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  THE CORNER

Do Do That Wudhu That You Do So Well: I don't know where to start with this one. With Wudhu, perhaps. No, this is nothing to do with sprinkling chicken blood around. Wudhu is an Islamic ritual. Wudhu involves washing the face, hands, arms and feet three times each, gargling the mouth three times and washing the neck and inside the nose and ears. Some Muslims also wash their private parts. So far, so good. When is Wudhu performed? Islam teaches that Muslims are unfit for prayer if they have not performed Wudhu after breaking wind or using the toilet. Right. And why am I telling you this? Because: Muslim prayer rooms should be opened in . . . Go

  PLANET GORE

A Story That Played Possum: I laughed when I saw this story pop through on Google alerts -- it's always good to keep track of endangered species, you know. Tom Nelson beat me to it, and asks some key questions: White possum said to be first victim of global warming | The Courier-Mail "If they have died out it would be first example of something that has gone extinct purely because of global warming."Professor Williams, director of the Centre for Tropical Biodiversity and Climate Change at James Cook University, said the white lemuroid possum had been identified as highly vulnerable five years ago."It only takes four or five hours of . . . Go

  MEDIA BLOG

Atlanta/Austin Newspaper Publisher Closes DC Bureau: Cox is closing up shop in Washington: WASHINGTON (AP) - Cox Newspapers announced plans to shut its Washington, D.C., office in April. The Washington bureau was established in 1974—the same year that Richard M. Nixon resigned the presidency in disgrace. The bureau has provided national and international news to 17 Cox newspapers around the country. The closure will affect about two dozen newspaper staff members, most of whom will be offered severance packages. Cox publishes the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Austin American-Statesman, among others. Will the DC bureau be missed? That's not a facetious question -- . . . Go

  PHI BETA CONS

Move Along, Nothing to See Here (Literally): Over at FIRE's must-read blog, the Torch, Samantha Harris notes Edinboro University of Pennsylvania's decision to hide their unconstitutional speech code behind a password-protected website. One of the more curious aspects of the university's behavior has been its administration's persistent refusal to change unconstitutional policies in the face of unanimous case law or even -- in Edinboro's case -- controlling legal authority. It's almost as if universities have an ideological commitment controlling student expression. But that couldn't be right, could it? Edinboro may hide, but it can't run, and I have little doubt that its speech code will soon be repealed (perhaps . . . Go

  THE CAMPAIGN SPOT

Is the Stimulus Debate Just a Contest of Who Can Name the Biggest Number?: Thinking about Fred Thompson’s economic message from earlier today, I’m a little worried that not many political figures have echoed his diagnosis of a national “borrowing, spending and consuming binge” in recent years.  People look at a recession as a dip from “normal,” and our concept of “normal” was probably wildly skewed in recent years. Many Americans spent everything they had, spent more from easy credit, and put away little or nothing for a rainy day. The personal savings rate by quarter only exceeded three percent once this decade; since 2005 it exceeded one percent only once. The housing bubble heavily . . . Go

  BENCH MEMOS

The "Most Conservative" Court in 70 Years?: Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of the law school of the University of California at Irvine, argues that the Roberts Court is "notably more conservative" than its predecessors and the "most conservative court since the mid-1930s."  In this forthcoming paper, I argue that Dean Chemerinsky's claim is completely unsustainable.  Even if one accepts that one can reach a definitive conclusion about the Roberts Court after three terms, that the terms "liberal " and "conservative" are useful descriptions of judicial doctrine, and even if one finds it meaningful to compare the ideological leanings of Courts across decades, Chemerinsky's claim falls apart.  While the . . . Go

  THE TANK

Small ISI Kashmir Op Morphed into LeT Mumbai Massacre: I strongly recommend you read the following: Syed Saleem Shahzad, a source I generally trust in Pakistan, writes that an al-Qaeda "hijack" of a smaller ISI operation intended for Kashmir led to the Mumbai attack. After a concise (and required) historical recap of the al-Qaeda/India/LeT dynamic, he gets to the meat and potatoes: Under directives from Pakistan’s army chief, General Ashfaq Kiani, who was then director general (DG) of the ISI, a low-profile plan was prepared to support Kashmiri militancy. That was normal, even in light of the peace process with India. Although Pakistan had closed down its major operations, it . . . Go