Pre-Biology Roundup

I have two finals due Monday, but one, a paper for Biology, is already almost done. I just need to put some finishing touches on it and send it in. It's very fortunate that's the case, because I know nothing about biology. Well, that's perhaps a bit harsh to me. I may not be the best bio student. But I'm at least better informed than Sam Brownback.

Other news that struck my eye....

Bill O'Reilly is worried about the longevity of the "white, Christian, male power structure." He thinks that the "far-left", like the "New York Times", wants to see it "break down" by letting lots of Latino immigrants into the country. This, we're led to believe, would be a calamity.

Personally, as a White (non-Christian, alas) male, if I am to be part of the American power structure, I'd actually prefer it if it were due to my personal merit, rather than the fact that I'm a White male. Also of note, most Latino immigrants are Christian, and a great many are male. They are, however, brown skinned. So really, O'Reilly is worried about the end of "white...power...." Hmmm....

Baghdad Bob has been replaced by Khartoum Karl. No Coke product will escape Sudan's wrath!

In sadder Darfur news, local expert Eric Reeves does not believe our new sanctions regime is anything beyond symbolism, and concludes "the sanctions simply continue the Bush administration's pattern of empty rhetoric and inconsequential actions."

Blogger opens Iranian/Israeli dialogue. The Iranian expatriate responsible for the site seems to be a bit of an odd fellow. But this instinct, at least, seems positive.

The ACLU is suing Boeing for its participation in the Bush administration's "extraordinary rendition" program. You know the one--its where we send terror suspects off to vicious regimes like Syria and have them brutally tortured.

Evangelical teens have sex earlier, have more partners, less likely to use protection. Good thing "true love waits."

Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a baller. Those two oral dissents she's given are a sign, and that sign is "I'm pissed the #!&% off."

The oral dissent has not been, until now, Justice Ginsburg's style. She has gone years without delivering one, and never before in her 15 years on the court has she delivered two in one term. In her past dissents, both oral and written, she has been reluctant to breach the court's collegial norms. "What she is saying is that this is not law, it's politics," Pamela S. Karlan, a Stanford law professor, said of Justice Ginsburg's comment linking the outcome in the abortion case to the fact of the court's changed membership. "She is accusing the other side of making political claims, not legal claims."

Via Feministing.

Banned Venezuelan TV station takes its shop to YouTube. Nicely done.

Our asylum system is apparently effectively random. Yay.

Captain Ed answers my call for a conservative willing to admit that the interpretation of Title VII given by the Court in Ledbetter is terrible policy, even though he thinks its on solid legal ground. Great. Now put your money where your mouth is. I wrote my Congressman. But as I relayed to Ed in comments, its not going to be my side who will be the problem here. Balls in your court, righties.