This is Jeffrey Toobin's comment that I mentioned recently.

The Rehnquist Court had its share of divided rulings, of course—most notably, Bush v. Gore—but the new conservative ascendancy has prompted a striking reaction from the dissenting liberals, John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Stephen Breyer. It has been the custom at the Court for dissenters to explain their views individually or in small groups; but this group, led by Stevens, the senior member of the Court, has taken to uniting around a single opinion, as if to emphasize a collective view that the majority is taking the law in dangerous directions. In the case about the missed appeal deadline, the dissenting opinion, by the usually mild-mannered Souter (who was joined by Stevens, Ginsburg, and Breyer), reflected true anguish: “It is intolerable for the judicial system to treat people this way, and there is not even a technical justification for condoning this bait and switch.”

He concludes, with perhaps a heavy hand:

At this moment, the liberals face not only jurisprudential but actuarial peril. Stevens is eighty-seven and Ginsburg seventy-four; Roberts, Thomas, and Alito are in their fifties.

The Court, no less than the Presidency, will be on the ballot next November, and a wise electorate will vote accordingly.

Five to Four

The most important constraints are not imposed by the laws of physics.

They are the constraints that arise from the limitations of human individuals, of socioeconomic institutions, of human preferences, fears, and sentiments such as elation and outrage. Nowhere in our society does engineering confront these human constraints more seriously than in the functions that sustain our democracy—registering to vote, voting, tallying the vote, reporting exceptions and results, and accepting the certified outcome with confidence that it reflects the collective intent of eligible voters.

... Our hope is that these articles will contribute to the realization of an election and voting environment that satisfies the needs of voters and election officials. ... New rules and reliable, trustworthy voting systems might win over voters and become known as the solution that overcame the constraints and saved our democracy from itself.

Elections and the Future of E-Voting

James Bamford said one cynical interpretation of the move to declassify the family jewels could be that the agency was looking to make the operations for which it has most recently been criticized seem less nefarious by contrasting them with what went on in the old days.

CIA Chief Tries Preaching a Culture of More Openness

Secretary of State Debra Bowen began her top-to-bottom review of the voting machines certified for use in California on May 31, 2007. The review is designed to restore the public's confidence in the integrity of the electoral process and is designed to ensure that California voters are being asked to cast their ballots on machines that are secure, accurate, reliable, and accessible.

California Secretary of State - Voting Systems Review

In terms of foreign policy, Teddy Roosevelt is often misunderstood. Some see him as a progressive idealist; others as a cold-eyed realist. After all, the same Teddy Roosevelt who sent the Marines to Cuba also won the Nobel Peace Prize for helping to end a war between Russia and Japan. The same Teddy Roosevelt who built the Panama Canal by any means necessary also used American power to eradicate yellow fever and support public health in the Philippines and in parts of the Americas. And the same Teddy Roosevelt who spoke softly to our enemies never hesitated to carry a big stick.

This was realism, to be sure, but it was something greater, something nobler, a disposition that perhaps we should call the uniquely American Realism. It is this idea that I'd like to spend a few minutes talking about tonight.

Condi Loves Teddy's Big Stick

George Orwell warned about Big Brother, but some who glide through Bay Area toll booths to the "beepbeep" of FasTrak risk an even more haunting specter: Big Angry Soon-to-be-Ex Spouse.

As the number of cash-free bridge commuters rises, so do the ranks of divorce lawyers and other civil attorneys who have subpoenaed, and received, personal driving records from the agency that oversees the regional e-toll system.

"You just kind of wonder if people would as happily use this system if there was a big red thing on the transponder saying, 'All data collected by this device could be used in any court for anything,' " said Lauren Weinstein.

Lawyers dig into FasTrak data

A supporter once called out, “Governor Stevenson, all thinking people are for you!” And Adlai Stevenson answered, “That’s not enough. I need a majority.”

The central idea of this book is that voters are worse than ignorant; they are, in a word, irrational—and vote accordingly.

This book has three conjoined themes. The first: Doubts about the rationality of voters are empirically justified. The second: Voter irrationality is precisely what economic theory implies once we adopt introspectively plausible assumptions about human motivation. The third: Voter irrationality is the key to a realistic picture of democracy.

The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies

This op-ed could also be titled, Yet Another Display of Public Indifference.

This scandal is too important for the public or Congress to move on. This story should not end until Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is gone.

The degree of partisanship in the department is shocking.

It is hard not to see the fingerprints of Karl Rove.

In his upcoming HBO special, Bill Maher explains (I'm paraphrasing), "What angers me the most is how few people are angry."

Why This Scandal Matters

“I think it’s sad that President Carter’s reckless and personal criticism is out there,” Mr. Fratto said. “I think it’s unfortunate, and I think he is proving to be increasingly irrelevant with these kinds of comments.”

What's the saddest thing in the world? That the White House didn't say, "we disagree."

White House Says Carter Criticism of Bush Is 'Sad'

Privacy is a growing concern in the United States and around the world. The spread of the Internet and the seemingly boundaryless options for collecting, saving, sharing, and comparing information trigger consumer worries. Online practices of business and government agencies may present new ways to compromise privacy, and e-commerce and technologies that make a wide range of personal information available to anyone with a Web browser only begin to hint at the possibilities for inappropriate or unwarranted intrusion into our personal lives.

Engaging Privacy and Information Technology in a Digital Age presents a comprehensive and multidisciplinary examination of privacy in the information age. It explores such important concepts as how the threats to privacy evolving, how can privacy be protected and how society can balance the interests of individuals, businesses and government in ways that promote privacy reasonably and effectively?

This book seeks to raise awareness of the web of connectedness among the actions one takes and the privacy policies that are enacted, and provides a variety of tools and concepts with which debates over privacy can be more fruitfully engaged. Engaging Privacy and Information Technology in a Digital Age focuses on three major components affecting notions, perceptions, and expectations of privacy: technological change, societal shifts, and circumstantial discontinuities.

This book will be of special interest to anyone interested in understanding why privacy issues are often so intractable.

Engaging Privacy and Information Technology in a Digital Age