Osha Neumann Defends EBCLC Clients from Debt-Collection Predators

The New York Times, April 22, 2010 by Bernice Yeung
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/23/us/23sfdebt.html?scp=2&sq=east%20bay%20com

“We found that these law firms count on a huge percentage of the people that they sue defaulting,” or not responding to the legal actions, said Osha Neumann, a lawyer with the East Bay Community Law Center, which is affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley, and organizes and trains local lawyers in debt-collection defense. “The debtors don’t respond because they don’t know how, and that’s how the debt buyers make their money.”

Jesse Choper Analyzes High Court Decision on Animal Cruelty Videos

KQED Forum, April 21, 2010 Host Michael Krasny
http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R201004210900

“I think it’s important to understand that this is a relatively narrow decision. The court did not say what Congress could prohibit in terms of the depiction of animal cruelty. What they said is that the statute had language that was too broad. It portrayed any depiction of harmful acts involving killing animals or wounding animals. And even though there were a series of limitations to the prohibition, such as permitting these things if they were serious or religious or political or scientific, educational, journalistic, historical or artistic value, they nonetheless said the statue was too broad.”

Anne O’Connell Studies Impact of Administration’s Slow Rate of Appointments

Center for American Progress, April 21, 2010 by Anne Joseph O’Connell
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/04/waiting_for_leadership.html

This report offers politically feasible recommendations for both the White House and Senate, though these recommendations will take some real effort by the political branches. The White House and the Senate will have to make compromises—potentially more careerists in political positions and fewer holds on agency nominees, respectively, for example. But compromises are necessary to have a functioning and accountable modern bureaucracy.

Alan Auerbach Applauds the Revised Economic Journal Review Process

Inside Higher Ed, April 21, 2010 by Scott Jaschik
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/04/21/econ

“Everyone in the field knows that there are a handful of journals that everyone uses,” he said, so no one would be offended by receiving a rejected paper from AER. “We are in the same association and don’t view ourselves as directly competing, so we thought that this kind of interaction would be in everybody’s interest,” he said. “It reduces the redundancy of review efforts and the turnaround time.”

Robert MacCoun Explains Why Facts Rarely Change People’s Engrained Beliefs

Miller-McCune, April 20, 2010 by Christie Aschwanden
http://www.miller-mccune.com/health/convincing-the-public-to-accept-new-medical-guidelines-11422/

When facts contradict a strongly held belief, they’re unlikely to be accepted without a fight. “If a researcher produces a finding that confirms what I already believe, then of course it’s correct,” MacCoun says. “Conversely, when we encounter a finding we don’t like, we have a need to explain it away.”

Daniel Farber Lauds Justice Stevens’ Commitment to Rule of Law

SCOTUS Blog, April 19, 2010 by Daniel A. Farber
http://www.scotusblog.com/2010/04/justice-stevens-guantanamo-and-the-rule-of-law/

This historic confrontation between the Supreme Court and the executive branch illustrates Justice Stevens’ commitment to due process, his ability to create coalitions, and his judicial craftsmanship…. his opinions feature careful attention to the nuances of statutory language and precedent, analytic power.

Jason Schultz Thinks Americans Care about Online Privacy

The San Francisco Chronicle, April 19, 2010 by Alejandro Martínez-Cabrera
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/19/BUE71CRF1B.DTL&type=printable

“I think people care a lot. All you need to do is go and ask them if they’ll give you the keys of their house and let you look through every drawer or see all the text messages in their phone, and you’ll find they’ll care a lot about their privacy,” said Jason Schultz, acting director of UC Berkeley’s Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic.

Stanley Lubman Says China’s Modified Procurement Rules Still Handicap Foreign Firms

The Wall Street Journal, China Real Time Report, April 19, 2010 by Stanley Lubman
http://bit.ly/da8lzx

The Ministry of Science and Technology last week formally relaxed proposed requirements that technologies owned by foreign companies must meet in order to sell them to Chinese government agencies…. But the modifications don’t address continuing and significant concerns for foreign owners, including the very real possibility that China’s administrative decentralization will result in inconsistent administration of the procurement rules.