http://inclinedtocriticize.blogdrive.com/ An Inclination to Criticize Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:40:00 PDT http://www.blogdrive.com Copyright 2008. http://inclinedtocriticize.blogdrive.com/archive/582.html Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:50:17 GMT The Supreme Court in Washington State Grange v. Washington State Republican Party reversed the 9th Cir. and upheld Washington State's top-two primary system. The way it works is that every candidate puts down the party that they self-identify with, Washingtonian's vote for whomever they want, and the top-two move on – it could be two 'democrats' or two 'republicans' or one of each. The Constitutional issue was free association. Because parties are not allowed to choose their own representatives and may be forced to associate with candidates who share few or none of their values, but... (more) http://inclinedtocriticize.blogdrive.com/comments?id=582 http://inclinedtocriticize.blogdrive.com/archive/581.html Fri, 30 Nov 2007 16:44:04 GMT Which Federal Rule of Civ Pro are you? If this is accurate I am one relaxed cat, Rule 8(a). Perhaps why I haven't started studying? http://inclinedtocriticize.blogdrive.com/comments?id=581 http://inclinedtocriticize.blogdrive.com/archive/580.html Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:42:40 GMT I've been around some smaller wildfires but it is hard to relate to the suck this guy must have been feeling. As a side note, awhile back I saw this article (or a similar one) on insurance companies hiring private firefighters. Here are the details of the service provided by AIG. http://inclinedtocriticize.blogdrive.com/comments?id=580 http://inclinedtocriticize.blogdrive.com/archive/579.html Thu, 11 Oct 2007 03:22:15 GMT I have get back to reading about federal subject-matter jurisdiction and don't have time to talk about all the ways in which this is disgusting, but here's the quickish version of my rant... First off, I hate walking through, smelling, and generally being around cigarette smoke. In case you haven't heard, it's nasty. But what's worse is the new ban on smoking inside apartments passed by the Belmont, CA city council. This is taking a fairly prevalent absurdity one step further; most laws banning smoking suck (as in inhale) because they tend to define the private as public. It is important... (more) http://inclinedtocriticize.blogdrive.com/comments?id=579 http://inclinedtocriticize.blogdrive.com/archive/577.html Tue, 25 Sep 2007 14:45:15 GMT Since Addison is regaling you with his riveting stories from the frontlines, I may as well mention that my third year started yesterday. There are distressingly few crim classes left for me to take; I probably could have put one off to take professional responsibility before the MPRE ("not a test to determine an individual's personal ethical values") in November. I'm hoping two things will help me to eke out a pass, in spite of my lack of formal schooling: multiple-choice super power is one; the other is Epstein advice -- always choose the second most ethical answer. I doubt I even... (more) http://inclinedtocriticize.blogdrive.com/comments?id=577 http://inclinedtocriticize.blogdrive.com/archive/576.html Tue, 25 Sep 2007 02:22:40 GMT Steve Simpson from IJ came over to the law school to give a little chat on 527s and free speech. The takeaway: money may not be speech but it can be used for speech, and when you limit that ability you infringe on 1st amendment rights. The fact that people want to influence government (a charge often levied against 527s and their supporters) shouldn't come as a surprise and neither should the fact that it takes money to do on a large scale. http://inclinedtocriticize.blogdrive.com/comments?id=576 http://inclinedtocriticize.blogdrive.com/archive/575.html Tue, 04 Sep 2007 16:37:12 GMT My blogging gears are rusty; maybe I'll ease back in with some go-read-that-other-thing posts. Like, say, D.C. finally filed its petition for cert in Heller today. It is mostly well written, though snide in some places and maudlin in others. Not one original idea in there, by my count. It's exactly what you'd expect: weak arguments, well-supported by precedent and polished to their prettiest by very smart people. ...SO exciting. http://inclinedtocriticize.blogdrive.com/comments?id=575 http://inclinedtocriticize.blogdrive.com/archive/574.html Fri, 31 Aug 2007 03:36:03 GMT When Google downgraded the search ranking for An Inclination to Criticize, I sank into a deep, self-loathing depression. How was that teenager in Stockholm to learn that he was not alone, that others too were "inclined to criticize Chavez"? Certainly not from the Venezuelan press. So great was my masochism that I signed into a freshman-level reason and argumentation course, surrounding myself with darkness. Perhaps, if Carina would have written something... anything, it would have given me the will to continue. But no. Tonight, in an effort to rub salt into the wound, which was... (more) http://inclinedtocriticize.blogdrive.com/comments?id=574 http://inclinedtocriticize.blogdrive.com/archive/573.html Tue, 03 Apr 2007 00:09:26 GMT Baseball keeps stats on everything. You could find the day game batting average for third year players, when playing in stadiums with retractable roofs, when the roof is closed. But having statistics only does so much. Economist J. C. Bradbury's NY Times Op-Ed tells us why he thinks all the talk about the impact of steroids on stats is overblown: Baseball commentators have been quick to blame performance-enhancing drugs. And while baseball has changed, the reason for that may be more innocent. In the two years since baseball instituted mandatory steroid testing with suspensions, the... (more) http://inclinedtocriticize.blogdrive.com/comments?id=573 http://inclinedtocriticize.blogdrive.com/archive/572.html Wed, 21 Mar 2007 13:41:50 GMT Say there are two parties, the SWs and the PIs, who always know the exact outcome of their legislation: The SWs subscribe to the ideology that legislative action should be taken anytime it will improve aggregate social welfare. The PIs will only act when it will result in a Pareto improvement. The SWs take power and begin doing what they do, enacting legislation that makes some better and, at times, others worse. 2 (or 4, or 10, or 50) years later the PIs take power. Given their beliefs about when to act, can the PIs pass laws to reverse the consequences of the SWs' actions? Won't... (more) http://inclinedtocriticize.blogdrive.com/comments?id=572