Georgian Education Goes from Bad to Worse

Hot on the heels of Georgia's banning of the word "evolution" from the classroom comes an examination of the history portion of those same guidelines. It seems that the Civil War has been banished from the classroom as well. Even keeping in mind that the Civil War is probably as controversial in Georgia as evolution, how any school system can think that skipping over the most significant event in the nation's history. Of course, they'd probably teach it so poorly that it would not be of great use to the kids, anyway.

Daytona Prototype Confessions

As I sit here watching the first few hours of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, I'm forced to say that some of the new Daytona Prototype cars look pretty damn good. The Crawfords, in particular, remind me of the old GTP days. The Rileys (what happened to Scott?) are still but ugly - like someone designed the rest of the car and then plopped the square greenhouse on top. Either way, it's nice to see 15+ of them out there running. They're not as exotic or fast at the LeMans Prototypes (even the LMP2s, probably), but they do their own thing pretty well.

Oh, and props to Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who is currently lapping in the rain!

The Dangers of One-Size-Fits-All Nation Building

An article in today's New York Times ponders the problems that can be caused by American "democracy and free markets for all" foreign policy. While no one argues against those ideals, the article points out that sometimes forcing those concepts on societies that aren't ready for them is a recipe for problems. An interesting read.

Album of the Day

Adrian Belew: Desire of the Rhino King. Adrian Belew is a neat guy. After gaining recognition working for folks like Frank Zappa, David Bowie, and the Talking Heads, Belew launched a long term career as front man and leading light of King Crimson. He's also a prolific solo artist. Desire of the Rhino King is a compilation of material taken from Belew's first three solo albums. The first two thirds are seriously off kilter pop tunes. They all have their moments, but "Addidas in Heat", "The Rail Song", and "The Perfect Woman" are favorites. The last third of the disc, taken from the album Desire Caught By the Tail, are instrumental solo guitar (and percussion) tunes. More "prog" than the rest, they're equally good.

An Interesting Read

No commentary, really, on this article from today's Washington Post. It's about the Federal Public Defender office in the Eastern District of Virginia, which has been in the news a lot recently for its representation of folks like Zacharias Moussaoui and Yassar Hamdi. While my office doesn't have any clients of that magnitude, the general vibe that comes across in this article feels familiar.

Yes, Your Honor, I Did Vote for You

In a column in today's Charleston Gazette, state senator and attorney Larry Rowe argues against a "merit" selection system for judges in West Virginia. West Virginia elects all of its judges in full-bore partisan elections. They are, for the most part, incredibly useless.

Judicial codes of ethics prohibit judges from speaking out on cases that are currently in front of their court or may be in front of their court in the future. Well, that covers just about everything. That's good, because we don't want any judge to make up his mind about an issue before hearing evidence and arguments from both sides. But it makes for meaningless campaigns. Unlike legislators, whom we elect because they will do something for us, judges cannot make such promises. At least in WV we still have the party identifiers to go on (some states have "non-partisan" elections).

Rowe's main concern seems to be the excessive politicizing of the process which would be spurred by Senate confirmations. First, that ignores the fact that the process now is inherently politicized, as evidenced by the national power brokers getting set to wage an election battle over Supreme Court Justice Warren McGraw. Second, while the US Senate certainly has its share of nasty political fights over judges (and presidential sidesteps), most nominations sail through with little or no controversy. Thus, it seems to me that any concern about excessive politics is misplaced.

Another concern voiced by Rowe is that the process, as proposed by one bill, would isolate the electorate from their local judges. I happen to think that can be a good thing, as the judge will feel less swayed by the passions of the public than by the facts and the law. However, there are other means of merit selection, such as retention elections after a certain period of time, that can allay any fears of a local disconnect.

I'll be the first one to recognize that a merit selection system doesn't take the politics completely out of the judicial system. The best we can hope is that judges who are insulated in some meaningful way from actively being politicians will be better judges. Federal judges, for the most part, show that to be true. It's time the people of WV got the same quality in their judicial system.

Yeah, Well, Girls Smell Bad!

Findlaw reports about the controversy caused by a company that sells a line of clothing with anti-male slogans, including "Boys Are Stupid - Throw Rocks At Them." The target market for these is apparently young girls. Now, I'm not thin-skinned enough to get upset about such things. I'd just like to point out that had the shirts read "Girls Are Stupid - Throw Rocks at Them," various women's groups would be up in arms and Gloria Allred would be looking for someone to sue. Just something to think about - equality does mean treating everybody the same way, after all.

They'll Come for the Globes Next

In West Virginia, we have a saying: "thank God for Mississippi." The point being, when WV is at the very bottom of damn near every national statistic, we can sometimes count on Mississippi do be even worse. Well, now, we can say, "thank God for Georgia." The educational powers that be in the Peach State have removed the word "evolution" from the state's educational guidelines. The guidelines also streamline biology requirements to not emphasize evolution. Presumably, the Biblical theory that the Earth is flat will lead to the removal of globes from the schools in the near future. At least in WV, we try to teach science correctly!

Does Anybody Actually "Parent" Anymore?

USA Today reports today about the growing battle over violent video games. The specific target of contempt at this moment is the Grand Theft Auto series, which takes the whole "shoot 'em up" genre one step further by letting the player be the bad guys (I think - I've never tried it). Buried in the story is the stat that 90% of games are bought by adults, not kids. Which makes sense, given that a new Xbox game costs about $50. I certainly didn't have that kind of cash to throw around as a kid - hell, I had to take days to convince myself to spend that kind of cash on the 2004 version of FIFA Soccer!

The point is - where are the parents in all this? It looks like, for the most part, they are the ones buying the games that their kids play. If so, then let's keep the courts and the government out of it and leave the policing of these games to the parents.

Album of the Day

Tony Banks: Still. If there was any justice in the pop world, the breakout solo artist from Genesis would have been Tony Banks, who was infinitely more responsible for the band's commercial success than Phil Collins. Granted, Tony has the electrifying stage presence of a wet dish towel, but what do you expect from a keyboard player? Still is the only Banks album I own, and it is what you might reasonably have expected from a Genesis man in 1992 - decent synth-heavy pop with a couple of real high points, but not much else. Given the fine collaborators Banks has along for the ride of some tracks (Daryl Stuermer, Vinnie Colaiuta, Fish), it's a shame Banks's synth sheen doesn't break a little more often than it does. Anyway, "Red Day on Blue Street" is a good jaunty political tune (particularly appropriate at the campaign season hits high gear) and "Another Murder of the Day", co-written with vocalist Fish, gives some indication of what Genesis's Calling All Stations could have been had the big Scotsman taken over behind the mike.

Tell 'em What They've Won, Johnny

It appears that Open Wheel Racing Series has won the war for the rotting carcass of CART, fending off a competing bid from the Indy Racing League and Tony George. As a result, there will be some form of the Champ Car World Series in operation this year, starting at Long Beach in April. I've said before in this space that it looked like George was in position to kill CART once and for all. I sort of hoped he would, just so we could start from scratch and build a strong, diverse, unified open wheel series for North America. Since, for the time being at least, the IRL and ChampCar will exist apart from each other, I hope that the OWRS braintrust can pull the remains of CART out of their financial funk and restore it to health. Stability, not profitability, should be the immediate goal. Let's build slowly.

Let the Backpedaling Begin!

As expected, in the wake of David Kay's conclusions about WMDs in Iraq, President Bush is already backing away from the WMD justification for going to war. This should surprise no one, of course. It is just one more point of evidence that the Iraqi invasion was a done deal by the time Bush entered office.

Album of the Day

Area: Crac!. Area is one of the classic Italian prog bands from the 1970s. Unlike, say, PFM or Banco, Area displayed more fusion than the symphonic tendencies. A song like the opening "L'enfante bianco" compares favorably with the likes of Mahavishnu Orchestra. A defining element of the Area sound is vocalist Demetrio Stratos, whose unique style is much less "out there" than I've been led to expect. But maybe that's just a factor of the other stuff I listen to! In fact, this stuff here is pretty accessible. "La mela di Odessa (1920)" breaks into a deep funk groove in the middle (complete with spoken word vocals from Stratos - rap?!?!), while "Gioia e rivoluzione" would be a great sing along tune if only I spoke Italian. Great stuff!

Once a Public Square, Always a Public Square?

There is an interesting dispute going on in Salt Lake City, as reported here and here. It involves a once-public park in downtown Salt Lake which the city recently sold to the Mormon church. The church has restricted access to the park, as private landowners generally have a right to do. But the ACLU has sued, arguing that the city's action in selling the land (for really cheap, IIRC) is a legal trick designed to let the church accomplish as a private landowner what the city could not as a public one. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Check Your Sex Toys at the State Line

So, the war on terrorism must be over, right? That's the only reason I can think of for the state of Texas to waste taxpayer money prosecuting those who sell sex toys. As discussed in this Findlaw column, a suburban mother in Texas faces criminal obscenity charges because she sold sex toys to a "couple" who came to her seeking her wares. The "couple" in question were undercover cops. That's right, the local fuzz have the time and resources to set up a sting operation to stop a housewife from selling sex toys.

Is this what law enforcement has come to? As the column points out, the Texas obscenity law doesn't criminalize the sale of sex toys, only the "promotion." So as long as you don't discuss them with your customers, you're all right. Conversely, I'm pretty sure you can talk to you local crack dealer about his or her products without fear of prosecution.

While the column correctly points out that the law itself is headed for the dustbin in the wake of Lawrence (see below), I still can't get right with the fact that the police set this woman up in the first place. It's not as if she was standing on a street corner in downtown Dallas waving dildos around. She'd need an NEA grant for that, of course.

Spatial Relations Are Not His Forte

Did you ever wonder if anybody ever tried to slither out between the bars of their jail cell? Well, read this. As reported by the Charleston Gazette, an inmate at the local region jail busted out the window in his cell and tried to slide out. The only problem is that the window in question is a whopping six inches wide! The inmate in question is 5'10'' and weighs 165 pounds. No word yet on the cunning theory he had developed to bend the very fabric of space itself to slip through the window.

Oh, and had he succeeded? "[H[e would have still faced fences, numerous layers of razor wire and the watch of guards and cameras." Whoops.

Hey, Scalia Was Right! So Who Cares?

In his scathing dissent to last year's Supreme Court decision overturning the Texas sodomy statute (Lawrence v. Texas), Justice Scalia employed that favorite rhetorical device - the slippery slope - to show the parade of horribles which would now be legal in light of the Court's ruling. One of those things was polygamy. Guess what? A lawyer from - wait . . . for . . it - Utah has filed a challenge to that state's polygamy laws, on the basis of the Lawrence decision.

Personally, I don't share Scalia's concern that one thing leads to another. Lawrence was about criminal punishments because of private behavior between consenting adults. Legalized polygamy, on the other hand, would require the extension of a government benefit - marriage - to 3 rather than 2 people. I think the ideas are conceptually different and the Court will be able to make that distinction. But on the other hand, who cares? If more than 2 people wanna get hitched, who is society to care? Assuming everyone is a consenting adult, of course.

Stories That Need to Be Heard

When I was in college I wrote a massive paper about the medical profession in Germany during WWII, including it's role in various nasty Nazi programs. The popular conception of the Nazis was that their ranks were made up of lower class working folk who "bought in" to the propaganda of a reborn Reich. In fact, party membership was highest amongst professionals, including doctors.

Part of the medical profession's involvement in the regime was conducting experiments on concentration camp victims. Now the stories of some survivors are being cataloged for posterity. It is horiffic to think about what one human being can do to another, particularly in the name of "science." The stories of those who survived this torture need to be remembered as a warning of just what kind of evil the human race is capable of.

Album of the Day

Every January I start a project where I listen to every CD I own while I'm at work, from All Too Human to Zappa, Frank. It's the only time I actually listen to some things I have. It's also a chance to rediscover a lost gem or two. So, while this is going on, I'll write a bit about one disc I listened to at work.

All Too Human: Forever and a Day. The beginning of my collection, this is a fairly average disc of prog metal produced by a band from Texas. I actually won it a couple years ago in a contest run by the Dutch Progressive Rock Page. It sounds mostly like Queensryche (to me at least), except for "Life Begins Anew," which is the best Caress of Steel-era Rush tune the Canadian trio never recorded. Good but not great. Sadly, it's by far the best of the 10 discs I got in the DPRP prize pack.

Face It, Tony's Won

The death of mutli-facet open wheel racing in the United States is just about here. Now that Tony George has put in a competing bid for some of the assets of the late CART series. Some of this makes sense from an IRL business stand point - purchasing the CART contract for the Grand Prix of Long Beach, for instance. It's sponsored by IRL engine supplier Toyota and is the second most successful open wheel race in the country, behind the Indy 500.

But why, Tony, the bid on CART's leased engines? The 2.65 litre turbo Cosworth powerplants are radically different from the IRL's normally aspirated 4.0 litre motors. It's not as if he's bidding on a backup in case of a massive string of engine failures. The only reason I can see is that without their engines, CART's successor OWRS will have no choice but to cancel the 2004 season and fold. Game set match Tony George. He is now in a place to throw his considerable funds around to kill off his competition.

For some other perspectives on this, Speed has Tony George's statement online as well as commentary from Robin Miller.