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Washingtonpost.com has under one of its columns, "Bullet Link Text Goes Here." The link is empty. I find this amusing.
May. 11th, 2006
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May. 11th, 2006 11:29 amNominee Rated 'Unqualified' By ABA Panel
A committee of the nation's largest lawyers organization yesterday unanimously rated President Bush's choice for a federal appeals court "unqualified," the first such vote in almost a quarter-century.
The 15-member Judicial Screening Committee of the American Bar Association found Michael B. Wallace, 55, a former aide to Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), unfit to sit on the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, which covers Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
[...] "The president should immediately withdraw his nomination," Ralph G. Neas, president of the liberal organization People for the American Way, said yesterday.
But the White House stood by Wallace. "We disagree with the ABA and reject their rating," said Bush spokeswoman Erin E. Healy. "Mike Wallace is a well-respected attorney with extensive experience in constitutional and commercial law."
[...] The last nominee to be rejected unanimously by the ABA was Sherman Unger, who was nominated by President Ronald Reagan to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in 1982. His nomination was later withdrawn.
A committee of the nation's largest lawyers organization yesterday unanimously rated President Bush's choice for a federal appeals court "unqualified," the first such vote in almost a quarter-century.
The 15-member Judicial Screening Committee of the American Bar Association found Michael B. Wallace, 55, a former aide to Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), unfit to sit on the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, which covers Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
[...] "The president should immediately withdraw his nomination," Ralph G. Neas, president of the liberal organization People for the American Way, said yesterday.
But the White House stood by Wallace. "We disagree with the ABA and reject their rating," said Bush spokeswoman Erin E. Healy. "Mike Wallace is a well-respected attorney with extensive experience in constitutional and commercial law."
[...] The last nominee to be rejected unanimously by the ABA was Sherman Unger, who was nominated by President Ronald Reagan to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in 1982. His nomination was later withdrawn.
Hmm... I wonder what happened?
May. 11th, 2006 12:06 pmThe Case of Roberts's Missing Papers: Investigators Are Still Unable to Locate File On Affirmative Action
The country has John G. Roberts Jr. as its newest chief justice. What it doesn't have is an answer to the mystery of the missing file of his work papers on affirmative action.
The file, compiled during Roberts's tenure as an associate counsel in the Reagan White House, vanished in July when lawyers from the Bush administration were reviewing the materials at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., as part of a vetting process before Roberts's formal nomination to the Supreme Court.
A newly released report from the National Archives inspector general's office shows that federal investigators failed in their first attempt to nail down what happened to the file, which became a flashpoint in Roberts's otherwise smooth confirmation process.
( Read more... )
The country has John G. Roberts Jr. as its newest chief justice. What it doesn't have is an answer to the mystery of the missing file of his work papers on affirmative action.
The file, compiled during Roberts's tenure as an associate counsel in the Reagan White House, vanished in July when lawyers from the Bush administration were reviewing the materials at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., as part of a vetting process before Roberts's formal nomination to the Supreme Court.
A newly released report from the National Archives inspector general's office shows that federal investigators failed in their first attempt to nail down what happened to the file, which became a flashpoint in Roberts's otherwise smooth confirmation process.
( Read more... )
By the way
May. 11th, 2006 12:35 pmNot that we should be up in arms about this or anything, but the NSA has a database of domestic US phone calls:
The agency in charge of a domestic spying program has been secretly collecting phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, including calls made within the United States, USA Today reported on Thursday.
It said the National Security Agency has been building up the database using records provided by three major phone companies -- AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. -- but that the program "does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations."
USA Today said its sources for the story were "people with direct knowledge of the arrangement," but it did not give their names or describe their affiliation.
[...] "It's the largest database ever assembled in the world," the paper quoted one source as saying. The agency's goal is "to create a database of every call ever made" within U.S. borders, it said the source added.
( Read more... )
See also: Bush: We're not trolling your personal life: Lawmakers demand answers on phone records report
&: President Bush's Statement
(no subject)
May. 11th, 2006 03:18 pmNewly discovered monkey rates own genus
A recently discovered type of African monkey is different enough from others that it needs to be listed in a separate genus, scientists have decided.
The monkey, which lives in Tanzania, was first described last year. At that time it was listed in the genus Lophocebus, which includes the mangabey.
After further study, researchers now say the monkey - known as kipunji - is more closely related to some types of baboon than to mangabeys, though it is anatomically different from baboons, and thus should have its own genus.
A research team led by Tim R. B. Davenport of the Wildlife Conservation Society suggests in the Science Express that kipunji should be placed in the newly created genus Rungwecebus.
It is the first new genus for an African primate in 83 years. The name refers to Mt. Rungwe, where this type of monkey was first seen.
A recently discovered type of African monkey is different enough from others that it needs to be listed in a separate genus, scientists have decided.
The monkey, which lives in Tanzania, was first described last year. At that time it was listed in the genus Lophocebus, which includes the mangabey.
After further study, researchers now say the monkey - known as kipunji - is more closely related to some types of baboon than to mangabeys, though it is anatomically different from baboons, and thus should have its own genus.
A research team led by Tim R. B. Davenport of the Wildlife Conservation Society suggests in the Science Express that kipunji should be placed in the newly created genus Rungwecebus.
It is the first new genus for an African primate in 83 years. The name refers to Mt. Rungwe, where this type of monkey was first seen.
(no subject)
May. 11th, 2006 09:34 pmYou know, I was just remarking to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lameautarch some grudging compliments about the job Howard Dean was doing as chair of the DNC, and then he goes and does something like misstate the party's platform on gay rights.
lameautarch some grudging compliments about the job Howard Dean was doing as chair of the DNC, and then he goes and does something like misstate the party's platform on gay rights.Some headlines are eye-widening.
May. 11th, 2006 10:13 pmExecution likelier for darker murderers
The more “black looking” an African-American man charged with murdering a white victim, the more likely he is to be sentenced to death, a Stanford University researcher said Tuesday.
Using scores given by white and Asian-American Stanford undergraduates to rate facial features of 44 black men tried for murder in Philadelphia over 20 years, researchers found that 57.5 percent rated to have “stereotypically” black features such as dark skin were sentenced to death.
By contrast, 24.4 percent of black men in similar murder cases and rated by the students as less stereotypically black were sentenced to death, said Jennifer Eberhardt, a Stanford psychologist involved in the research.
( Read more... )
The more “black looking” an African-American man charged with murdering a white victim, the more likely he is to be sentenced to death, a Stanford University researcher said Tuesday.
Using scores given by white and Asian-American Stanford undergraduates to rate facial features of 44 black men tried for murder in Philadelphia over 20 years, researchers found that 57.5 percent rated to have “stereotypically” black features such as dark skin were sentenced to death.
By contrast, 24.4 percent of black men in similar murder cases and rated by the students as less stereotypically black were sentenced to death, said Jennifer Eberhardt, a Stanford psychologist involved in the research.
( Read more... )