One of the preeminent thinkers at the U. of Chicago Law Blog has written a stunningly well-reasoned approach to California's controversial Prop 8. To attempt to summarize his point, he attempts to criticize the proposition from the establishment clause. His point is that by banning gay marriage, the state has de facto endorsed a clearly ( Read more... )

This is definitly copy infringment. Oh well. For those of you who have had Dr. Marshall, you will remember this story. Otherwise, I believe it to be a fun holiday tale. Enjoy:
The Birds For Christmas ( Read more... )

This is killing me. In the semi-recent, highly publicized Willock v. Elane Photography, a photographer turned down an offer to photograph a commitment ceremony between two lesbians. The photographer said the job would commit her to participating in a practice she found objectionable for religious reasons. The couple then sued and the case went ( Read more... )

So, whatever one's stance on religion, it may make sense to think of it in some ways as a tool. It has many of the chararacteristics of a tool: it's a construction used for specific ends, it fades into the background until broken and can be used according to the user's intent. This all good and well, until it's used for something like killing ( Read more... )

Constructing MeaningI've been thinking about constructing meaning recently, specifically in the context of Fr. Clancy's reflection papers. He is a fiend for granting the reflection's subject a favorable presentation. Criticise if you must, he believes, but more important is presenting the subject in a positive light and, most importantly, ( Read more... )

Alternate version of the below-mentioned Coke comercial

Click to view

Everyone needs to vote for Dingle for a $10,000 blogging scholarship. Even if you don't know him, take my word for it; he is both a gentleman and a scholar. The relevant fact, of course, is that he is a brilliant scholar, well deserving of the funds.

Does anyone out there know the specific process by which troops have arrived in Iraq? Everyone knows that only Congress has the power to declare war, and the fact that Bush has effectively side-stepped this Constitutional directive has been discussed to exhaustion. What I'm wondering is, aside from personal opinion of right or wrong, what ( Read more... )

It's not surprising that good usage is the product of comprimise. But the following is interesting ( Read more... )

This is so frustrating. I'm doing a report on 1)the current state of our obscenity laws and 2)the dangers of obscene material. There is no doublt that there is material, lots of material, out there that is legally obscene. But this begs the question, so what? Everyone knows that there is "conclusive" evidence on either side, that obscene ( Read more... )