Slate mini-Rundown

Let's face it, I'm in love with Slate. One of the first columns to completely engross me was "Supreme Court Dispatches". In this column, the sharp and witty Dahlia Lithwick summarizes and analyzes (for the layman) important court cases in front of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court just kicked off its docket so for anyone even remotely interested in the cases that the High Court will decide, check out Lithwick's first dispatch for the current session.

I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with Alan Dershowitz, but the Harvard Law Professor is a great legal mind. Yes, as a famous defense attorney we may not like some of his previous clients, but the man makes thought provoking arguments. He has a new book out titled Preemption: A Knife That Cuts Both Ways. In Slate, Dershowitz has published an open-letter to the Guardian (the british newspaper) refuting an erroneous review/critique of his book. The review of the book seems to be so skewed, it ascribes opinions to Dershowitz that are in fact the complete opposite of his opinions laid out in the book. To me, it seems the Guardian reviewer did not even read the book. Now I read the Guardian from time to time and have cited it in school papers. But this seems to be an instance of European lefty bias. Either that or ginormous incompetence. Perhaps a little bit of both. In the past I've posted about numerous right-wing biased information (from the Bush Administration, FOX News, the GOP, etc). But it is only fair that I point out lefty bias as well and condemn it. Anyway, for those interested, check out Dershowitz's letter, it's a pretty short read.

Are you familiar with Hedge-Funds? I'm not. All I know is that they are risky but sometimes make a crapload of money. Well, thanks to Slate's Henry Blodget, I've learned a little bit more about Hedge-Funds and how a recent fund lost $6 billion dollars in a few weeks. That's right, billion. It's a very interesting read, check it out.

And, of course, this isn't a very good week for Republicans. Rep. Mark Foley made sexual remarks to underaged Congressional Pages over instant messages. The first IM political scandal, lol. Seriously, this is why no one should trust politicians and we seriously need political reform. Politicians are either corrupt, bigots, or dirty old men (or all three). Anyway, for those interested Slate has posted one of the IM conversations in question. It's pretty pervy knowing that it is a 50-something Congressman and a high school kid. But I'm sorry, it's also a bit hilarious at just how creepy the lines are from Foley. I mean he asks the kid to measure his penis. Perhaps the funniest and most tragic aspect of this scandal is that Mark Foley was chairman of the House caucus on missing and exploited children. Man, do I hate politicians.