elfs | Brains, Brains, A Musical Meat...

Should Brad DeLong reopen his case to remove John Yoo from Berkeley?

Glenn Greenwald does a damn fine takedown of John Yoo's master-serving claims that the habeas case will weaken America and shows Yoo to be a mendacious, malevolent liar in pursuit of nothing but imperial power. Yoo starts by claiming that Gitmo detainees were captured "on the battlefield," and Greenwald document two cases that show Yoo's premise to be fatally flawed. Greenwald links at the bottom to George Will's defense of Habeas (which was amazing) as well as two articles by Steve Taylor (which I haven't read yet).

No-Bid Contracts to Iraqi Oil Go to US Companies

Despite over 40 offers for drilling, contracts to extract oil from Iraq's fields went to four US companies without an auction being held. The companies will have to provide their own security detail (Hmmm... Blackwater, anyone?).

Blackwater liability is "under Sharia' law."

Speaking of Eric Prince's company, Blackwater is now arguing that its liability to three American soldiers killed in Afghanistan should be governed by Sharia law (which would free Blackwater of any liability) rather than US law (which would probably not) because the accident which killed those men happened in a Sharia state. Lovely.

Dr. Katz vs. the Blogosphere!

This is what passes in my mind for entertainment!. About a month ago, Dr. David Katz, a naturopath, appeared at a Yale Medical School event on "integrative and complementary medicine," in which he basically called for the elimination of evidence based medicine (EBM) and double-blind studies and all that because, given a choice between EBM and caring for his patients, he'd choose to care for his patients. If you spotted the false dichotomy, good for you.

The medical blogs tore him apart.

Katz whines that the blogosphere is being mean to him. Well, of course he would.

Orac responds with (and at) Respectful Insolence™. Totally, get the popcorn!

"Obama eats the bacon"

A liveblog from NYMag of some of the most banal moments from yesterday's television. Money quote: "Somehow the phrase "Obama eats the bacon" has been repeated about five times. We expect this to catch on – for the Democrats, as a pork-barrel-spending mantra probably, and for Republicans, as a gay thing."

"Senator McCain, How do you feel about LGBT issues?"

McCain blithers and blathers about equal opportunities for all Americans, but then discusses the need for a "one man, one woman" marriage paradigm and a heterosexual military and so forth. But the contrast here is so striking: Obama regularly includes gays and lesbians in his speeches, even when he doesn't have to, even when it might seem prudent not to, and McCain hasn't thought much about or followed along with the evolution of his constituency.

"Senator McCain, what are your positions on birth-control issues?"

Yet more evidence McCain is the next coming of the current Republican Regime, with no changes in store: he has consistently voted with the furthest right on issues of birth control and legal access to abortion. While good people can disagree about abortion, his consistent advocation of abstinence-only policies that don't work should alarm everyone.

Satanic Daycare Panic Returns!

A woman is accused of allowing a man to abuse her child on the say-so of a psychic. When will the madness stop?

Ana Marie Cox acheived fame by mashing ass fucking with politics.

I love NYMag. It sometimes tries to come off as the NYTimes little brother, even aping their CSS and layout styles, but then it includes little clips like the quote above. The article is about managing Sudden Internet Microfame, which sounds like a lot of fun.