Friday, February 20, 2009

I'm Back!

Hello everyone. I'm feeling pretty good today, thanks for the well wishes.

My tooth extractions were a bit more traumatic than they usually are for people. Apparently, my wisdom teeth had really "deep roots" due to a combination of me being "old" and because I have really strong bones. While having strong bones is good and all, I've decided that one of the grossest sounds to hear is that of your own bones cracking and popping while feeling no associated pain (at the time anyway).

As fun as I thought it would be to get to stay home from work for a couple of days eating ice cream, it was actually pretty boring. Although, who knew that one could watch Roseanne all day long?


Anyway, here is a little friday roundup of things I've been reading during recovery:


1. In her article Let the Small Changes Begin: President Obama, Executive Power, and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, Professor Jackie Gardina of Vermont Law School makes a case that President Obama has both the constitutional and statutory authority to change Don't Ask Don't Tell now.


2. It's almost a given that those opposed to equal marriage rights for same-sex couples, when arguing their case, will start sliding down one of their favorite slippery slopes. Namely, if gay people could marry than how could we stop people from marrying their relatives or more than one person?

This is pretty old, but Andrew Sullivan's argument that drawing a new line around marriage does not mean abandoning all lines around the institution is still relevant.


3. Do some groups of people hold a monopoly on what is considered real civil rights issues? Shelby Steele seems to think so.


I hope to write about these article in greater detail. But for now, this is all I've got.

Have a good weekend everyone.

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