Academic

This ? is CBS

Posted on April 25, 2008
No, I haven’t seen the movie yet, but today’s Edward R. Murrow’s birthday. In 1954, Eisenhower was asked: Q. Joseph Harsch, Christian Science Monitor and NBC: Mr. President, would you care to say anything to us about the loyalty and patriotism of Edward R...

Free Books!

Posted on April 24, 2008
Flat World Knowledge has a new business model: free textbooks. They’re not the first (they won’t be the last), but they’re making a major investment in digital distribution. So much for Texas campaign contributions.

Libraries: The Medicine Chest of the Soul

Posted on April 24, 2008
In 1800, Congress passed the bill that created the Library of Congress. Clinton spoke a number of times about the power of the Internet - and often used the Library of Congress as an example of the Internet’s ability to spread information far and wide...

Ken Lay Chair

Posted on April 23, 2008
Finally has a holder: Joseph Haslag, who has been at Missouri since 2000.

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Panic!

Posted on April 23, 2008
Today is James Buchanan’s birthday. Most remember him for overseeing the collapse of the Union, but in 1857 his most pressing concern was the rapid spread of financial panic that lead to many bank and business failures. The panic didn’t last long, but by the end of 1857 the impact on government finances [...

I?ve Got a Secret

Posted on April 22, 2008
April 22, 1954 marked the start of television broadcasts of the Senate Army-McCarthy hearings. The upshot: it was the beginning of the end for McCarthy. Eisenhower was asked about the hearings at a press conference in May: Q. Marvin L. Arrowsmith, Associated Press: Mr...

Is ?moneyball? out of gas?

Posted on April 21, 2008
Possibly, but unlikely according to Dan Drezner. See the story here and audio commentary is also provided on the website. Can the Oakland A’s keep moneyball working? Here’s a snippet. But as sabermetric methods have become more accepted in the boardrooms of baseball, Beane and other innovators have fewer inefficiencies to exploit...

Happy Birthday!

Posted on April 21, 2008
To Max Weber, born in 1864. Some light reading from Weber: Politics as a Vocation, and Science as a Vocation. I think sometimes we forget that Weber was a sociologist, not an organization theorist. My favorite presidential quote of Weber: In 1918, the famous German sociologist Max Weber said that politics is the long [...

Today in Supreme Court History: Get on the Bus

Posted on April 20, 2008
In 1971, the Supreme Court: upheld today the constitutionality of busing as a means to “dismantle the dual school systems” of the South. Now, in 2007, we’re looking for alternatives to busing: The end of busing of primary and secondary school students has been a major setback for integration of public schools in the USA...

SCOTUS Justices on state judicial elections

Posted on April 20, 2008
The Brennan Center for Justice recounts a recent conference at Fordham Law School on state judicial elections which featured former Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor and Supreme Court justice Stephen Breyer.  At issue were the implications of state judicial elections for judicial independence and citizens’ views of courts...

Today in Presidential History

Posted on April 19, 2008
The US went off the gold standard: THE PRESIDENT: What is the news? Q. There has been some talk again about inflation. I don’t know . . . THE PRESIDENT: How do you define inflation? Q. I don’t know what it is. (Laughter) THE PRESIDENT: Neither do I...

A city in a time of cholera

Posted on April 15, 2008
The New York Times has an intriguing article on how the city of New York was influenced by and how it reacted to the cholera epidemics of the 18th century. It is an interesting case study for students of public policy and perhaps topical given recent threats of epidemics...

Go for the Gold

Posted on April 13, 2008
Hat tip: Chris Blattman.

One Pill Makes You ? Focus

Posted on April 11, 2008
Says Nature. The Chronicle sums it up: In an online survey of 1,400 readers, Nature found that 20 percent had taken pharmaceuticals for the nonmedical purpose of improving their concentration, focus, and memory. Most of the people who responded to the survey were involved in science, engineering, or education...

The future of legal education?

Posted on April 08, 2008
… according to UC Irvine-Law founding Dean, Irwin Chemerinsky can be found on Madisonian.net. On the role of interdisciplinary instruction: At the same time, law schools can do a much better job of providing interdisciplinary instruction to law students...

Presidential Power and ? Pomeranians

Posted on March 31, 2008
In this week’s broadcast of This American Life Ira Glass presents “The Audacity of Government” in which the show relays “Stories of the Bush Administration, its unique style of asserting presidential authority, and its quest to redefine the limits of presidential power...

Hodgepodge

Posted on March 31, 2008
State Court Processing of Domestic Violence Cases, from NIJ From Dissertation to Book The Grad School Challenge, from GTDA Multistate Analysis of Time Consumption in Capital Appeals, 1992-2002, from ICPSR

New Rankings for Schools of Public Affairs

Posted on March 31, 2008
The new rankings: 1. Syracuse 2. Harvard 2. Indiana 4. Princeton 4. Georgia What’s the verdict? The big winners have to be Indiana and Princeton. Interestingly, David Lewis, Princeton’s main person doing public management/bureaucracy, is now leaving for Vandy...

The Teaching Law Firm

Posted on March 28, 2008
On the Madisonian Blog they have a post about the prospect of the “teaching law firm.” The post outlines some of the competing demands of law schools and broader questions on whether the practical training of new lawyers is appropriately fully placed in the laps of the law school: Many views can drive the analysis...

The ANES

Posted on March 27, 2008
In the mail:  American National Election Studies surveys have routinely included open-ended questions, tapping respondents’ factual knowledge about politics, people’s beliefs about the country’s most important problems, and questions about what people like about political candidates and parties...

The CSI Effect

Posted on March 24, 2008
The most recent edition of the NIJ Journal explores the “CSI Effect”: Those ratings translated into this fact: five of the top 10 television programs that week were about scientific evidence in criminal cases. Together, they amassed more than 100 million viewers...

Lateral move: Lindquist from Vandy to UTexas Law - is very excited, yet sad

Posted on March 19, 2008
Sorry Stefanie, but I had to have a little fun with this announcement since it’s already on Leiter’s Law School reports, and therefore is not really new news at this point. Here’s Dr. Lindquist’s approved quote on the topic: “I’m very excited to be joining the distinguished faculty at UT, although sad to leave behind the [...

?Real men of?? law school vs. graduate school

Posted on March 19, 2008
The TaxProf Blog has some funny videos spoofing some familiar ad campaigns with stereotypes that you may or may not remember from law school. I am guessing that there are some equally funny (and true) graduate school types. Any nominations? Here’s a sample from the collection: hat tip to  Prettier than Napoleon Blog [...

Rumor: New U.S. News Rankings for Public Affairs Schools Available March 28

Posted on March 12, 2008
What’s your guess?

What Bush Wrote

Posted on March 12, 2008
A new GAO report argues that few agencies implemented Bush’s 2006 signing statements: In total, GAO examined how 21 agencies executed 29 different provisions of law. GAO determined that in all but 9 cases the agencies had either taken actions to execute the provisions as written, or conditions requiring agency action had not [...

Sounds Like Collusion to Me

Posted on March 11, 2008
The NYT is running stories about scholarships for athletes, and today’s story talks about how small the scholarships sometimes are. Says one coach: ?Families will try to play the coaches off each other,? said Kim Ciarrocca, who coaches women?s lacrosse at Delaware...

Who are the most powerful members of Congress?

Posted on March 10, 2008
 It’s all right here: Check out more on this graphic on the Monkey Cage Blog.

Twenty-Year DOJ Enforcement Trends

Posted on March 10, 2008
New from TRAC.

The New National Drug Control Strategy ?

Posted on March 03, 2008
Targets sales of pharmaceuticals over the Internet. Huh.

Data Notes

Posted on March 03, 2008
Two new data sources, one worth bookmarking: Criminal Victimization, 2006 Motoring Offences and Breath Test Statistics, England and Wales 2005

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