I recommend the GOP filibuster Elena Kagan’s Supreme Court nomination. Though elections have consequences, and presidents understandably nominate judges who share their ideology, Kagan went beyond the proper bounds of jurisprudence in her politically-motivated intervention with the partial-birth abortion report by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Senator Orrin Hatch is right to oppose her on these grounds, and others should follow his lead. [GOP leader Mitch McConnell is also a no vote.]
For background on this issue, see these two posts and this essay in Slate by William Saletan (who, though himself pro-choice, castigates Kagan).
Though a bit dated already, here’s a breakdown on some of the key deciders that could reject Kagan.
HT: JT

These two WSJ articles are a good introduction to the ongoing debate as to whether the Internet makes us dumber or smarter. Nicholas Carr argues that we’re turning into shallow thinkers. And Clay Shirky gives the opposite perspective, noting that Carr’s concerns of intellectual collapse have been raised at the onset of past technological breakthroughs (e.g., Gutenberg’s press), and were proved false.

A few weeks ago I wrote about Student Evaluations, Grade Inflation, and Declining Student Academic Effort. In short, the data unambiguously reveals:
1. Average GPAs are higher than in past times: The average college GPA has rised from the 2.5 or 2.6 range in about 1960 to well over 3.0 today.
At some prestigious private universities, like Harvard, 50% of students receive As in courses. On the one hand, Harvard is only drawing from the most promising, most academically gifted students in the nation. On the other hand, such a practice still degrades the meaning of an “A” at Harvard, as Harvey Mansfield discusses.
2. Students are spending less time studying at college. A National Bureau of Economic Research report (unavailable on the Internet, but which I’ve perused) reveals: “In 1961, the average student spent 40 hours a week engaged in their studies—attending class and studying. By 2003, this had declined by nearly one-third to 27 hours weekly.”
In response to these findings, one naturally wonders: Are students perhaps getting both smarter (hence higher grades) and more efficient in their study methods (hence less study time, and more time for a part-time off-campus job, etc.), perhaps due to the advance of interactive technology, which facilitates and streamlines the learning process? I don’t deny that such technology can be very helpful; I employ it in my own classes and am pleased with the results. But having reviewed some research, I don’t think students are on average stronger than their predecessors. They may in fact be weaker. First, mean SAT scores of college-bound high school seniors have decreased in the last 40 years by about 6-8%. In addition, reports indicate that students are increasingly disengaged from their studies (Saenz et al., 2007) and that the literacy of graduates has declined (Kutner et al., 2006). [These papers are cited in this publication.]
Last but not least, an important and widely cited new book discusses a vast array of data on the connection between rising levels of self-esteem and narcissism among college students and declining performance. I’ve read about 70 pages of Twenge and Campbell’s book so far and find it (like Twenge’s previous book) to be a well-articulated analysis of the culture and ethos of the rising generation.

An amazingly brazen article by Antonia Senior in the London Times argues that life begins at conception, but the destruction of that life is a lesser evil than the denial of a woman’s full control over her fertility. The article’s conclusion:

The mystery pondered on many a girls’ night out is how on earth men, bless them, managed to hang on to political and cultural hegemony for so long. The only answer is that they are not in hock to their biology as much as we are. Look at a map of the world and the right to abortion on request correlates pretty exactly with the expectation of a life unburdened by misogyny.
As ever, when an issue we thought was black and white becomes more nuanced, the answer lies in choosing the lesser evil. The nearly 200,000 aborted babies in the UK each year are the lesser evil, no matter how you define life, or death, for that matter. If you are willing to die for a cause, you must be prepared to kill for it, too.

I think Ms. Senior says bluntly what many others believe more quietly: Regardless of the fetus’ status, the right to abort is primary.
Quite a frightening perspective.
HT: Denny Burk