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The Ninth Circuit (maligned by many as a hotbed of extreme liberal judicial activism, but defended by others PDF) issued its opinion in the case of Harper v. Poway Unified School District last week. Judge Stephen Reinhardt - who, to some people, embodies the alleged evils of the Ninth Circuit - issued the majority opinion, and Judge Alex Kozinski filed a strong dissent. The majority opinion held that a high school principal who ordered a student to remove his T-shirt that said "Homosexuality is Shameful" did not violate the student's First Amendment rights, reasoning that "limitations on speech" are permissible in cases where speech is "derogatory and injurious remarks directed at students' minority status such as race religion and sexual orientation," and the limitation is "narrow, and applied with sensitivity and for reasons that are consistent with the fundamental First Amendment mandate." [more inside]
comment posted at 7:33 AM on Apr-26-06
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comment posted at 7:41 AM on Apr-26-06

For those of you suddenly obsessed with Iran and the atom. I wonder how that happened...
comment posted at 5:07 AM on Apr-25-06

When artist Matthew Moore found out part of the family farm was to become a suburban subdivision, he did what any farmer/artist would do, and recreated the subdivision in crops to show what it would look like in the surrounding landscape.
comment posted at 10:19 AM on Apr-24-06

AirArabia is using cartoon characters on their website that have a remarkable resemblance to the "South ParK" kids.
comment posted at 7:53 AM on Apr-20-06

HIGH FIVE! (See also)
comment posted at 8:14 AM on Apr-20-06
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I am me and Rummy's he Iraq is free and we are all together See the world run when Dick shoots his gun, see how I lie
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PARK(ing) a temporary urban park. Sort of makes you wonder what else you can do in a parking space . . . You can also make your own. Via urban cartography.
comment posted at 11:29 AM on Apr-19-06
comment posted at 11:34 AM on Apr-19-06

One Solidier free but a second in jail for having a "very informed conscience". Interesting views on motivations later in the interview.
comment posted at 7:50 AM on Apr-18-06

The Birth of a Queer Nation. Determined to build a better world for future generations, the founding fathers and mothers set sail on 14 June 2004 in the Gayflower until they were washed ashore on the uninhabited Coral Islands. With the strains of Gloria Gaynor filling the tropical air, they hoisted the rainbow flag above the palm trees and white, sandy beaches. The Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands was born.
comment posted at 6:00 AM on Apr-18-06

Your portrait painted like a propaganda poster. Become a socialist hero... in just 4 easy steps. To start, pick a poster from among the selection. Two weeks later, your painting is ready. (via STaAatCK)
comment posted at 12:03 PM on Apr-17-06

Condoleezza holds a watermelon just over the edge of the roof of the 300-foot Federal Building, and tosses it up with a velocity of 20 feet per second. Using the formula provided, when the watermelon will hit the ground? Bellevue Community College President Jean Floten asked the Pluralism Steering Committee to take the lead on this, and to complete their task quickly.
comment posted at 8:41 AM on Apr-13-06

What? From WFMU: "What happens when a man covered in microphones walks into a room covered with speakers? Feedback. Lots of it." (might be NSFW)
comment posted at 5:05 AM on Apr-7-06

Ballpark Blues. To make way for a new stadium and redevelopment, DC has been clearing out the underground bar and club scene in the Navy Yard area of southeast Washington. The first victim was Tracks, one of DC's first gay clubs and the epicenter of the nascent Goth scene in DC--closed in 1999 to make way for an office building. Now the rest of the neighborhood's gay clubs are being demolished to make way for the new stadium. And finally, Nation, home of Cubik(formerly Buzz), Velvet and Alchemy is closing to make way for another new office complex. DC nightlife will never be the same again.
comment posted at 8:03 AM on Apr-5-06

A video game "based on Bob Ross' creative, unique and easy to learn painting techniques and TV show properties" is coming to the next-generation Nintendo system.
comment posted at 7:05 AM on Apr-5-06
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Silence in class. "University professors denounced for anti-Americanism; schoolteachers suspended for their politics; students encouraged to report on their tutors. Are US campuses in the grip of a witch-hunt of progressives, or is academic life just too liberal?" From today's Guardian.
comment posted at 11:44 AM on Apr-4-06

Newsfilter: Tom DeLay quits congress, will not seek re-election. He already won the primary, but there will probably be a republican on the ticket in November.
comment posted at 9:57 AM on Apr-4-06

Son of Senate president offered plea deal in assault case Clifton Bennett, 18, the son of Arizona Senate President Ken Bennett, and his co-defendant, Kyle Wheeler, 19, were charged in January with 18 counts of aggravated assault and 18 counts of kidnapping for the incidents, which happened at a youth camp last June. The younger Bennett confessed to police that he and Wheeler sodomized the 11- to 14-year-old boys with broomsticks and flashlights in at least 40 incidents, court documents show.
comment posted at 5:15 AM on Apr-4-06
comment posted at 7:37 AM on Apr-4-06

Justice Scalia has trouble minding his manners. Reminds me of this.
comment posted at 8:52 AM on Mar-30-06
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comment posted at 11:44 AM on Mar-30-06

Slips of the tongue are usually a result of the sound structure of an utterance. For example, saying 'Martin Luther Koong Junior', where the vowel in 'Koong' might be taken from either of the two flanking words. Freudian slips are much rarer. Why then, are these two people losing their jobs? [More inside]
comment posted at 6:24 AM on Mar-30-06

I'd like your smallest painting. No, smaller than that. Even smaller. Wait, that's too small.
comment posted at 7:10 AM on Mar-23-06

Dumb: The Game is an extremely addictive puzzle game, with the added addictiveness of a "world rankings" scoreboard to prove to the world just how smart you are. If you get stuck, the forums contain a LOT of hints. [More inside]
comment posted at 5:30 AM on Mar-23-06
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comment posted at 10:04 AM on Mar-23-06

The 20 Greatest Tools of All Time. As chosen by Forbes magazine.
comment posted at 8:57 AM on Mar-22-06

Star Wars in 2008? Rick Mccallum, producer of all six Star Wars movies and the franchise's only tv series to date, has told BBC Radio that he and George Lucas are set to do a Luke Skywalker tv series which should debut in 2008. Supposedly there will be at least 100 episodes covering the first 20 years of the young Jedi's life. It's not the first time there's been talk of taking Star Wars to tv.
comment posted at 9:53 AM on Mar-22-06

What's wrong with the Democratic Party? Leave it to the Daily Show's Matt Haughey Ed Helms and former Ohio senatorial candidate Paul Hackett to hit the nail on the head.
comment posted at 7:05 AM on Mar-20-06

Nearly Half of Americans want to let states legally regulate and tax marijuana the way they do liquor and gambling.
Zogby International will pimp there services to just about anyone these days, including NORML for a poll on American's attitudes towards pot. According to the poll 65% of 18-29 year olds and 50% of 50-64 year-olds are cool with weed being legal and controlled like booze. The former slackers of Generation X, 30-49 year-olds, oppose it by 58% and the geezers over 65 oppose it by only 52%.

The pool shows some interesting generational attitudes. Is the 30-49 age group still following Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" mantra or is this the attitude of parents worried about their kids? I thought these folks were supposed to be the slacker generation, and now they're the strongest opponents to legalization.
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comment posted at 5:11 AM on Mar-20-06