law ...

Re: Amazing

Posted by Paul Chesser at 9:37 PM

Donna, the panic attack has commenced at NOW and NARAL.

Amazing, but these view will be called extreme

Posted by Jon Ham at 8:34 PM

Below are quotes, via TownHall.com's C-Log, from responses of John G. Roberts, the likely Bush nominee to the Supreme Court vacancy left by the retiring Sandra Day O'Connor, to past questions from Sen. Chuck Schumer. Amazingly, these will be characterized as extreme in the coming days:

My own judicial philosophy begins with an appreciation of the limited role of a judge in our system of divided powers. Judges are not to legislate and are not to execute the laws. . . . My judicial philosophy accordingly insists upon some rigor in ensuring that judges properly confine themselves to the adjudication of the case before them, and seek neither to legislate broadly not to administer the law generally in deciding that case.

Deciding the case . . . . requires an essential humility grounded in the properly limited role of an undemocratic judiciary in a democratic republic, a humility reflected in doctrines of deference to legislative policy judgments and embodied in the often misunderstood term “judicial restraint.” That restraint does not mean that judges should not act against the popular will. . . .[T]he framers expected them to be discerning the law, not shaping policy. That means the judges should not look to their own personal views or preferences in deciding the cases before them. Their commission is no license to impose those preferences from the bench.

This is how he defined judicial activism:

...a judge who has transgressed the limited role assigned to the judicial branch under the Constitution, and has either undertaken to exercise the legislative function by imposing his own personal policy preferences under the guise of legal interpretation, or has arrogated to himself the executive function by imposing his policy views on how the law should be administered.

Upping the ante

Posted by Jon Ham at 4:59 PM

The Independent Weekly has a nice little article, Boutique beer bill running dry? , on House Bill 392 that proposes raising the alcohol level of beer to allow for specialty beers to be made and distributed in North Carolina.

I wonder if they know that they are lobbying for a free market.

Tune in Now: JLF's Don Carrington on WWNC-AM, Asheville

Posted by Donna Martinez at 4:05 PM

Carolina Journal investigative reporter Don Carrington is on the air live during today's 4 pm hour of "The Matt Mittan Show" on WWNC-AM in Asheville. He will discuss a variety of questionable projects with guest host Chad Adams, director of the Center for Local Innovation. Listen live by plugging this into your browser.

http://ccri.eonstreams.com/ccri_nc_asheville_wwnc_am.asf

New Harry Potter book doubles toil & trouble for UNC prof

Posted by Jon Sanders at 3:35 PM

I couldn't resist passing this gem along from UNC-Chapel Hill News Services:

An expert on literature for children and young adults, UNC's Brian Sturm can comment on the upcoming release of the sixth "Harry Potter" book and discuss why the series has been so successful, the effects on children of such books and of reading, and the value of reading for everyone.

Anybody looking for someone to tell you why reading's valuable, here's your man.

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I might have written about the top article, "Chancellor Moeser and delegation visit UNC programs in Singapore, Bangkok," but for some reason the link is broken.

Tune in Now: Roy Cordato is on WWNC Asheville re: global warming

Posted by Donna Martinez at 3:30 PM

JLF's VP for Research, Roy Cordato, is right now on WWNC-AM in Asheville discussing global warming and the politicization of science. He's the guest of CLI Director Chad Adams, who is guest hosting for Matt Mittan.

Listen live by plugging this into your browser:

http://ccri.eonstreams.com/ccri_nc_asheville_wwnc_am.asf

Re: incentives claims reach new heights of absurdity

Posted by Donna Martinez at 2:10 PM

Hey Paul, I'm fascinated by the theory of jobs-equals-tourism that was espoused by Winston-Salem city council member Vivian Burke after voting to approve the city's $37.2 milion incentives for Dell Inc. If we follow Burke's logic, then we should all gather around our new Locke Foundation colleague, Nancy Winter, and thank her for helping to boost tourism in downtown Raleigh. As an aside, I find it amazing that the reporter didn't follow up on Burke's assertion. I would love to read the tortured logic required for the jobs-equals-tourism explanation.

Tonight at 9 on 'Hannity & Colmes'

Posted by Paul Chesser at 1:32 PM

Demo dumpster diving

Posted by Jon Ham at 12:03 AM

Word is that the two Ediths (Jones and Clement) from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals are finalists for President Bush's nomination to the Supreme Court. No confirmation of rumors that Howard Dean, Paul Begala and James Carville have already been seen picking through their garbage in an effort to find pre-hearing dirt on the two.

UPDATE: Smart money is on Clement. Here's her bio. Wait'll Joe Biden sees she's a member of The Federalist Society. She's also a Southerner (U. of Ala. undergrad, Tulane law school), so I can't wait for the demagogery that's sure to accompany that.

Punishing success

Posted by Jon Ham at 11:32 AM

It seems that granola-cruncher icon Whole Foods Market, like two other enterprises that started small and made it big, Starbucks and Wal-Mart, is about to be punished for its success. Just as legions of success-hating fans deserted the punk band Green Day when they became popular with normal people, there seems to be a move afoot to do the same with Whole Foods. You read it here first.

Re: Not the John Kerry Kind

Posted by Jon Sanders at 11:12 AM

Paul, my first reaction to this story was it must be a slow news day. Then upon further reflection, my second reaction, to paraphrase T.S. Eliot, was This is the way the Rove story ends / Not with a bang, but an article about footwear.

Not the John Kerry Kind

Posted by Paul Chesser at 10:57 AM

I can't help but think that some of our female Locke employees, should they ever be invited to the White House, might also wear flopping footwear.

Re: why college students are the way they are

Posted by Jon Sanders at 10:24 AM

George, just as Thomas Sowell is thankful he received his education prior to the condescension and lowering of expectations of "affirmative action," I'm glad I finished my high school years right before the protection of students' self-esteem gained primacy in pedagogic practice. My senior-year English research paper was the toughest paper I ever had to complete — not only were we graded on substance, grammar, and sources, but also our teacher measured our footnote spacing with a ruler. My Apple IIc, with some finagling, could produce the proper spacing — but our teacher, Mrs. Perry, didn't show enough contemporary concern for her students' "feelings" in order to allow our intentions to serve as proxy for adherence to proper form and content.

Shockingly, we learned a great deal from this very exacting woman, although given all the stress and frustration we endured in fulfilling her assignments, grief-ridden educrats may now worry about their effects on our li'l psyches.

Incentives Claims Reach New Heights of Absurdity

Posted by Paul Chesser at 09:28 AM

From the Winston-Salem Journal, after the city council approved its incentives package for the Dell assembly plant:

Council Member Vivian Burke said that the Dell plant and new jobs will help tourism.

why college students are the way they are

Posted by George Leef at 09:01 AM

Here is an interesting article by Will Fitzhugh, who for years has been trying to get people to notice that writing is gradually disappearing from the K-12 curriculum.

I noticed that myself quite a few years ago when my students struggled to write even the simplest of essays. Some admitted that they had gone through their K-12 years, hardly ever having to write a paper or essay. True-false and multiple-choice tests throughout. With many teachers now the product of the "let kids write any way they want to" approach, we probably couldn't get good writing instruction even if we wanted it. On a large scale, anyway. Individual parents who think the ability to write well is important can and should take matters into their own hands. In the future, with an ever-greater percentage of the population having a college degree, employers will look more at demonstrable ability, including writing and less at paper credentials.

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