Thursday, January 19, 2006

Pre-Game Round-Up

What time is it? It's debating time!!!! I'm off to my first debate tournament of the term this weekend, leaving at 4:30 AM Friday morning. It's in Seward, Nebraska, which kind of sucks, but on the other hand our 6 hour drive takes us through scenic Iowa. I bet the time will fly.

In any event, I'm bringing my computer along (I have some editing I need to do), but I can't guarantee that they have the internet in Nebraska. So the blog may be on hiatus until Monday. But until that happy day, here is a variety of interesting stuff to tide you over.

Terra Nova is a blog exploring issues surrounding online multiplayer games. That may seem geeky to the extreme, and perhaps it is, but the contributors are all legitimate scholars or experts on the subject. Some of the posts are actually quite fascinating, and I speak as someone who has never partook in any sort of online gaming experience whatsoever (well, internet Reversi a few times, but that is IT).

Patrick Belton has a neato post on the upcoming elections in Palestine. Hamas, of course, is the X factor here:
Skulking about the strategic studies centres of their universities, the Israelis seem of two minds when it comes to Hamas's projected strong showing in the polls - either it won't be that bad, as they'll likely moderate and deal cleanly with administration and garbage collection, or it's an end to Oslo and the start of a good bit of jihad; there's also the possibility the lads in green might accidentally win outright, which no one seems to want, least of all possibly Hamas. ('Much easier to keep your virginity when you're not in power,' was how an analyst at the Jaffee Centre put it to me.)

As for me, I have a lot of trouble getting past the fact that the far-and-away most popular candidate in that election is currently serving life in prison for quintuple homicide. But I suppose that's just the cynic in me talking.

A pair of good posts are up over at PrawfsBlawg, one by Tun Ying about the difficulty in applying traditional international law metrics to the current war on terrorism (especially status-of-detainee questions), and another by Rick Garnett about a forthcoming article by two Ivy League Law Professors entitled "Christianity and the Modest Rule of Law." This strikes me as a topic for Mark Olsen to tackle.

Fortunately, I don't have too many flamers in comments, so I don't need to resort to this tactic to get rid of them (yet).

Ian Ayers delves into Alito's professed ignorance about the discriminatory policies of CAP, using it as a springboard to discuss "associational fraud." Ayers wants groups to be more transparent when they deviate from generally applicable anti-discrimination codes (such as the Boy Scouts' anti-gay discrimination). I've previously expressed concern over the proposal, though I'm certainly sympathetic. Also at Balkinzation, Professor Balkin himself gives the best analysis I've seen of the Supreme Court's Ayotte decision.

Daily Kos has a new election toy. It's fun--check it out!

Interesting analysis of Bin Laden's "truce" offer over at Restless Mania. See also Dan Drezner.

Crooked Timber gives UCLA Profs (of which I previously blogged about here) only 1/2 a McCarthy out of 5. How sad. But keep trying folks!

Hilzoy of Obsidian Wings has an absolute must-read post on the Medicare "reforms" and how it could affect her.

The more I read about Paul Hackett, the more I can't decide if he's crazy or a breath of fresh air. Lindsay Beyerstein has his latest foray to the media.

Dan Filler examines the Supermax prison.

Alright! Hopefully, I'll also post this weekend (or even later tonight), but if not, see you Monday!

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