Eric Stover Thinks Khmer Rouge Tribunal Helps Victims Heal

-The Huffington Post, July 24, 2010 by Robin McDowell
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20100724/as-khmer-rouge-healing/

”I have found in my research at other tribunals that some victim-witnesses experience a boost immediately after testifying,” he said. ”But I always caution on proclaiming that testifying necessarily will have long-term benefits. Other events in their life—loss of a loved one, a job, for instance—could re-trigger past trauma.”

-PBS NewsHour, July 26, 2010 by Fred de Sam Lazaro
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/july-dec10/cambodia_07-26.html

”People will have basic needs and need to be attended to, but if you are going to have real progress, you also put in the infrastructure for democracy, infrastructure for the rule of law, infrastructure that will support human rights, because, without that, you will always be in an uphill battle.”

Aarti Kohli Considers Operation Streamline a Failure

The Washington Independent, July 23, 2010 by Elise Foley
http://washingtonindependent.com/92374/kyl-pushes-for-expansion-of-operation-streamline

Aarti Kohli, immigration policy director at Berkeley Law’s Warren Institute, told me Operation Streamline should be reevaluated, not expanded. “It’s being used to spend large amounts [to criminally prosecute] the lowest level of offender,” she said. “The big question about Operation Streamline is whether it’s really effective.”

Franklin Zimring Thinks Crime Drop Defies Expectations

The Wall Street Journal, Vital Signs, July 22, 2010 by Cari Tuna
http://bit.ly/cI3jHG

Violent crime across the Bay Area is declining even though unemployment remains high, mirroring a national trend that has confounded criminologists. The region’s four most-populous cities—San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland and Fremont—each reported fewer violent crimes such as murders and aggravated assault in 2009 than in 2008, says the Federal Bureau of Investigation. That’s counterintuitive because people expect felonies such as armed robberies to increase as more workers lose their jobs, says University of California, Berkeley, law professor Franklin Zimring.

Christopher Edley Says Let States Borrow from U.S. Treasury

Bloomberg, July 21, 2010 Host Margaret Brennan
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2010/07/21/VI2010072103171.html

“Every year, the states receive hundreds of billions of dollars in payments from the federal government—in Medicaid, in highway spending, in housing, in community development and a score of other programs…. So the idea is very simple: give an advance to states. Let them elect to borrow from the Treasury…. As we come out of the Recession, as the states are in better shape, the Treasury can simply deduct the amount from the funds that would otherwise be going to the state. So it’s a guaranteed repayment, plus interest.”

John Yoo Defends Bush Wartime Policy

-Contra Costa Times, July 21, 2010 by Steven Harmon
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_15570014?nclick_check=1

“Presidential power is really designed to expand during periods of crisis brought on by foreign threats and national security concerns,” Yoo said.

-San Francisco Chronicle, Politics Blog, July 21, 2010 by Justin Ho
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?entry_id=68428

[Yoo] said it will take 20 to 25 years to get a sense of where Bush will rank among the presidents. “But I also think people will not think of him as the worst president that you hear about all the time now. They have access to the archives, and they’ll see the kinds of context that there was around the decisions he had to make.”

-The Sacramento Bee, July 22, 2010 by Gina Kim
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/07/22/2906839/bush-administration-torture-memo.html#ixzz0uR8oqGEr

“It’s a wartime policy question,” Yoo said. “American presidents, when they know the threats the country is under, it’s no surprise they made the choices they did.”

Mary Ann Mason Calls for University E-mail Guidelines

The Chronicle of Higher Education, July 20, 2010 by Mary Ann Mason
http://chronicle.com/article/E-Mail-the-Third-Shift/66312/

Many academics have a love-hate relationship with e-mail. We know it has made communicating … far easier. But we are also aware that e-mail is devouring a great deal of our time.… Shouldn’t it be routine university policy to promote clear guidelines about the use of e-mail between faculty members and students? That would benefit not only parents, of course, but, particularly for mothers, limiting the third shift may make the difference between academic survival and burnout.

Robert Merges and Pamela Samuelson Analyze Patent Survey Findings

-Patently-O Blog, Parts I-III July 19-21, 2010 by Robert Merges, Pamela Samuelson, and Ted Sichelman
http://bit.ly/dc4GOo

The 2008 Berkeley Patent Survey has found that startups are patenting more than previous studies have suggested; that patents are being sought for a variety of reasons, the most prominent of which is to prevent copying of the innovation; and that there are considerable differences among startups in the perceived significance of patents for attaining competitive advantage, with biotech companies rating them as the most important strategy and software companies rating them least important.

http://bit.ly/bmJ4nB

Our fourth major result is that our respondents—particularly software companies—find the high costs of patenting and enforcing their patents deter them from filing for patents on their innovations. Given the reported importance of patents to startups not only in the financing process, but also for strategic reasons—especially for increasing bargaining power—these cost barriers are worrisome.

http://bit.ly/blIB2W

The data, however, present an interesting paradox: If executives believe that patents provide relatively weak incentives to innovate, why are so many startup firms seeking them? Our first post indicated that securing financing was a reason why many firms reported seeking patents…. Raising money, rather than invention itself, may be the key.

-O’Reilly Radar, July 21, 2010 by Pamela Samuelson
http://radar.oreilly.com/2010/07/why-software-startups-decide-t.html

The initial findings reported here and in the larger article suggest that software entrepreneurs do not find persuasive the canonical story that patents provide strong incentives to invest in technology innovation.

-Technology Review, Feld Thoughts Blog, July 28, 2010 by Brad Feld
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/post.aspx?bid=358&bpid=25540

The juiciest conclusion is about halfway through the essay and is “One of the most striking findings of our study is that software firms ranked patents dead last among seven strategies for attaining competitive advantage identified by the survey.” Another one was “We were surprised to discover that the software respondents reported that patents provide only weak incentives for engaging in core activities, such as invention of new products (.96) and commercialization (.93).”

Robert MacCoun Notes Disparities in Marijuana Arrests

The New York Times, July 19, 2010 by Jesse McKinley
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/20/us/20pot.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1

“The arrest statistics are disproportionate with respect to African-Americans and disproportionate with respect to use,” said Mr. MacCoun. “And that’s very hard to justify in any way.” And while Mr. MacCoun said he was not certain that a ballot measure was the way to address that inequity, he said the positioning of Proposition 19 as a civil rights issue could be a potent selling point. “I don’t think it’s decisive for all voters,” Mr. MacCoun said. “But I think it’s an important argument, and I think it’s going to carry weight with some people.”

Alan Auerbach Recommends Action on Long-Term Deficits

-Investor’s Business Daily, July 19, 2010 by Jed Graham
http://bit.ly/bTznlV

Alan Auerbach argues that debt levels are still manageable enough that it makes sense to give the economy more running room to solidify the recovery before embracing austerity. “I think the best strategy—which is not one that is politically likely—is to not worry so much about the short-term debt accumulation, but to take very forceful action” to address long-term deficits tied to health care spending and Social Security,” Auerbach said.

-The Wall Street Journal, Real Time Economics Blog, July 24, 2010 by Mark Whitehouse
http://bit.ly/dbCMvG

Messrs. Auerbach and Gale estimate that the government needs to increase tax revenues or cut spending by as much as 9% of economic output to put its finances on a sustainable trajectory.

Christopher Edley Believes Online Instruction Will Enrich Learning

-San Francisco Chronicle, July 18, 2010 by Christopher Edley, Jr.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/18/INMJ1EDUFJ.DTL

If successful, I hope the university will embrace large-scale online instruction—not to replace the on-campus experience, but to enrich it. More urgently, online learning would enable us to serve the growing number of qualified students for whom there will be no room on campus or for whom a residential full-time program won’t work…. Our purpose is to advance knowledge while democratizing excellence. To do that, we must innovate.

-San Francisco Chronicle, July 18, 2010 Editorial
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/18/ED4S1EDLBO.DTL

“Our inability to move quickly is creating a gap in the marketplace that these other institutions are running to fill,” Edley said in a recent meeting with the editorial board.

-The Sacramento Bee, July 27, 2010 by Laurel Rosenhall
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/07/27/2916588/uc-professors-raise-doubts-about.html#ixzz0uu4C69Cf

“How do we provide access to UC quality when the state is not there for us and the student demand is growing? We need an alternative to the bricks-and-mortar model, and this may be it,” said Edley.